eBay Defective Mini Portable Personal Heater from Seller happy-shop09

Item I recently purchased on eBay. This heater does not work. I'm hoping to resolved the issue with the company by sending them this video link. They claimed they never have had a complaint . After some back and forth eBay messages they offered 2 options. To mail back the defective item back to China and they would send me a new one or send them $3.50 and they would send me another. I then offer they send me a non- defective item and then I'll send them the x$3.50. They just responded with an email where I would PayPal them the s/h $. Is this a language barrier or is this a business ethics barrier? Here's the communications between me and that company as of January 9th 2015:


December 30th 2014

Dear happy-shop09,

I received the item today. It is not heating nor does it turn red as in the pictures in eBay .

- hopes

.....
December 31st 2014

Dear hopes,

Thank you for sharing the challenges you faced with us. We are sorry to understand that item didn't perform up your satisfaction. Please accept our sincere apologies.

Pity to hear that but many other customers purchased this item from us and you are the first one to mention this issue. In order to resolve this challenges in a favorable way, could you please check it carefully to see if there is something wrong with the using method, or could you please do it by the introduction in a right way since we always check our items before shipment to verify they are in a good condition and our products will always be the same as the one you purchased. We are not sure why this issue happened. Once received your reply, further actions will be taken to you. Please be easy and keep in touch.

And it would be much appreciated if you don't leave us any negative/neutral feedback since we have tried the best to assist you to resolve the challenges and neither of us wish such things happen.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Yours faithfully,
Iris

- happy-shop09

.........
December 31 2014

Dear happy-shop09,

Hello again,
The item is very simple to operate. The detail you mentioned in your first response to me in terms of never received a complaint on this item is quite impressive. Yet my only concern is that the unit I received doesn't work as described and illustrated on eBay. Please do find my YouTube video link of what I received from your company at: http://youtu.be/YeFA9VaJ2jI

- hopes
.........
January 2nd 2015
Dear hopes,

Thanks for your email and it's our pleasure to serve on you.

Is there any way to fix it?If the problem could be fixed well locally,we will issue partial refund to you.Is it acceptable?If you could advise us better solution,we could figure it out together.Hope you could not leave us any negative or neutral feedback,we are trying our best to help.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Once again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you our products. We strongly believe that quality, blended with excellent service, is the foundation for successful business.

Yours faithfully,
Iris
...........
January 2nd 2015
Dear happy-shop09,

Hello Iris,

Thank you for your response again. Unfortunately I'm not an electrician. My intention is not to sound harsh is saying that the reason most people buy through eBay is to get good working products and good economic bargains. For me to pay for a professional to fix it, then get partial refund is not cost effective nor would be fair for me as a trusting consumer that has a good standing with eBay. I would prefer being sent a working unit or a full refund. This, I believe, would be fair for both of us.
Hopefully,
Jeff

- hopes
.........
January 2nd 2015
Dear hopes,

Thanks for your email and it's our pleasure to serve on you.

We will offer 2 solution to you.
Firstly,Could you please kindly send the item back?Then we will send you replacement free.Secondly,We wonder how about paying us little shipping fee to resend the item for you? The item will be free. You do not need to send the item back.It is fair and acceptable for both of us as you see we offer the item free again without return item.

However if you refuse our suggestion, please tell us on time, this is just a discussion, we never persuade. Hope you don't do bad feedback for us.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Once again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you our products. We strongly believe that quality, blended with excellent service, is the foundation for successful business.

Yours faithfully,
Iris

- happy-shop09
......
January 3rd 2015
Dear happy-shop09,

How much is the small shipping fee and what assurance do I have that it will not be another defective product?

- hopes
.........
January 4th 2015
Dear hopes,

Thanks for your email and it's our pleasure to serve on you.

We wonder if $3.5 for shipping is ok for you?

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Once again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you our products. We strongly believe that quality, blended with excellent service, is the foundation for successful business.

Yours faithfully,
Iris

- happy-shop09

.......
January 5th 2015

Dear happy-shop09,

Please send me the item. I will send you the $3.5 for shipping via PayPal , once I inspect the sent item and am satisfied that it is not another defective item.

