My experiences buying on ebay.in

I had bought quite a number of items form ebay.in and have successfully received them, but for my last purchase on ebay.in which I did not receive and which gave me an experience in dealing with online purchases. My experiences might help you in dealing with the sellers who would wash off their hands once they get their money.

I happened to buy a Philips HQ6990 3 Head shaver from ebay seller (gadgetsadda2011) on 21st October 2011, after paying through PaisaPay online and seller was required to ship the item by 26-Oct-11 at the latest. Seller shipped the item the item on 22-Oct-11 using a local courier company DTDC with the airway bill number z48482828. The time taken by the seller was quick; the seller was required to ensure the item reaches you by 29-Oct-11 by ebay estimation. There was a note from ebay.in “Please confirm the receipt of this item through My PaisaPay once it has been delivered to you. Your payments are protected by PaisaPay. You can request a refund of your payment if the seller does not deliver the item by 29-Oct-11.”

So my waiting period started thinking the parcel will reach me fast and safe, as the parcel was expected at any time of the day I had instructed my Mom to receive the parcel from DTDC delivery boy if I was not there. As many days passed by I was still waiting for the parcel asking for my Mom if the DTDC courier delivery boy, but there was no information about the parcel. On 30-October-11 I received an email from ebay.in “Action required: You need to confirm whether you received the item or not through My PaisaPay. Important: If you do not take any action by 03-Nov-11, we will presume that you have received the item.” This is where I went wrong, I did not report to ebay.in or PaisePay. It’s a typical Indian mentality which kicked in thinking “Bidu swalpa late aagi barbahodu” and I kept on waiting and let by the deadline date 3rd Nov pass by, the ebay system automatically assumed it as I received the item and made the payment to the seller.

In the mean time I was also tracking my parcel on the DTDC website which had an update that item has been taken for Delivery. Hoping that it might arrive in a day or two I decided to wait for another two days. Two more days passed by and when the DTDC tracking portal said that item has been delivered to my home; I got alarmed, The DTDC Delivery boy never delivered the item and here on their website they have updated that it has been signed and delivered to the address. I immediately shot an email to the seller(gadgetsadda2011) the owner name is Vicky kukreja from Delhi, informing him that I haven’t received the item which he has sent. As a reply he sent me to contact the local DTDC courier support.
His email on 30-Oct-11

Dear Naveen


Please call on
9241221646
9980452368
office name shankar
nagar dtdc
call and tell ur name and address and ur courier number.
Ask him
abt ur packet.
Today is sunday may b close in ur state.
If any prob call me
on
9015588398
thanks & regards,
Vicky kukreja
gadgetsadda.com
ebay.in

As suggested by him when I called the numbers one number did not exist and the person on the other number did not know about the item and asked to called DTDC helpdesk. Then the frustration started by dealing with unprofessional courier service who. Every time I called and raised the complaint about the missing parcel the only reply was we are looking into details and we will call back to you with in 1 hour.

Call backs never happened from there side and I must have called around 10 to 15 times to get the update about my case and each time I got the same answer “we are trying to contact the delivery boy to get details”. After 3 days or so on 5th Nov, DTDC helpdesk informed that package has been lost and I have to contact the seller to get refund and they cannot help any further.

Now my fight started with the seller gadgetsadda2011(Vicky), By this time he had received the payment money from PaisePay as I did not report within 3rd November 2011. Vicky stopped responding to my emails and his phone mentioned in the email 9015588398 did not work. My last email to him was

“Hi Vicky

This is the 4th Email I am sending and you are not responding to my email. Neither you are reachable on your mobile phone. DTDC has lost the item in transit and I want the Item to be reshipped from your side. As you are not responding I have no other option but to leave negative feedback for you. Contact me asap ”

Then received a phone call from Vicky stating that he is not in Delhi and he was in Haridwar and he would look into the matter once he comes back to Delhi, Also he gave me a number of one Mr. Rohit who is from DTDC courier in Delhi and asked me to call up and check. When I called up Mr. Rohit he informed that he will look into the details and call back. He called back after couple of hours and informed that website says that parcel has been delivered, so funny I told him that your website has been incorrectly updated and someone from DTDC has stolen the parcel. He told in that case I will procure the Delivery report from the local courier from Bangalore and email the scan report and took my email address. After days passed by he never sent the report, if he had sent and if the signature was forged certainly I could have lodge a police complaint for signature forgery. As fighting with the courier guys was not headache I was concentrating with the ebay seller.

