regarding the missing seeds...well i looked at the plastic baggie real closely..it did not appear to show any use that it had been opened..there would be slight indentations on the bottom. it was a 2x3 baggie and there was only writing on the baggie on the middle white part.
so if the fault was really the sellers..he said he had so many and the correct amount was missing. i hope he finds an extra baggie somewhere with the missing seeds in it.
it is much easier to prove that the plants were sent..rather than seeds, i think with delivery confirmation.
pam sue
who pays for lost packages?
I too agree, if it was delivered, and you can proove it was delivered. Its not your problem. If it was seeds, I would send them again, life is just to short. I somewhat have to disagree with Charlie ( and thats hard as Im still eating red rippers, the most beuatiful peas), if you take pay pal or a credit card, you better be able to cover yourself or some buyer can shut you down. D/C and a receipt form the PO are the only way I know to do that.
With seeds it's not that easy to send the same cross again. Often when I post seeds that amount is all there is of that cross. I can offer substitutions but often I can't replace the exact cross.
I like the DC cause it is proof that a package was sent and that it arrived at that location from you. I can't think of any way to prove what was inside the package though. As for insurance if you've sold a packet of seeds for $2.00 and paid 90 cents for DC there isn't enough left to pay for insurance (not to mention the cost of the bubble envelope!) and still make any sort of profit on them. At that point you might be better off just giving them away cause you're bleeding money!
MollyD
Let me tell you about Paypal....I had a man in Germany order about $175.00 worth of seed from me off ebay. I made the list right from the Paypal invoice that I printed, filled the order checking off each item, added a buch of Bonus seed, and shipped it off. About 2 weeks later I get a message telling me that he didn't get 5 items. I had more seed of all the crosses and told him that I would send more. Now I was wondering if maybe a Customs Agent didn't lift a few since I use Customs Declaration forms on all the packages. Anyway the following week I send out the replacement seed and this XXXXXXX files a claim with Paypal for the 5 missing packets. Paypal wanted to take the WHOLE $175.00 back. po'd is not the best term to describe how mad I was. SInce the money was not in my Paypal account they tried to take it from the checking account I sent the money to. this checking account was only used to transfer money from Paypal to me, and pay my ebay invoice. I withdrew the difference and either used it as pocket money or put it in our normal checking account. This could have been disasterous. The bank would have paid it, causing an overdraft @ $36.00, and an $8.00 a day Negative Balance Fee. I had to run out and raid a savings account to get money into that checking account. I cannot put what I said in an e-mail to him but AOL suspended my account because of it. I sent that e-mail only after I took care of the problem at the bank and refunded his money for the 5 packets of seed and he would not drop the claim. Finally after about a week and a half he dropped the claim. The only good thing that happened is I did not use a Customs Declaration form on the package since it was under a certain weight, I forget what the limit is but none was supposed to be required (I found out later that it did not apply to bubble mailers, they need them) and the 5 packets and more Bonus seeds were returned to me because they were refused entry into Germany.
The most irratating part of the whole thing was, that once he filed the claim, he no longer understood English until I fired off that e-mail that got my AOL account suspended. He uderstood it then.
I still use a separate checking account at a bank where we have no other accounts for Paypal.
As a buyer, I would try to work with the seller. What action to take would depend on how much I paid for the seeds. I understand that the exact same cross might not be available, but if I paid $20-30+ for a special cross I would react differently than if I paid $5-10 (including shipping). If it was a seller that I had dealt with before and trusted, I might even see if I could get the same cross next year for one that I really wanted.
While I realize that the seller has no control over the final price (we do lose our minds sometimes and decide we just HAVE to have that special cross), the seller does control the initial bid as they set that.
The bottom line is that we both need to be reasonable about lost/damaged items. While I can sympathize with a seller that really did mail out the product, only to have it lost somewhere in the netherlands through no fault of their own or crushed because an elephant decided to sit on it while in transit, I as the buyer did not receive what I had paid for and I too am out good money through no fault of my own.
(I am ignoring the bogus customer that only claims to not have received the package, that is an entirely different proposition!)
I am in a nightmare situation on the seller end myself. I got my first negative on ebay and I am livid. I dont care so much about the negative...like above, its the reason. I offered a refund, the lady wanted to wait...ok no problem. Sometime during the 17 day wait it would take for the item, she decided to file a pay pal claim instead of wait, or ask me for the money back, as I offered from the get-go. Anyway, pay pal took the money and I do mean took, out of my bank account on the 23rd of of august as a refund, she did not get it back until the 26th of september, and blamed me for pay pal holding it for a month. I too am going to have to set up another account to deal with pay pal. As a buyer, its great, one thing for sure, if you have a problem, they are going to get your money back for you, even if they do hold it for awhile. If you didnt get seeds tho, and the seller has proof of sending and especially if the d/c shows it was delivered, they will fall on the sellers side. After all, the post office doesnt gquarantee delivery, why should every seller take on that responsibility. If you have some sort of tracking number, be it D/C, the PO usually can find it.
