resolved
Warning VERY long post!
DPF,
I'm pretty upset it has come to this, but as of right now I'm getting no communication from someone I bought a PODM from that came damaged.
On November 25th, I purchased a BatB PODM from "Sally" after a lot of looking around. He had a picture of the cell up on his sale page and it looked fine (though it was back lit which will become important later). I was on vacation at the time I bought it, but the pin was shipped promptly on the 27th, and arrived on November 30th. When I got back and was able to check my mail, it was December 3rd.
At first, I didn't notice anything wrong with the PODM as I just held it up to the light to ensure the scene was right. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it down without it being backlit I was able to notice the problem: it was severely scratched on the face on the pin in front of the cell - so much so that it was completely impossible to display in my pin book without just seeing scratches.
I of course didn't think this was acceptable for a pin to be sold to me in this condition, so I immediately PM'd Sally and asked if I could return the pin for a refund. I can only assume the pin rubbed up against another PODM (either under the care of Disney or Sally) and got scratched.
In either case, this was completely out of my control to know this and I feel like Sally should've looked more closely either before buying it and putting it up for sale or before shipping it out. Still, I see how a mistake could be made since you can't really notice it when all you do is hold it up to the light. I wasn't mad or anything at first, I just wanted to return it for a refund as I think most people would. I just assumed Sally made an honest mistake here.
Immediately, Sally asked me for better pictures of the scratches (I only sent one initially), so I sent a few long from different angles to show what I was talking about.
Sally also told me that he was going to refund my money when I returned the pin, but after seeing the pictures, he was sure it wasn't the same scene he sent me. Great, we had established a refund was the right thing to do, but Sally was certain it wasn't the same pin. Then the accusations started.
Here are the most relevant of the pictures that I sent to Sally. Click the thumbnails for the full size image. The colored circles are meant to draw your eye to key features to really bring home it being the same PODM as they are all unique. Also, any picture in which the scene is visible, it is very clear it is the EXACT same frame.
I think after seeing this it's plainly obvious they are the same PODM (because, well, they are) but Sally refused to acknowledge this. At this point, it was December 6th and I was starting to get pissed off, as I imagine most people would be too after receiving a scratched PODM and then having the seller refuse to acknowledge this and instead BLAME YOU for the problem. I just really didn't know what to do at this point.
I asked again to be allowed to return the PODM or I was going to have to start trying to seek retribution through my credit card company (btw, I wanted to pay with PayPal eCheck but Sally requested credit card so he could use the money right away; I paid the fee for it and this may turn out to be a blessing for me in the end).
Here's the response I got after asking to be allowed again to return the pin and stating my concern that the business practices Sally was employing were less than ideal.
Well, at this point I'm taken aback. I am being directly accused of trying to swindle Sally somehow and that I am unethical in some way. If I was pissed before, this just got magnified by 10x. And if I'm going to return the PODM to Sally, I need to be darn sure that it is documented and I'm getting a refund when it arrives because now I'm concerned he's just going to take the PODM and claim it isn't the same or that I damaged it (??) and never refund my money. These in particular makes me nervous:
First, I've never said anything about keeping the pin, my whole thing all along was that I've been trying desperately to return it. Second, he is now shifting her argument to "even if it's the same pin, you damaged it, not me, so too bad." Let's be clear, I've never done anything to the PODM, but open it, take pictures, and attempt to remove the scratches with high-end camera lens cleaning tools for a few seconds total. If it's good enough to clean insanely expensive camera lenses (and I use it regularly on them) then I'm 100% sure it didn't further damage the piece of glass on a PODM. I could not remove the scratches because of how deep they were.
We then go back and forth a bit with me asking if I'm getting a refund and her telling me to just return the PODM but never stating that he'll refund my money. Finally, I just come to the conclusion, I'm going to have to return the PODM no matter what the ultimate outcome is, so I ask Sally for her address to return the PODM.
At this point, Sally completely ignores me. This was 3 days ago and I've sent approximately 10 messages asking for the address and asking if I will receive a refund when I return the PODM and I've received zero replies. I've begged for a response so I wouldn't have to make this thread which I saw as the next step. Sally has been online at least 3 separate times in that time period, posting in different threads at least 10 different times, so I am sure my messages have been received. With communication at a total standstill and no real resolution in sight even if she were to finally start responding, I'm turning to the people here for help.
What do I do now? Can anyone honestly look at those pictures and not think all 4 are of the same PODM? I'm just feeling so confused and angry at the same time from not being allowed to return a damaged purchase and simultaneously being accused of things I didn't do that call my character into quetsion. Sally has 100% feedback so I wasn't expecting anything like this, but now I'm just lost as to where to go from here. I've spent more than enough time trying to get this problem fixed that I could have instead worked at McDonald's and made back the purchase price and then some! So, so very frustrating and it's quickly becoming more than just about the money.
HELP!
DPF,
I'm pretty upset it has come to this, but as of right now I'm getting no communication from someone I bought a PODM from that came damaged.
