Tuesday, October 28, 2008

As the Post Office Turns

It's been about a year since I complained about the post office in my neighborhood. Incidentally, if you were wondering, I finally received the check I was waiting for in June, along with several missing 1099's and W-2's.
A couple weeks ago the cord on my laptop decided to give up the ghost. I searched around for one that would work on my computer and am praying that it's not the little prongy thing in the back that is messed up. Of course I won't know that until I actually get the damn thing in.
Anywho........
I ordered it from Ebay and have since been awaiting anxiously for my precious cord to arrive. Of course I have a tracking number in which to make things easier for me to stalk check on the progress of my package. So imagine how happy I was yesterday to see this:
Detailed Results:

Delivered, October 25, 2008, 10:45 am, KILLEEN, TX 76549
Arrival at Unit, October 25, 2008, 8:07 am, KILLEEN, TX 76549
Processed, October 25, 2008, 12:15 am, WOODWAY, TX 76712
Processed, October 24, 2008, 3:00 am, FORT WORTH, TX 76161
Processed, October 20, 2008, 11:17 pm, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94188
Electronic Shipping Info Received, October 20, 2008

But wait! The 25th was on Saturday. This didn't make any sense. So, I called the post office to ask "What gives??"
I call the post office and speak directly to the postmaster because I am not a stupid person and I do try to learn from my mistakes. I explained the whole sordid story starting with the fact that I had the tracking number. He asked for the tracking number and proceeded to check it out to make sure I wasn't making things up. After checking and seeing that yes...it states that it was delivered to me, he then started the blame game.
PostMaster: "Well, have you looked through all of your mail?"
WhiteRabbit: "I have been waiting for this package for a week so yeah..I checked all my mail"
PM: "Maybe someone got the mail on Saturday and forgot to tell you"
WR: "I have one key for my mailbox and I am the only one that checks it"
PM: "Well we give you two keys...."
WR: "Regardless, I have one now and I am the only one that checks the mail. When I go out of town the mail stays in the box and nobody will check it until I get back"
PM:"Well, did you check the person's rating on ebay to make sure they actually sent it?"
WR: "Dude, check your computer screen again. The seller sent the package. It got lost on YOUR watch."
PM: "Well, maybe we can have the postal carrier check again and I will ask him about it when he gets back. Maybe he put it in the wrong box or something."
WR:"Well if he delivered it on Saturday, then yes, he put it in the wrong box cause it was NOT in my box. When will you speak with him and get back to me? This evening?"
PM:"Um no, he gets in really late from his route but I will call you first thing in the morning. What is your number?"

Fast forward to this morning. No phone call. So I tried to call him and the phone was consistantly busy for 3 solid hours. 3 HOURS! Finally, around 12:15 I was able to get through and he told me that he would have to call me back after speaking with the postal carrier who was going to look through everything. So I came home checked my mail and no package. Mail had been delivered but no package. Sigh.
So I called back and was placed on hold for 20 minutes before I hung up and called back. I was then told that he was busy and couldnt come to the phone.
Then my head exploded.
Okay, it didn't really explode but the long story short is that someone else has the stupid power cord that fits my damn computer and there isn't anything I can do about it. I just have to hope to God that the seller insured the package and if not that he is a nice person because honestly, he did everything he was supposed to do. It's not his fault that my post office sucks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, by eBay rules even though the seller did what they are supposed to, they are responsible for getting it ALL THE WAY TO YOU. If they got insurance, great. If not, they owe you a refund and it sucks for them but that's life. If you do Paypal you can do a chargeback through them if the seller tries to fight it. Even when sellers say postal mistakes are not their problem, its not the truth. Read the eBay complete rule about shipping and refunds.

whiterabbit said...

Unfortunately, everything that I have read stated that if it was tracked to my house then they are no longer responsible. I just received a reply from them which basically said "Too bad, so sad"