How to play my cards... An Ebay Adventure... and I'm pissed off...

[Supernatural Pie]

At the beginning of the month, as many of you know already, I bought myself a G5, a monitor, and an airport card, all on Ebay.

The airport card and G5 all came relatively quickly.

The monitor was another story altogether. Here is that story:



After browsing through several different monitors on ebay, I came upon a Buy It Now, Blue and White Apple Studio Display monitor. I purchased the monitor, but then found that the buyer only accepted cashiers checks and money orders (which I was alright with, but just a little disappointed that I would now have to wait a week for my money order to arrive there before he would ship off the monitor). However, I then received an email (before I had chosen my payment method) telling me that this buyer prefers using PayPal (It was a "message from PayPal on his behalf").

So I think to myself, well that's good, I suppose. So I paid him with PayPal.

That night, I received an email from him wondering why it sent me that email, because for this item, he wants to use a cashier's check or money order. He promises to refund my paypal if I send the money order. So at this point, I'm somewhat disappointed that I'm going to again have to wait a week for the money order to arrive before he ships out the monitor, which will then take another week to arrive at my house.

So I send him the money order.

Meanwhile, my G5 has arrived (airport card arrived soon after). So I now have one of the greatest personal computers ever made, and I can't use it because I have to wait for my money order to go 3000 miles, and then have to wait for a monitor to go another 3000 miles.

So I emailed the seller, posing this question:

Paraphrasing: I have a small problem here. I just bought a new computer, but have no monitor with which to use it. Since you currently have my paypal money, and the money order is on its way, would it be too much trouble for you to send the monitor now, and then you could refund my paypal account when the money order arrives?

I thought it seemed like a fair proposal, but he refunded my paypal account, so I didn't know if he agreed to the deal or not. Anyway, that part isn't very important. The important thing is that I had asked them if they could send it soon.

As it turned out, the seller himself was on a business trip, and I don't know if he told his wife about my email, or if they use the same email account. Anyway, they received my email, and his wife tried to pack the monitor by herself.

She dropped it.

I received another email explaining the story I just told you. They then offered to refund my PayPal account, but said that they had another monitor of the exact same kind, and that if I wanted that one, I could have it.

So I emailed them back, saying that would be fine. (At this point, I wasn't in too much of a rush anymore, because my parents were able to find an old monitor at their office that I could use (after setting up a 4-part-cable-connector to plug it into my G5).

So I didn't hear back from them for a little bit, but then emailed them if they had received my email asking them to ship the second one. They did, and they sent me the tracking number. They gave it to FedEx on the 12th.

So finally, today, August 19th, almost two thirds of a month after I bought the monitor, it arrived. I carry it upstairs to my room, and set it down on my floor. I open the box, and find a semi-bent styrofoam piece in each corner of the box, with some bubble wrap, plastic wrapping, and some small styrofoam pieces. I pull the monitor out and put it on my bed, the proceed to disassmble my parents' monitor that I had set up and have been using for the past two weeks.

Then I put the new monitor onto my desk, and I attach the monitor's cable to the little white connecter that came with the G5, and plug it into my computer. Then I think, ok, what's next. Power cord.

Yeah... power cord.

Power cord?

They didn't send a power cord with the monitor. This is where my irritation began. I had waited two and a half weeks for this thing, and it didn't even come with a power cable. Luckily, once again, Beige saved the day. My old monitor's power cable worked just fine. I thought... "Ok, no big deal I guess, I can use this one for now, and they can ship the other one after I email them."

So I turn on the computer, and the monitor. The little green light in the monitor's power button works, which gives me some relief. It gets to the desktop, and that's when I see it; a little shake in the display. The entire screen just seemed to vibrate a little bit, but once it got to the desktop, it went away. "That was a close one," I thought to myself, happy to see the display still, clear, and working at the desktop. So I go to open GameRanger to share the big news that my monitor came without a cable.

And it happens again.

A shake, a vibrate, and a wobble as GameRanger opens.

"No..."

