ah, learned helplessness, how i loathe thee

[jazzfish]

Four or five months ago I ordered a game online. The package arrived while I was on vacation for a week, and had vanished from my doorstep by the time I got back. I grumbled and thought little more about it.

Late last week I got an email from the seller, requesting that I leave positive feedback on the BGG marketplace (from whence I'd purchased the game). I emailed him to say that I couldn't really do that, as I'd never seen the game. I was kind of startled to get a panicked email from the seller the next day, exhorting me to give him my phone number so we could work something out so that I wasn't out money for a game I'd never received.

Turns out that FedEx has automatic insurance on packages, and if I'd told him I probably could have recovered the full value. As it stands I might be able to get something out of them anyway; if not, he's offered to sell me another copy of the game at cost.

This literally never occurred to me. I expected calling the seller to complain about the loss to have no effect, or be perceived as whining. How is it their problem when a package to me gets stolen from my end? I should just deal with it, should have been better prepared. Some people, when confronted with this situation, make a huge deal out of it and get their money back. Me? Don't make waves, don't draw attention to yourself. It won't help, and might make things worse. (Worse how, I'm not sure, except in that whole "being seen as a whiner" sense.)

This is one of those times when I'm really not a fan of how my brain is currently wired. On the bright side, I now know that when I lose a FedEx package, I can call and say "it's gone, send money."

Comments

[rbandrews]

Wow, that's like the absolute total opposite of my recent experience.

I ordered Agricola from a BGG seller. Right after I moved, so I made sure to change my address in my BGG profile before I did. However, I didn't change my address in PayPal, so of course she picked the wrong address to send it to.

As soon as I got the tracking number, I told her, and we both entered the hell that is FedEx. First they said they were rerouting it and didn't, then it went out for delivery to my old address (where Linas from work was waiting to pick it up, he lives next door) but they decided to reroute it just in time to prevent that from working out, and it came back to Austin.

Just in time for me to be going back to Houston. They held it for delivery at their warehouse, and a day before it was scheduled to be sent back to the seller, I got back from Houston and picked it up.

Through the whole ordeal, I sent the seller about forty emails, let her know what was going on, and so on. Far from getting my money back, I actually got the game! Albeit about three weeks after I should have.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way. I'd figure it was my own fault and resign myself to having thrown another wad into the Idiot Tax hat.

[dasphios.livejournal.com]

Pessimism is not your friend. You're twenty-fuck years old. You should know that by now.