A couple of days ago, I found Harvest Time salt and pepper shakers, listed by a seller in a city a few hours away. In case you're new to the blog, I started collecting the pattern recently, so I was excited about getting another piece. However, when I opened the package yesterday, the salt shaker was broken. And the seller was clearly to blame.
First of all, she tried to cut corners by using a box that was too small. A quick Internet search will turn up any number of sites that tell you to have at least 3" of packing material around fragile items, but she hadn't done that.
Furthermore, she had wrapped the shakers in scraps of paper that were so small they didn't provide any cushion at all.
Finally, she didn't put enough packing peanuts in the box. There was an inch or more of empty space above the top of the peanuts, leaving room for the china to be jostled during shipping.
As a result, a beautiful piece of china that has remained undamaged for over fifty years was destroyed by her few moments of halfhearted packing.
What I felt was more than disappointment. I was angry, and I didn't want a refund. I wanted that piece of history back.
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| 50 years of beauty destroyed unnecessarily |
Excuse the rant, but I had to express my opinion about thoughtless sellers. This wasn't my main post for the day, so don't miss the previous one on the gorgeous pottery created by Gertrud and Otto Natzler.
I glued the shaker back together this morning and will display it with the rest of my collection as a reminder that these wonderful pieces we love so much deserve respectful treatment for having endured so long.
ReplyDeleteYou have every right to rant. That is a very sad picture. I'm glad you glued it back together and are keeping it with your collection. They are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteNoooo! Oh how awful!
ReplyDeleteAnd having so many bad, or at least, not so good experiences with buying online, I feel your pain. =(
Rant away! You have a right to be upset!
rant away! for what it's worth, i always take it with a grain of salt when a seller claims to "love" vintage. 9 times out of ten its' just a dealer with no vested interest other than making money. :(
ReplyDelete@Midcenturymadam: I finally decided that, even though the set is a little worse for wear now, they ARE still beautiful, and they'll remind me to handle things with even more care than I have in the past.
ReplyDelete@1950sarh: Over the years, I've actually been pretty lucky with online purchases till recently, and it seems I've received more broken items in the last year than I've received in all the other years combined.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how many times it happens, it's always painful. I'm keeping my fingers crossed till the samovar is safely here.
@stacey: I think you're probably right. This seller was obviously more concerned with saving on shipping than with protecting the item. It's almost criminal for people like that to sell vintage pieces.
ReplyDeleteOK...last part of the rant, I promise. I just noticed that she spent $3.09 on postage...but charged me $6.95. That extra almost $4 could have been spent on packing materials. Grrrrrrrrr.
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame! Grrrr indeed.
ReplyDeleteGrrr is right!
ReplyDeleteDana for the first 10 years buying online I did really well. The past couple years has been a lot of frowns. Don't know why. Some bad luck, some poor packers, and some I don't know what lol.
@Tanya: I usually take things like this in stride. I don't know why this irked me so much. I guess it's because it was such a pretty little piece, and breaking it was the result of sheer laziness.
ReplyDelete@1950sarh: Same for me...10 years of nothing but good experiences, and all of a sudden, a string of disappointments. I wonder if other people are experiencing the same problem...and why things are different these days.
ReplyDeleteI read about your recent purchase where the seller didn't disclose a problem with the leg. So not ethical!
UGH! How disappointing!! I'm sorry to hear about that. Such a bummer. They'll never be the same again! Are you going to say anything to the seller?
ReplyDelete@Gina: As soon as I opened the package, I sent her an email saying, "Just a heads-up that you might want to start using bubble wrap for china." I kinda thought that was a no-brainer, but maybe I give people too much credit for having common sense.
ReplyDeleteNot good. I can just imagine how disgusted you were.
ReplyDeleteI hope you filed a claim. Sellers will continue to do that until they are stopped.
ReplyDeleteI WOULD ask for a refund of the difference in the shipping, since she cut corners and your item was broken because of it.
@Barbara: I contacted her right away, but she hasn't bothered to email back. I don't think etsy has as effective a claims procedure as eBay does, but I paid with PayPal, so I may go that route. It was a small purchase, but I plan to bug her about it, because if there's one thing I'm NOT, it's timid little doormat...LOL
ReplyDeleteLame!! I am so sorry to hear that Dana!
ReplyDelete