the trials and tribulations of another auction gone wrong

[locutus12]

this is a post about the mess that has become my purchase of a new hard drive...

i purchased a seagate 200 gig SATA HDD with ncq for £44 with free shipping which i thought was a bargain, the guys got some 600 possitive feedbacks, about 8 negatives but thats because of poor delivery which i wasnt too concearned about as long as i got it, so i paid my £44 and waited, a week went by, then ten days, then 2 weeks, and then half way through the third week i e-mailed him and asked where was my drive, to which i got sent the number of the courier and the tracking number of the parcel.

so, i called the courier, she couldnt find it. she claimed my house had had a card put through the door (which was a blatent lie given im in during the daytime and out at night and there are others who would have taken the parcel for me here) and she asks me repeatedly: "are you sure you havent recieved it?" to which i ask her how the hell could i of given i didnt even know they were shipping till that very moment when i called her.

so, the parcel, which has a digital tracking number on it, is missing and presumed stolen. So i call the guy who sold me the drive and talk to him about it and he agrees to send me a replacement drive out a.s.a.p

so, today, 5 weeks after i bought the drive, a drive turned up in a box i opened it expecting to see my nice new seagate 200 gig sata, but what do i see ? a maxtor 160 gig with an envelope containing £10 and written on the note it reads "refund for difference", (EDIT: it appears one of his staff decided that since they didnt have any seagates in that they would send me a maxtor + £10 without talking to him first, he knew nothing about it when i called him earlier and thought i was waiting for the seagate stock.)

essentially its like ordering a jaguar and they deliver a ford focus and give you 15K back, so i called them up, told him whats going on, he said hes got a 200 gig maxtor in his hand i can have, but i dont want a bloody maxtor!!!! all i want, is what i paid for, nothing more, nothing less, just simplicity of knowing that i will get what i paid for. thats all.

so im still waiting...



EDIT 28/04/06 Well, im currently sitting here looking at a 200 gig seagate barracuda in her factory packaging! a guy came to pick the maxtor up today and dropped this off the poor seller must have spent £20 on postage alone i think i will call him and thank him personally.

 

[locutus12]

As long as he said he sent it, and the courier accepted the parcel, I would be mightily peeved, but the problem aint with the seller, its the courier that messed up.

In about 6 months of constant pestering of the couriers I would expect a drive to turn up in a battered and wet box, or you'll get insurance payout from the couriers for about half what you expected.

Life aint fair.

your probably right, and no it is not, but if it does turn up, I would mail it back to the seller, I only want what ive paid for, nothing more.

The problem appears to be with the courier, so don't be so amazingly ungrateful to the seller.

"I don't want a Maxtor! MUMMY!!!!" will get you nowhere.

Oh no? Well its just got me a pickup of the Maxtor 160 gig and a Seagate 200 gig coming in 2 days, this isn’t some privet seller, he runs a company that sells storage solutions to areas of the civil and educational services, eBay’s just a side line.

If it were me I would have mailed you a wet badger with £5.63 selotaped onto the badger over a note saying 'compensation'...

Ladies and gentlemen, the last 2 quotes are two prime cases of the mentality of some of the staff here, willing to do no more than is absolutely necessary unless it furthers there wallet or matches there opinion. im greatful for your posts but come on, havent you ever done anything for anyone off your own back just because it was the right thing to do ? regardless of whether it made good "business sence"

Talk about ungrateful - if the courier was genuinely at fault, he didn't have to send you anything at all!

the courier was genuinely at fault, had he of used royal mail then there would be a clear procedure for me to request my money back but he is using his own private courier that only deals with business clients which puts the situation on his shoulders as I have no access to any form of compensation.

