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Storm clouds over Dorset….
Posted by on July 5, 2008
I try not to use this blog too often as a personal forum for all my pet peeves, personal traumas and disasters however, every once in a while something happens and I just have to explode! Back in April, I thought I was being very clever and bought some garden furniture from an eBay shop. It was a very good price (but still quite expensive -£600 or so). I still haven’t received the furniture.
Here we are at the beginning of July and my garden is still bare. I am furious. Particularly as the company that sold it to me (Land of Sofas based in Poole – be warned!) are now no longer registered as an eBay seller and do not communicate with me at all, and all their contact details are no longer available on eBay.
I managed to track them down and have contacted them several times. The girl I spoke to (Gemma) is always very short with me and seemed irritated I am bothering her. She has given me several dates for delivery, which have passed with no apologies or explanations, so I opened a dispute with PayPal and they are investigating the situation but as time goes by and our very short summer whizzes past, I am still furniture-less. My lovely big sons keep offering to go round and sort her out, as Poole isn’t too far from where I live (she signed off with her home address when she initially contacted me after the sale) but I am resisting their offer and attempting to do things through proper channels but if all else fails, I may go round there myself (with sons and a couple of their taller, even more scary friends) to discuss my refund!
The annoying thing is that the seller does appear to have lots of positive feedback but on closer investigation, most of it is for selling some sports drink bottles. All the feedback for the garden furniture they have sold in the past, says how long they had to wait for delivery and a lot of those people demanded refunds. The lesson from all this is to read the feedback properly. Don’t just look at the high positive feedback score and assume all is well. That’s the end of the lesson, I’ll keep you posted with any developments.
Anyway, rant over. A nice thing this week, has been reading the new ‘Top 101 Artists’ Blogs’ list over at Kim’s blog. Kim very deservedly (especially since her blog redesign) is at number 1, Emila’s lovely blog is at number 2 and guess who is number 3? Yes, moi! It’s such a phenomenal amount of work to update this list every month (particularly given the vagaries of Technorati) so I do recommend you head over there to check out some great art blogs. Kim was also sweet enough to pass on to me one of the many awards she has received recently – the Friendly Blogger award – well I try to be! Thanks Kim!
I’m going to pass this on to a couple of new commentators here at ‘Much of a muchness’ , 70’s teen and Daddy Papersurfer. If you read their blogs you will see why I enjoy reading them so much. And they are indeed, very friendly bloggers :-)
As I write this, there are gale force winds and rain sodden grey skies above, but does this stop #2 son from lighting the barbecue and cooking the ribs he so lovingly prepared last night? Indeed it does not. He is outside wearing shorts, a jacket and a woolly hat, cooking our lunch before we settle down to watch the tennis at Wimbledon (ladies final – the Williams sisters – should be a good one).
After the tennis, #2 son is going out (to play golf would you believe!) and I am settling in to watch Doctor Who – series finale, cliffhanger ending last week, Martha, Rose, Donna, Daleks, Davros and all the Torchwood team, especially lovely John Barrowman aka Captain Jack – I can barely wait – 5 hours 20 minutes to go……
I was supposed to be going to a picnic at Mapperton listening to Cuban Salsa music tonight but that is looking like a non-starter so more TV it is….and then tomorrow, the Men’s Final, Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal, the dream final! Woo hoo!
Couch potato? Moi?
Much of a muchness 
what a rotten shame about your outdoor setting Diane…
the dogs !!!
dealing with this sort of thing can be sooo frustrating :(
I went through a similar experience recently with my leather lounge..took them 3 weeks to repair it !!!
haha your son looks quite hilarious in his ‘summer gear’ looks exactly like the gear my son wears :)
thanks for the great promo xx
I’m up late watching the Tour de France…
enjoy your tennis Miss Potato….
Sorry about the furniture. That really stinks.
I so want to watch all those Doctor Whos we haven’t seen in the US yet. We didn’t even have an episode this week. I’m going through withdrawal.
Kim – It is frustrating. The really annoying thing is that the company said they had 10 sets to sell and they obviously didn’t have any….so there must be 9 other extremely p****d off people out there too.
There is SO much sport on TV….British Grand Prix, Tour de France, tennis, and it will soon be the Olympics. I wish I could get fit watching sport…… :-)
Paul – maybe the DVD’s are the way to go? I think series 4 will be out soon. And Torchwood. You must watch Torchwood :-)
[I also have some very scary sons if you need to use a little ‘persuasion’.]
Thank you for the lovely award! I shall steal it now and put it on my special shelf that is in my secret Blogging Facility on the moon. You probably don’t know about it but it’s where I plot and plan with my cat Uma …… it’s a long story ……..
Just watching our junior ‘Miss Robson’ – seems to be doing rather well ………….. and thank you for reminding me about Dr Who as well – what a day!!!
Scary sons? The more the merrier! I’ll call on you if I need them….
