I'll Be Using Amazon From Now On

The first week in January I decided we had better order Toby's birthday present. This was a hassle because I don't have an ebay account (actually I can't have an ebay account, I shared once with the devil and after we broke up he ran the account into the ground a a few months after I open up any ebay account ebay contacts me and informs me that they know it's me, and I am on their "bad" list, and am not welcome on ebay ever.)

Drek will not give me access to his account, so buying things on ebay contains finding an item, IMing Drek, justifying the purchase with him (this warrants a fifteen page report on the subject complete with financial reports, graphs of account activity and the worth of the person I am purchasing for) and waiting two days because Drek cannot remember his PayPal password. Finally, we have purchased Toby's present. We bought from oddbanana, a power seller with a 99.2% positive rating out of almost 100,000 ratings and I am sure it will get here on time since we ordered it January 5th, and his birthday is not until Jan 27th.

Wrong.
On the night of Toby's birthday, we check the mail and it has still not arrived. I had to show up to the party with a card that matches an empty bag and promise that it is coming. While I don't think Toby minded (he turned one) I know it bothers Krisling since her present was also late. Late, as in, I haven't given it to her yet and her birthday was in November. I bought her a gift certificate to a yarn store than Drek threw away the before I could give it to her and I am currently in negotiation with the owner for a replacement.

So Drek emailed the seller and two days later we had no present, and no email. A few days and emails later Drek opened a PayPal dispute for "non-receipt of item". It took a couple days, but oddbanana refunded the money through PayPal with no comment or message or email.

One minute later they opened an eBay "Unpaid Item case" for the same item.

Sigh.

And now it is February and I have to start the whole ordering process over again. By the time Toby gets his birthday present he just might be turning two.