Okay so I literally just hit publish on my last ranting post and got an email that just made thing #2 an even bigger problem than thing #3 so now I'm going to rant some more.. Why? Because it makes me feel better and I get to document my problems in case I need it all at the same time!!
So... about 2 months ago I bought a house on the north side of my city because it's closer to my work which I currently commute an hour each way to get to. Days after I closed on my new house, I put my house up "For Sale by Owner" just to see if we could sell it before having to resort to using a real estate agent's help (for a fee of course). My mom has a lot of experience buying and selling houses so this should have been no big deal.
To give a quick back-story, despite the issues many homeowners are facing with selling homes in this economy I wasn't as concerned about that because the last 4-5 homes that have gone up for sale in my neighborhood were sold to Bermese refugees, so I knew that there would be a demand for the home.
Well not even a day after we put up the sign we have an interested buyer. Sounds great right? Sure! To sweeten the deal the buyer doesn't even try to price negotiate on the house because they wanted to be in this neighborhood and wanted the house and decided that my asking price was reasonable so they sent over a purchase agreement for my asking price... Even better!
We go back and forth and finally I've signed the purchase agreement, and the buyer has signed the purchase agreement under the caveat that I can't close until July because the house I purchased was a renovation property and wouldn't be ready for me to move into until that time. The buyer had no problem with that. We went ahead and got the process moving in the meantime. (Meanwhile I have "removed my house from the market" due to entering into a purchasing agreement with the buyer.)
A couple of weeks go by and the buyer orders a home inspection. No problem, I expected as much. The inspection turns up a couple of small odds and ends, but nothing that presents a safety issue nor impacts the integrity of the house so again the buyer and I go back and forth and reach an agreement which we both sign off on.
So far so good... until today when I receive a couple of documents from the mortgage lender. One of the documents was an FHA Escape Clause that basically states that the buyer is released from any obligation to purchase the house without any penalty including earnest money if the requested selling price is more than the FHA appraisal on the property. HUH? I was confused by this because I thought I had already received pre-approval documents regarding the loan and therefore didn't understand why I should have to sign such a thing. After emailing back and forth with the buyer's agent and the mortgage lender, I learn that this is just part of an FHA loan. Well this seems ridiculous to me because basically as the seller I assume all of the risk. I've taken my home off the market for a month already and still have nearly another month to go before closing only to find out that my purchase agreement might become completely null and void if the appraisal doesn't match up to the asking and agreed upon amount.
I asked the mortgage lender to move the appraisal date up because I was going to be out of town on vacation in July until the day before the closing. She agreed to make a note in the account and I decided I would wait to sign the paperwork until after the appraisal to see if this would even be an issue because for all I know the property would appraise at the agreed upon price. I was only asking slightly more than what I paid for the home, I knew that the other homes in the area sold for a little more than what I was asking and that what I was asking was reasonable.
Worried, but waiting on the appraisal to determine how worried I should be, all I could really do was wait.
Well right after submitting my last rant, I checked my email and I got a message from the buyer's agent saying "hold that thought, the mortgage lender has determined that my house is in a partial flood area and the buyer would not be able to get down payment assistance. HUH? I have no idea what she is talking about. This home is not in a partial flood area. This neighborhood has storm drains that direct all storm water to the retention pond at the front of the neighborhood. To top it off, this house sits on an incline, so any excess water would run down the slope away from the home and to the storm drains. That is how most of the newer neighborhoods are designed specifically to avoid any flooding issues. How can the mortgage lender even make this claim?
I'm so pissed right now I don't even know what to do. I basically can't do anything until the purchase agreement has been broken or voided because I'm legally bound to it, but none of this makes any sense to me at all. What is the point in having a legally binding purchase agreement if the buyer is so protected by their loan that I have to sign an amendment that basically states that the buyer is in no way obligated to withhold their portion of the purchase agreement without penalty. That defeats the purpose of a purchase agreement, and it defeats the purpose of paying earnest money in the first place. The whole point in a purchase agreement is to protect both parties from each other. It states that I agree to sell at a given price under specific circumstances, and the buyer agrees to purchase at agreed price under the same circumstances. That way we are both protected. Why then require one party to sign an amendment that says the other party is in no way bound to this agreement? Someone please explain this to me. It makes no sense.
Friday, June 22, 2012
DiscountWomensDressShoes.com Sucks! (and so does PayPal)
Wow. I have so much to rant about today! This is actually thing #3 and I already ranted about thing #1 but for now I'm skipping over thing #2 because thing #3 is even more irritating that thing #2!! haha
So... many many moons ago I ordered some boots from discountwomensdressshoes.com. BTW if this blog comes up in a google search you do for this company, don't walk RUN from making a purchase with this company.
