First, I’m highly annoyed that this battery (a 6 cell for my laptop to replace my year old 9 cell that doesn’t really work anymore) doesn’t work. The blasted thing won’t even charge. It started charging and got to 14% then quit. Now it’s stuck at 9%. It’ll go down, of course, but never does it charge up. (My old/current battery, while it doesn’t hold a charge for very long at all, at least it charges.) I emailed the person about this Saturday. And again today, since I’ve had no response despite their claim that they themselves (he himself, whatever) provides a one year warranty on batteries.

And then, they had the nerve to send me this email:

Thank you for purchasing NEW 6-CELL DELL INSPIRON 6400/E1505/1501 GD761 BATTERY. Please leave feedback for me on eBay and I’ll do the same for you. Take this opportunity now and help build a better eBay community.

Is this some kind of automated thing? I really don’t know but I assume that it’s not automated at least to the point that the seller has to say, “hey, send her this email, ’cause I want my feedback.”

I responded that I wasn’t leaving feedback until we worked out the issue that *gasp* the product doesn’t work and I’ve already emailed twice! And then I snidely mentioned how they should have already left feedback for me anyway, after all, I’d held up my part of the bargain: I’ve already paid for the item.

Which brings me to my next point. This has bothered me for years, since I got an Ebay account in 2002.

I hate hate hate hate hate it that power sellers will not leave feedback on a transaction until after the buyer has left them feedback.

I really think it’s downright dirty. Any time I’ve sold something and the buyer has paid up, I’ve left them feedback! Why do these sellers think that they have the right to withhold their feedback until I’ve left them some feedback? Of course, this leaves me wondering on those iffy transactions if I should leave that neutral or negative feedback because what if out of spite they turn around and ruin my 100% rating?

It’s just really aggravated me, apparently, for 6 years now. Just seems to be so dishonest to me.

/rant.

Guess I’ll keep emailing this guy about the battery not working for the rest of the week and then I guess maybe I can take things up with PayPal (supposedly they’re supposed to back you up in situations like this) and then risk it all by leaving him some negative feedback.

It all really turns me off, though. I had hoped to at least get a somewhat decent battery from Ebay — I know I wasn’t going to get something that was “cream of the crop” but something that was worth $60, or so I’d hoped. I really don’t want to buy a brand new one directly from Dell. The 9 cell (which is what I really want) is $300 and the 6 cell is $150. I have paid off all of my Dell bills and I really don’t want to be adding more to it. But there are situations in which I need some good battery power, something to last me at least an hour and a half, preferably 5 hours like my 9 cell did in the early days! Sigh.

Oh! But also, the auction/buy it now says flat out that it is a DELL battery yet the battery is not a DELL battery it’s something else that fits a Dell computer. That’s false advertising and grounds for a claim, right? This guy has exactly 3.5 days before I start filing claims everywhere. :P

— We had a flat tire Saturday, just as we rolled in to the Land of the Beyond. Steve was with me, though, so he promptly changed it. He’s been saying for months though, “we need to get new tires, we need to get new tires.” So tomorrow, we’re getting some new tires. Nine-hundred-freaking-bucks. That caused me to faint, too. And I’ll probably faint again when I take the Jeep in for the new tires. Praise the Lord for overtime, huh? He worked Saturday before the tire event. Ten hours. He gets paid for twenty. That freaking rocks.

— We also saw 61+ deer on Saturday. In the wild, we weren’t at a park or anything. That was awesome, and those were only the ones we could see to count. First it was a spike buck (see left) followed by a button buck and two does then we saw a fawn, spots and everything. Then after Steve did some bow hunting and me some nature photographing, a young buck with two does. Then, a mama with some does in one field, another doe in the other field across the road. And then? A whole field of them. Of course, there were more to make up the count of 61, but you get the idea. :)

— Was invited to a friend’s house today, along with another friend, to scrapbook. Our kids played. We scrapbooked. Yup, them sitting there with their paper and stickers and scissors and tape and glue and buttons and photos and and and… me with my laptop. Ha. I did the layout at the left. I don’t understand how they did 3 to my 1 considering I did my 1 faster than any of their 1′s. I guess I really can’t talk and do computer stuff at the same time. Good thing I wasn’t chewing gum, too. I took the photo in the layout today, too. Though one of the boys wouldn’t cooperate, he decided he didn’t want any photos done.

– Picked up my new medicine today: Xyzal. I’m hoping it works for me but I guess we really have no way of knowing unless I can make it through the fall, winter, and next spring in better health than I have been (especially of the last year, ugh). Not that I think it will be a cure-all, of course, but hopefully it will help keep me from getting so very sick and infected so much. Plus, according to the doctor, maybe my sinus cavities are perpetually swollen and therefore imitating a blockage, so this might help with that. But anyway, after our insurance (which rocks so far with medications) and the discount card that the doctor gave me, the medicine was FREE. I know I can’t use the discount card all the time but it looks like if I get a new one when it expires, I can get the medicine free 5 months out of the year. Not bad.

– But apparently, even though I didn’t have to pay for it, I’m still required to wait in long lines and have it scanned and sign for it. I looked at it and was like, “I don’t have to pay? SWEET. Let’s go, Elijah.” Next thing I know, I’m halfway out of the parking spot and the checking girl comes running out and asks if I had a prescription. Instead of, “yeah” I should have said, “what, do you routinely chase after people who don’t stop at the check-out counter?” So I had to go back in and wait and wait until it was my turn. She scanned it and had me sign. They got a nice squiggly line for their troubles. I always thought before, when signing, that I was signing because of using my debit card, but apparently not. What am I signing? Selling my soul to the pharmacy??

– One of my Jr High teachers found me on Facebook. Some of you might freak, but he was one of my all-time favorites, his wife, too. I love them. :)

– Um… lots of other stuff, too, methinks but I’ve already bored you enough. :P