My Ordeal with eBay

Everyone knows eBay, the online auction site and marketplace. It's a tremendous outlet for all kinds of items from the unique to the mainstream and of any era, worldwide. It's also a great way to sell stuff; where else can you have access to buyers from around the globe? I've sold many items in the past on eBay from clothing to toys to electronics. Historically these sales have gone fairly seamlessly, but this latest experience was not the case.

Since I've had experience selling items on eBay, a friend asked me if I could assist him with selling a couple of old iPhones he had lying around. Sure, no problem! I listed them in much the same way I had in the past and after some best offers and counter offers, the buyer and I agreed on a price and the sale was made. They paid quickly via PayPal and I shipped it out right away. Per the USPS, they received the phone a few days later. Another successful transaction, or so I thought.

A couple of days later I got an email from the buyer indicating that the phone would not turn on. Strange, I thought, since I personally reset the phone and charged it before shipping it out. I wrote back and inquired if the box was damaged or showed signs if mishandling, he wrote back that it did not, and asked to return the phone in return for his money back. I didn't want to tarnish my perfect feedback rating with a negative review, so I agreed I would. In addition to our communication, the buyer opened a case with PayPal, requesting a refund. I accepted the request under the condition that the phone be returned.

A day or so later, I received an email from PayPal with a tracking number for the return, and a few days later the tracking update showed that it was delivered to my mailbox, only when I went to the mailbox, there was no package of the size that I shipped the phone in. I figured it must have been mis-delivered and would show up in a day or two, it didn't. What did show up was an email from PayPal indicating that based on the info available, they have found in the favor of the buyer and refunded the money. I called PayPal to let them know I in fact did not receive the phone back, but received nothing at all. Again they pointed to the evidence of the USPS tracking number showing that it was delivered.

It was at that point that I remembered that a small package was delivered that day, and I dismissed it as something my wife ordered. When I checked the tracking number, sure enough, it matched the one the buyer had furnished. However this was not the iPhone, box, charger, cable, and case that I had sent him. What it was, was a clear plastic phone case.

What I sent:

What I got back:

It was at this point that the full breadth of the scheme became clear. The buyer used a dummy package and tracking to fool PayPal into giving him his money back, with great success. I was out the money and the goods. And what was I supposed to tell my friend who entrusted me with this transaction?

I notified PayPal of what had transpired since my last call. They offered me the option to appeal their decision. Yes, I'll do that!. After initiating the appeal process, they sent me an affidavit form to fill out and have notarized before returning, along with a detailed account of the situation. I completed their form, had it scanned and sent in. They said it would take up to 10 days to review, but to my surprise, a few days later I received a decision from PayPal that they reversed their original verdict and that the funds would then be credited back to my account.

So, in the end, outside of the time and frustration, I suffered no loss and PayPal stood behind me, the seller and long time customer. Likely the fraudulent buyer did a bunch of these transactions all at once, banked a bunch of funds, emptied their PayPal account and made off.

In spite of the fact that I didn't lose any money on the whole deal, it will certainly give me pause next time I need to sell something whether or not to use eBay. Clearly there is a flaw in the system that dishonest people are exploiting and until eBay can guarantee smooth transactions, it might not be my go-to method for selling things that it used to be. Next time I'll use Craigslist, there aren't any sneaky people on there, right?

The Myth of Bluetooth

Bluetooth is amazing! This magic technology allows devices to communicate with each other wirelessly over short distances. You can connect anything from headphones, to thermostats, to your refrigerator. At least...that what it's supposed to do.

My car is (supposedly) equipped with bluetooth connectivity, which allows me to pair my phone with the car's in dash audio system, allowing me access to my calls, texts and music. This is great because  it limits my interaction with my phone while driving, and keeping my eyes on the road. Even more so, since I live in a state where there is a hands free law, mandating that I don't use or look at my phone while driving. Fantastic!

On the day I bought my car, within minutes I was able to pair my phone with the car, share contacts, make calls, and stream music. It was amazing, a revelation from the old tape deck days. However, over time, the relationship between my phone and the car has deteriorated. When I start the car, I now run about a 40% chance that the two will hook up properly. Frequently, I am confronted with the screen below, requiring me to turn off the car, and restart it, hoping that the next attempt will be more successful.

I've tried a bunch of different types of therapy between the two (forgetting and reestablishing the link, apps on the phone to help bridge the connection, selecting the phone manually from the car's interface), but this pairing seems doomed.