Okay so I went online and wanted to buy a couple of pairs of boots. Since DWDS was having a special where if you spent a certain amount you would get free shipping I actually ordered more than I even intended to because it would have been like $14 to ship, but like $20 to order another pair of boots and get free shipping. You do the math.
Anyway, DWDS charges me and ships part of my order, but then sends me an email stating, although our inventory online stated otherwise, we don't have 1 of the pairs of boots you ordered in stock. (BTW after doing some review reading of my own online, I have realized that they do this a lot. In fact, they even have an ebay scam where they list items they claim not to have in stock but you can order them on ebay for a higher price even though it comes from the same company... I'm just sayin' pretty scandalous if you ask me.) At this point they offered to refund me for the 1 pair of boots that they glitched on inventory or send me a different pair of equal value. (Had I foreseen the issues I was going to have with this company, I would have just said refund my money.) But I didn't because it was one of the two pairs I originally wanted and they had already shipped the third pair that I only ordered to meet the free shipping promotion, so at this point I figured, what the hell, let me go on their site and see what else is available.
Well I wanted white boots and I found a similar pair of white boots in inventory so I sent them a link and said please send me this pair instead. They weren't as cute as the pair I originally wanted, but what the heck, they had already charged me so why not.
Okay no problem. Except that is not what they sent me. Instead of sending me white boots, they sent me grey boots. Well I didn't want/need any grey boots so again I contacted the company and said "Hey, first you guys messed up my initial order by listing inventory you didn't have... and now you offered to send me an alternate product, and you sent me the wrong thing. Can you please send me a return shipping label so that I can send these boots back to you, and then just issue me a refund?"
The company basically responds and says, "No we are not going to send you a return shipping label. If you want a refund you will have to pay to ship the item back to us and we will issue you the refund." Well that hardly seems fair. Why should I pay even more to ship boots back to them that I never wanted in the first place. Right? So I emailed them back and said "But this is your mistake. I shouldn't have to pay even more money to ship the boots back to you. Please send me a return shipping label or I will have no choice but to dispute the charges on my credit card because you did not send me what I ordered."
I never heard anything back from them. And having forgotten that I used PayPal to purchase the item, I opened a dispute ticket with my credit card company. After forwarding them the email conversations with DWDS showing everything that transpired, my credit card company issued me a refund. Hurray! Thank you Chase VISA!!
Only... several weeks later I get a notification from PayPal that my account has been put into a "limited access" status because of the disputed charges. Huh? I emailed PayPal and explained to them what happened. After several emails PayPal says we will lift the limitation on your account as soon as you return the unwanted merchandise, to which I of course responded. "I'd be delighted to send back the boots as soon as I receive a shipping label from the seller." *crickets* I never heard anything back. Then another couple of weeks later, I get another notice email from PayPal again stating my account is under limited status. Again I email back and forth explaining the situation. Again we get nowhere.
Meanwhile, weeks and weeks have passed since all of this started and suddenly I want to buy something on eBay that requires PayPal payment. Oh no! I can't use my PayPal account because it's frozen. I need a quick resolution. So I call PayPal customer service and speak with the accounts limitation department. After explaining the WHOLE scenario for the 3rd? 4th? I've lost track... time, the CS agent with PayPal says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our dispute department. So I hold for a dispute agent. After several minutes I have to explaining the WHOLE scenario yet again to this new agent who says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our accounts limitation specialist. HUH? He just sent me to you! I told him...
We go back and forth several times about how I need to ship back to merchandise in order to get the issue resolved to which I tell him I'd be more than happy to send back the items I NEVER ORDERED IN THE FIRST PLACE... that as soon as DWDS sends me a shipping label, they will get the merchandise back. Until they do we are at an impasse... except there is a problem. I'm still the one being punished and held accountable by the freeze on my PayPal account not allowing me to make any further PayPal purchases.
Does any of this make sense? Why isn't PayPal harassing DWDS since this whole issue began with them in the first place. They are the ones who sent random merchandise that I never ordered and therefore shouldn't have to pay for. Why am I the one being harassed, spending hours and hours of my time trying to resolve something I thought was resolved months ago with my credit card company?!? Seriously? Buyer protection? The PayPal agent said if I had disputed the charges with PayPal instead of my credit card company this wouldn't have been an issue. Okay, my bad. I forgot that I had used PayPal for this order. But I still don't see why that means this is my problem and not the company who is fraudulently listing merchandise as "in-stock" when it's not, and then randomly shipping whatever they want to the customers regardless of what was originally ordered. This all makes no sense to me what-so-ever. Why isn't anyone harassing DWDS? They are the scammers!!