So the courier messed up, the guy sent you another drive out of his own pocket *and* some cash to apologise for the difference and you're complaining?

yup, but he didn’t send me the cash out of his own pocket, according to him, some dipstick in his office saw the order, realised they didn’t have any Seagate’s at the moment and thought they would use a little initiative so they took £10 from petty cash, packaged a 160 gig Maxtor up and hoped I would be happy, which I can understand and bare no ill will towards that intention.

but ive been reeeeeealy patient, and I will continue to be, i don’t mind how long it takes, I am not on this managers case all the time, he seems civil and genuinely sorry for the mess and I accept that, I even offered to pay delivery myself next time round, i just want my 200 gig Seagate, thats all, he knows this and seems to understand, so someones gonna pick the drive up and at the same time drop off a seagate. Ive just got to wait till he has 200 gig Seagate stock (he buys 500 units at a time from China)

 

[locutus12]

he should have emailed you saying that he only had 160gb and could refund some money,but look at it this way you could have ended up with nothing

indeed but he didnt know that i had been sent this drive untill i called him... otherwise im sure he would have called me to discuss it at least...

I'd just give bad feedback, pocket the tenner and keep the drive.

what am i supposed to do with a 160 gig IDE maxtor and a scottish tenner ? id prefere to just wait for the 200 gig seagate, lest i plug in the maxtor and have it die a month down the road.

 

[locutus12]

have no fear, im not planning to complain, another 5 weeks without a drive and then i will personally go to scotland and give him a glasgow kiss, but for the moment he seems to be being very kind, like i said, this isnt his fault, its all other people, its just that its his company so hes the one who has to sort it. kind of feel sorry for him in a way, but then i realise hes rich and im not.

to basmic: ive spoken to him on the phone about an hour ago, hes trying to get me a seagate, he just doesnt have any at the moment as they are always the first to go (for obvious reasons) i do believe and trust him when he says he will get me one, it will be dropped by the same courier who will pick up the maxtor drive, i wont let it go till ive got my seagate.

 

[locutus12]

Petrol bomb his home afaik............j/k

 

[locutus12]

Theres some very strange opinions in this thread

I cant see a problem other than couriers suck, but we all know that anyway.

The seller sounds like hes done everything possible to help you.
He posted the original drive, agreed to send out a replacement when it was established the first had gone missing (you cant blame him for the amount of time its taken, you decided to wait nearly 3 weeks before contacting him!!). Ok, wrong drive got sent out, but sounds like staff was trying to do the right thing, and now hes agreed to pick up wrong drive and replace it with correct one. Whats the problem??

As for those that say neg him, file a complaint etc

Fog

who said anything about blaming him to begin with? and read my posts fully, ive repeatedly said that i have been and will still be patient, i have nothing against the guys company. i decided to wait 14 working days as i had no idea where the item was comming from, 14 working days is pretty standard for a lot of items when bought off fleebay. the guy wont get any negative feedback of me, ive never even concidered it.

as for why did i put this here? just for general interest. this is still the General Discussion forum isnt it ???

 

[locutus12]

I did read all the posts, and you have been patient and given him the opportunity to rectify the situation and neither of you are at fault, my post wasnt aimed at you

Edit: looked back at my post and can see where you are coming from, I worded it badly, sorry.



Pardon?

Fog

thats ok, text based chat isnt exactly a perfect medium...

 

[locutus12]

Well, im currently sitting here looking at a 200 gig seagate barracuda in her factory packaging! a guy came to pick the maxtor off today and dropped this off the poor seller must have spent £20 on postage alone i think i will call him and thank him personally.

see, sometimes people will do things off their own back, not because they have to, but because they want to.

 

[locutus12]

I see nothing wrong in the approach taken by locutus tbh. I would have done the same. Maybe it's because I know my rights having been at Uni for thr last 3 years reading law. To the posters saying, he's done everything he can, well to that I respond accordingly: so?! If he hasn't completed the contract into which he entered, he must bear the full costs of rectification. He should have a business which is capable of dealing with such situations and should not use a shoddy courier who he has an agreement with to deliver the goods.

I'm glad you got it sorted and what you wanted - why should you accept any less? I feel this apathy is the reason that companies are able to deliver a poor service and continue to do so. He isn't a private seller so you have full justification for your actions. And 5 weeks wait...well that alone shows how patient you have been.

thankyou indeed i wasnt angry with him, but i was not going to settle for less than what i have originally paid for. im actually very greatful to the seller who has lost £45 on the original hard drive going missing and at least £20 on postage and collection fees, but in the end all i wanted was what i paid for, nothing extra, and thats what i got