..when, with a little bit more effort, you could be completely impossible?
This was one of the many pithy sayings for which I remember my father so fondly. And it is very pertinent at the moment as I have been having a problem with an eBay buyer. I sold two mobile phones, one for $20 and one, a later model and better, for $100. After a week of not receiving payment, I notified the buyer only to be told that she couldn’t pay because her PayPal wasn’t working. Somewhat reluctantly, I gave her my account details so that she could do a direct deposit. The next day I checked my account to find that she had paid the $20 plus the freight cost for the one phone but had not paid for the other. I contacted her again and asked why and she said that she couldn’t afford it.
I reminded her that the T&C of ebay is that, if you are the winning bidder, you are obliged to pay. After numerous messages during which she let slip that she is on a Centrelink benefit (why am I not surprised?) she agreed to pay for the other phone in two installments over the next fortnight. Yes, I know I am bending over backwards, but, you try to keep people happy don’t you? (especially since eBay does not allow the seller to give a buyer negative feedback any more)
So, I posted the first phone to the address provided only for her to start screaming again that I had sent it to the wrong address. I reminded her that that was the address which she had provided and the torrent of demanding messages got worse. And, all of this over a $20 purchase.
Fed up with trying to deal with this obviously unbalanced person, I messaged her and told her that I would refund her money in return for her going away and never having anything to do with me again. This then brought on another deluge of messages about WHEN I was going to refund her money.
In the mean time, I had had second thoughts myself. I had fulfilled all my seller obligations; I had sent the item to the nominated address and it wasn’t my fault that the item was not going to be delivered to her address. So, this morning I contacted eBay disputes and spoke to a lovely lady who assured me that I was within my rights and that I should not refund the money. As they have a record of all correspondence relating to the transaction, they could obviously see the difficulties that I had had to try and satisfy the customer.
They also said that, should she provide negative feedback to me as a seller, that I should contact them and they will deal with it. Now, what bugged me most about this whole scenario wasn’t the customer’s tardiness in paying, nor her assumption that I would bend the rules for her. What really got up my nose (and still does) was her sense of entitlement, that I should jump to her demands instantly (this regardless of the fact that it was her who had kept me waiting for payment and then not paid in full as the T&C requires)
This “welfare state” mentality is becoming increasingly evident in our society and is a very worrying trend. I don’t know what the answer is to the problem, but I don’t like where it is heading.
In motorcycling, the first day of testing for Moto2 and Moto3 is taking place in sunny Spain…..NOT. By all accounts it is freezing cold at the track and, while testing has continued, there is the feeling that much of the data gained will not be of exceptional value once the season proper begins. Australia’s Jack Miller topped the Moto3 timesheet for Day 1.
Everyone is getting a bit “antsy” as the season proper looms large. Round 1 of the WSBK kicks off in just over a WEEK at Phillip Island, “yikes” and I will be there to try and prise out the best interviews I can for you. While there isn’t the laid-back atmosphere at this event like there is at the Island Classic, the bottom line is that, the people are still motorcycling enthusiasts, and that, given the opportunity to talk about their passion, they will take it if they can.
Getting excited again.
On a sad note, I am planning to attend a memorial service on Sunday in Canberra. It seems astonishing to think that a year has passed since my good friend, teaching colleague, musician and motorcycling buddy, Hilary Morton went to his reward courtesy of the big C. I still think of him often and miss his cheery conversations on the phone. I hope that I can play my part in the service and truly honour a man whose friendship I greatly valued and who I still miss.