Ditchlily206,
I know I would replace seed that was crushed (if I can), and I would send another packet if I am contacted and told the package was short. The problem is there are those out there that are trying to get something for nothing.
I feel for you Gardenglory, you can add a rebuttal to that feedback and it will appear right with it. You can also follow up on the feed back you originally left for the customer. Last but not least you can block them from buying or bidding on your items again. I recently found it really amusing when someone contacted me because they couldn't purchase seed from me, they are blocked because they claimed they didn't receive their seed the first time and I had to refund them. She did mention how nice the first seedlings came out.
I have had more sellers send my stuff before I paid this year than ever, even yesterday I had two plants show up and I hadnt even mailed the check. This one guy, I called and he said, O dont worry, im new, just let me know how they do, i said okey dokey, but sent him the money of course anyway. Im not a perfect customer and I know it on LA. I try my hardest, but with seeds and such and you have so many. Even spunky Im afraid had to write and say hey, you paid for the first batch but there is one cross hanging. Darn sure was, I would have never figured that out until I realized I didnt have the cross. I will say, its the first pay pal payment I have missed this year, I try to pay immediatley or its a disaster. When people take checks, they say keep bidding and send one check, then a month passes and your still bidding, then they wrote and are mad you havent sent the check. Its plants and I dont like stressful situations around them.. Im done with checks except a few sellers, mary jane and helen ( bigstump)..
That was the weird thing, It started out perfectly ammicable and resonable, and homestly, even tho the lady whigged out, I consider it pay pals fualt, She knew that too, thats why the negative feedback bugged me. Funny thing was, she wrote good things and bad, more like a neutral, but what she was mad about was the 6 week wait for her money, which had nothing what-so-ever to do with me. I guess I was the only one to take it out on.
I know we are talking shipping seeds, but with ebay, and even more 'interesting' customers than LA, I ship only with a carrier or I make sure I can incure the loss. Even little stuff is cheaper UPS than USPS after you add the D/c and some insurance. Something ups/fed ex comes with up to 100. Thing is, you have to take it to the ups depot, not to a shipping store if you want it the cheapest. rate. There rates on line are cheaper than the rates they give it to the pack and ship type stores.
Lotsalilys: That is why I said that I would try to work with the seller and the caveat about the "bogus" ones that only claim to not have received their seeds. Most of the posts have been from the seller's side and I wanted to get in some equal time.
All that said, I personally have had very good experiances so far. The only problem I had was with postage-due on a seed package and that was resolved. The next time I ordered from that seller he rebated the difference in shipping AND shipped the seeds even before I had paid for them. Got to like that.
Laura
LOL thats funny that I would be put on the sellers side. I think it runs about 50 to 1 the other way hehehe Im on both sides as you see, so it all still comes down to the same ole thing...buyer beware
looks like we all have our share of problems
yes buyer beware because a seller could forget to send or put in seeds and yet used a delivery confirmation to prove he sent them.
this is the first time ive had an empty baggie..ive had seeds smashed (and since then ive asked sellers to double wrap the seeds) ive had seeds sent but the wrong cross. ive had seeds that sprouted enroute and arrived shriveled up to a dried up string with empty shell. Moldy seeds..seeds that were dried up too much that they shattered in transit.
it is best to stick with the sellers you know and trust. because it saves you headaches and we dont need stress
pam sue
Thank you for this information. I am relativity new at mailing seeds. I had no problems last year - and don't want any this year. I am going to follow John's recommendation to use D.C. Only thing is this will make me up the shipping to $2.00 per auction. But this is for 1 pkt of seeds or 10!
If you print off the mailing label, and buy the "stamps" online, you can get the DC for free. At least I do when I send priority mail. I also get a stamps discount. The combined savings make it worthwhile for me to go to the library to print these. Check what the savings is for a regular envelope. From what I can see, it can be as low as 18 cents for those, when it would normally cost 75 cents.
A word of advice for those of you that print mailing label at home. I had an experience where I purchased almost 50 bucks worth of seed. I waited and waited and they didn't come. A month later I asked abotu them and the person had sen t they shipped them. I sat back and waited another month and still no seeds.
Eventually the seeds showed up three months later. Thsi was not the first time I had seed come up missing. What had happened is folks that use them what ya call it clip and ship the homemade labels. When they tape it on the the bubblers, if you don't have it taped exactly right, from the shuffle and stuff those tape edges cna come up and loose.
Then they get stuck to other peoples mail. That what happened ot my package, not havign the label taped properly the tape came loose on the edge and had all kind sof cute piece sof paper stuck to it from other peoples mail and it had gone into a hold bin until somebody decided to seperate the mail attached to my package.