- hopes
..........
January 5th 2015
Dear hopes,

You could pay us via Send money. Please kindly offer the transaction id .Below are the steps:

Log in your Paypal account -- Click 'Send money' -- Enter our Paypal address(chinatera@gmail.com )(this is the paypal account you once paid for when you order it) and insert the amount you need to pay for us -- Continue - Completed

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Pls kindly inform us the transaction ID after your payment, so that we can check,many thanks.
Hope hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely
Iris

- happy-shop09
.........
January 7th 2015
Dear happy-shop09,

I think you didn't understand my last communication . Please re-read.

- hopes
.........
Dear hopes,

Thanks for your email and it's our pleasure to serve on you.


Dear friend,we are really sorry that we could only send after payment.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Once again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you our products. We strongly believe that quality, blended with excellent service, is the foundation for successful business.

Yours faithfully,
Iris

- happy-shop09
...........
January 8th 2015

Dear hopes,

Thanks for your email and it's our pleasure to serve on you.

Dear friend,we are really sorry for the inconvenience.We wonder if there is any way to fix the problem .Hope you could also kindly understand us.If our solution is not acceptable for you,could you please kindly advise us your suggested solution.Then we could figure it out together.Hope you could not leave us any negative or neutral feedback.We are trying our best to help.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Once again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you our products. We strongly believe that quality, blended with excellent service, is the foundation for successful business.

Yours faithfully,
Iris

- happy-shop09
........
January 8th 2015

Dear happy-shop09,

Iris,

Unfortunately for me, it was not a pleasure doing business with your company. Apparently there has been another eBay customer that has had the same negative experience. I will express my displeasure and dissatisfaction in an upcoming feedback, Facebook , consumer blog and a detailed YouTube review.

- hopes

.......

January 8th 2015

Dear hopes,

Thanks for your email and it's our pleasure to serve on you.

Dear friend,we are really sorry for the inconvenience.We wonder if there is any way to fix the problem .Hope you could also kindly understand us.If our solution is not acceptable for you,could you please kindly advise us your suggested solution.Then we could figure it out together.Hope you could not leave us any negative or neutral feedback.We are trying our best to help.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

Once again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you our products. We strongly believe that quality, blended with excellent service, is the foundation for successful business.

Yours faithfully,
Iris
....
January 9th 2015

Dear happy-shop09,

Hello Iris,

Send me the product that I had originally ordered. I originally paid for an item that was to be new, without defect and I also paid for such item's s/h. I paid in advance as well as having to wait 20 days for it's arrival. I only have had this problem for two other eBay sellers in all my years of buying through eBay . These two companies have sent me working new items immediately without the inconvenience of my having to pay another s/h fee. That is what I call good business. They have kept as a customer. I was hoping your item would be a good product, so I would purchase more as gifts for my friends and coworkers. Now I'm more reluctant about the ethics of your company than I am about the actual product. I sincerely suggest that you improve on your customer service policies and swallow the s/ h costs.

- hopes

http://youtu.be/YeFA9VaJ2jI

The Room of Farts

She started her business in a corner by herself
Bit by bit compassionate folk would stop by
They enjoyed the conversations
One day she passed some gas
We the compassionate souls we were…ignored the foul accident
The gatherings became more frequent and smelly
Once I sat with her for a meal
There was no fart incident
Later on I noticed that farts were abundant whenever we gathered with others
But not during one to one gatherings
One day she confidentially explained that she enjoyed intentional farting
She loved farting to trouble others and watch them suffer in their tolerance
I shared how unfair that would be if true
She explained that I was just naive
Today I sit stay away from the Fart Room during my meals
And see others come out from the gatherings complaining about the smell
But they have found a mission of compassion
And she is happy

"My Easy Christ Has Left the Church."

(As an aside, the question that is asked of Jesus repeatedly in the poem – "Quo Vadis, Domine?" is Latin for, "Where are you going Lord?):

My easy Christ has left the church.

Who can say why?

Maybe it’s because His video-logged apostles all

read diet-books, travel agency brochures

and Christian fiction thrillers

on how the world should end

But none read books on what the starving ignorant

should do until it does.

He left the church so disappointed that Americans

could all spell "user friendly"

but none of them could spell "Gethsemane"

Can we say for sure he’s quit?

Oh yes, it’s definite, I’m afraid:

He’s canceled his pledge card.

I passed him on the way out of the recreation building

near the incinerator where we burn

the leftover religious quarterlies

and the stained paper doilies

from our Valentine banquets.

"Quo Vadis, Domine?" I asked him.

"Somewhere else," he said.

My easy Christ has left the church,

walking out of town past seminaries where

student scholars could all parse the ancient verbs

but few of them were sure why they had learned the art.

