Friday, August 15, 2014

The Thing About eBay

I love eBay. Most of the time. I've used eBay for so many different things over the years and, for the mot part, have been quite satisfied. I love finding deals there. When I bought my Fitbit recently, I found it for less on eBay. I've found my favorite running (which are now, walking) shoes for less there. I've found obscure items that I couldn't find other places there. I've purchased books for $1.00 or less there. And I love that most of the sellers offer FREE SHIPPING! What a BONUS!

There were two purchases I made this summer that were rather interesting...

First, with Mr Negative being around so much, I actually thought that a Himalayan salt lamp would be a nice addition to my house. Don't laugh. If you lived with someone as negative as this man, you would try anything too. Much to my dismay, when it arrived, it was nonfunctional. So I contacted the seller who sent me a shipping label to send it back and then he replaced my lamp. No problem and Thank you, Josh! (They are secret_wisdom on eBay).

Second, I saw these adorable bird feeders made out of Mason jars, twine and chicken feeders. I HAD to make some! So, I ordered four chicken feeders from RuralKing.com on July 12, 2014.

This is the box they sent:



This is what was in the box:



Does that even remotely resemble a chicken feeder to y'all? Yeah, me neither. Y'all know why? Because that's a tee NOT 4 chicken feeders. 

So, I opened a case on eBay:

Additional information:
"I ordered/paid for 4 Miller Mfg Round Jar Galvanized Feeder Base for Chicken 9810 and received 1 black iron 3/4 tee. Please advise. "

July 18th: 
Seller's message:
"Hello, I am terribly sorry about this. I have submitted a Customer Care Request with the Customer Care Department letting them know about this. They will be in contact with you via email within 1-2 business days in regards to fixing this matter. Thank you"

July 18thYour Customer Care Request has been received. You will be notified when your request is reviewed. If you have any questions about your Return, please contact us at customerservice@ruralking.com
Thank you for your business.

July 21: Hello, We are sorry to hear that you received an incorrect item. Our Customer Care Department would like to further investigate this situation by reviewing pictures of your incorrect item. If you could, please send pictures of your item to customerservice@ruralking.com. Thank you, RuralKing.com

My responseI am attaching pictures of the WRONG item that YOU sent as per YOUR request. While I am trying to be understanding, I am quite resentful of the fact that I have to jump through hoops to correct YOUR mistake. 

I should mention that I do blog about purchases I make via eBay. Just FYI.

Their responseHello, we have received your message. I will forward it to the representative in our Customer Care Department that you have been working with. They will respond to you via email or continue the investigation and respond when they have additional information. Have a great day!

July 22: Hello, I appreciate you taking the time to send in the photos. I have let the store know who shipped this out incorrectly to get the correct item out to you as soon as possible. Once the tracking number is available you will be notified. Thank you again for your time, Ruralking.com.

August 2nd:
Your message to the seller:
"After following all your requests, which included long wait periods and taking pictures of the wrong item you sent AND being told the original order was being sent, I still have not received the items I ordered. Please advise. "

August 5thSeller's message:
"Hello, The correct item has been shipped with a UPS tracking number of 1ZX788W50399845518. Thank you, Ruralking.com."

Ok, I got so excited that they were finally arriving, that I went ahead and made the jar part of the bird feeders:



Later that day, August 7th, I received this box: 



...with the following contents:


Damn if they weren't getting close. There were 4 of them. And they did relate to chickens. Only I ordered feeders NOT waterers. AND, every email we've sent back and forth contains a PICTURE of the actual items I ordered. GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK.

SOOOOOO- I respond to the case once again:

August 7Your message to the seller:
"Once again, the WRONG item was shipped. I have already taken pictures of the galvanized chicken waterers that were sent this time. Please note that I ordered four of the galvanized chicken feeders. Which I have yet to receive. At this point, I have to wonder if someone is playing some sort of NOT FUNNY game with me. I don't want to escalate the case to eBay customer support but this has gotten ridiculous. Please advise. "

And get THIS in return:

August 7: Seller's message:

"Hello, I am terribly sorry about this. I have let the Customer Care Department know about this. They will be in contact with you again as soon as possible. Thank you"

August 8: 

Hello, I am extremely sorry to hear you have received the incorrect item again. It was very clear what needed to be shipped to you so I am unsure how this has happened again. Can you please send in the photos you have of these item you have received so we can figure out what is happening? I appreciate all of you assistance. Thank you, Ruralking.com.

My response:

I took pictures as soon as the package arrived yesterday since I knew you would ask me to jump through hoops in order to help you correct your second error. This is the most ridiculous experience I've ever had with a company. I'm aware of the clarity of the items I ordered which makes it very fishy as to why I received the wrong items AGAIN. Here are your pictures. 

Later that day:

Hello, we have received your message. I will forward it to the representative in our Customer Care Department that you have been working with. They will respond to you via email or continue the investigation and respond when they have additional information. Have a great day!

Good Lord. Here we go again.

They finally sent me the tops to the bottoms (or waterers)...they look like this:



Notice anything wrong with the tops? Like oh, I don't know...the fact that they are BENT? 

What was their response to this shipment?

Seller's message:
"Hello, I am terribly sorry about this. I have been in contact with the Customer Care Department letting them know about this. They will be in contact with you via email within 1-2 business days in regards to fixing this matter. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience and they will be in contact with you as soon as possible. Thank you"


Very familiar message, right? 

Well, enough is enough. Screw you, RuralKing.com. I want nothing further to do with you now nor do I care to have anything to do with you in any way in the future. 

Between the second wrong order and the bent tops, I ordered 4 galvanized chicken feeders from Incubator Warehouse. Yep, via eBay. When the box arrived, these were inside:




It took all of 4 days from the day of placing the order to receipt of the order. 

THAT'S the way to do business, Rural King.com 

Ok, let's here your eBay story!

7 comments:

  1. I once bought a figurine at an estate auction for $7.99. I put it up on eBay for $5.00. As soon as it went up it started to get bids. When the bidding went up to $250, I figured I better google this thing to see what I had. Well, apparently it was a rare Hummel. The designer was Charlotte Byj. The figure was a red haired girl (which was what Byj was known for) making her communion. Bottom line, the bidding ended at $3500.00.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! That's incredible! It pays to go to those auctions!

      Delete
  2. I have never bought anything on eBay. I have only looked at it once or twice. Much prefer my Amazon Prime. Glad you finally got what you ordered!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm still waiting on RurlKing.com to send me some that are not bent. But that other place rocked the order! LOL

      Delete
  3. As both a buyer and a seller on Ebay...I totally feel your pain. ;) Been there and done that buying something more than once. This is the kind of thing that gives great sellers a bad name. ;) Love the idea of those feeders though! Fabulous idea.
    Blessings, Valerie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was glad to find a company that didn't mess up a thing in the midst of all this. RuralKing.com finally sent the right thing and, luckily for them, only charged me the one time. But it was just to little too late for me to buy from them again. I don't mind people messing up. I'm not perfect either. But, come on. They took it to a whole new level. LOL I love the feeders too! I wish I could take credit but I found them on Pinterest. Where else? LOL :)

      Delete
  4. I once sold a chainsaw. Listed it as for parts/not running and when the guy bought it he opened up a case against me because it did not run. Took two weeks for some guy from India to read the actual listing and then tell me," Oh this case should have never even been opened because you had it listed as non running." They sure as heck suck the money right out of your account without looking into it first. Haven't been back since. Great idea for the bird feeders by the way. I may copy if you don't mind.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome, friends! Please spew forth some wisdom for me. I'm quite certain I need it!