Thursday, January 28, 2010

This Is Not How We Ship Things

I have a thing for Red Wing art pottery. It has that mod, mid century look that I love, and even though it's fifty or sixty years old, there's plenty of it around, and it's not too expensive yet. Not like Roseville (send me ur Roseville pinecone plz kthxbai). Here are a couple of my favorite pieces.




I am in love with that green and brown one. That's the Chartreuse pattern. Anyway, after Fabienne broke one of my pieces (it was similar to the one in the top pic), I set out to replace it, and wound up replacing it with like three other bowls. Ain't that the way? The other day on ebay I saw one in a gorgeous blue speckle. It was being sold with a second bowl that I wasn't as crazy about, but hey, they needed a home.

As soon as I saw the box sitting on the front porch, I thought, "Hmm, I hope there aren't two bowls in there." There were.


Um, no peanuts, no bubbles, just a single sheet of that padded wrap and a piece of newspaper around each bowl. I took this picture as soon as I opened the box in case I need documentation later. Anyway, I picked up the first bundle, and it made that slightly sickening crunching sound. The way I imagine a broken bone must feel, minus the actual pain. Et voilá.

Not just a little broken, all the way broken. Oh, and all the packing material reeked of cigarette smoke. HATE. And this blue one was the one I wanted. The other one, a mealy-mouthed Melanie Wilkes-kind of pink and gray, is in perfect shape. Harrumph.

I don't know what that seller was thinking. Or perhaps she's never sent a package, received a package, watched mail being sorted, owned something made of glass, or lived in the physical world subject to natural laws? I say again, harrumph.

So, you know, whatever, I'll email the seller and be like, one bowl was broken, and here's a pic, and she'll be all, well what do you want me to do? And I'll be like, how 'bout refund half the purchase price and a portion of the $12 in shipping I paid, and she'll be like, okay I guess. And then I'll be, like, please also repay me the 20 lifeforce units that I just spent on this whole exchange. And she'll be like, huh? And I'll be like, never mind.

16 comments:

Jenni said...

shipping fail.

that stinks.

on the upside, more Red Wing shopping!

Kelly said...

You could smash it up even more and use it to make a mosaic on something...my sister does that all the time!

Amy said...

that totally stinks. i know how you love your pottery...it must've been a dark day in the Matron household. :(

wah. can you petition ebay for some of those lifeforce credits back?

Sjn said...

yep... ditto Kelly's thought wave!

Have you ever been to "The Queen of Hearts" on Hwy 9 in Alpharetta? A fun antique-flea. Maybe you'd find something.

Ginny Marie said...

OH, that's so sad! It is/was a beautiful piece!

Keely said...

Boo-urns. That sucks. Especially since that was the one you were anticipating :(

Now you have to replace it with three MORE pieces.

Jane said...

Big frowny face. That's a damned shame.

I've always liked those pieces of yours. I think the one on the top is my fave.

Zion said...

OOOOOOhhhh!!! That is terrible. We have had some bad ebay seller incidents/refunds. Good thing you took the photos. Also I can't believe how perfect your dishes match the Orla Kiely. I know you've post it before, but that is such a PERFECT MATCH.

Lawyer Mom said...

Okay Becky. Now is the time to put Melanie on the shelf and go all out Scarlett. Give that seller the WORST ebay rank possible and raise hell! You should get a FULL refund on the blue blurb AND all of your shipping costs back. Harrumph!

P.S. I've got some stray Hadley if it'd make you feel better.

Michele R said...

That is crazy! Did you email the seller and get a full refund? Definitely go all medieval on them. I feel so bad for that piece....
And a smoky box, yuck.

Amy said...

Smoke = HATE. YES. Ugh.

Aunt-in-law shipped MIL some "family heirlooms" last week that arrived in similar condition. I had the same reaction -- she thought, what, one little "fragile" stamp would protect them once they entered the Postal Machine? Hello, reality??

The Stiletto Mom said...

She'll probably offer to send you a carton of ciggies to make up for it. :)

People are soooo stooopid, and it just makes me sick that the blue one got broken, it was so pretty!

Bex said...

bummer! that looks beautiful too!

now, i'm googling red wing art pottery. my husband will probably send you some hate mail once i get my own collection started.

Cassie said...

Lifeforce Units... I love it. Do they sell those on Ebay? Because I'm running very low myself these days.

I hope you get some portion of that money back. Threaten the dreaded Negative Feedback if you must. This is serious.

Casey said...

Aww, sorry about your broken pieces. And the cigarette smoke. And the overall letdown.

Sara said...

well, poop. That blue is so pretty, too.

cigarette smoke. reminds me of the gift bags the kids would get from the VFW for Christmas. We'd have to quickly empty the paper sacks so we could get the cigarette stench out of the house. packin' treats for kids with the marlboro hanging out yer mouth, yessiree. Holidays!

so that whole thing just has me wanting to know who this chain smoking, pottery selling person is?