On November 25th, I purchased a BatB PODM from "Sally" after a lot of looking around. He had a picture of the cell up on his sale page and it looked fine (though it was back lit which will become important later). I was on vacation at the time I bought it, but the pin was shipped promptly on the 27th, and arrived on November 30th. When I got back and was able to check my mail, it was December 3rd.
At first, I didn't notice anything wrong with the PODM as I just held it up to the light to ensure the scene was right. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it down without it being backlit I was able to notice the problem: it was severely scratched on the face on the pin in front of the cell - so much so that it was completely impossible to display in my pin book without just seeing scratches.
I of course didn't think this was acceptable for a pin to be sold to me in this condition, so I immediately PM'd Sally and asked if I could return the pin for a refund. I can only assume the pin rubbed up against another PODM (either under the care of Disney or Sally) and got scratched.
In either case, this was completely out of my control to know this and I feel like Sally should've looked more closely either before buying it and putting it up for sale or before shipping it out. Still, I see how a mistake could be made since you can't really notice it when all you do is hold it up to the light. I wasn't mad or anything at first, I just wanted to return it for a refund as I think most people would. I just assumed Sally made an honest mistake here.
Immediately, Sally asked me for better pictures of the scratches (I only sent one initially), so I sent a few long from different angles to show what I was talking about.
There were days of back and forth where it was slowly becoming obvious that Sally was under the impression that the pin I claimed was scratched was a DIFFERENT PODM than the one she sent me. To me, this was a completely ludicrous claim as it was pretty well known from my posts that I was missing the BatB release and was bummed about it. I'm not sure where else she thinks I acquired one from. It is also mentioned that there is a "group" of DPFers and a mod involved who don't believe it is the same pin either. I'm skeptical and later only get the name of one DPFer.
Sally also told me that he was going to refund my money when I returned the pin, but after seeing the pictures, he was sure it wasn't the same scene he sent me. Great, we had established a refund was the right thing to do, but Sally was certain it wasn't the same pin. Then the accusations started.
Here are the most relevant of the pictures that I sent to Sally. Click the thumbnails for the full size image. The colored circles are meant to draw your eye to key features to really bring home it being the same PODM as they are all unique. Also, any picture in which the scene is visible, it is very clear it is the EXACT same frame.
I think after seeing this it's plainly obvious they are the same PODM (because, well, they are) but Sally refused to acknowledge this. At this point, it was December 6th and I was starting to get pissed off, as I imagine most people would be too after receiving a scratched PODM and then having the seller refuse to acknowledge this and instead BLAME YOU for the problem. I just really didn't know what to do at this point.
I asked again to be allowed to return the PODM or I was going to have to start trying to seek retribution through my credit card company (btw, I wanted to pay with PayPal eCheck but Sally requested credit card so he could use the money right away; I paid the fee for it and this may turn out to be a blessing for me in the end).
Here's the response I got after asking to be allowed again to return the pin and stating my concern that the business practices Sally was employing were less than ideal.
Well, at this point I'm taken aback. I am being directly accused of trying to swindle Sally somehow and that I am unethical in some way. If I was pissed before, this just got magnified by 10x. And if I'm going to return the PODM to Sally, I need to be darn sure that it is documented and I'm getting a refund when it arrives because now I'm concerned he's just going to take the PODM and claim it isn't the same or that I damaged it (??) and never refund my money. These in particular makes me nervous:
First, I've never said anything about keeping the pin, my whole thing all along was that I've been trying desperately to return it. Second, he is now shifting her argument to "even if it's the same pin, you damaged it, not me, so too bad." Let's be clear, I've never done anything to the PODM, but open it, take pictures, and attempt to remove the scratches with high-end camera lens cleaning tools for a few seconds total. If it's good enough to clean insanely expensive camera lenses (and I use it regularly on them) then I'm 100% sure it didn't further damage the piece of glass on a PODM. I could not remove the scratches because of how deep they were.
We then go back and forth a bit with me asking if I'm getting a refund and her telling me to just return the PODM but never stating that he'll refund my money. Finally, I just come to the conclusion, I'm going to have to return the PODM no matter what the ultimate outcome is, so I ask Sally for her address to return the PODM.
At this point, Sally completely ignores me. This was 3 days ago and I've sent approximately 10 messages asking for the address and asking if I will receive a refund when I return the PODM and I've received zero replies. I've begged for a response so I wouldn't have to make this thread which I saw as the next step. Sally has been online at least 3 separate times in that time period, posting in different threads at least 10 different times, so I am sure my messages have been received. With communication at a total standstill and no real resolution in sight even if she were to finally start responding, I'm turning to the people here for help.
What do I do now? Can anyone honestly look at those pictures and not think all 4 are of the same PODM? I'm just feeling so confused and angry at the same time from not being allowed to return a damaged purchase and simultaneously being accused of things I didn't do that call my character into quetsion. Sally has 100% feedback so I wasn't expecting anything like this, but now I'm just lost as to where to go from here. I've spent more than enough time trying to get this problem fixed that I could have instead worked at McDonald's and made back the purchase price and then some! So, so very frustrating and it's quickly becoming more than just about the money.
HELP!
Last edited: