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sarea
I was an avid fan of BtVS/AtS, but I never saw "Firefly." The premise didn't interest me (WTF cowboys in space? I don't even like cowboys in their natural habitat), and it never got a chance to really take off and change my mind before it was canceled. So I had no earthly clue what "Serenity" was until early this morning ... and then it was just, "Oh, okay." But now I hear that it's screening where I live, and though it's sold out, there are always ways to try and get into these things. But the real question is, should I even bother? Would someone who hasn't seen "Firefly" even understand it? Is Gina Torres more tolerable in it than she was as Jasmine or Anna Espinosa? Is Nathan Fillion a murderous Southern preacher man? Haven't watched the trailer because you have to download QuickTime. And to download QuickTime, they also make you download iTunes. Well fuck that. I hate that shit. DON'T MAKE ME DOWNLOAD THINGS I DON'T WANT TO FURTHER YOUR OWN AGENDA. I'm so freaking tired of seeing Mac products all over TV shows, as if it's even realistic that apparently, 99% of computer users use Macs. Talk about fantasy.
So do you remember, back when I was building my new computer, I had all those issues with getting the right graphics card? Well, I ended up getting a used one on eBay that was advertised as "barely used." After much trauma and time wasted, my brother and I finally determined that it was actually dysfunctional. It wasn't completely broken, but it certainly didn't work the way it was supposed to. See, it had all sorts of fancy things about it to make playing 3D games like WoW richer (or even possible). The card worked just fine when I had it in my old machine (before the rest of the parts for the new computer had been assembled), but I only ever did normal things on that machine -- Web surfing, word processing, etc. The second I had all my new computer parts, I installed the card in the new machine and started to play WoW. However, after about four minutes of play, it would simply freeze and not go on. And eventually, I realized that the fan on the card (yes, it requires its own fan, that's how fancy it is) wasn't working.
Well. You can imagine how much that pissed me off. And I was really worried, because it'd been about a month since I ordered it (delay due to all the trouble I had with the CPU, etc., later -- this time, building my own machine was a total ordeal), it was off eBay, I might have to spend another $200 for a new card, which is not exactly pocket change. So I contacted the seller, who was, of course, basically like, "Too bad, so sad." Now -- I don't want to lay the blame entirely at his door. I don't know when the card began to malfunction, maybe it happened during shipping, I don't know. It might have been working fine when he sent it; or he might have been scamming me all along, it's hard to say. The fact remained, however, that I had paid $200 for a dud graphics card.
Now, as I said, it worked in terms of -- I could see things on my monitor. But it wouldn't let me play 3D games, which is what I had gotten it for. If I didn't want that functionality, I could have gotten a MUCH cheaper graphics card. So, to me, it was essentially useless. First, I contacted the seller, as I said, to request a refund. Not surprisingly, he refused. Next, I went to my credit card company (Discover) to dispute the charge, on the basis that I had not received a working product. I also filed a claim with PayPal, which said, if I remember correctly, that it would resolve the issue in 10-14 days. Discover issued a temporary chargeback, pending investigation.
About a week into PayPal's inquiry (I basically filled out an initial complaint form, and did not get ANY additional opportunities to state my case), they sent me this reprimand, saying, "We discovered that you got a chargeback issued with your credit card company; in future, we'd like the opportunity to review the case before you do that." My thought on that? Fuck you and your mom. So I ignored it. Because I'm looking out for ME, not THEM, and I know they're sure as hell doing the same, in reverse.
Over a month later, PayPal settled the case -- and denied my claim, citing that "the claim does not fall under PayPal's definition of significantly not-as-described and does not qualify for a refund." Which, let's think about this for a moment. If they had said that I was too late to come in with a dispute, I would have been fine with that (though then they should tell me that at the outset). But THAT was their reason? That the item was not "significantly not-as-described"? WHAT FUCKING BULLSHIT. Clearly, they knew NOTHING about the item or why I was making the dispute (not that they gave me a chance to explain in detail, since they never contacted me), because it couldn't have been MORE "not as described" except for it not working at all. I'm sure, to them, the fact that it allowed me to use my monitor, etc., meant that it was working. In their minds, the fact that it didn't work for 3D games was a side or minor issue. Well, to anyone who gets that kind of card, it is the MOST IMPORTANT issue! As I said earlier, that is the functionality that makes the card so expensive!! I mean, I equate this with having ordered a 5-speaker badass stereo system and getting a fucking clock radio. According to PayPal, that would be fine, because hey -- it plays music. What FUCKWITS they are over there.