My pleasure, you must tell me the long story one day. I am a relativley new convert to the delights of the world of DP, you will have to excuse me if I’m not always up to date….
She’s won! How very un-British of her but how wonderful! Such a mature player for one so young. :-)
30 minutes to go……
Looks like it’s high time I sold those dust-gathering chairs in the garage to ten different people. First one to send sons over wins – shipping is just too much of a hassle these days.
Hmm…I’m an artist but I don’t share my art online. Everyone is a thief :(
Sorry about the garden furniture saga. Hope you either get it soon or your money back. Looking out at another miserable wet evening , you might console yourself that you wouldn’t be using it tonight.
Ulquiorra – ha ha – but I’m sure you wouldn’t rip people off. Would you? I’d have to send the boys round if you did :-D
You should sign up to be included in Kim’s 101 top artists’ blogs list….
Ian – so true…but I want to be ready, just in case we do get a summer….even if it’s only one day :-)
I totally understand your frustration! It is NOW you should be using the furniture, and its bad business not to deliver on time. Hope it all works out.
Don’t leave it too long. If they are going to totally let you down, you may be able to claim via Paypal (if you paid that way) or via your credit card. I made that mistake, but I only lost $60.
That is frustrating about the furniture. But if you can’t vent on your blog … where can you? :)
Congrats on the awards, and you’ve passed it on to 2 fun blogs :)
dianeca – thanks. It would be even worse if the weather was nice but it is windy and rainy :(
I still want my furniture though. Or my money back…..
quirkyartist – PayPal are investigating but even that process is taking forever….
Drowsey – I could scream when I think about it, I must admit, but I don’t like to bore you all with my petty frustrations. Just the big ones :-D
Daddy Papersurfer and 70’steen are fun aren’t they? Highly recommended….
Would you like some flowers? …………
Why, what have you been up to? :-)
Hi Diane,
I have left a mail in your ‘contact me’ form. Hope it reaches you this time. So sorry to hear about your furniture, hope things get sorted out soon. Yes DP and 70s definitely deserve this award :) But I see that DP has a cat as well, he is always upto something. :p I have added you in my blog roll.
Regards,
Scratch Bags
What an unfortunate furniture experience. Look at it this way. If it is not there, you can hit your shins on it in the middle of the night.
can’t hit your shins. Dang all undoes.
scratchbags – yes, I finally got your email!
Thanks for adding me to your blogroll I shall do the same for you…
Creechman – I’m not often in the garden in the middle of the night but if I was, it’s true I am not in any danger of banged shins. So that’s a relief.
Luckily, I’m also in no danger of crashing the private plane I don’t have or choking on the pot of caviar I’m not eating. So that’s got to be a good thing….
Well, though I wouldn’t rip people off, one of those “empty box” auctions people seem to bid lots on sounds tempting.
“Note: This auction is for a playstation 3 BOX only”
Current bid: $210
Well, there’s no accunting for the stupidity of people is there? Bidding on buckets of water and the like….
Oh Diane Thank you so much … I am overwhelmed :-) That is is such a lovely thing to say about me. I will fix the award in pride of place as soon as I have finished my comment. & thank you too Scratchbags and Drowsey Monkey :-)
Such bad karma about your garden furniture. I would be hopping mad too. Usually though Paypal are good at getting the money back, I do hope this is so in your case……. but have some comfort, you talk about storm clouds, it has rained up here for days and we have had a couple of thunderstorms today :(
You are very welcome!
I hope PayPal do sort it out – although to be honest, I would still like the garden furniture…
We have had high winds and heavy showers too – a big lump of tree blew down out of my giant lime tree last night. Good job I wasn’t sitting under it!
So sorry about your bad eBay experience!
Your #2 is really sporty and I do believe the ribs tasted good after all:-)
So it was Nadal’s time this year then. I’ve seen the whole match on the net provided by a Norwegian TV channel – as you know I’m out of the country on vacation and are always on :-)
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
I hope the eBay experience is sorted out soon.
The ribs were very good, even in the rain!
The tennis was SO exciting, I could hardly watch. Glad you could see it too. How did we ever manage without the internet? :-)
Have a wonderful week too, Renny.
Hi Diane,
I enjoyed reading your blog, I miss Dorset as we moved up to the Birmingham area from Poole a couple of years ago (don’t ask!). Sorry about your problem with the furniture, it can be so frustrating sorting these things out, I hope you dont have to wait much longer or there wont be any summer left to enjoy them (she laughs hysterically – read my blog to find o0ut why). Hope you enjoyed that last episode of Dr Who as much as I did (see, nothing wrong with being a couch potato from one to another:-) Loved reading your blog and will be back for more!
CharmaineZoe
I used to live in Birmingham (well, Sutton Coldfield) but I worked in Birmingham ….so I hear what you are saying! I love it down here.
So sorry about your holiday (and your decorating disaster!) the weather has got to improve, hasn’t it?
Doctor Who was fab, enjoyed every minute and can’t wait for more :-)