Many repeated calls to Vicky from gadgetsadda2011 went by and from 5th of Nov he kept on telling that I have contacted DTDC for refund and I will reship a new item. My argument with him was that the shipping issue was his problem with the courier company and I should not be made to wait. Seller was in consistent with his commitments he repeatedly changed his statements by saying “ask ebay for refund if you want” or “wait for 24 hrs I will ship a new item”. I opened a claim case with ebay.in(eBay Guarantee Claim # 65957 (KMM56960844V42673L0KM)), For any honest ebay store true to his salt will know that his ebay store is at stake. So pat came a reply from his side.

Below find the Case details.

Purchase: DIWALI OFFER Philips HQ6990 3 Head Rechargeable Shavers Pop Up Trimmer (#250914970606) sold to neoakanav on 21-Oct-2011.

Case status: Open - the seller has not responded yet

Please review the response from the seller below and choose an option indicating how you'd like to proceed.

neoakanav 14-Nov-2011 at 15:52:32 IST


I have been chasing you wasting on phone calls, and you do not seem to be interested in resolving my
issue. Either reship a New working item via Registered parcel. or Refund. It has been frustratinng
to deal with you and I will make sure I will not deal with you in future.
sir


please try to understand my prob.

i alrdy send u a shever,,

when i gt back my shaver

then i

send u another

 neoakanav 08-Nov-2011 at 22:58:39 IST

As per your commitment on 8th November 2011, I am waiting for 24 hours. Kindly inform me as you reship the item once again so that I can close this claim request.

Thanks

Naveen



gadgetsadda2011 08-Nov-2011 at 18:58:38 IST
The item has been shipped.
Shipping Company: DTDC
Shipping Date:
Tracking Number: z48482828
Additional Details: SIR I TALK TO THE DTDC COMPANY
PLZ WAIT 48HR
neoakanav 04-Nov-2011 at 22:36:23 IST


Item Not Received: DIWALI OFFER Philips HQ6990 3 Head Rechargeable Shavers Pop Up Trimmer (#250914970606)

Payment Method: Credit Card

Payment Date: 21-Oct-2011

As he did not keep his promise and my repeated phone calls to him from 7th November he changed his commitment as asked for another 50% of the cost of the item as he has also lost the money by dealing with the DTDC courier company. I clearly said that it is his problem to deal with the courier company and insisted him to ship a new item and categorically said that I will not be paying 50% of item cost. As I had enough of fighting with the seller, Today on 14th November 2011 I gave him Negative feedback which was pending from my side for my buying. Believe me the very next minute of me sending the feedback I got a call from Vicky(gadgetsadda2011) stating that he will be shipping a new item by Speed Post and I had to bear the courier charges only. Anybody who is a serious seller on ebay knows about the Negative feedbacks for their stores in turn it’s a negative feedback for ebay.in that provide their space to such sellers.

Here Vicky(gadgetsadda2011) may not be the directly defaulting, even he might be victim of the bad service from his courier company DTDC. By directly dealing with the DTDC courier company, I came to know that this courier company and many other courier companies like Professional courier have a very bad reputation in service.

Local Delivery boys stealing the parcel by forging the receiver signature, delivering broken items, Opening the parcel and stealing few expensive items before delivery are the norm and well know from these courier companies who operate in India. If you make a Google search for “DTDC courier complaints+Bangalore” you will find thousands of result, check this link and you will find the complaints http://www.consumercourt.in/other-services/18401-complaint-against-lost-consignment-dtdc-courier-services.html.

When I informed this to my friends one of my friend informed that this is what we get if we use cheap couriers and he uses FedEx, UPS or DHL. NRI from US return are so used for good quality of service for the price it’s hard for them to understand. A layman in our country cannot afford to ship a shaver or a puncher kit from FedEx or UPS. We have to deal with the existing system or stop using them and use alternate inexpensive but safe system in India. This entry in my blog is to make all my friends and readers aware about the existing courier service or rather lack of service in our country and how ebay.in buying can go wrong due to the existing system.

