Frankenstein is dead but some monsters live on

The monster is dead. 

Today, the plasterer and his sidekick finalised the plastering. Gone are the ugly wall sutures and in their place is a wall as smooth as a baby’s backside! I’m really pleased. Another good job.

Although it couldn’t have  happened a second too soon since I’ve already ordered table and chairs for the dining room and they’re due to be delivered and I don’t really have an ideal place to store them. The total seating area when all of the tables are combined is 18 people, I could really do with being able to put them into their final location but that’s obviously a way off as the plaster needs to dry, the painting needs to be done and the floor needs to go down… yes, the expensive floor. Quite a bit more than I had originally budgeted for. Cha Ching!  My head hurts.

Meanwhile, there’s this thorn in my side; this chest of drawers, which I believed would go really well in my study, have brought me a whole world of pain.

I purchased this £200 unit from the most unlikely of sources. Yes, you’ve guess it Ebay!  I know, previously I mentioned I that I disliked Ebay and this is exactly the reason why;  to me, it’s the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of dodgy characters who like to transact business from their garages. Of course,  had to end up dealing with one. This guy advertised a long lead delivery time of 28 days which suited me just fine as they appeared to be exactly what I was looking for. Anyway, when they were finally delivered, they came complete with a footprint on the box and damage to the top and the base of the unit (if you look really close at the picture, you’ll see it).  To cut a long story short, I asked Mr charlatan for my money back because the goods were damaged I also explained that I hadn’t even signed for the parcel, it was left outside of my front door, which meant I didn’t get the opportunity to inspect them when they arrived. At first he went with the fact that he’d have to confirm with courier that they were not in fact signed for and, eventually, sent me a POD with somebody else’s signature on it. I explained that I did not recognise the signature yet he insisted he would not refund my money as I had received the goods. “Yes, but they’re damaged”  Somehow, he kept overlooking that detail. Eventually, I tried to claim my money back from PayPal but (conveniently) the period for reclaiming via there standard procedure had passed (now why did that not surprise me and why did I have this niggling feeling that my trusty Ebayer already knew this and that he indeed orchestrates his long delivery times specifically to avoid the legal reach of PayPal (who, by the way, refused to help as their limitation of their liability had been exceeded). So, I turned to Trading Standards who very kindly gave me a case number but were unable to do much else, they suggested that, in the first instance, I write to Mr Ebayer and tell him I had contacted trading standards and that I wanted my money back. Funny, I hadn’t thought of that!  Instead, I turned the fortunes on our friend who had only days before my ability to leave negative feedback would have been removed. I pounced on the opportunity and let him have full barrels of my negativity! Needless to say, he wasn’t pleased. Ho Hum. I told him the matter could be easily resolved if he just took back his goods and refunded my money.  “You’re crazy, you have the goods!” he screamed (in an email. We never spoke on the phone). Getting the idea why I hate Ebay yet?   But I wasn’t done yet. I was going to get my money back by hook or by crook, after all, you don’t get to run a major company without some smarts.  I figured that if I’d paid via PayPal and they were unable to help me, my bank should be able to under their guarantee. That’s right. I contacted my bank and told them that PayPal had debited my account (via Direct Debit) but I refused the debit and demanded that they refund my account immediately.  They did so in days. This in turn debited PayPal. PayPal in turn debited my favourite Ebayer.

And so, here I am, many months later, I still have this unit that hasn’t been reclaimed. It’s been sitting in my dining room-to-be for a while now. But I’ve been doing my own Ebaying (yes, it’s good for selling maybe but not for buying) and some very kind person has agreed to pay me, albeit at a discounted rate, to take the dodgy goods off my hands. How kind. Thanks Mr Ebayer for the free goods. The unit is being collected today. All’s well that ends well.