But I got the last laugh. So they denied my claim, and in the back of my mind I knew I would have to replace the fan on the card so that I could attempt to sell it again (I would have just done that the first time instead of buying a new card, except I had already spent so much time on it that I just wanted to play WoW, dammit), since theoretically it would be fine after that. It irritated me that I would have to spend more money on it, but it was the lesser of two evils (I'd be out an additional $20 or so, as opposed to $185). Then yesterday, I got an email from the seller, who wanted the card back. He had requested this earlier, but I told him that I felt uncomfortable sending it back when PayPal had not yet resolved the case. (Our communications have been v. civil.) So when he asked for it back this time, I was puzzled. I was like, dude, PayPal denied my claim, I'm not sending the card back to you AND still have to pay the $185.
Then he said that he had spoken to PayPal, and that there was nothing they could do because my credit card company had issued the chargeback.
Ha. Haha. Hahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAAHA.
So I contacted Discover, and they confirmed that they had sent out some kind of notice when they issued my temporary credit, but there had been no response given in their allotted time (thank you, incompetent PayPal people), so now the chargeback is permanent. She said I should send the card back, but get it done registered mail so that I would have proof that I'd sent it. Which I am going to do today.
The moral of this tale is: If you get something through PayPal, always use your credit card (unless the seller doesn't take credit cards, in which case you should not be a dork and try to send them credit card payments anyway, which is something that happens to me quite frequently). PayPal tries their best to discourage you from doing it, but ignore them. Then, if you ever need to dispute a charge, do it through BOTH your credit card company and through PayPal, because you need to cover your bases. Ignore, once again, PayPal's reprimand that you should not contact your credit card company before they've had a chance to resolve the case. (Also, even though PayPal says they'll take 10-14 days, expect to wait over a month.) As my case shows, your credit card company is looking out for YOU -- YOU are their primary concern, their main customer. That is not the case with PayPal. THEIR main concern is the seller -- the person who pays PayPal's fees and encourages people to do business using PayPal.
God, it feels so good to have given them the virtual finger.
So do you remember, back when I was building my new computer, I had all those issues with getting the right graphics card? Well, I ended up getting a used one on eBay that was advertised as "barely used." After much trauma and time wasted, my brother and I finally determined that it was actually dysfunctional. It wasn't completely broken, but it certainly didn't work the way it was supposed to. See, it had all sorts of fancy things about it to make playing 3D games like WoW richer (or even possible). The card worked just fine when I had it in my old machine (before the rest of the parts for the new computer had been assembled), but I only ever did normal things on that machine -- Web surfing, word processing, etc. The second I had all my new computer parts, I installed the card in the new machine and started to play WoW. However, after about four minutes of play, it would simply freeze and not go on. And eventually, I realized that the fan on the card (yes, it requires its own fan, that's how fancy it is) wasn't working.
Well. You can imagine how much that pissed me off. And I was really worried, because it'd been about a month since I ordered it (delay due to all the trouble I had with the CPU, etc., later -- this time, building my own machine was a total ordeal), it was off eBay, I might have to spend another $200 for a new card, which is not exactly pocket change. So I contacted the seller, who was, of course, basically like, "Too bad, so sad." Now -- I don't want to lay the blame entirely at his door. I don't know when the card began to malfunction, maybe it happened during shipping, I don't know. It might have been working fine when he sent it; or he might have been scamming me all along, it's hard to say. The fact remained, however, that I had paid $200 for a dud graphics card.
