Chaotic Fringe World Blog

I have to admit I was skeptical but eBay did come through in the end. Yesterday I received an email allowing me to escalate the stolen money from a camera I didn’t receive. I was told it could take 72 hours for them to rule on the issue. Just moments ago I got an email from eBay saying the ruling was in my favor and the money was returned to Paypal. I verified it was there and now I’m getting the money back to my bank. I’m not happy with the process but I am happy, obviously, with the conclusion.

I was very happy when I decided to work on getting a Canon T3i. I decided to use the camera to escalate my production business. I’m still going to use my two Canon HG20 workhorses, but having the T3i with lens attachments will allow me for a wider variety of styles in film making. I saw a good listing for the camera on Amazon but before I went through with the sale I decided to check eBay. To my surprise someone was selling the camera for a better price than Amazon. It wasn’t a HOT price or come on price, and a quick check of the sellers history on eBay gave me the impression this would be a good deal. I went through Paypal for the payment and I was happy.

The next day, around noon, I got an email from eBay essentially telling me the seller was a fraud and not to make a payment to the guy. Well, I went through Paypal so I held out little hope I could stop the transaction. I tried to do this with my bank, but they laughed at me. I went through the eBay procedure to try and rectify the situation, which boiled down to me contacting the seller to try and resolve the issue.

As the days went on the angrier I got. I laid out a good chunk of money to get the camera, followed the safety procedures eBay and Paypal set up, yet I was the one out of the large amount of money. I had verified not only had eBay suspended the seller account but the seller abandoned the account before the suspension went into effect. By this morning I was mad enough that I decided to try a long shot; I would call eBay and see if I could get the status of my case escalated. It was obvious the seller was going to keep the money, so why not stop pretending the seller was going to be nice.

I have to say the 45 minutes I spent on the phone with eBay makes me seriously doubt if I will ever do business with them again. Just as an example, let me quickly explain how a mistake made by Amazon was handled. I ordered the Star Wars Blu Ray in January of last year. Two days before the Blu Ray was out, I checked my account and the order was removed. It seemed Amazon tried to process my old credit card, not the new one on file. When it came back bad they removed the item. I was upset about it, but I did have the money in my account and I could go to a few places and get the Blu Ray at the same price Amazon was selling it for.

In the eBay case, the money has been removed from my account and I don’t have an easy way to get the product because I need the money to buy it. In my head I figured this situation was different than the cookie cutter policy, because it was obvious the seller was not going to return contacts by email. I called eBay customer service and when finally talked to a live person, I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good because she had was in full customer service voice mode. When you work customer service, especially in a retail place, you can use the fake smile to sound upbeat when you aren’t and this lady was using it badly. When she tried to be ‘my friend’, another distraction trick, it cemented this was going to be a bad call. I tried to keep calm but when she kept reciting ‘the policy’ even though in this case there were clearly different circumstances to the policy, I heard the David Banner music in my head and I let the rage flow.

I honestly thought after a few minutes of controlled angry conversation I might have made a breakthrough. She said she was going to transfer me to another department because of the high cost of the item and maybe they could help. It wasn’t a promise but it was something. I thought I had been transferred and she came back on the phone after 30 seconds and told me she was going to transfer me. After a minute of silence, I checked my phone and saw I had been disconnected! Oh no she didn’t!

I call back, full of rage, and I go through the menu tree again. This time I got a guy who wasn’t going to play the pretend caring stuff. Fine with me. I made sure to tell him I called earlier and was supposed to be transferred to another department and I quickly explained my issue. Well, I happened to get policy boy. No matter my situation, he quoted policy to me. I told him (warned him) I worked customer service for a company much like is and please don’t give me rote answers. He continued to so I hit him with stuff I knew about general procedures. I hit with with semantics, since he kept saying they would review my issue instead of saying resolve, suggesting I could be denied my refund. After ten minutes of this I will give him credit that he was mad but stayed calm. I pulled the supervisor card and he had me on hold for a minute while he pretended or half heartedly went to a supervisor who told him they didn’t want to take the call so make me wait for a bit to calm down. When he came back on the phone he said the supervisor was busy and I could wait if I wanted, but the supervisor would say what he just said. I called him on it, saying would I be on the five minutes where you would listen to me and  really try to help me or would I be on the longer wait hoping I would hang up the phone in frustration. His pause told me I would be on the long call. I don’t know if he told the supervisor something while I was on hold but exactly (and I timed it) five minutes and ten seconds later the supervisor came on the phone. She was like the first caller, trying to use the Bene Gesserit voice to calm me. She also used careful words to make sure she didn’t actually give assurances of what would happen, just possibilities of what might happen.