He shook his head confounded that many

had studied all his ancient words

without much caring why he said them.

He seemed confused that so many

studied to be smart, but so few prayed to be holy.

Some say he left the church

because the part-time missionaries were mostly tourists

on short-term camera safaris,

photographing destitution to show the

pictures to their missionary clubs back home.

I cannot say what all his motives were.

I only know I saw him rummaging through dumpsters

in Djakarta looking for a scrap of bread

that he could multiply.

"Quo vadis, Domine?" I asked him.

"Somewhere else," he said.

He’s gone - the melancholy Messiah’s gone.

I saw him passing by the beltway mega-temple

circled by its multi-acred asphalt lawn,

blanketed with imports and huge fat vehicles

nourished on the hydrocarbons of distant oil fields

where the poor dry rice on public roads

and die without a requiem, in unmarked graves.

Is it certain he is gone?
It is.

We saw him in the slums of Recife,

telling stories of old fools

who kept on building bigger barns,

oddly idealistic tales of widows with small coins

who outgave the richer deacons of the church.

I saw him sitting alone in a fast-food franchise

drinking only bottled water and sorting through

a stack of world-hunger posters.

He couldn’t stay long.

He was on his way to sell his

old books on Calvin and

Arminius to buy a bag of rice for Bangladesh.

My easy Christ has left the church.

I remember now where I last saw him.

He was sitting in one of those new

square, crossless mega-churches

singing 2x choruses and playing bongos

amid the music stands and amplifiers

with anonymous Larrie and Sherrie.

He turned to them in church and said"I am He! Follow me!"

But they told him not to be so confrontational

and reminded him that they

had only come for the music and the drama,

and frankly were offended that he would dare

to talk to them out loud in church.

After all, they were only seekers, with a right to privacy.

I followed him out through the seven-acre vestibule,

where he passed the tape-duplicating machine

where people could buy the "how to" sermons

of the world’s most famous lecturers.

He left the church and threaded his way

across the crowded parking lot,

laying down those whips and cords

he’d once used to cleanse the temple,

and looked as though he wanted to make

key-scrapes on Lexi and huge white Audis

and family buses filled with infant seats.

He stooped and shed a tear after

and wrote "Ichabod" in the sand.

In a sudden moment I was face to face with him.

"Quo vadis, Domine?" I asked him.

"Somewhere else," he said.

My easy Christ has left the church,

abandoning his all-star role in Easter pageants

to live incognito in a patchwork culture,

weeping for all those people who

cannot afford the pageant tickets.

He picked up an old junk cross,

lugging it into the bookstore

after the great religious rally,

and stood dumfounded

among the towering stacks of books

on how to grow a church.

"Are you conservative or liberal," I asked him.

But he only mumbled, "Oh Jerusalem…"

and said the oddest thing about a hen

gathering her vicious, selfish chicks under her wings.

He left the room as I yelled out after him,

"Lord, is it true you’ve quit the church?

Quo vadis, Domine?"

"Somewhere else," he said.

(Calvin Miller, The Unfinished Soul. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman)

Trying to Remember Mami

ma...I'm remembering and trying to remember your smile and laughter...

before the clouds came and blocked our view of each other...

ma... I'm remembering I'm trying to remember... your moments of strength and lucid ...

before desperate disorientation overwhelmed you... I remember and I'm trying to remember...

short sound words of wisdom..

before mental illness came to deafen your thoughts...

your jokes deep simple and hilarious...

mental illness how could you?... take her way before golden years came?...

I will strive to live out what she wanted...

a loving, happy and forgiving home.

A SLIM WIN

America couldn’t understand how Lee, the former winner of a weight loss reality show, gained it all back. They didn’t know the secret of his winning. The secret of his loss. The secret of his pain. That he felt great and admired knowing that millions were watching his struggle toward a popularized goal. After the show he felt lonely. He missed out on the eternal audience of One that esteems him in endless ways....

THE HOMELESS DUTY

Here something I just found this evening on a time aged/yellowed spriral lined paper. I wrote it late eighties or early nineties.


