Ok. I know it's a long story-- but I've included pictures and a chance for NS member interaction so it's probably worth reading if you're really bored and all of the threads in your "my threads" list don't interest you.
Searched for a chair for my living room forever, and found one that I absolutely loved. I wanted a chair with woven leather as the back, and I couldn't find anything for less than around $2000. So I found this chair on etsy.com and it looked like what I wanted, and it was only $150.00. The woman lives in Florida and quoted me a shipping cost of $50.00, so I offered her $125 for the chair (175.00 total including shipping). She accepted. She didn't tell me her method of shipping or anything, but I was going through paypal so I figured it a pretty safe bet.
She lets me know I have to pick up the chair at the greyhound terminal in Seattle when it arrives. Ok by me. The day it arrives I go to pick it up and the chair is not packaged well, the legs were just left exposed and out of the box entirely-- well, 3 of them-- one appears to just be missing. So I file a greyhound shipping claim for damage (seeing that a leg is missing), and take the box home. Here is what it looked like:
I start to open the box, and notice that yes-- the leg had been broken off. I open the rest of the box and the other leg was broken off too, and the chairs frame broken in about 5-6 places-- I mean we're talking shattered. I notice that on one leg, the break appears to be where repairs had previously been made (brads/nails in what should be a solid piece of wood) and the other leg has rot in the wood where it broke.
I message the seller and tell her that the chair she sent is broken. I said that I would pursue a damage claim with greyound, but since she didn't insure it, greyhound would only cover $100. I asked her to refund me $75.00 so pay for half of what repairs would cost (I received a quote for 150). She refuses and just says "sorry, but its not my fault or responsibility"-- so the chick thinks that I should pay $175.00 for a chair, get a pile of kindling instead and just eat the loss? Not willing to work with me at all. She denies any previous repairs, even after a professional checked it out and confirmed. I mean-- yeah, maybe she didn't know it had been repaired, maybe she bought it used and it was like that also, but that doesn't mean that I should just get screwed out of what I was told I was buying (perfect condition).
I open a claim with paypal and she says "im fighting this claim, my shop policy is no refunds." I said..."you can't have your cake and eat it too-- use paypal to attract buyers that enjoy paypal protection policies but then opt out of the protection part." She ignores me, and attempts to fight the claim with paypal, which I know isn't going to work.
So where I'm at right now, is that paypal will ultimately tell her to give me back all of the purchase price including shipping, and then I'll have to pay to ship the broken chair back to her. Leaving me with a net loss of about $50.00. Leaving her with no money and a shattered chair. I messaged her once again today and said that my offer still stands, if she refunds me 75.00, she gets to keep 100, I pay an additional 75.00 to get it repaired and i get my chair. She refuses. Well, I really want the fucking chair. So if she isn't willing to refund me anything, I'll likely just end up eating the cost of repairs (150) and the money I already paid (175), total of $325, and she'll have no consequences.
If I go the route of repairing the chair, I'll have paid $325, but it just eats at me that she gets away with sending me a piece of shit rotted, repaired chair and doesn't have to refund anything or have anything happen to her. So, I'm asking for ways of getting back to her if I go this route (I really don't want to pay for shipping to send this back to her and get a refund, i just want the chair).
spark notes: etsy seller sent me piece of shit chair, wants me to eat the cost of the chair plus repairs. What are some clever ways of ultimately getting the last laugh with an online seller??