I’m not a happy camper about the result I got, because the strict adherence to the formula response doesn’t take into account listening to the customer. The supervisor kept telling me the time limit had to be adhered to because it was possible for the seller to return the money or send out the item. I reminded her that on more than one occasion I told her the seller was removed from eBay by eBay. Why would he respond back if he has my money? In what would would someone steal the money, make sure they couldn’t be contacted, then days later decided, hey, maybe I should return the money? She was telling me about the procedures and I was telling her the facts of my situation bypassed her formula, so let’s stop pretending this is a normal case and try to get it resolved. She would not budge.

So, as I understand the procedure as it was explained to me, I have to wait until Friday until I can escalate the issue, then eBay will ‘decide the outcome’ of the case within 72 hours. I was able to determine this meant they would try to contact the seller to see if they would return my money. If that doesn’t resolve the issue then could work on getting a refund. I’m using the words she used and the ones the employees used on me. While normally I guess I could assume I would get my money back, no one would say I would get a refund. I tried about eight times between all of them to get someone to say I would get my money back. All I could get them to confirm is it would be reviewed. Oh while I was told it would take about 24 hours for the money to return to the Paypal account if things were decided in my favor, I never got a clear answer with words like after 72 hours and we decide in your favor the money is returned in 24 hours.

My plea, which I know will never be heard by the right people, for customer service people is be honest with us and listen to us. I loved how the supervisor said I could have put a hold on the sale, which I explained could be done because 1) it was done by Paypal and that’s done so the money is secure and 2) the notice of the bad account happened a day after I made the purchase. I’m going to see how this process goes but I’m very reluctant to do any buying with eBay. The irony is if I had ordered the camera thorough Amazon, I would have received it tomorrow. Now it could be a month before I get the camera.

I was excited that I was going to move into the world of DSLR and knew what camera to get. My eye was on the Canon T3i. I was going to order one from Amazon but before I made the purchase I checked on eBay and saw a company, not an individual, who was selling the camera for $100 less than Amazon. I checked all the assurances and good reports from the eBay listing so I paid through Paypal and was looking froward to getting the camera next week. I just checked my email and was informed by eBay that the sale was canceled and the seller basically put on the eBay bad list. When I checked both Paypal and my bank account, of course the money is gone. Well, my account says pending, so there is a slight ray of hope but the money technically is just in the process of going to the seller. I sent a letter to the seller and started the arbitration process with eBay. I did tell eBay I want the money back, and even though my heart wants the camera, I just have a bad feeling something will be wrong with it if I get it. This is so disappointing because I have had good experiences with eBay, both as seller and buyer. Hopefully this will get resolved soon.

I have been doing a lot of relaxing time, almost like a binge and purge. Today I’m just gaming all day with Everquest 2 because yesterday, as my mom likes to say, I was out in the streets all day. I did this after work so needless to say I was a tired dog when I got home. The big thing I did yesterday was start the cat search. I was a bit apprehensive about going to the animal shelter to get a cat, not because of the cost or the screening process, but I wanted to do was go down, get a cat and call it a day. I have to say the screening process is important. I met three cats but none were right for me. One was too shy, another was too scheming (would be nice to you until it got what it wanted then would hide) and the third, we just didn’t click. To my surprise, and the humane people said this was a little unusual, there were only 10 cats available that day and because of the requirements I wanted (fairly friendly cat, short hair) I only had three to chose from. I might have been able to just grab one and call it a day, but right now there ground people are working on the lawn and the lawn mowers and blowers are loud. A cat scared of me and the new environment might not do well with all this noise and activity. In a week or two I will go back to look at some more cats.

I love the misinformation I just heard on a DriveTime commercial. While it is true you might get a lower down payment than you expect, the monthly payments will will be close to rental payments and the interest will be similar to PayDay loan store interest. Short term ease for long term financial pain.

I hated having to do it but I canceled the insurance I was going to get from my job before I even got it. The reason was simple; cost. At $100 removed from each paycheck it was too much for me to afford and simply maintain myself. With this paycheck, with me missing time because I was sick, gave me a feel of what it might be like with the deduction. The only thing saving me this pay period has been I had saved enough money from my last check, but that money got used up quick.

The sad legacy of 2011 has been many people started to realize how economically crippled we have become. I heard on one show where a commentator said wages haven’t really gone up over the years, but people had been using credit cards, payday loans and other tricks to supplement their income because of higher prices. This was the year the knock came at the door from the economic demon knocking on the door to demand payment on those stop gap measures, and many people found out they couldn’t survive without the crutch. I wouldn’t call myself lucky, but I remember what it was like in the 80s and 90s when there were economics downturns. At those times I was caught up in using credit as a crutch, but I don’t have credit cards anymore and I learned, metaphorically speaking, how to live off the land. Just not having a car, with the car payments, gas, and upkeep, has helped me weather this economic downturn. Insurance would have been nice, all things considered, but I will have to maintain my health like I always have, just with a bit more due diligence.

