Amusing/frustrating online orders
 

Just about everyone orders stuff online these days and inevitably something can go wrong. I figure others have to have stories, especially after this holiday season.

I will start with mine.

im2smrt4u gave me a list of item he wanted for Christmas. I wanted to get him something cool and a little more personal than a new flash for his camera. One of the items he requested was a crystal whiskey decanter. Usually he is very specific about what he wants, this time was the exception. I figured this left me some creative leeway.

I found this:
Crystal Whiskey Decanter Set
Perfect! I could get his initials engraved on it and it would make a complete set for the day when we finally have a real bar.

I fretted that he would actually like it so I broke down and showed it to him. He loved it! YAY ME!

The package arrives. Decanter looks great, glasses look great, engraving is done nicely BUT the stopper has a fairly noticeable flaw in it causing a dark spot when the light hits it.
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/a...im/Stopper.jpg
I email the company telling them of the problem. Next morning I get a reply telling me a new stopper will be sent out. Awesome. And they did not even request that I send back the unsatisfactory piece.

Today the door bell rings. A box from the company was delivered. It is oddly heavy for a stopper. Maybe they sent a whole new decanter??? NO

When I opened the box, I was greeted with two old fashion glasses, one of which was broken.
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/a...im/Glasses.jpg

So, I just sent another email:

Yes, I know, sarcastic. But I am trying to be pleasant as well, I am sure they are getting nasty emails and that really does no good.

Hopefully the desired piece will actually get sent this time.

Thankfully the glass that survived is nice. LOL!

That's all fine and good, but where is the WHISKEY!

I've had problems ordering stuff mainly due to my address being wrong. I've made considerable effort to correct my address only to find bugs in the website and having it crash. Then, after phoning to have the address manually changed, I ordered the goods only to have it shipped to the old address. This happened twice. Once with Rogers when I ordered a new phone, and once with Airmiles when I converted airmiles points to Metro grocery gift certificates.

I ordered an Xbox 360 and photo-editing software online, both were delivered to an address in my neighborhood other than mine.

I was kinda freaking out about the Xbox, but after calling UPS, my friend had the idea to drive around the neighborhood and look for it.
Luckily, the guy that had it was honest.

I don't think I'll order a high-priced item again without requiring a signature.

My amusement came from selling some stuff online.

We were moving house and I was desperate to get rid of heaps of my wife's old stuff. Lots of little tin boxes with cartoons and interesting bottles and things. Just the stuff a collector would like.

There was this one green bottle with a label which read "BHP Steel (1 of 5)". BHP Steel is a massive mining company in Australia which has been around for a very long time. My FIL worked there. I thought it was interesting enough an artefact to fetch a reasonable price on eBay. I was quite happy to see that a "mining museum" out in the Aussie outback somewhere had won the auction. :thumbsup:

I told my wife what her junk had fetched and told her about the green glass BHP Steel bottle.

"OMG. You sold that?", says my wife.

"Yeah, why? What's wrong?"

"I bought that bottle at a $2 shop. Dad gave me the stickers from his work when I was little. One must've got stuck on the bottle by accident when it was in my draw!"

"Ahhh, I thought it was odd that the label was on a little crooked."

"OMG. Who bought it?"

"Some mining museum. We should go visit sometime. Maybe they have other fake artefacts from the early mining era!"

Cheers,
Oz

Nice!

Many offers on the internet are for residents of the USA only.
The ads don't bother to inform the reader of this.
Apparently the people responsible don't know there is a world out there.
This can lead to many frustrating experiences.

I ordered a coffee maker from RoastE, who have free shipping. They drop shipped my order from Northwest Glass, which amused me because the reason I didn't order from them in the first place was the $20 shipping charge. I got my coffee maker by the end of the week and started using it. I got a familiar looking package a week later. I picked it up from behind the mailbox, looked at the label (this time from RoastE's shipping department,) did a cartoon-style shifty eyes and head turn, went inside and put it in my closet. A month later, I concluded that the company is obviously rolling in cash if they don't notice they accidentally sent someone a second $100 item, and opened it up. I broke the top globe from one of them, but the burner and bottom pot are convenient for making hot chocolate, so I win either way.

If a company sends you something that you didn't order, legally it is viewed as a gift. Ethics dictate something different, but that's one reason why companies can't just send you something you don't want along with a bill.

!!!! So effing true. Now I never bother reading anything offered over the net unless I am 100% certain that I am in a Canadian site. there is a great Hong Kong site that doesn't suffer from this though, and has free shipping world wide. I bought a pair of noise canceling ear buds for $2.60 (Canadian) and they were delivered with no problem - Dealextreme.com try it.

I know. That's why I have two coffee makers.

The point is - if they had ever asked you to send it back, you don't have to. Which I know you know, but I thought I'd put in the thread to help others.