So... many many moons ago I ordered some boots from discountwomensdressshoes.com. BTW if this blog comes up in a google search you do for this company, don't walk RUN from making a purchase with this company.
Okay so I went online and wanted to buy a couple of pairs of boots. Since DWDS was having a special where if you spent a certain amount you would get free shipping I actually ordered more than I even intended to because it would have been like $14 to ship, but like $20 to order another pair of boots and get free shipping. You do the math.
Anyway, DWDS charges me and ships part of my order, but then sends me an email stating, although our inventory online stated otherwise, we don't have 1 of the pairs of boots you ordered in stock. (BTW after doing some review reading of my own online, I have realized that they do this a lot. In fact, they even have an ebay scam where they list items they claim not to have in stock but you can order them on ebay for a higher price even though it comes from the same company... I'm just sayin' pretty scandalous if you ask me.) At this point they offered to refund me for the 1 pair of boots that they glitched on inventory or send me a different pair of equal value. (Had I foreseen the issues I was going to have with this company, I would have just said refund my money.) But I didn't because it was one of the two pairs I originally wanted and they had already shipped the third pair that I only ordered to meet the free shipping promotion, so at this point I figured, what the hell, let me go on their site and see what else is available.
Well I wanted white boots and I found a similar pair of white boots in inventory so I sent them a link and said please send me this pair instead. They weren't as cute as the pair I originally wanted, but what the heck, they had already charged me so why not.
Okay no problem. Except that is not what they sent me. Instead of sending me white boots, they sent me grey boots. Well I didn't want/need any grey boots so again I contacted the company and said "Hey, first you guys messed up my initial order by listing inventory you didn't have... and now you offered to send me an alternate product, and you sent me the wrong thing. Can you please send me a return shipping label so that I can send these boots back to you, and then just issue me a refund?"
The company basically responds and says, "No we are not going to send you a return shipping label. If you want a refund you will have to pay to ship the item back to us and we will issue you the refund." Well that hardly seems fair. Why should I pay even more to ship boots back to them that I never wanted in the first place. Right? So I emailed them back and said "But this is your mistake. I shouldn't have to pay even more money to ship the boots back to you. Please send me a return shipping label or I will have no choice but to dispute the charges on my credit card because you did not send me what I ordered."
I never heard anything back from them. And having forgotten that I used PayPal to purchase the item, I opened a dispute ticket with my credit card company. After forwarding them the email conversations with DWDS showing everything that transpired, my credit card company issued me a refund. Hurray! Thank you Chase VISA!!
Only... several weeks later I get a notification from PayPal that my account has been put into a "limited access" status because of the disputed charges. Huh? I emailed PayPal and explained to them what happened. After several emails PayPal says we will lift the limitation on your account as soon as you return the unwanted merchandise, to which I of course responded. "I'd be delighted to send back the boots as soon as I receive a shipping label from the seller." *crickets* I never heard anything back. Then another couple of weeks later, I get another notice email from PayPal again stating my account is under limited status. Again I email back and forth explaining the situation. Again we get nowhere.
Meanwhile, weeks and weeks have passed since all of this started and suddenly I want to buy something on eBay that requires PayPal payment. Oh no! I can't use my PayPal account because it's frozen. I need a quick resolution. So I call PayPal customer service and speak with the accounts limitation department. After explaining the WHOLE scenario for the 3rd? 4th? I've lost track... time, the CS agent with PayPal says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our dispute department. So I hold for a dispute agent. After several minutes I have to explaining the WHOLE scenario yet again to this new agent who says, I can't help you with this you need to speak to our accounts limitation specialist. HUH? He just sent me to you! I told him...
We go back and forth several times about how I need to ship back to merchandise in order to get the issue resolved to which I tell him I'd be more than happy to send back the items I NEVER ORDERED IN THE FIRST PLACE... that as soon as DWDS sends me a shipping label, they will get the merchandise back. Until they do we are at an impasse... except there is a problem. I'm still the one being punished and held accountable by the freeze on my PayPal account not allowing me to make any further PayPal purchases.
Does any of this make sense? Why isn't PayPal harassing DWDS since this whole issue began with them in the first place. They are the ones who sent random merchandise that I never ordered and therefore shouldn't have to pay for. Why am I the one being harassed, spending hours and hours of my time trying to resolve something I thought was resolved months ago with my credit card company?!? Seriously? Buyer protection? The PayPal agent said if I had disputed the charges with PayPal instead of my credit card company this wouldn't have been an issue. Okay, my bad. I forgot that I had used PayPal for this order. But I still don't see why that means this is my problem and not the company who is fraudulently listing merchandise as "in-stock" when it's not, and then randomly shipping whatever they want to the customers regardless of what was originally ordered. This all makes no sense to me what-so-ever. Why isn't anyone harassing DWDS? They are the scammers!!
