I won eBay auction 160050154934 for 2 items on 5/19/07. I made payment through PayPal the same day. Clearly I held up my end of the deal.
So time passes and nothing from the seller. No email, no shipment. So on 5/26/07, I send a message through eBay to seller asking if items have shipped.
I get no response from seller, but on 5/29 the USPS Priority Mail package arrives. I open the package and notice it appears to be much less than 2 lbs of product. So I weigh it on a postal scale and see that I received 14.6 oz of product. Not only was I missing half the shipment, the 1 lb I did receive was 1.4oz light.
I send the seller another message through eBay on 5/30 stating I did get the package, but it was only 1 lb, no the 2 I paid for.
On 6/1, I received this email from seller:
"Im so happy it got to you. I need to check & see what happened.: o)
Thank you & have a wonderful blessed day
Happy New Year!
CountryCandlesCottage"
What's with the "Happy New Year"? It's June.
Then nothing. No follow-up. No missing product is sent. No refund is made. So I send seller an email 7/4 (5 weeks after she said she'd look into it). This is what I sent:
"Still haven't heard from you on this. Please send the missing 1lb of cetearyl alcohol or refund what I paid for the second 1lb please.
Picture is what I got from you & it's a little light (- 1.5oz & I haven't used any yet) {I attached a picture of her product on a postage scale showing 14.6oz}
I'd prefer that you ship me the missing bag and add 1.5oz to it so i will have the 2lb of cetearyl alcohol I paid for on 5/19 thru paypal. But whatever works best for you - send refund or ship product."
So 10 more days go by with no contact from the seller. Obviously she doesnt care. Im ready to leave bad feedback and try to get refund from paypal, but decide to give her the courtesy of fixing the problem and send this email on 7/14:
"Last chance to make this right before I submit negative feedback and start dispute thru paypal. It's been almost 2 months. You shipped one pound but I bought & paid for two. The one pound I did receive was 14.5 oz.
Your lack of response or corrective action is frustrating."
Surprisingly, that actually gets a reply from this otherwise unresponsive person - within 1/2 hour of my last email to her I got the following:
"I answered you about this last week. I didnt send you 14.5 oz, all items are weighed out before shipping. Why are you telling me this all the sudden? Also the pic you sent me is not how I send it, its taped
Thank you & have a wonderful blessed day: o)
Happy New Year!
CountryCandlesCottage"
Good to see the new year celebration is lasting through July.
So I reply:
"I just forwarded you the last email I have from you. There is nothing in my eBay messages either. If you replied, I don't have it.
All of the sudden? It's been six weeks since I asked you why I received half of what I paid for. It's been ten days since I sent a follow-up.
Yes, the bag was covered in packaging tape. I removed that. I wouldn't have noticed the light weight at all but what I have appeared to be much less than 2 lbs. That's why I weighed it in the first place - to make sure I didn't receive 2 lbs.
Look - I don't care that you took 7 days to ship the item after it was paid for. I don't care that the "pound" was 14.6 oz. What I do care about is that I received half of what I paid for, brought it to your attention, and you choose to do nothing about it."
That was sent 7/14 and did not receive any response.
On 7/17 I opened a dispute through eBay's dispute console with this complaint:
"Item Significantly Not As Described: 1 lb 454g Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol emulsifier lotions 16oz (#160050154934)
Payment Method: PayPal
Payment Date: May-19
Additional Details: I bought and paid for 2 pounds and only received one. After several emails describing problem, seller
refuses to ship missing product or refund amount of product not shipped."
She posted this response through the eBay dispute console on 7/17:
"I will refund you for the 1lb, but the other 2oz you claim is a lie. The 1lb is prob a lie too, but I want you to leave me alone. I never refused anything. I told you the pic you sent me is not how I sent it."
So after 5 1/2 years on eBay as both a buyer & seller with nothing but positive feedback, I'm suddenly a liar? I work for 5 1/2 years maintaining good business relations on buying and selling of transactions, but suddenly decide to throw that away to try & cheat this person out of $6 of product?
I have 261 positive feedbacks from 243 different eBay users and NOT ONE NEGATIVE and NOT ONE "mutually withdrawn" instance. Well at least not one negative feedback until countrycandlescottage left her obligatory retaliatory negative feedback, which is apparently her method of operation in order to try to extort users to "mutually withdraw" the negative feedback she earns and truly deserves.
She honestly believes any rational person would look at that for anything other than what it is? - pure retaliation for warning others of her shady business methods.
Looking through this sellers feedback, its obvious customer service is not a priority. Looking through this sellers feedback left for others, its obvious that leaving retaliatory feedback is a priority for this seller.
If youre reading this because you are considering bidding on an auction from countrycandlescottage and wondering if it is worth the risk to place a bid on her auction, DO NOT BID! Save yourself the aggravation and look elsewhere. Dont just take my word for it - look at all the other negative feedback. Look at all the mutually withdrawn too (no doubt a result of her retaliatory feedback). Look at the feedback she leaves for others when they have a complaint - surely that many good eBayers arent throwing out negative feedbacks to this seller for no good reason.
Look at the many other complaints on usacomplaints.com and what do they all have in common?
(1) prints shipping label days before shipping product
(2) Ships less than advertised amount - in my case shipping 14.6oz as "one pound/454 grams" AND shipping that as opposed to the TWO pounds I paid for
(3) Leaving retaliatory negative feedback accusing the buyer of being a liar
(4) Not responding to numerous efforts on her customers' part to remedy the situation amicably
(5) Not responding until adverse action is taken - negative feedback, disputes through eBay/Paypal, etc.
Http://cmv. Zftp.com/fb.jpg illustrates all the above (you may need to turn off automatic image resizing in your browser). You can clearly see I won the auction for 2 items and paid the same day, made repeated attempts to get the seller to correct the situation, and gave plenty of time for her to work things out. You can also see the picture of what I received (10 days after making payment although I paid for Priority Mail shipping - FL to NC) sitting on a postage scale reading 14.6 oz.
But I'm the cheat and the liar. Yeah, ok...
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