posted on February 8, 2002 08:41:46 PM
Just when I thought I'd seen it all.
I guess this saga started about 18 months ago. It was well before Bidder Block became available. I had this silver bracelet that looked like leaves on a branch. Bidder (let's call her PSG) bids and wins it. I send EOA. A month goes by and she hasn't paid. NPB, FVF, and on we go.
I list it again. Again PSG bids and wins it. I send EOA. Again a month goes by and she hasn't paid. Second verse, same as the first.
So I ran across the bracelet again last Thanksgiving. I list it again, and whaddaya know. PSG bids and wins it. I send my customary EOA and she responds to it. A few weeks later she sends me e-mail QUOTING MY EOA TO HER and complains nastily that I have never contacted her about this auction she won and she's waiting to pay me. I write back, pointing out the obvious and repeating the payment instructions. She responds, AGAIN QUOTING MY MOST RECENT EMAIL TO HER, INCLUDING THE PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS, complaining again that I have never contacted her about this auction and she's getting very upset and unless I tell her how to pay for this item she is going to report me to eBay. I write back, etc. Lather Rinse Shampoo Repeat.
This goes on for five iterations until I conclude that this person is either senile or intentionally obtuse. Probably the latter.
But, thanks to Bidder Block, I now have the means to end this merry-go-round. I NPB-FVF-Bidder Block and neg her.
She has, just recently, just woken up from her coma and negged me in return. And guess what? She claims she's still waiting to hear about the bracelet, still wants it, if only I would just let her pay for it. Oh yeah, and I'm "rude and disrespectful". That must have been in all those emails she never got.
Mean Old Seller Me.
Dear PSG has a Hotmail account. Can anyone come up with a plausible explanation for this behavior?
posted on February 9, 2002 07:44:50 AMbettylou
Did you ask PSG to scroll to the bottom of her e-mail to see all the replys she "never got?"
BTW, I kept getting what I though were my own e-mails returned to me by the buyer. My husband figured out the her e-mail server put the oldest e-mail on top, and the most frequent on the bottom. Added to the fact that all the replies were no more than 4 words, I didn't see them. Only happened with one buyer.
posted on February 9, 2002 08:01:50 AM
alwaysbroke:
I tried that, as well as suggesting that Hotmail might be dropping her incoming mail.
Even though I knew it wasn't true in this case, Hotmail is infamous for losing incoming mail. All such suggestions were ignored.
Since she was denying that she got any email from me at all, while in the same breath quoting back to me what I'd sent her, sending her email to tell her to do anything was ultimately pointless. I'm dumb; it took five rounds of cat-and-mouse before I decided to quit the silly game.
Possibly I should have pulled her contact information and called her. However, she also had that option (and our phone number is on all our email...yeah, yeah, I know, she wasn't "getting our email" and didn't exercise it.
But here's what gets me:
In every email system I know of, in order to REPLY to a message, you hit a REPLY button (or something similar.) To initiate a NEW message, you hit a NEW button (or something similar.) How did she think she was sending us complaints in the first place...wouldn't it be effing obvious that it was by REPLYing to a previous message?
I should point out that dear old PSG has feedback of nearly 100. She's no newbie and presumably has managed to navigate through email successfully with dozens of other sellers.
posted on February 9, 2002 08:08:50 AM
alwaysbroke:
I forgot to mention...darn near every MUA (mail user agent, the front end that you the user deal with when you send mail), uses some kind of quoting character or indentation at the beginning of each line to distinguish quoted text from a reply. ">" is commonly used, or sometimes a solid bar in HTML mail.
If the person who was quoting your email back to you didn't have her mailer configured to quote text properly, it would be a kindness to let her know that, as it is likely to confuse a great many people other than yourself.
posted on February 9, 2002 08:16:33 AM
ok. But what does it mean when someone's email comes to you looking like it was typed in HTML. Same thing?
The buyer's e-mail that came in backwards at least looked normal.
posted on February 9, 2002 08:20:30 AM
I love Jerry Lewis and that was hilarious. After rolling in the floor, I typed this.
I'll look for your replies in a couple of hours. I have to go be a mom for a while.
Thanks!!!
posted on February 9, 2002 10:52:30 AM
When you sign up for eBay doesn't it say they won't accept a hotmail or yahoo email unless you supply your ISP. Hotmail or Yahoo is just a secondary email. Somewhere out there PSG must have a legimate email address. You did the right thing, blocked her, took the neg and moved on. She could have gotten in touch with you if she wanted it so bad.
posted on February 10, 2002 06:34:01 AM
I must say, you had incredible patience with PSG. Seems to me that PSG is chemically unbalanced and requires a pair of sturdy shiney handcuffs, forget the bracelet!
posted on February 10, 2002 06:56:18 AM
there are a lot of good lonely souls out there wanting to reach out and touch someone .
they crave quality emails like yours.
wake up in the morning and come to the pc with a good cup of home brew coffee and read your email,it really warms their hearts.
you are a kind and gentle person,may god bless you. (or allah or buddha )
and didn't exercise it.