The display is bent out of proportion, and the display continues to wobble and shake. My screen looked like a water bed that had just been sat upon.

I quit GameRanger, and the monitor becomes still again. Like nothing was ever wrong. I open Safari... it shakes.

Quit Safari... still.

Open GameRanger again... it shakes.

And now, as I write this story, the left and right sides of my screen are shaking violently. Only a couple millimeters each way, but I'm sure as many of you know, for a monitor that's really easy to notice, and it distorts the rest of the screen. And every once in a while it wil do this thing where it puffs out in the other direction, from the top and bottom.

There is no way I'm going to keep this monitor, and there is no way that I'm going to buy another monitor from the same person.

And there is no way I'm going to pay for the shipping costs of returning it, which is, to put it simply, more expensive than the monitor itself.

So my question to all of you is, what is the best way of going about this problem so that I don't end up having to pay for the monitor or the shipping costs (refund).


Your help, as always, is greatly appreciated.

--A Pissed Off Snipe

P.S. I have not yet emailed them about the problem with the monitor.

[|MP|Nomad]

hey Snipe, that sounds like you got royally screwed, God knows I would be pissed.  Anyway, I just had a thought, perhaps the power cord you used is sufficient to relay power but maybe you do need the correct one for that type of monitor so you dont get that effect crap.  

I would email the seller and explain that you didn't receive the power cord (which should have came with it) and that you had to use an alternative power cord supplied by you.  However, I would NOT tell them that you used a different kind of power cord, simply say that your work place lent you the same kind of power cord that goes with that type of monitor, this way the seller can't make up some BS that you used the wrong kind and now you screwed it up.

Although, I have never used eBay before and have no experience how it works, so maybe some one else out there can give better advice on how to make it so that you dont have to pay for the re-shipping fees and so that you get your $ back, but to me, it just sounds like common sense that you should get your money back.

[seth]

well if the guy has a lot of feedbacks, and good ones of course, wich i suppose he does since i bet you wouldnt take a chance on ebay, i think hes not going to make any troubles about taking its crap back and refund your money.
Now the whole problem is about the shipping costs. Who should pay them ? I think he should. Again, if the sellers is good, i dont think hes going to argue about shipping.

Keep us up to date on that story.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

As a Charter Member of eBay, I have plenty of experience with your course of action:

1.  Send him an e-mail and (nicely) ask for a full refund, including the shipping costs.  Tell him that you are not at fault and that the monitor that was sent to you is defective.  Stress to him that you HAVE NOT yet contacted eBay about this problem, and that you hope he will resolve the problem quickly.

2.  If he agrees, your problem is solved.  If he doesn't, then go to step 3...

3.  Ask him to at least refund the price of the monitor and split the shipping costs.  Now is the time to tell him you HAVE considered contacting eBay to settle this problem.

4.  If he agrees, your problem is at least partially salvaged.  If he doesn't, then go to step 5...

5.  Contact eBay and tell them you have a seller that has sold you defective merchandise and you are VERY upset.  At the same time, send the seller an e-mail telling him you have contacted eBay and have also talked to the police about legal action.  Most of the time, if he has a decent feedback rating, he will immediately decide to settle up with you.  If not, unfortunately, your options are very limited.  Partly because you didn't complete the transaction using PayPal or a Credit Card (hard to get money back from a money order once it has been cashed), and partly because neither eBay nor the Police can really be of much help.

Many times the threat of these actions will be enough to get the seller to do the right thing.

Hope that helps,

-GhostSniper Out.

P.S.  For everyone who uses eBay:  ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pay with a credit card or PayPal and opt for the protection they offer for these types of transactions.  It is very hard for an individual to go after people who wrong you on eBay, but Credit Card companies and PayPal are VERY good at it.  

[Supernatural Pie]

Ok, here's what I did so far. I emailed the seller about the problem, and simply told him that I called FedEx, and they said that the seller needs to arrange for the item to be picked up. (Going to wait to hear back from the seller before I move on to the next steps. But if necessary, I will move on to the next steps.)

[.vooDoo.]

