Burned on eBay
Okay, its no secret that I love tools. I'm an electrician, which means I have to have tools for electrical, electronics, carpentry, plumbing, drywall, metalworking and general mechanics. Add a love of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, and, well the friendly folks at Sears and Home Depot send me Christmas cards. So it was no big surprise even to my wife when I decided it was time to upgrade some of my power tools. I have nearly the complete line of 18 volt DeWalt (the professional arm of Black and Decker) tools, and some of the batteries were starting to fade after years of hard work. DeWalt has a new line of Lithium Ion tools and batteries out that are also backwards compatible. The choice was easy, I could replace and upgrade at the same time!!
My drill takes the largest beating at work, and the new batteries fit a little different, so I went ahead and bought a new drill with a battery and charger, as well as a double charger and three additional batteries (Yes, the batteries are expensive, but by having several of them, they get rotated slower and have time to cool off between charging and draining, which makes them last much longer. I typically work with 4-6 batteries between 2-5 tools during a day.). So this drill looked like a winner, and The seller had a decent rating, so I snagged it....
In large print it states, "This is a brand new item and is not a refurbished or used." Cool. Poor English, but at least it's new and not a pawn item.
Clue #1 So that was May 11. Today (the 27th) it finally arrived - Priority Mail. WTF?! The auction didn't mention the shipping type, just that it was via USPS. I had assumed that it was sent "slow boat," which is common here in Hawaii. We don't exactly have a "ground" route to the islands, so anything cheaper than 2nd day shipping takes about 2 weeks to arrive. Priority mail always makes it in 2 days from the time it is shipped.
Clue #2 I examine the box. The drill, charger, and battery are crammed into a flat rate Priority Mail box. This can't be a good start.
Clue #3 Individually bagged within the box. Not exactly what you'd classically call "padding."
Clue #4 Everything looking good so far....what the?
Okay, maybe they just had dirty hands when they were packing. I mean, the auction said it was absolutely new after all.
Clue #5 Funny, that trigger looks a little worn.
Clue #5 Cracked case and broken seal
All of this I could still take in stride, until I pulled the trigger; nothing. All right, I'll try another battery; nothing. Not only had this thing been worked on, it had been done poorly. the case halves don't even close at the trigger, and the forward/reverse switch is so loose it rattles. It appears as if this drill were scavenged for parts, because everything is immaculate except for the trigger, which is well worn and doesn't work.
Clue #6 Hey, what is that paper? Spam? Great. As if I don't get enough of th....WTF?! Why in the hell is it dated the 19th if I purchased on the 11th and got a ship notice from USPS on the 14th!?
[**** This is a post-only message. Please do not respond. ****
Dear RANDALL BENNETT,
This ship notification is being sent to you by the U.S. Postal Service at the request of XXX XXXXX. If the "Shipped To" address information is not correct, please contact the Shipper.
A package with a Click-N-Ship label created on usps.com containing the following information is scheduled to be shipped on 05/14/2008.
Type of Service: Delivery Confirmation™
Label Number: 0103 8555 7494 xxxx xxxx
To check on the delivery status of your package, please go to Track and Confirm at www.usps.com.
Thank you,
United States Postal Service
**Please do not respond to this email. Any reply will not be received by the USPS or the shipper. This email was sent to you at the shipper's request to notify you that the information above has been electronically sent to the USPS.]
This seemed beyond carelessness. It was bad enough being strung along for a couple weeks, but to get a broken tool that's been tampered with in insufficient packaging is too far. Now I understand all the defiant statements on their auction about how to (and not to) contact them, the time limits on returns based on when the shipping labels are printed, etc.
**Update** To their credit, they were very easy to deal with once I contacted them. They immediately shipped me a replacement drill along with prepaid return postage for the damaged one. I was also sent numerous apologies. I don't know whether the drill was drop-shipped, or they just do too much volume to individually inspect all of their items, and I guess I can't really blame them in either case. I did feel that it was poorly packaged and that something, be it USPS or not, severely delayed the shipment. Out of good faith I have removed all references to them in the post and comments though since their follow-up service was outstanding. I'd rather give an ambiguous review than name names since I cannot guarantee any facts in the matter. I'm sure all four of my readers were not heavily swayed in their shopping preferences.