As of 14th November 2011 I am still waiting for Vicky(gadgetsadda2011) to ship a new item but this time using “India Post- Speed post” & I will have to pay for postage charges extra.
Below are few things that I plan to do if this does not work out.

1. Contact ebay.in again for refund.

2. If speed post works out. When I buy next on ebay.in in insist the ebay seller to ship it by India post-speed post.

3. Put a RTI and get info as to who forged my signature and received the parcel, so that if needed I can file a forgery complaint.

If you find this post information and if you think my experience help you in online buying on ebay.in Kindly comment on the page.

Thank you for visiting and visit again for more updates.

Cheers
Naveen

Photographing Birds of Bengaluru

I have been doing bird watching from past 10 or 12 years  but seldom I have documented or kept a record for reference. Now as I have started Bird photography, I would be keeping a record of each and every bird that I have seen along with the photographs that I have taken and their location. Learning there behavior, habitat would gives an insight into the avian world and to understand the nature better. Detail features of the bird's and there classification can be seen here.

Dated : 15-Oct-2011
After the last birding trip to Byalkere this time we headed out to Hesarghatta lake. It was over 1.5 years that I had been to Hesarghatta lake and to the flat land near Nrithyagrama when we generally call it as Indian Scotland or Indian masai mara depending on the season. Below are few birds that I was able to capture. Equipment used Canon 1100D, Sigma 100-300mmf/4.5-6.7 DL lens. Even though its not a high end equipment I have got some decent pictures of the birds.

Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

 Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

How to identify a Black Kite?

• Medium sized bird
• Appears dark without any rofus
• Upper plumage is brown
• Black bill, yellow legs & black claws.

Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

How to identify a Paddyfield Pipit?

• streaked grey-brown above and pale below with breast streaking.
• long legged with a long tail and a long dark bill.
• Call "chip-chip-chip".

Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus)

How to identify a Red-wattled Lapwing?

• A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye.
• Wings and back are light brown with a purple sheen.
• head and chest and front part of neck are black.
• White patch runs from belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of crown.
• Tail is tipped black, long legs are yellow.
• loud and scolding did-he-do-it call.

 Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)

Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)

 How to identify a Oriental Magpie Robin?

• Distinctive black and white bird.
• long tail that is held upright when feeding on floor.

Update : 1st November 2011

Me & my friends, Planned for Kokkare Bellur today(Nov 1st Outing), but it didn't worked out. landed up again in Byalakere. Weather was very english and low lighting, got very few good pics.

Cattle Egret in Flight

Cattle Egret

Trip to Byalkere Peacock Reserve

I wanted to test my newly acquired Canon EOS 1100D Digital SLR camera. On the previous night I had texted my friend Nagaraj and suggested him about a drive nearby. We being dwellers of Bangalore North, the most frequented places are Nandi hills, Hesarghatta lake and nearby grassland; we call it as Scotland or Indian Masai mara (depending upon season)

My friend Vishwa had informed us about a peacock reserve on the way to Hesarghatta. As are visiting Hesarghatta from past last 12 years or so, we hadn't heard or seen any thing about Peacock reserve nearby. So this time we wanted to explore this unexplored place. Google map informed us that  it's just 10.4 Kms from my home and drive time of 22 mins.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon on September 18th 2011 after picking up Nagaraj from his home in Vidyaranyapura my trusted GPS girlfriend (Female Voice directions) took us exactly in front of Byalkere (lake). This Byalkere was very near to a housing layout and we were sure that this was not the right place to look for peacock's. However we were not disappointment we were greeting with variety of birds on the tank bund. We did spend an hour and a half taking pictures and video of the birds. Below are few birds which I were able to capture.

  

Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus)

It is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, They have a reddish brown plumage and a contrasting white head and breast which makes them easy to distinguish from other birds of prey.

