What We’ve Got Here is A Failure to Communicate

So, I'm in a bit of a war with a dude/chick on eBay right now. It’s a fierce battle of wits and honor, and there can be only one winner. It’s a matter of principles and integrity. As William Wallace might say, "It's well beyond rage. Help me. In the name of Christ, help yourselves. Now is our chance. Now. If we join, we can win." Plus, the whole thing is just plain annoying.

Here’s the long and the short of it. Two weeks ago, I was looking for a sweatshirt to give as a gift to Geo. The ones I was finding on the regular sites and stores were BLAHHHH, but then I found the one I wanted. On eBay. The seller claims to have a “store” where they print and ship everything, and indeed their stock levels were quite high. So, I did some clicking around and quickly decided, “Yup, this person checks out!”

Well, the Seller is a jerk. I may be getting scammed here. But I am way too stubborn to put a stop to the whole thing. See, here’s how it all went down:

I purchased said sweatshirt on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I thought, ‘Maybe I should follow up with them and let them know I’m kind of on a deadline here.’ So, I sent a very nice email, requesting information. Here’s a snippet of my email:

”Can you please let me know the estimated delivery date of this item? I saw your excellent feedback and comments on how quickly you ship items, and initially didn't give it a second thought, but it's a gift for someone, so I just want to double check.”

Here was the response I received, verbatim:

”shouldn’t take to (sic) long”

Uh, okay. Helpful? Well, the birthday came and went. No sweatshirt. Then I got a message that the Seller was now “Unavailable until October”. So immediately I panicked, punched the air, and launched some profanities at my computer screen. Then I composed myself and emailed the seller again.

”It appears as though you are gone until Oct. and there is no shipping information/tracking # available. I need to know if this will not be sent until you return in October, or the tracking information so I can figure out whether or not I need to cancel this transaction.”

The seller’s response, again, verbatim:

"youll have it soon"

Well, that was it. I sent another email to Shakespeare. I informed him/her about the basic principles of Business Ethics, and how he/she was failing miserably. Then I reminded him/her of the repercussions bad feedback can have, and reiterated my overall disgust with the lack of information I was getting. I then threatened, “You are making me very worried about my purchase, and making yourself seem very shady. Don’t make me ask for my money back.”

The Seller replied that answering my emails was taking time away from shipping items, and they would just as soon refund my money than have to deal with this transaction any longer. HA! We’ll see about that! I will NOT be bullied into giving in to the crazy demands of an Evil Corporation who preys on the innocence of people who just want a stupid Sons of Anarchy sweatshirt! Cancel the transaction? NEVAHHH! Muahahahaha!

So I started to write another furious, spiteful email informing the Seller of my refusal to be neglected as a paying customer. Then, I stopped writing it. How long would this go on? How long will I be at the mercy of this faceless scam artist? I can end this. I decided to cut my losses and admit defeat. Sure, it may scar my reputation in the crazy-competitive world of the online sweatshirt-buying biz, but who cares? I can take the high road here (see MOM??) and sleep well tonight.