My current car's lease is due up soon, I can only hope that the next car will have a system that will bring a relationship coach along for the ride.

Training Days

Recently I've had the occasion to commute to work via train rather than braving the traffic by driving in. I wasn't sure what to expect, since I hadn't commuted in this fashion before. I was surprised to find that it was not a terrible way to travel. It's relatively comfortable, usually on time, and I don't have all the frustrations and road rage from sitting behind the wheel. But, as with any mode of travel it has its weirdnesses and annoyances.

Firstly the train station is a microcosm of human behavior. The station I board at is fairly small with limited parking, so you have to get there early to get a space. The more hardcore of my fellow riders take this to an extreme, getting there way before the train is even close to arriving, only to sit in their cars for upwards of a half an hour waiting. And, in spite of the fact that there are signs clearly indicating 'No Idling', their engines hum away.

At the platform, there are a few locations where passengers can board the train. At each of these locations, a line forms. The early birds will step up to the boarding areas, and deposit a backpack, bag, lunch bag, or even a bottle to hold their position then return to their automotive pod to continue to spew exhaust into the atmosphere. Being the newbie that I am, I actually will get out of my car and stand in line, however, now I am standing in a line of bags, choking on fumes.

One day, as the train was pulling into station, and everyone retrieved their bags, bottles, etc. to actually form a human line, another fellow just stepped up to the front of the line and just boarded the train. We all looked at each other like, "did that just happen?" noone saying anything. It had momentarily upset the precarious societal balance of the platform, only to turn back to normal. I wonder if one of these mornings, he'll try it again and be torn limb from limb.

Finally, the time comes to board the train. Now comes the game of seat neighbor roulette. You look over all the people with empty seats beside them, evaluating if they will be good partners to spend the next hour plus with. Do you choose the fat lady sleeping? The guy with the laptop and headphones? Or the person reading a book? I am currently running about 50-50 in terms of picking good neighbors. I've people snoring, eating, drinking, even farting audibly.

But, of them all, I think my biggest pet peeve are the people that talk on the phone on the train. Full conversations, full volume, and no regard for anyone else around them. Even through my noise cancelling headphones, these idiots can be heard. I would never take a call on the train, I just don't have it in my personality to know I'm pissing off everyone around me. Not these folks. And, about 99% of the time, they same the same thing, "I'm on the train". Good for you, better tell the world!

Bottom line, whether its the idlers, the line cutters, or the loud talkers, the people can be the worst part of riding the rails. If only they could be 'trained'.

The Great Outdoors...I'll Pass Thanks

"Let's go camping Dad!"

Few other phrases make me cringe quite as much. I just don't get it. Why do people want to go camping? Didn't we evolve and develop our society to move forward from our primitive hunter-gatherer roots? I just fail to see the appeal.

Now let's be clear, I'm not talking about the rolling luxury suites that are larger than most urban apartments and far more comfortable. I'm talking about 'real' camping: Sleeping on the ground, in a tent, with a sleeping bag, and cooking over a fire. If your camping adventure includes a mattress, a kitchen, indoor plumbing, wall to wall carpeting, and most of all air conditioning, that isn't really camping and certainly not what my wife and kids have in mind. No, their definition involves becoming one with the mosquitoes, eating charred hot dogs covered in the floating ash of kindling, and the togetherness that can only come from cramming 4 rectangular bodies into a hexagonal tent. They seem to think that the fun lies in learning the intricate contours of the earth with my vertebrae, or hiking 200 yards to use a campground bathroom, a hike that seems far longer in the cold morning light for a shower of cold to tepid water under a trellis of spider webs.

To add insult to injury, our sad little tent is usually surrounded by RVs and we are forced to try to find slumber amongst the whir of their A/C compressors kicking on and off all night long. Not that anyone is sleeping anyway, since the tent turns into a sauna once the zipper is closed, only to find that the sauna has mystically turned into a cold damp cave come morning and everything inside is wet.

So next time the kids ask to go camping, I'll just pretend I can't here them over the TV and A/C while I lay on my comfy bed.

Don't Call it a Comeback...

So, my fans (AKA immediate family) have been asking me, 'Why haven't you written a blog entry lately'? Maybe the world has achieved a level, and there's nothing more to write about? Or perhaps its just been outright laziness. My vote is the latter. So here I am trying to re-kindle the spark and to get back to writing meaningless posts read by a handful of people...and there was much rejoicing.

