Warning about Grand Bazaar of Turkey on ebay!

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samsied

New member
Hi Dancers,

I was very keen to see an example of Turkish dancers so I purchased this dvd on ebay back in mid-May: http://cgi.ebay.com/TURKISH-DELIGHT...97QQihZ011QQcategoryZ2308QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I am having a frustrating experience the seller and still have not received the item!

Since the seller is located in the UK (and I am in the US), I was not concerned when 3 weeks passed and I had not received the item. I sent the seller an email a month later stating I haven't received the item yet and I asked for confirmation of when it was send and to which address. I waited two weeks, and no reply, so I sent another email asking the same. Still no reply. Five days later I sent a third email asking the same and stating I am going to report the item as an unreceived item (I had just a couple days to do that with ebays rules). The next day I received an email from the seller asking if I received the item. I replied I had not and asked for confirmation of what address it was sent to. I received no reply!

A few days later I posted negative feedback about the seller and tried to open a dispute with both paypal and ebay. Neither would open the dispute since paypal's deadline is 45 days after the transaction and ebay's is 60 days. The day I posted the feedback the seller emailed me stating the package (just that exact day) returned undelivered (more than two months later) and asked for my personal email address to send me the scan of the label. I have not yet received the scan (3 days later). And the seller posted negative feedback that I am a "bad ebayer Mad". This is my first negative feedbak in 4 plus years of buying on ebay and it was a retaliation to feedback about an item not received (and the communication).

I imagine you will not have the same luck with this seller since the seller has mostly positive feedback. I also understand packages do get lost in the post and sometiems international post can be slow. (I lived in the UK for three years so I am use to dealing with international post as I regularly deal with post between these countries).

My issue are:
1--I really wanted the dvd so I am disapointed not to receive it (but not angry about that)
2--The lack of response to all my email messages really frustrates me
3--It felt like the seller was intentionally stalling to keep me from reporting the transaction
4--The negative feedback posted is unfair considering I honored my end of the transaction and tried to communicate for the past month before making any negative statements.

At this point I have no recourse through either ebay or paypal. I am still hoping to receive the dvd since the seller said the package was returned and would resend it. I will let you all know if the seller comes through and sends the dvd to me.

Sorry for the vent!:mad:
 

Azeeza

New member
Oh, Samie:

I am so sorry about this.

The Seller seems really irresponsible. Even if the item was returned to her, she needs to get serious about selling her items. EBay is a business and like any business it needs to be looked after like a child or there will definitely be failure. Gosh, I hope you do get your DVD soon.

As for the "pain and suffering" you've endured, she should at least refund your shipping and handling costs and send the DVD to you airmail. No excuses!

That's what I would do if I were her.

Azeeza
 

miss_shimmy

New member
aw :(

thats awful that you have been treated like that,I realy feel for you.
and yes you should ask for your mony back seeing as though you havnt recieved the item.
I hope you get your package or your money back soon (((hugs))).

amanda
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

samsied

New member
Thanks for the support! I just learned through Paypal that the sender resent the package. Hopefully it will make it to me and is not damaged. (It will be the second time in the post and it was allegedly floating around in the post for 63 days). I did not get any confirmation that it was addressed correctly. Fingers crossed. I'll let you all know when/if I receive it since I don't want to be unfair to the seller. It does seem odd that the only time things move forward is when I take some kind of public action (like it being resent after I posted to two forums and hearing the package was returned after I posted negative feedback).
 

Mariyam

New member
One thing is for sure, with that kind of reply to a negative feedback, no one can really take her/him seriously, despite all the positive feedback:

Reply by tahtakalae: YOU ARE A MORON, WHY DON'T YOU PAY FOR THE ITEM FIRST, NON PAYING TWIT,Stupidman

Ouch :D
 

samsied

New member
The feedback quoted in Mariyam's post actually wasn't about me. If it were I would be even more upset since I paid the day the item closed.

The feedback about me actually said:
"item sent as normal, Came back UNDELIVERED paid again to resend, BAD E-BAYER-mad
Seller * tahtakalae ( 1052)
*Jul-12-06 01:50 9131797134
Reply by ksied: I paid day item closed, item not received 60+ days, no response to sev. emails!
*Jul-12-06 08:53
Follow-up by tahtakalae: Your Item Came back UNDELIVERED and resend with further cost 2 me of £5,75 URmad"

I received the item today. It turned out that the seller had left my street address off of the first package (addressed it to my apartment number, city state zip and country.) (The feedback is even more annoying since the seller should have realized it was his/her mistake at that point and this makes it sound like the postal service messed up. And since I lived in the UK where this seller is based, I know that "urmad"="You are insane".) That and it is reasonable for the seller to pay to send it again when he/she left my street address off!