Now, as I said, it worked in terms of -- I could see things on my monitor. But it wouldn't let me play 3D games, which is what I had gotten it for. If I didn't want that functionality, I could have gotten a MUCH cheaper graphics card. So, to me, it was essentially useless. First, I contacted the seller, as I said, to request a refund. Not surprisingly, he refused. Next, I went to my credit card company (Discover) to dispute the charge, on the basis that I had not received a working product. I also filed a claim with PayPal, which said, if I remember correctly, that it would resolve the issue in 10-14 days. Discover issued a temporary chargeback, pending investigation.
About a week into PayPal's inquiry (I basically filled out an initial complaint form, and did not get ANY additional opportunities to state my case), they sent me this reprimand, saying, "We discovered that you got a chargeback issued with your credit card company; in future, we'd like the opportunity to review the case before you do that." My thought on that? Fuck you and your mom. So I ignored it. Because I'm looking out for ME, not THEM, and I know they're sure as hell doing the same, in reverse.
Over a month later, PayPal settled the case -- and denied my claim, citing that "the claim does not fall under PayPal's definition of significantly not-as-described and does not qualify for a refund." Which, let's think about this for a moment. If they had said that I was too late to come in with a dispute, I would have been fine with that (though then they should tell me that at the outset). But THAT was their reason? That the item was not "significantly not-as-described"? WHAT FUCKING BULLSHIT. Clearly, they knew NOTHING about the item or why I was making the dispute (not that they gave me a chance to explain in detail, since they never contacted me), because it couldn't have been MORE "not as described" except for it not working at all. I'm sure, to them, the fact that it allowed me to use my monitor, etc., meant that it was working. In their minds, the fact that it didn't work for 3D games was a side or minor issue. Well, to anyone who gets that kind of card, it is the MOST IMPORTANT issue! As I said earlier, that is the functionality that makes the card so expensive!! I mean, I equate this with having ordered a 5-speaker badass stereo system and getting a fucking clock radio. According to PayPal, that would be fine, because hey -- it plays music. What FUCKWITS they are over there.
But I got the last laugh. So they denied my claim, and in the back of my mind I knew I would have to replace the fan on the card so that I could attempt to sell it again (I would have just done that the first time instead of buying a new card, except I had already spent so much time on it that I just wanted to play WoW, dammit), since theoretically it would be fine after that. It irritated me that I would have to spend more money on it, but it was the lesser of two evils (I'd be out an additional $20 or so, as opposed to $185). Then yesterday, I got an email from the seller, who wanted the card back. He had requested this earlier, but I told him that I felt uncomfortable sending it back when PayPal had not yet resolved the case. (Our communications have been v. civil.) So when he asked for it back this time, I was puzzled. I was like, dude, PayPal denied my claim, I'm not sending the card back to you AND still have to pay the $185.
Then he said that he had spoken to PayPal, and that there was nothing they could do because my credit card company had issued the chargeback.
Ha. Haha. Hahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAAHA.
So I contacted Discover, and they confirmed that they had sent out some kind of notice when they issued my temporary credit, but there had been no response given in their allotted time (thank you, incompetent PayPal people), so now the chargeback is permanent. She said I should send the card back, but get it done registered mail so that I would have proof that I'd sent it. Which I am going to do today.
The moral of this tale is: If you get something through PayPal, always use your credit card (unless the seller doesn't take credit cards, in which case you should not be a dork and try to send them credit card payments anyway, which is something that happens to me quite frequently). PayPal tries their best to discourage you from doing it, but ignore them. Then, if you ever need to dispute a charge, do it through BOTH your credit card company and through PayPal, because you need to cover your bases. Ignore, once again, PayPal's reprimand that you should not contact your credit card company before they've had a chance to resolve the case. (Also, even though PayPal says they'll take 10-14 days, expect to wait over a month.) As my case shows, your credit card company is looking out for YOU -- YOU are their primary concern, their main customer. That is not the case with PayPal. THEIR main concern is the seller -- the person who pays PayPal's fees and encourages people to do business using PayPal.
God, it feels so good to have given them the virtual finger.
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Date: 2005-04-28 03:04 am (UTC)