Be Honest About Nutritional Information
Every morning on my way in to work, I think about all the stupid people on the road and think to myself... I should write a blog about that person. But then I get to work and get settled in and forget. It's time to wake up the Glitchy Rants blog! Viva la rants!
So this morning I am blogging about a different sort of annoyance - nutritional information. Now, I'm not one of those hard-core calorie counters like some of the girls I work with are. I don't eat particularly healthy and I'm terrible at dieting. I do still check the nutritional information from time to time to see just how bad some of the food is that I am eating.
Pet Peeve: Why can't the manufacturers just be honest about the serving size? My son really wanted me to buy Pop Tarts for him for breakfast and as an adult, I still love Pop Tarts so who could deny him that simple pleasure? And of course if they are in the house, I'm likely to sneak a couple so I decided to check the nutritional information to see how bad it really is for me.
Serving Size: 1 pastry.
Really? You mean there are actually people out there who open one of the packets (which if you don't know has two pastries in it), take out a single pastry, put it in the toaster, and then find a zip-lock baggie for the other pastry? Come on! The packets have 2 pastries in them, thus the serving size is 2 pastries, not 1!! Stop lying to consumers to make your products look better than they are. Just be honest with us and let us make our own decision on whether or not we are willing to burn off the extra calories that these little heavenly pastries are packed full of... Let's be real here, if a parent is buying Pop Tarts for their child for breakfast, they are obviously not all that concerned about the healthiness of the meal.
Snack food manufacturers are the worst at this. Cookies and chips always have very low serving size counts. Serving Size: 2 cookies Serving Size: 13 chips
How many of you open a pack of Oreos and stop eating after 2 cookies? How many open a bag of chips and put it away after 13 chips?
My favorite are the ones (like the Pop Tart) example above that are pre-packed into a serving, but then the serving size is actually half of that. Take for example a can of pop. I haven't checked one in a while, but a 12oz can of soda used to say servings per container: 2. Really? You are going to drink half of a soda and then put it back in the refrigerator to drink the VERY flat other half tomorrow? Come on!! Who does that??
I do like the whole 100 calorie snack packs that are out now, because it does help portion control to package things with "actual portions" that make you mindful of your calorie count, but I'm not even suggesting all manufacturers do that. Package it however you want. Just be honest about how many calories are in the portion that you have rationed out. If a person wants to eat half the portion to watch their calorie count, let that be on the consumer.
So this morning I am blogging about a different sort of annoyance - nutritional information. Now, I'm not one of those hard-core calorie counters like some of the girls I work with are. I don't eat particularly healthy and I'm terrible at dieting. I do still check the nutritional information from time to time to see just how bad some of the food is that I am eating.
Pet Peeve: Why can't the manufacturers just be honest about the serving size? My son really wanted me to buy Pop Tarts for him for breakfast and as an adult, I still love Pop Tarts so who could deny him that simple pleasure? And of course if they are in the house, I'm likely to sneak a couple so I decided to check the nutritional information to see how bad it really is for me.
Serving Size: 1 pastry.
Really? You mean there are actually people out there who open one of the packets (which if you don't know has two pastries in it), take out a single pastry, put it in the toaster, and then find a zip-lock baggie for the other pastry? Come on! The packets have 2 pastries in them, thus the serving size is 2 pastries, not 1!! Stop lying to consumers to make your products look better than they are. Just be honest with us and let us make our own decision on whether or not we are willing to burn off the extra calories that these little heavenly pastries are packed full of... Let's be real here, if a parent is buying Pop Tarts for their child for breakfast, they are obviously not all that concerned about the healthiness of the meal.
Snack food manufacturers are the worst at this. Cookies and chips always have very low serving size counts. Serving Size: 2 cookies Serving Size: 13 chips
How many of you open a pack of Oreos and stop eating after 2 cookies? How many open a bag of chips and put it away after 13 chips?
My favorite are the ones (like the Pop Tart) example above that are pre-packed into a serving, but then the serving size is actually half of that. Take for example a can of pop. I haven't checked one in a while, but a 12oz can of soda used to say servings per container: 2. Really? You are going to drink half of a soda and then put it back in the refrigerator to drink the VERY flat other half tomorrow? Come on!! Who does that??
I do like the whole 100 calorie snack packs that are out now, because it does help portion control to package things with "actual portions" that make you mindful of your calorie count, but I'm not even suggesting all manufacturers do that. Package it however you want. Just be honest about how many calories are in the portion that you have rationed out. If a person wants to eat half the portion to watch their calorie count, let that be on the consumer.
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