An additional dvd was enclosed along with a brief apology note. But... Neither dvd (the purchased one or the gift) plays in my player. I think they are copied dvd's and my player is a cheap player that will not play copied or homemade dvd's. Either that or it is the format, but the seller did tell my it is "all region" and the packaging says NTSC. Hopefully in the future when I upgrade my dvd player I may be able to watch this dvd. That said, it was well-packaged and arrived safely. I do not feel angry anymore, but am still not completely happy.

I can see that it was an honest (but careless) mistake, but I am still annoyed that it took so much effort to get a response. I got a request from the seller to withdraw the feedback we left for each other. On one hand I am tempted to since I could do without the negative feedback that was left for me (which aggects my score more than the sellers) and I no longer suspect the seller is dishonest. On the other hand s/he has a lot of positive feedback and given how poorly my situation was handled (the mistake in addressing, lack of response to emails, inflamatory language, bad feedback left in retaliation, dvd not working) I still would not purchase from this seller again. Oh, and there are 14 mutually withdrawn feedbacks. Now I will be very wary of ebayers with mutually withdrawn feedback!

In spite of everything, I am strangely relieved that it has arrived.
 
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Mariyam

New member
Yes, of course I know the comment wasn't directed at you, but it shows the "temper" of the seller ;)

If only there were neutral comments, I think it would be appropriate in your situation.
 

Aniseteph

New member
DVD versions

Hi Samsied - do they play on your computer?

I've got two USA DVDs off eBay that won't play on my player despite being supposedly all region, and I know the player is all regions. But they play on my computers OK, and I've no reason to suspect them of being dodgy copies.

I think it might just be my tiny and ancient TV that can't handle the output from the DVD player properly. Must get a decent sized one with a better brain!
 

samsied

New member
They won't play on my dvd player, playstation II and unfortunately my computer does not have a dvd player. But... Today I had a chance to play it on a friends laptop (which has a dvd player) and they worked fine. If it were not for all the trouble, the dvd would actually be a faairly good value for money as it had three dancers/groups I am not familiar with (Asena, Princes Banu and Mezdeke).

I am still miffed by the rude feedback (even when the seller should have known it was the sellers mistake) and the lack of response when I tried to resolve the matter in a friendly way. It was a good lesson since it did get resolved after I got nasty. BOB's rule! I think I qualify as a BOB now. Bring on the pink and silver shirt!
 

Azeeza

New member
Samsied:

I'm glad that you got your DVD, but sad that it isn't compatible with any player in your house.

However it's a good thing that you were able to watch it at a friend's house so you know what is on it :).

Azeeza
 

elle21

New member
An additional dvd was enclosed along with a brief apology note. But... Neither dvd (the purchased one or the gift) plays in my player. I think they are copied dvd's and my player is a cheap player that will not play copied or homemade dvd's. Either that or it is the format, but the seller did tell my it is "all region" and the packaging says NTSC. Hopefully in the future when I upgrade my dvd player I may be able to watch this dvd. That said, it was well-packaged and arrived safely. I do not feel angry anymore, but am still not completely happy.

Sounds like a bad experience, good to hear they did arrive in the end.

Think I can clarify the all region/NTSC problem, I had to do a bit of researching myself. The summary is that the "all region" bit refers to the dvd player, but PAL/NTSC refer to your TV set, and NOT your DVD player.

From what I understand (and I'm no techie so bear with me!), PAL and NTSC basically refer to the "refresh" speeds of the TV, meaning how often each pixel is updated. NTSC (mainly US) transmits the picture at a different frequency to PAL (mainly UK).

Newer TVs often have a setting that will allow you to switch between NTSC & PAL. I think I remember that some newer DVDs can also "convert" between the two, but it will probably take a read through the manual to find it! And then my PC for example detects automatically what it is and adjusts itself. This might explain why it seems to be working some times and not others.

I hope that helps a little!
 

Kharmine

New member
Samsied, every so often I have an experience that makes me swear I will not try to buy anything on Ebay, ever -- but that never lasts.

I had a similar experience with a vendor in the U.S. who would not reply to my emails and then when I asked for mediation sent me furious emails because she was having some sort of domestic crisis and "just hadn't gotten around" to mailing my item. When I did get it, I left a neutral feedback for her and she retaliated with the one and only negative I have ever received. Ebay refused to intervene.

My record has been stellar ever since and no one has ever raised any issues about the one negative feedback, so you can take that into consideration.

As for overseas vendors -- I know now how misleading the feedback system can be and it's much harder to get satisfaction if the vendor is beyond the laws of your own country. I will deal with overseas vendors, but ONLY via PayPal and never for a large amount of money.
 
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