While we are on the topic of laziness and do-overs, let's talk about Hollywood's love of remakes. If I have to hear about another remake of the Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood, or Godzilla I'll go batty. Does the world really need to see another version of Annie? How many times do we have to see Peter Parker get bit by a Spider, or Superman landing on Earth? Whatever happened to coming up with a new story line?

However, as with any good rant, there are exceptions. The latest series of the Planet of the Apes movies are excellent, although technically these are prequels, so I'll give them a pass. At any rate, it would blissful to see a new and totally creative story line come out of Hollywood, rather the current flow of rehashed versions of the same ones.

And hopefully this spark will catch fire and I will return to quietly ranting to the few.

Fresh Travel Tales

Been traveling a bit lately and usually that results in some interesting stories and observations:

Exit Row Not All It's Cracked Up To Be:

Sometimes you think you have it all figured out. I booked a cross country flight and when I looked at the seat map I screeched with glee when I saw that I could choose a window seat on the exit row. It's a well known fact that the exit row has additional leg room, so I was very pleased with myself. Upon boarding I was indeed blessed with lots of leg room, but it was not without its penalties. Firstly,  the seat did not recline, so I was missing out on those extra 5 degrees of recline angle comfort. No sleep for me, so I thought I would get some work done. Only the table was so far away, it was really bouncy,  every key stroke shaking the computer.

Other consequences of this seat choice had nothing to do with the seat but with my neighbors. At one point, I felt a bump on my elbow. I looked down and saw the sole of a huge Nike,  the giant behind me was not satisfied with his extra leg room and felt the need to wedge his foot between the side of the plane and my seat. Also, whenever Goliath got up to use the restroom, he used the back of my seat as a handle/springboard.

Things were no better in front of me. The restless sole seated there kept bouncing on the back of his seat, which made my already shaky tray flail around with every motion.

And if all that wasn't enough, the couple sitting next to me took the cake. At the beginning of the flight, they were working together on a crossword. Nothing wrong with that, except they routinely celebrated their puzzle prowess by kissing, often. What made this that much more awkward was that they were of a later generation,  like in their 70s. It didn't stop there, for the beverage  service the lady of the pair who was seated next to me got an instant decaf coffee. I don't drink coffee and don't know what was in the stuff she drank but it created the most foul coffee breath I ever encountered. She did pop a mint or two, but they were powerless against the stench.  And when she and her beau tired of crosswords (and kissing) in favor of a nap, she fell asleep with the look of a corpse, mouth wide open, the smell of coffee glazed trash freely blowing forth. "Luckily", the couple both woke up and went back to their gaming/PDA. It was a long flight.

The return flight had a similar woe. I paid extra for an even more space (jet blue speak for more leg room), since it was a red eye. Well that backfired. While I had tons of leg room, I was again cursed with a non reclining seat. Sleep was a challenge.

Stuck in the Middle:

I like window seats. I like to look out the window, and it cuts my interaction with other passengers by 50%, I like those odds. Usually I am successful in getting the window, but on my latest flight, not so much, I was singing the middle seat blues. On one side, a long haired hippy type with a bulky military jacket. Fortunately, he was quiet and read Harry Potter the whole flight, but I had to relinquish the arm rest. On the other side, things were very different. The man who sat next to me seemed reasonable, but when he sat down, he sat with a 'wide stance', legs splayed out so his leg was against mine. His legs were so far apart, it was pushing the armrest up. Awkward...Then, he began humming. I don't know the tune, but it was audible and constant. I was tempted to ask what song was in his head, but decided to pop in my earbuds and avoid the confrontation. While I tried to tune out the humming, I noticed midway through the flight, he was on his smartphone. No big deal, I was watching a movie on mine at the time. However, I noticed he was texting, in flight. We all know that when flying you are supposed to put your phone in airplane mode...AIRPLANE mode. Get it. I don't know what effect our phones have the planes or its systems, but the FAA has decided we shouldn't do it. Do I believe the plane will fall out of the sky if the Mad Hummer texts in flight? No, but why does he feel entitled to make that decision on the part of everyone on the plane, just to send a few texts?

Fido on Flight?:

It started small, little pets, in a carrier, under the seat. Then I started to see working dogs in the airports and on the planes. But it seems to have gotten out of hand. People just walking around the airport with their dogs? And not just little ones, I've seen larger dogs that are more than would ever fit under the seat. When did this become OK? I realize we are all attached to our pets, but in the end, these are animals and as such are unpredictable. They can bite, scratch, soil, or any other possible things that animals do. And what if one of the other travelers are allergic? Why should the rest of the plane be subject to an individual's pet in tight quarters?

