Don't Miss Out

For the last 5 or 6 weeks I have been engaged in a bit of a wrangle with a business based in N.S.W. named R&C Solutions but trading as Don’t Miss Out. They don’t have a phone number listed and our dealings have been by email and lots of chat sessions with several of their operators. They are auctioneers and have many items on eBay.com.au.

That is where I came to bid and win two items from them. The first item was a mobile phone the same as my current phone, a Sagem. The battery in my old Sagem was on the blink and I won a brand new Sagem for $8.27 plus postage; a real bargain…and it arrived two days after making payment and works very well.

The second item I won was a laptop computer. As it turned out I didn’t want the laptop. The person I was bidding on behalf of decided she didn’t need one anymore. At that stage I had made the winning bid. OK, I thought, I would on sell it as it was priced right.
Unfortunately Kev didn’t read the description of the item and it was described as in poor condition. Bummer!

I waited a couple of weeks before contacting Don’t Miss Out and that is when the Merry Go Round started turning. Every day I contacted them I had to jump through the hoops regurgitating the item No., invoice number, payment details and eBay item number. Each time the operator would put me on hold whilst she searched the warehouse. I was even told to trace the item myself through the shipping company…nothing.

At four weeks, I demanded to know whether the item was lost; whether in fact it had been sent and whether in fact it existed. Twice I was told that it had been located and sent that day. At five weeks I asked for a refund. My daily rants must have worn them down as full refund of my money was made by PayPal.

Lucky I was able to get out of accepting a laptop in poor condition.

Does this stop me/us buying on eBay? No. Yesterday I ordered print cartridges for our Brother all-in-one printer at around at third of the regular price.

Teary Helen

Bro-in-law Mike has shown quite a bit of improvement since his deep brain stimulator has been turned on. He can now pour and drink a glass of wine without giving everyone a shower. Previously he had to use a kiddie drink cup with a spout on it. The next time he sees the specialist the voltage will be increased and he should see still more improvement.

Daughter Helen is quite upset and teary today. Her plans to live in the beachside unit for a year may have fallen through. She has been there for about four weeks and has settled in nicely. Yesterday the tenants received 60 days notice of eviction, ostensibly to allow the demolition of the whole block of units. She inquired of the elderly woman who lives upstairs and found out that she has tenancy until January 2009. So it is possibly a move to get a higher rent in the intervening period. Helen rang today and we calmed down and formulated a plan which will either...1. See her sell her rented unit, or 2. Try and see if she can pay the difference of any rent increase, 3. Shift in with Mum and Dad, or 4. Rent somewhere else at the same rent as she is getting for her unit. The latter option is not good economics.

Last night the ordination of Australia's first Anglican Bishop took place in Perth. The traditionalists are unhappy claiming that the blokes who wrote the Bible weren't misogynists and got it right when shielas were specifically banned from running the show. She is 51 years of age, but looks quite a bit older. Are Bishops allowed to fib about their age?
I have turned into an eBay nut. Too many bargains to be had there. I blame it on Paul, a friend who seems to have bidders twitch. Just recently I have bought a remote for my Nikon D70 camera, an LCD protector for the camera, a chip re-setter to enable me to refill printer cartridges and I have two more items en-route from somewhere out there....a 512MB memory stick for brother's Mac and an in-line ADSL2+ filter again for Bro. All these items are at just a fraction of the same stuff purchased locally.