I think the real thought when looking back at 2011 will be I’m glad it’s over. In the time line of years this hasn’t been a disastrous year, just a trying one. If this year was a TV show it was definitely like Good Times, season one. Yes there were struggles, but I kept my head above water, I made a way when I could, I still have my health (relatively) and JJ didn’t take over the show with his stupid Dyn-O-Mite catchphrase making me want to walk away from the show.

What does next year bring? I’m not really sure. I’m hoping to have Chaotic Fringe grow somewhat. Next year is an election year, and that’s pretty fun. Of course, if we are to believe some folks, by December 20 the Mayan ‘prediction’ will come true and the world will end. Frankly, if people are going to make fun of a walrus looking, gravel voiced preacher who predicted not once but twice last year that the world will end, and at last check we’re still here, why people would think ancient Mayans are any better at figuring it out? While I will probably have fun doing some sort of doomsday countdown, and as much fun as it might be tell bill collectors I’m not going to pay because we’re all going to die, I think I’ll just figure to celebrate the holidays, New Years and a Obama inauguration in 2013.

It gets tiring having diabetes when my parents constantly call me with advice they saw on Dr. Oz, or what a relative did, or some cut out article from some magazine. I understand the love behind all the concern, but it can be overwhelming to constantly be reminded and given homespun remedies that might help with my condition. Dr. Oz could be my play cousin because my mother mentions him so much. When I have an issue like my cyst, the whole advice machine goes into overdrive. One thing my parents forgets, which is something many people do, is my situation as far as access to health care is different from theirs. My dad was in the Navy for 20 years, so he and my mother are covered completely for health care. Getting a test, medication or seeing a doctor is close to no cost for them. When I had to go for a check on the cyst, it was just over $200, including the $82 ‘medical administrative’ cost, which to regular folks means the nurse gave me a shot. When you are at mercy to the kindness of taxpayers who think you are a bum, which means not much kindness, out of pocket cost is an issue. Thankfully I’m getting better but the health advice will continue. Of course, as much as I might tire of the constant advice, I would be a fool not to appreciate that they do care and try to help when they can. I just wish, just a few times, I didn’t have to hear Dr. Oz’s name!

I feel like Bruce Dern in Silent Running or Edward G Robinson and Charlton Heston in Soylent Green. I made myself a tomato salad; yes nothing but tomatoes, a little salt and pepper and a light drizzle of salad dressing. When I go to my parents house in South Carolina, where they have a garden, eating a tomato there tastes like a tomato. What I had tasted like nothing. It had substance but no flavor. Very bland. Where has our taste gone? A week or two ago I had a apple and it kind of tasted like one, but seemed more like apple flavoring rather than a full on apple experience.

If you read the recent article in Chaotic Fringe you will know I am sick. Technically I guess I’m getting better but I’m nowhere near 100%. Given the economy I could barely afford to take one day off. I have learned medicine has a bad effect on me and I will have to have safeguards set up so I don’t do foolish things. I shouldn’t have walked to the drug store this morning but I did and it seemed like every worker in the place was asking me how I was doing. At first I thought it was helpfulness gone crazy, then I caught a look at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t death warmed over but I needed more time in the microwave. From what I understood from the doctor, and I will probably have to confirm this in a few weeks, the high glucose I get make sit hard for me to fight some infections. So while what I have, if I didn’t have diabetes, should nave cleared up in a few days, I have an aggressive bastard because of the glucose. Never ending fun with the big D.

I think I have everything ready for the cat. The recent medical trip might have hit me bad for some expenses on the cat, but I should know the impact of that in a few days. I do have a name for the cat, and yes it is geek related, but it also makes sense as a cat name even though it isn’t meant to be one.

I’ve already decided on a resolution for next year. I have ignored a fundamental part of myself for years. While I have a lot of old books and I do read things, it has been too many years since I have read for research. Of course I have read comics, newspapers and the like, but I just saw a story on the Rachel Maddow show and she had the authors of a book about the Tea Party on. The enthusiasm she had about the book and the authors’ great energy about the subject matter made me wish I had the book. I got me thinking how long it had been since I had a book, not something downloaded on a computer or PADD but an honest to goodness, page turning book that was for knowledge. So my goal is to get at least one non-fiction book every month and read it. I already have the book The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism by Theda Skocpol on my Amazon wish list.

I was at Frys supermarket and it was crowded with people. Not very fun for me. There were also a lot of people on the people carts, those motorized things. A lady scoots up to me and tells me a sob story about how she has no money and wants me to let her pay for my food with her food stamps. Thing is she would get the change in cash and could use that for rent. All the while Im staring into her eyes which have colored contact lens, green with flecks of blue. They dont look real an thats kind of the point with those particular lens. Yea I had a cold heart and told her no because when I was pricing lens those went for over $100. If your going to beg for money dont have designer contact lens on.