Snipe, have you tried different resolutions at different Hz? Is there some sort of ASC or reset?

[Supernatural Pie]

Yeah I tried messing with the rate and the resolution to no avail.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Yeah I tried messing with the rate and the resolution to no avail.

I had a similar problem with a PC monitor I bought for my computer at work.  It was brand new right out of the box and tech support told me it was defective and to take it back where I bought it.  I then opted for a nice flat-screen LCD monitor because I was tired of hauling around the 100-lbs 20" CRT to and from Office Depot.  I hate PCs...I totally despise having to use one at work.  Hell, PC companies can't even make a MONITOR that isn't defective out of the box!!![/size]

[bronto]

i feel the lub.

[seth]

Hell, PC companies can't even make a MONITOR that isn't defective out of the box!!![/color][/size]

i'm not sure PC companies make their own monitors. They might just put their name on it, but i guess it comes all form the same big brands in electronics.

[BTs_Mysterio]

Not quite bobby. There are many of LCD/CRT manufacturers some are exclusive to 1 company. I'm not sure if Apple still does get this supply for LCDs or not but at one point they shared supplier with Samsung. That doesn't mean they were the same quality.

I still vote snipe go on a hunt for this person.

[Supernatural Pie]

No email reply yet.

 

I have only one question.

What is the maximum number of words I can write when leaving bad feedback on ebay?

[BTs_GhostSniper]

What is the maximum number of words I can write when leaving bad feedback on ebay?

lol...I have no idea....but probably not much more than 15 words or so, if that much.

I would advise giving him 3 full days to reply to your e-mail...otherwise he will simply shoot back a rebuttal saying you didn't even give him time to try to fix things.

[Supernatural Pie]

I would advise giving him 3 full days to reply to your e-mail...otherwise he will simply shoot back a rebuttal saying you didn't even give him time to try to fix things.

Do you think he'll use the upcoming weekend as an excuse, also?

[bronto]

you could tell him that you are concerned with his failure to respond, and you are considering complaining to ebay and what not. i doubt he's trying to avoid you though, he's probably pissed at himself. who knows, maybe he can even make Fedex or UPS pay for it if it worked for him and they damaged it while delivering. either way, i'm sure you'll get your money, and it's just gonna be a big waste of time for you. start lookin at some other monitors fewl.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

I would advise giving him 3 full days to reply to your e-mail...otherwise he will simply shoot back a rebuttal saying you didn't even give him time to try to fix things.

Do you think he'll use the upcoming weekend as an excuse, also?

Possibly.

[Supernatural Pie]

I found out something interesting today that could be quite helpful to me.

The seller has a feedback rating of over 1,000 positives....


...and zero negatives...

I don't think he'd want that perfect record of his tarnished...

 

[BTs_GhostSniper]

I found out something interesting today that could be quite helpful to me.

The seller has a feedback rating of over 1,000 positives....

...and zero negatives...

I don't think he'd want that perfect record of his tarnished...

Definitely not.  That is VERY good leverage against him.  Plus, if he has that good of a feedback rating, I'm sure this is all probably just bad fortune on your part, not him trying to screw you.  So I think he will probably make amends with you.[/size]

[Supernatural Pie]

The son of a bitch is claiming the "as-is" excuse.

He says that he sold the monitor "as-is" without it being tested, so he won't refund my money.

BULLSHIT.

If you sell someone a monitor that doesn't even start up, and you tell them you're selling it "as-is," and they get it, and find it doesn't start up, that's probably grounds for a refund. A shaking monitor is as useless to me as a monitor that doesn't start up, therefore I believe it should be grounds for a refund.

Fucking hell.

[BTs_Lee.Harvey]

Thats prolly why hew didnt want to use paypal.. B/c with paypal you can get some (if not all) of your money back if they do this to you.... Static had the same thing happen to him with someone else.. Except he never got the g5 he ordered. He found out that the guy (who also had a perfect rating) was doing this to alot of peeps.. and the local police in the guys area got him for it.. luckly static got his money back b/c static cretid card company was envoled in it and got his moey back for him.