No News

No news is not necessarily good news, or bad - it is ANNOYING! We've got no information on our Paypal/Ebay issue. I've talked to two different people at Paypal. The first one I talked to was mildly reassuring, but she didn't offer much information. She basically said that Paypal protects us and to wait up to 10 days for a decision. Pardon me, but a 'decision' means that I may or may not get my money back (in my opinion). I called again, to try to get an update, and I talked with another representative who was VERY reassuring. She asked a TON of questions, made some major restrictions on our account to prevent any further fraud (which should have been done IMMEDIATELY on my first call!), she seemed very interested in this investigation and wanted to gather as much information as possible. She states that Paypal will cover our money, AND they will pay the seller of the diamond if they had already shipped it. I suppose they would then use law enforcement to try and track the actual offender. I have hope, but I will believe it when I see it in the form of $$$$.

It's very frustrating to wait for information. On my end it seems as though nothing is happening and I'm the type of person that likes to make stuff happen. I hate to wait, on anything. The waiting is just killing me. I am also obsessed with having lots of information about stuff. I think I'm more focused on the fact that I need more information about this crime than the money itself. Well, maybe..... :)

In other news, I'm hosting a baby shower at my house next weekend. I'm getting kind of freaked out about it because I feel like my house is not 'show ready'. I also don't have a lot of time between now and the shower, sooooo... I'm a little irritated.

I have no window treatments in my living room. Not a real issue, but there were window treatments at one time, so now there are holes where the hardware once was. It needs filling, sanding and painting. Oh yeah, I don't have that paint anymore, either. The bathroom that is most likely to be used by guests also needs a paint job along with the hallway attached to it. I watched my friends kids a week or so ago and they ended up coloring all over the walls. Sounds like I did a fantastic job watching them, huh? I was actually getting their dinner together and they were playing nicely in the next room - or so I thought. I tried using a magic eraser to remove most of the coloring - it does work, but I can 'see' where I've erased. And not all of it will come off. Hey, they are aspiring artists and they used different mediums of coloring tools! There were crayons, markers and pencils.

There are a lot of other little things that I would like to have done before having a mulititude of people sticking their noses in every corner of my house, but I think I'm just going to have to get past it. There are not enough hours in the day. What is it with people coming over that they have to go on a 'tour' of the whole house and look behind every door!? I'm really letting just one person get to me about this whole house thing. I have a relative who will be attending that loves to point out things that they could do so much better!

I should just let it go, much like my obsession with our claim. It will all happen the way it was meant to happen. I will do what I can to make the shower nice, and I will do what I can to find the prick who took my money, but in the end no amount of my worry will change an outcome.

Shaft

I've been using online service, vendors, banking, etc. since the beginning of 'internet' time. It must have been more than 10 years. I've had very few 'problems' aside from the occasional suckbucket on ebay. None of my problems have ever amounted to much. Until today.

When logging on to my online banking this morning I noticed that Paypal has taken a nice chunk of my money. A $2,649.99 chunk, to be exact. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (this is the amount of silence it took before what was happening sunk in). Fu#@#^^&*%$###$***$#@!!!!!!!!! began the line of obsenities that spewed from my mouth. In my kitchen. Where my kids were eating chocolate chip waffles. I'll probably get a call from the principal today when my 7 year old asks her teacher what "you fucking fucker douchebag shit" means.

Apparently, someone has captured the password of my Hunk's ebay and paypal account. Upon which they decided they wanted to purchase a $2,649.99 loose diamond. They changed the confirmed shipping address on the paypal account and did an instant transfer from our bank account. For $2,649.99. ahem. Apparently, I have moved to El Paso, TX where I will be receiving my loose diamond via US Postal service any day now.

So, Paypal will investigate this claim, but it takes 10 days. My bank will let me file an unauthorized form of some sort, which takes 5 days to process. I doubt I have a leg to stand on with the bank. Paypal.....we shall see. I've heard a lot of bad stories, but I'll hold my judgement until it is considered a closed deal. My hope is that Paypal will indeed protect this purchase.

I checked out the auction that Hunk supposedly won, a brilliant loose diamond. Not only am I missing money, it was lost to something that I don't like AT ALL, jewelry. I don't wear any jewelry other than my wedding rings. I don't have any desire to wear jewelry. Anyhoo, I called the number of the "Seller". They have a website - a strange address, though (no www). I dialed the 877 number and a man answered, possibly having been awakened by the phone. He was clearly NOT at a jewelry store. I asked him if he could refund my purchase, he said yes, but he needed to call his partner. "Has the item been shipped?" Yes, I was assured that the diamond was shipped to El Paso yesterday. "A Tracking Number, please". He didn't have it at the moment and he really needed to call his partner to figure this all out. His partner happened to have just left for Israel. Hmmmm.

I then followed up my dispute with a call to Paypal to see what leg I have to stand on, especially if they say this item has shipped. According to Paypal, they have not yet released the money to the seller (thank GOD if that is true). Which brings me back to the seller - why would they ship a diamond supposedly valued at $6,500 (I really got a bargain!! ha) if they haven't received their $2.649.99???

There's a lot of fishy going on here. At first I thought that perhaps both the seller and myself had been duped. But with the reaction I'm getting from the seller, I'm wondering if they are not a part of the scam? Whatever the case, if the seller is legit, and they shipped this diamond then someone in El Paso is going out for a steak dinner and doing a happy dance.

A good lesson learned here, is that I should be logging on to my online banking DAILY. Paypal 'says' that there is a 3-4 day waiting period before they would have actually released the money. If I had not happened to have checked, the money would have DEFINATELY been gone and I would have no grounds at all. I'm in my account a lot, but if I set up all my billpay info, I can go a week or so without logging in.

I've made all the appropriate changes to passwords, etc., but it doesn't replace the fact that I'm out of $2,649.99 in CASH, and I may never see it again. I honestly do not see how people can live with themselves by taking things from other people. What kind of a mind do you have to have to feel as though you deserve something that I worked for? It really is amazing how people can be so different, so unfeeling, so self righteous. I wonder if I would be a different person if I weren't as blessed as I am. I don't want for food, or clothing. I have a nice place to live. If I didn't have these things would it alter my compassion for others?