When ya tape make sure the tape goes all the way aroudn the edge some and press it down good.
When I do the click and ship USPS labels I try to glue them down.
I like to go to the PO cause then they weigh the package and I pay exact postage. Flat rate is ok for real heavy packages but lighter stuff can cost half as much by having the PO weigh them.
MollyD
edited for spelling!
This message was edited Oct 6, 2008 9:45 AM
I go for the receipt. Gotta have it. Its a paper trail thing.
This is SO off the subject, but something Im dealing with with my left hand as my right hand types. The paper trail thing just got me going.
We got a letter from a collection agency saying we owe the state of VA. 14K.
We would call to talk to them and they would hang up and do all kinds of crazy things, for people trying to collect money. I decided two could play at that game, and since I was sure we didnt owe, I didnt care. After talking to VA. it is what we thought, they didnt catch that most of our 'income' that year was from the sale of a house ( which we lost money). Not even in Va. is that taxable. Anyway, the collection agency doesnt care, they are trying to garnish wages etc. they are hounding us to pay the 14K then prove it. UMM HECKLLLLLLLL NO!!! Since this was about a paper trail, I will get to the point.
This was ELEVEN years ago, eleven. I thought you only had to save tax papers for 7. By some miracle,( or not cleaning out) we had/have all the paper work we need. But that is a tru miracle, who saves papers for 11 years. Well, ok we didnt until now. Funny thing is, they say they didnt get the return. I started thinking, if you dont send a check, and are not due a refund ( we were due a refund and still havent been able to get it....they say that time limit is 3 years lol), then you really dont have a way to know if they got it. . Who would EVER think that it would take 11 years for them to get back to you.And that your wages can be garnered if you dont have what you need, even if your right. Scary.
CYA
Time for a lawyer who's a tax expert Pam !
MollyD
Pam get a lawyer and sue the pants off the collection agency and then retire off the proceeds. There is one and only one place for a bad collection agent...right next to a crooked lawyer in HELL!
Well, funny you should mention that. I would have had to do just that, if we had of not had that 1099 that said 'sale of house'. It is a scary thought, that if you get targeted, you are either out money for the lawyer or money to shut them up. Or, if by some miracle, you still have papers over 10 years old.
The collection agency wanting the money first, and then prove it second, what country did they come from??? They have even called my MIL. I know we only know each other thru word, but let me tell you, that really jerked my chain. ( in daves allowed lingo)
Sounds like a scam.
I would say go ahead and sue that agency. They're using illegal tactics. It's against the law for them to contact people you know who aren't part of the situation since they had no trouble reaching you. It's called harassment.
MollyD
O yea, get this Molly, when they called the MIL, who is in her 90's, he gave her our home phone and said that he was a friend/former work mate from Ca. ( they are in ca. , so that covered his caller ID butt), but he couldnt get us ( that should have been a clue to Her, but anyway), he was wondering if she had a cell phone number. WELL, since he called my husband AJ and he knew our home phone, she figured it HAD to be legit. You know the rest of the story.
Im sure there are plenty of lawyers that will take this case for the chunk of change they would get in the settlement.
You got that right mosbyone. All their actions sound highly illegal to me.
MollyD
There are some lawyers that will have a free initial consultation where they figure out if you have a case. Can't hurt to ask.
and they'll tell you if they're willing to work for a piece of the settlement. In which case if they loose they don't get paid.
MollyD
I will say this, not to sound like a whimp. Even tho I knew we were right, and even tho I actually found the original paperwork, it still caused many sleepless nights becuase of the sheer ability of the government to get into your stuff...wages etc.
Go after them for sure. That a scam and a half. I wsa in tears one time and crying and everythign else cuz of tactics a scam company that said they was colelction agency tried to pull. Some fly by company bought accoutns and then was callign all thos eaccounts and harrassign them with garnishment and jail time and all kinds of things . What they was doign as illegial and they managed to upset a whole slew of us folsk thinking it was real.
Now that things are rough aroudn the country a whoel lot of scamming going on. I got a piece of mail today for my son that they want him to send money for warranty extension on his vechile. he is to call with exact miles and vin number. And the letter is a last warning. Funny, my son don't own a car and has been serving overseas for the past two years and hasnt even been back in states. The shisters are out there and they coming out in droves scrambling for everybodys money.
Gardenglory - I am speechless!! Their behaviour is outrageous. Nothing wimpy about having sleepless nights over something like that. How many other people have they harrassed, and how many people has it worked on, not to mention the elderly. They must be reported. That sort of behaviour is just not on.
