Oh no - another item not arrived...

[*CountessA*]

*sigh* Item ordered from Germany 11th June 2009. It's now 24th July 2009 (I'll bet you didn't know that without checking the calendar...). No parcel from Germany has arrived.

I contacted the seller two days ago to let them know the parcel hadn't arrived yet, and asking for a tracking number. No reply. Today I had to open a PayPal dispute in respect of the item.

If I were sure the book isn't going to arrive, I'd simply tell my card provider and initiate a chargeback. But I don't know; it's possible the postage method chosen by the seller is as slow as watching a sloth calculate the square root of pi. There's something called "Yellow Letter" post in Germany which can take two months to arrive (as I know from experience, when another German book from a different German seller was also missing in action).

I hope this turns out well... I will give the seller a few days to reply to the dispute, and keep checking my post box every day.

[*smee*]

Just dont mention the war !!!

[*CountessA*]

Don't war-ry - I mean, don't worry! I won't mention the war.

[tellomon]

Didn't those guys lose a war or something?

What's next -- a spanking?

[*CountessA*]

"Oh yes, a spanking!" "A spanking!"

"And after that - the oral test."

[tellomon]

What happened with the Day Jobbers ya mentioned earlier?
Closer to my point: how come YER not on the Gravy Train right now?

Mixed messages confoozle me.

[*CountessA*]

I'm taking a minute or so out while working my fingers to the very bone.

*exhausted collapse*

[*CountessA*]

Today is the 9th of August. The dispute is still open, but will automatically close on 13th August. The item still hasn't arrived.

I HATE escalating to a claim. Hopefully the book will arrive before I have to escalate. I think I should try to spell out the problems sending by this method from Germany causes, if I buy another item from a German eBayer. The German eBayers who sell books don't seem to realise this is an awful postage method to use. And the person for whom I bought the book is so fed up with the delay that she doesn't even want it any more.

IF the book turns up, I'll have to do some convincing to the lady concerned, pointing out that it's not as though I can return the book and get a refund because of the delay.

[*CountessA*]

Now I'm taken aback.

It's the 19th August - I escalated to a claim on 13th August. Today I have received an email from PayPal saying the following (private information xxxxxd out):

PayPal has concluded our investigation of your Buyer Complaint.
 
Transaction Date: 11 Jun 2009
Transaction Amount: -xx.xx EUR
Transaction ID: xxxxx
Case Number: PP-xxx-xxx-xxx
Seller's Name: xxx
Seller's Email: xxx@xxx.de
 
You have received a refund via PayPal in the amount of xx.xx EUR. 

This puts me in an awkward position! I was relying on PayPal taking its usual longer-than-a-month "investigation" in case the book did turn up. (It hasn't so far.) This is the first time that the period of "investigation" has taken only 6 days.

Now, if the book turns up, I'll have to resend the funds to the seller.

Curse you, PayPal! In this one instance, you've fast-tracked the "investigation" and left a buyer feeling unhappy because of it! I'll have to check what's happening with the seller, because this speed of resolution is making me wonder what's going on.

Oh... the irony...

[Bellagina]

Lol Countess!

That's just the way of it - when you expect things to take forever, and plan accordingly, all of sudden they are lightening fast!   

Conversely, when things usually hum along at a good pace ( e.g. the drive to the Drs) and you are cutting it fine for time, suddenly there will be traffic jams, tardy pedestrians and little old ladies hunched over steering wheels doing 25kph , hogging the centre line in front of you!

It's a fact of life!   

[*CountessA*]

Bellagina, that's frighteningly accurate. Traffic does that to me - deliberately.