My drill takes the largest beating at work, and the new batteries fit a little different, so I went ahead and bought a new drill with a battery and charger, as well as a double charger and three additional batteries (Yes, the batteries are expensive, but by having several of them, they get rotated slower and have time to cool off between charging and draining, which makes them last much longer. I typically work with 4-6 batteries between 2-5 tools during a day.). So this drill looked like a winner, and The seller had a decent rating, so I snagged it....
In large print it states, "This is a brand new item and is not a refurbished or used." Cool. Poor English, but at least it's new and not a pawn item.
Clue #1 So that was May 11. Today (the 27th) it finally arrived - Priority Mail. WTF?! The auction didn't mention the shipping type, just that it was via USPS. I had assumed that it was sent "slow boat," which is common here in Hawaii. We don't exactly have a "ground" route to the islands, so anything cheaper than 2nd day shipping takes about 2 weeks to arrive. Priority mail always makes it in 2 days from the time it is shipped.
Clue #2 I examine the box. The drill, charger, and battery are crammed into a flat rate Priority Mail box. This can't be a good start.
Clue #3 Individually bagged within the box. Not exactly what you'd classically call "padding."
Clue #4 Everything looking good so far....what the?
Okay, maybe they just had dirty hands when they were packing. I mean, the auction said it was absolutely new after all.
Clue #5 Funny, that trigger looks a little worn.
Clue #5 Cracked case and broken seal
All of this I could still take in stride, until I pulled the trigger; nothing. All right, I'll try another battery; nothing. Not only had this thing been worked on, it had been done poorly. the case halves don't even close at the trigger, and the forward/reverse switch is so loose it rattles. It appears as if this drill were scavenged for parts, because everything is immaculate except for the trigger, which is well worn and doesn't work.
Clue #6 Hey, what is that paper? Spam? Great. As if I don't get enough of th....WTF?! Why in the hell is it dated the 19th if I purchased on the 11th and got a ship notice from USPS on the 14th!?
[**** This is a post-only message. Please do not respond. ****
Dear RANDALL BENNETT,
This ship notification is being sent to you by the U.S. Postal Service at the request of XXX XXXXX. If the "Shipped To" address information is not correct, please contact the Shipper.
A package with a Click-N-Ship label created on usps.com containing the following information is scheduled to be shipped on 05/14/2008.
| From: | Shipped to: |
| XXX XXXXX xxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxx XXXXXX XXXX xxxxx-xxxx | RANDALL BENNETT xxxxxxxxxxxxxx KAILUA HI 96734-xxxx |
Type of Service: Delivery Confirmation™
Label Number: 0103 8555 7494 xxxx xxxx
To check on the delivery status of your package, please go to Track and Confirm at www.usps.com.
Thank you,
United States Postal Service
**Please do not respond to this email. Any reply will not be received by the USPS or the shipper. This email was sent to you at the shipper's request to notify you that the information above has been electronically sent to the USPS.]
This seemed beyond carelessness. It was bad enough being strung along for a couple weeks, but to get a broken tool that's been tampered with in insufficient packaging is too far. Now I understand all the defiant statements on their auction about how to (and not to) contact them, the time limits on returns based on when the shipping labels are printed, etc.
**Update** To their credit, they were very easy to deal with once I contacted them. They immediately shipped me a replacement drill along with prepaid return postage for the damaged one. I was also sent numerous apologies. I don't know whether the drill was drop-shipped, or they just do too much volume to individually inspect all of their items, and I guess I can't really blame them in either case. I did feel that it was poorly packaged and that something, be it USPS or not, severely delayed the shipment. Out of good faith I have removed all references to them in the post and comments though since their follow-up service was outstanding. I'd rather give an ambiguous review than name names since I cannot guarantee any facts in the matter. I'm sure all four of my readers were not heavily swayed in their shopping preferences.
posted by RebTurtle at
8:00 PM