Sue
I'm going round and round with a collection agency too. When I closed my store I called and asked for a final electric meter reading. I thought they got in and did it. Two years later I get a letter telling me I owe $318.25. The store front was empty for 2.5 years and when the new renters moved in they electric company read the meter. Anyway, I had to pay a $200.00 deposit which was never applied to any balances. I had 0 balance when I closed. They seem to have lost record of my deposit despite my sending a copy to them, and they contend they had applied it to my balance, but cannot tell me when. The problem is the store was empty for so long and there was almost no usage until the next tenant began remodeling to move in. I agreed to pay the bill because I failed to follow through with the final reading, but I want the $200.00 credited. I tell them almost daily that when they send me a bill for $118.25 I will pay it. They just want me to pay the $118.25 and then dispute the other $200.00. I have very good credit, and know that this one strike will not make much of a difference, and also know that I can rebutt anything they put in my credit report. I have gone so far as to dare them to take me to court. I almost enjoy the daily chats. My newest game is to see how long I can leep them on the phone. I'll ask them about the weather, tell them about ours, ask silly questions.etc.
I sucessfully sued a home improvement store years ago that sold it's credit accounts. During the transition period I stopped receiving bills. I called every month to tell them I had still not gotten a bill after about 10 months I found out I was being sued over the amount owed. I counter sued, and was able to give dates, times, and the names of the people I talked to. Not only was the suit dropped, but the debt was forgiven, I was awarded $5,000.00 in damages. The amount they were trying to collect was less than $500.00. I must not have been the only one either because the Judge didn't seem to agree with their argument that I knew I owed the money and should have been making payments. I knew I had it won when the Judge asked how I was supposed to know where to send it, and cited my call log. They admitted that my account had "fallen through the cracks".
For real, when they threaten to take ya to court or do anything tell them go head. They have to get a court order first from the judge and it sent to you and the court sends ya a form to fill out if ya owe or not and if not why. I had one take me and I had paperwork from 6 years back on a fully paid bill that somebody tried to sell in a bunch of debts to some shody colelction agency. I went to court and the case was dropped. They didn't even show up cuz they knew that it was fraudulent and if they would have tried to pursue, like Lotsalily I would have sued them and won.
There was one guy that was really bothering my daughter. She made the mistake of giving him her work telephone number. He called her at work and told her if she didn't pay him he was going to get a warrant for her arrest. She came home crying so I called him and she gave him permission to talk to me. I asked for his address, he gave it to me thinking I was going to pay the bill, and asked why we just didn't take care of it over the phone. I told him that I would be in his office on Monday and we could discuss payment. That got him back peddaling, and I ended up on the phone with his supervisor, he not only lost his job, but they cancelled her debt. I told him that she would be talking to a laywer on Monday morning and I would be there looking for him. They made everything ok though.
You just cannot let them people bully you, I told those people that called me what they could do more than once. I am sure that I will pay no more than $118.25. Remember that you can also pay the original party, and the collection company gets the shaft!
Sometimes I just think scam artist say they are a collection agency. A few weeks ago a person called and said I was behind on a credit card and I told him I didn't have any balances and that was impossible. He wanted my social security # etc.
I asked to speak to his manager and all of a sudden it was oh we are sorry we have the wrong address.
"Not even in VA is that taxable.".....laughing...although the situation is not at all funny.
I think I heard or read somewhere that folks pick up these old 'debts' and try to collect on them (they get a percentage or something)...
We had a collection agency try to collect on a debt we absolutely didn't owe...had to do with a homeowners' association from a home we had sold. They only tried to collect this under my husband's name. I tried to explain....hello, we sold the home, had an attorney, everything was dotted and crossed. It was outrageous. My husband said we are not going to bother with this...it was a small amt, like $200 and something (but continued to run interest...). I think they thought we'd pay it just to get rid of the harassment.
It never caused us a problem as we have excellent credit. However, when we refinanced our home, they asked about it (slimy agency placed it on his credit report...which just burns me that people can do that). It didn't make a difference, but I sent the credit agency all the info...and they removed it. I thought that meant all the credit agencies would dump it...but, no. I think we have removed it from two now...and it is just a hassle, so who cares.
You'd think those agencies who collect information (without your knowledge and permission) would have to be a bit more responsible about that information....especially since they sell it. But, no.
I am sorry you are going through this, Gardenglory. Thanks for the heads up about keeping information. I was just thinking about tossing some old banking statements form 2000/01....maybe not.
On another note be careful on co-signing notes too. I co-signed for my son in law on an education loan. A few years later we bought a new house and the education loan was on our credit report as ongoing (it wasn't a problem though but it was still an amount on the liability side).
Hey spunky1, Guess what! The two seed auctions that I won from you on the LA just showed up in my mailbox. I looked at the stamp on the envelope and it was dated August 24. I wonder where it has been sitting for almost two months. The seeds did not look too bad. I may try to plant them and see if they germinate. Just to let everyone I got a full refund from spunky for these seeds when they didn't show up, however if they come up I guess I owe Spunky a refund :) Better late than never.