bikema

what goes around, comes around. karma, right? i, for one, believe wholeheartedly in it. and today the pain, agony, and dogged determination in my mountain-biking-for-all campaign has been rewarded.

when last i chronicled the epic bike saga i told of the ebay bike. the bike which was far, far, far from the loser-seller's description. the bike for which i was on the hook to pay return shipping. well, this bike was shipped back to loser-seller last tuesday, but not without a few additional hassles of course.

feel free to skip the following parenthetical story. it's simply to give further clarity into the agony mentioned above.

[just in case you're curious: when i wrestled the enormous bike box into the ups store i was informed that it would cost me $120 to ship it back. my jaw hit the counter, but i ponied up the cash and returned to my car, just a bit more disgruntled.

i called the loser in denver who sold me this decrepit bicycle to see if he felt gracious enough to split the return shipping, at the very least. he protested that it should have been no more than $60, as his original $80 covered the cost of the box. so.. i consult the receipt and note a 'large package fee' of fifty bucks. loser-seller tells me that's a mistake. 'the dimensions are printed on the box, and it's within the size constraint for a normal package.' i find this hard to believe since the box is ginormous, but he did just ship it to me a week ago so maybe he's right.

i hang up and call the ups store back to ask for a reassessment. they inform me that the dimensions printed on the box are internal measurements, rather than external, and that ups will fine them if they don't use the actual size. hmm. this box was just shipped to me with the same contents a week ago, also via ups, and was not charged the extra fee. hmm. i find this very annoying.

long story 'short' (i know, not very short. sorry.) the owner of the ups store gets on the phone with me and offers to cut down the box to shave the extra inch (yes one measly inch over the limit) and repack the bike in it. i said, 'go for it!' and they refunded me the large package fee.]

which brings me to last friday, when the box was delivered to loser-seller. who then rejects it. yes, he rejected the box because he claimed the box was damaged. damaged being cut down an inch and resealed with tape. the loser-seller then informs me that he rejected it, it's being returned to me, i am supposed to reject it too, and then (and only then) ups will open a claim for the damaged item.

umm. where's my refund, i'm wondering. according to this loser-seller he won't issue it until ups resolves the 'damaged box' issue. which, in my opinion, is just him trying to weasel out of the refund.

so, ebay contacts me yesterday saying that my refund will be issued when the item is delivered and that the tracking number isn't correct. of course those things are forty digits long and i'm sure i didn't transcribe it perfectly when they gave me the new one.. so i march up to the ups store this morning and am there on the sidewalk when they open at 8:30.

i ask for a copy of my receipt and tracking info and when they pull it up on the computer they notice that the box is to be redelivered to me today. i say, 'so what happens if i'm not home? how do i reject it?'

'why would you reject it?' they ask me.
'umm, that's how you start the claim process right?'
'hmm, no.'

turns out loser-seller had that all wrong. he should have accepted the package and told the driver the box was damaged on the spot. then they would contact me to open the claim. instead he simply rejected it, meaning what? who knows.

ups advises me to call ebay. and so i did. and holding back tears - because i tend to cry when i'm angry - i explain the entire ordeal to customer service. and this very, very, very nice woman named emily (coincidentally also the name of my one and only cabbage patch doll, which is strangely reassuring) told me that 'all you had to do was ship the item back to him, or attempt to, and if loser-seller rejected it, that's not your problem.' she issued me a refund on the spot - price paid plus original shipping - and said when the bike arrives...

it's mine to do with as i wish.

oh yes. finally.
karma.
bikema.

today haley and i rode our bikes all over grant park, reynoldstown, and cabbagetown. the sidewalks are only a smidge safer than the trails we navigated last weekend and the term 'urban jungle' is taking on a new meaning to me.

tomorrow we're hitting the trails again. the non-urban trails, that is. finally it seems i've gotten out of the afore-mentioned cage.


d: one cage down, one to go.
b: i ordered a how to guide for bicycle repair and soon i'll be the go-to-girl-with-a-wrench. and two mountain bikes.
g: perseverance paid off. in abundance.