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So I bought a book via half.com, Viking Patterns for Knitting. I borrowed this book via ILL and decided it was a must own -- among other things, she has charts for the Futhark for fuck's sake. So I run a couple of searches and find it being offered on half.com. I buy it on 4/10 and pay right away. The next day I get an email saying it's been shipped via media mail and that I should receive it sometime between 4/21 and 5/01. OK, I can barely contain my excitement, but I wait. And I wait...and I wait some more.
On May 2, after the mail has been delivered and I STILL do not have my book, I contact the seller and ask what's up? When did the book ship and how so that I can figure out what's going on. Today I get an email saying (i) the book has been backordered and no one told us (ii) we're refunding all your money and (iii) we're sorry for the inconvenience. WTF? I bought and paid for a book that you TOLD me was shipped and you never shipped it? And don't discover until three weeks later that it's on backorder? How do you people do business?
So I go onto half.com and search for the book again. And lo and behold, the seller is STILL OFFERING THE SAME DAMN BOOK. So I decide to try to contact half.com and bring this little point up...after, of course, saving a screen shot of the listing. Except, there's no contact information for half.com. So I shoot over to eBay (since it's a wholly owned subsidiary) and call THEM. The nice phone lady listens to my tale of pissed offedness and does a little research and comes back to suggest that I leave negative feedback -- as if I can condense the sordid little tale in 80 characters or less -- since that seems to be my sole recourse and apparently half.com takes feedback VERY seriously.
So I left feedback that (a) I never received the book, (b)the seller's communication was poor and (c) I received a full refund. It just doesn't seem like enough.
Anyway, I've found a copy on Amazon. We'll see what happens with THAT transaction.
On May 2, after the mail has been delivered and I STILL do not have my book, I contact the seller and ask what's up? When did the book ship and how so that I can figure out what's going on. Today I get an email saying (i) the book has been backordered and no one told us (ii) we're refunding all your money and (iii) we're sorry for the inconvenience. WTF? I bought and paid for a book that you TOLD me was shipped and you never shipped it? And don't discover until three weeks later that it's on backorder? How do you people do business?
So I go onto half.com and search for the book again. And lo and behold, the seller is STILL OFFERING THE SAME DAMN BOOK. So I decide to try to contact half.com and bring this little point up...after, of course, saving a screen shot of the listing. Except, there's no contact information for half.com. So I shoot over to eBay (since it's a wholly owned subsidiary) and call THEM. The nice phone lady listens to my tale of pissed offedness and does a little research and comes back to suggest that I leave negative feedback -- as if I can condense the sordid little tale in 80 characters or less -- since that seems to be my sole recourse and apparently half.com takes feedback VERY seriously.
So I left feedback that (a) I never received the book, (b)the seller's communication was poor and (c) I received a full refund. It just doesn't seem like enough.
Anyway, I've found a copy on Amazon. We'll see what happens with THAT transaction.