THE HOMELESS DUTY

You try so hard to not see me
every morning
Your pace picks up as you pass me by
every morning
BUT THANK GOODNESS- it’s getting easier
But thank goodness- IT’S GETTING EASIER
for you and me

Please take my apology...
for blocking your streets of gold.
Please forgive my humanity...
for bleeding so bold
It’s that I’ve been trampled by Samaritans
the "good ones" I am told
And I’m quite not presentable
to enter the house of the Fold

And you ponder why the Tax Van
hasn’t saved this poor soul
WHY------ you’ve given so much to me
that something must be wrong

You shake your head
I watch your back
and agree
But thank goodness
it’s getting easier
for
you and me

The Sunday School Teacher That Saved My Life

I was 12 years old when I walked back home from school a month or two shy from the summer of 1969. Mom was not answering the door. Once my stepfather got there he opened the door, entered and then rushed out for the ambulance. In my desperation I knocked on the door of my neighbor...the last of the Caucasian Baptist pastors in the Bronx. He came into our apartment to my parent's unhappy bedroom. My grandmother was nearby doing door to door evangelism and felt led to come by and visit that afternoon. I remember her rushing in. I overheard from the adults that my mom had consumed toxic liquids to end her life. Mami had been trying that for a long time. I would often remove steak knives and razor blades from under her pillows. Once I caught her trying to drink Clorox. Pouring an extra glass she asked if I wanted to join her...I smelled the glass. I asked her if we would go to heaven if we did this. She put away the glasses and Clorox bottle and told me God had better things in store for us.

Now here she is lying on her bleak bed with her eyes rolling back and foam bubbling out of her mouth. She was dying and my little brother and I were crying and screaming. The pastor looked up toward our cracked ceiling to pray out loud and my grieving grandmother pulled out of her missionary giant carry bag and poured her anointing oil (Aciete de Oliva…Olive Oil) out of her Goya bottle and into mom's throat. Finally I got to see Baptists and Pentecostals working together. The ‘worldly cigarette smoking’ clergy was asking God for Divine intervention. I threw myself onto the floor into a prayer tantrum. Mami was taken away by ambulance to the old Lincoln hospital.

A couple of hours later my younger brother and I were outside in the street being comforted by our older cousins when we saw our grandmother return from the hospital slurring that her daughter had died. Grandmother was sedated and talking erroneously. Mom was not dead...but I didn't know that. We went to the hospital emergency room where we were met by church members. With the Devil’s rage many of them pointed their fingers, blaming me for mom's suicidal ideations and attempt. I was the disgusting murderer. Out of nowhere my angel appeared. His name is Hermano Jose Garcia. He was the Sunday School teacher that graciously taught me about the Lord. I was one of his rowdy smart mouthed Sunday school brats. In the chaotic emergency room he stood between me and my accusers. Jose boldly told them that it was not my fault and that my mom was just mentally sick. He gently and assertively took charge and asked my stepfather for the house keys and escorted me away from my adversaries. He assured me that it was not my fault and that my mother was just sick. When we arrived to my apartment door...poor Brother Garcia had to figure out which combination of the several locks to try open up. Throughout this door vault-like puzzle he assured me that it was not my fault and that my mother was just sick. I took some clothing and he made sure that I had taken what I would appropriately need for the remainder of the week. He walked me over from Cypress Avenue several long street blocks to Brook Avenue where my abuelita lived...all the way there he was assuring me that it was not my fault and that my mother was just sick.

The doctors didn't understand how the pipe drain cleaner didn't burn out my mother's insides...they would rather attribute it to the phenomenon of divine intervention than to just some local bodega store purchased olive oil. These physicians were less science fiction theorist and more theists I guess. After medical observations and treatments my mother was discharged to Bronx State Psychiatric where she spent much of the summer in therapy. I spent much of that summer zoning out and staring at walls...trying to micro detail out how I could have prevented my mother's hate of life. In my fog I often would see and hear my accusers. But my sanity's guardian angel would appear in my mind...I could hear his voice...assuring me that it was not my fault and that my mother was just sick. In a church bogged down with stone throwing cultural dogmas and guarded socio-emotional dysfunctions God sent me someone not arrogantly bound to Bibliolatry but to Christ-like life changing compassion. He was there years later to guide me through my post born-again liberal outbursts into safe places of maturity. Recently I found Brother Jose through one of his in-laws in FaceBook. I'm frustrated in my inability to locate one of my sermons which I mention what he did for me...just wanted to send him a copy....so I write this article to tell Jose Garcia something I've been wanting to tell him for decades. Thank you for saving my life. May this article find you well my brother.

Link to Sermon with reading of this blog article: http://vimeo.com/23083319