ComplainerMan

I have a couple of quick stories to relate regarding my recent switch from shopping at Safeway in Pleasanton to Raley’s. Everyone knows that during a recession big businesses increase profits by laying employees off. It wasn’t long after Safeway in Pleasanton installed self-checkout that they took it to the extreme. The drop-off in service was noticeable immediately, especially if you came in during the off hours. I avoided self-checkout, so during those first months, the extremely long waits were partly my responsibility.

Then last month a lot more checkers disappeared and the remaining ones became increasingly disgruntled. Who can blame them? Under-staffing to the point where it results in angry customers is the responsibility of management, however the front-line employees generally take the brunt of it. Now to the straws that broke the camel’s back:

1) It was about 9:15 on a Thursday morning and the kids and I were on our way to Great America in Santa Clara. I ran in to grab some supplies and $80 in cash. I was hoping to be in and out so we could be there when the park opened. Didn’t happen. There were two checkers, and both were anxiously awaiting the person at the service desk to stock their tills because they were having trouble giving change. After about 15 minutes of apologies from the checkers, I had to walk up to two people chatting, who were apparently managers, and ask them if they had any staff available to give the checkers money for their registers. A nice 20 minute chunk out of my life.

2) My wife and I ran in at 6 PM on a weekday to grab a few items for dinner, and saw that there were no express lanes open, only a couple of cashiers, and a throng of very sad looking customers waiting in huge lines, including self-check. We dumped our stuff and went to Raley’s, where we couldn’t believe the difference in atmosphere, and service.

3) When I ran in for a single item this morning, there was one checker, but the line was short. I purchased 90 cents worth of spring salad mix for my daughter’s tortoise (Raley’s doesn’t carry it in bulk). I paid with 4 quarters. The checker did not have a dime for change and proceeded to call for it. What a joke! “Keep the change!” I said, happy to be out of that nightmare of a store (until the tortoise needs more food, of course!)

eBay is scammer central. There are many sellers who know the system well and can fool you into trusting them. They know all the tricks, and if you are an infrequent eBayer, it’s easy for them to get the best of you. Here are some warning signs that the eBay seller you are considering making a purchase from wants to scam you.

1. The seller is relatively new, but has an apparently sophisticated system going with many auctions or sales. This could indicate the were banned, or got a large amount of negative feedback with a previous account or accounts, and are starting fresh
2. They have a low number of feedback comments, but frequent sales.  Again, if they are selling at a good pace for a number of weeks, it could mean they are new and getting a strong start. More likely they are an experienced seller and just started a new account because they were banned or got too much negative feedback.
3. Their positive feedback is for low priced items. They do have some negative feedback, especially regarding misrepresentation or poor communication. People on eBay generally don’t give negative feedback lightly, so no matter how plausible the reply, multiple negative feedback in a short amount of time is a red flag. 
4. The deals look too good to be true. They usually are.
5. The shipping is too high.  Shipping is now posted prominently in auctions, so it’s harder to pull this now, but scam sellers will try to get away with jacking it up as much as they think they can get away with. They will often quote a premium shipping service and actually ship with a cheaper carrier, and pocket the difference. 

Even after  you know you’ve been scammed, and confront the scam seller, they will try to fool you into thinking you have no recourse. You do! Immediately post negative feedback and warn others. Go to the resolution center. If you paid with Paypal (which you should ALWAYS do on eBay)  visit the PayPal Resolution Center to open your case. Then you can file a claim under PayPal’s Buyer Protection program.

I purchased an old Macintosh SE on eBay last week for $10 plus $40 shipping. For $50 I would have a piece of computing nostalgia – an anachronistic curiosity that I could mess around with for the remainder of it’s life, and then properly discard as eWaste, when that life came to a natural end. I have old SE peripherals, software and music files I used to create MIDI music back in the day, and this machine would allow me to take a stroll down memory lane. But it was not to be. When I received the old Mac, it had already met it’s demise:

Sad Mac. Dead Mac.

The Sad Mac icon, indicating a dead hard-drive. The icon is barely discernable because the CRT (cathode ray tube) is so messed up. I looked at the box and could find no damage. I did notice that it was shipped DHL, not UPS as the auction specified. I went back to eBay and confirmed that it was supposed to be shipped UPS with $100 of insurance, but I noticed something else. My sad Mac was not the same model as the one in the auction picture, which was there to demonstrate that the unit being sold still worked.

One of these things is not like the other.

I contacted the seller to inform him of the problem, but didn’t mention the picture issue to see what he would say. He didn’t respond within 2 days, so I sent another message, this time mentioning that the picture he sent of the working Mac SE was a different model than the broken unit I received. This time he responded within about 15 minutes, saying he was sorry the unit didn’t work, but that the picture WAS of the unit I received. That was it. Either he accidentally sent the wrong Macintosh SE from his extensive inventory (sarcassm) or he was trying to scam me. Selling a broken computer as working, and pretending it was damaged in shipment. I replied with the specifics of how I or anyone could tell that the computer in the auction picture was different from the Mac I got.

His reply completely ignored the picture issue and instead offered to refund the $10 I paid for the computer. Not the $40 shipping. A little back and forth later the best deal I could get from him was a full refund by shipping the computer back to him at my cost. So any way you sliced it, I was going to pay for shipping a dead stick across the country. I chose to leave negative feedback and try to get eBay to resolve the issue through the resolution center.