Runway torch bearers:
On a recent flight, the plane came in early and we were parked waiting for the gate to open up. I was watching the pushing back process. Lots of us have seen it, a little buggy attached at the front wheels shoves the plane away from the gate. Ever notice the two 'attendants' that go along with this process? Two people in bright colored vests holding up an equally bright piece of plastic. What is the point of this? Are they worried some will run into the plane? Is someone going to miss the giant airplane on the tarmac but somehow notice these two?

Automated fixture roulette:
Almost every time I get off a plane, I visit the restroom. Mostly because airplane bathrooms are nasty and I avoid them whenever possible. Have you ever noticed the game of a chance that occurs in every bathroom? It seems that at best only half of the automated soap dispensers, faucets, toilets, paper towel dispensers, and hand dryers work, and I always choose the faulty ones first.

The Big Push:
Rented a car lately. Boy do they put the screws to you. Pre-buy gas you'll never (and can't possibly) use...never mind that the only way to get the full use of this is to run tank dry. BUY INSURANCE!!! No, I carry auto insurance and my credit card picks up some insurance too. Who pays an extra 20 bucks a day for this? And what's with all the taxes? My rental price practically doubled by the time the taxes were figured in. Just include it in the quoted price!

I know this was a long one...now it's your turn, let's hear some of your travel stories.

Protecting the Edge

I'm one of those people that does not believe in a naked smartphone. A case and a screen protector are a must. These days a phone costs more than a computer or a car payment and the idea of leaving it exposed to the harsh world is unthinkable to me. When I received my new Edge +, I had no case or protector, so it sat in the box for for a couple of days till those arrived. Oh, the anticipation. But clothing the Edge+ proved to be harder than expected, so I'm sharing my experience.

When my accoutrements finally showed up, I went straight to the task of installing them. First the screen protector. I went for a tempered glass model, since those feel the best, but there were few choices for the edge screen. Also strange, they mostly had a colored finish around the sides. So I found a cool green one (the Edge+'s little brother comes in a gorgeous emerald green color, that I was hoping this protector would emulate, it didn't). The install went well, bubble free and matched up with home key and speaker. But when I powered on the phone, it had a weird dot pattern in the glass. My new beautiful quad HD display marred with a grid of dots, what the heck? Then I put on the case, a minimal clear plastic model. I guess not minimal enough, because when I snapped it on, the edges of the screen protector cracked. Yikes. Luckily I had bought 2, so I put the second one on, but the case kept pushing the sides up.  Clearly this combo was not going to work.

Combo #1:

   

On to the second try...after a bit of research, I tracked down a screen protector that declared it was 'case friendly'. Perfect, except it was plastic. It got good reviews on amazon so I decided to try it. The install process was...interesting.  It was a 'wet' install, basically you spray the phone and protector with some kind of magic liquid that allows for adjustment, then squeegee out all the excess liquid. I did the initial install and it looked pretty good, but there appeared to be a hair under it, so I pulled it up and wiped it down, repeated the process, hair still there. After a third and fourth try, not only was it still there, but now I had two...I was able to clean off the new one but the old one was still there. I completed  the install, hair and all. Overall the protector was surprisingly good for a plastic one and unbelievably,  the 'hair' disappeared. The billing of self healing was true! I complained to the company about the install anyway and they sent me a replacement shield. Good customer service. And it truly was case friendly working well with the second case, an even more minimal plastic case.

Combo #2

  

So I'm good now, right? Not quite. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I was determined to find a tempered glass protector, so I ordered one off eBay that was all clear, no color border, and the pic on the listing revealed no dots. But...when it arrived, there were the dots. Didn't even put it on, just complained to the seller and they refunded my money. Next...

Image from Ebay listing: (looks clear to me)                 

Actual glass:

I decided to try another plastic model, since I had the best success with that to date. I found a well recommended one that came in a pack of 6 for $1.99, pretty low risk, so I went for it. Good thing they were so cheap, cause it took 3 attempts to get a clean install. But once I did, I was pretty pleased with it. These cheapies were a great deal and what I'm using now, along with an aluminum bumper case. But, the edges are starting to come up a bit, so I'll probably have to replace it soon.

Combo #3:

 

I still haven't given up on glass and have another option on deck, waiting for a rainy day that I feel bold enough to try it.

Till then, the Edge is protected, but it was not easy. Maybe there is something to be said for going naked.