Green Bee-eater, Merops orientalis

We successfully drew all the birds out of the lake and we started towards main road. Upon enquiring we got to know that Peacock reserve was still further. we drove until the Peacock reserve gate and got to know that it was a restricted area and if we trespass we would be prosecuted. It clearly mentioned that no one can enter with out proper approval from Forest Department. Although we got the new place but we were not able to enter. We drove around the reserve forest peripheral road thinking we might come across some peacocks but to our disappointment we didn't even hear there call.

Driving further we reached a location where they mange Bangalore city waste and garbage. Along side there was a lake, There were lot of bird activity in the vicinity. Took few more pictures in the location and headed back to home. Even though we did not see any peacocks, we got a new place for bird photography where we get variety of birds. Also if we go early morning we might get peacocks as well, It's just a matter of time and patients.

Update: 25-Sep-2011
Nagaraj called me early in the morning 6:30 AM and said "Lets Go" again. Took my ALTO as usual picked up Nag and headed out to our newly discovered birding site. By the time we reached the site it was around 7:45 ish. To our badluck there was no Bird activity, Sunlight was harsh and we could sense the heat already. we were only able to see Kites, Myna's and Common Crows.

That was a kind of experience and learning. We got to learn that bright sunlit day, hot and humid days is not a good day for Birds. Best time to photograph is when on a moderately cloudy mornings or early evenings when it is cool for the Birds. Only one good pic which I got from the session was of a Bee.

Keep looking for more updates as we intend to visit this place more often.

BSNL 3G Datacard Review

As my job required me to login from home (WFH) to the office network, I was looking out for a fastest  yet affordable Internet connection. My previous Internet was an old Broadband over the telephone connection which served my purpose for general browsing, but now I wanted something where I can connect while I am on the move. After researching thoroughly on the Internet I zeroed in on BSNL 3G. I had other options like MTS, Tata Photon, Tata Docomo 3G, Airtel 3G etc but BSNL was the best VFM.

My Dad is an ex BSNL employee and he was kind enough to get one for me when he had some work at the BSNL office. When I went home I saw a TERACOM LW273 Datacard Modem and a BSNL 3G simcard Lying on my Ham Radio shack.

Opened the datacard pack and found a shiny cute little datacard modem which looks like a pendrive, pack contained only the datacard modem and small handy instruction sheet. Installing the Datacard modem was very simple, as per the instruction I just plugged in to the USB slot ran the setup.exe file. All the necessary drivers and a program called Bsnl 3G got installed on my laptop. All necessary connections were created automatically and on the Datacard modem the Red colour LED was flashing.  Every thing was set and tried connecting to the Internet but it refused to connect, although the signal strength was showing 4 bars. The connection status was showing Red in the Bsnl 3G interface program, after a bit of googling I got to know that if the new SIM card is not activated we get Red status and Red LED will be flashing, thus ended my attempts to connecting to the Internet using my new 3G datacard on that night.

Next day morning woke up bit early due to a incoming call from an Ham friend, Since I was already disturbed from my slumber I dragged myself to my laptop to see my luck. Booted my laptop and connected the 3G Datacard. I was thinking of contacting the Dreaded BSNL Helpdesk which is known for pathetic service, but to my luck as soon a I connected the Datacard the LED turned RED to GREEN. Voila the Sim card has been activated, the connection was verified and authenticated. I selected the Internet option and clicked on the connect button for the first time it did not connect but for the second it got connected.
I wanted to feel the speed of the Internet so the sure or my way of testing was playing a video from Youtube.
Just logged on to my FB profile and played a video which was posted by one of my friend. Wow it was superfast, there was no buffering and no stopping of the video in between to buffer, Was able to feel the speed. Wanted see how much speed I am getting so I did a speed test to get some quantifiable numbers.
Below find results.

The first test result I Got.

1st Attempt
PING: 353ms
Download Speed: 0.35 Mbps (358 Kbps)
Upload Speed : 0.06 Mbps (61 Kbps)

2nd Attempt
PING : 356ms
Download Speed: 0.80 Mbps (819 Kbps)
Upload Speed : 0.09 Mbps (92 Kbps)

This average comes up
Download speed : 588 Kbps
Upload Speed : 76 Kbps

The above average speed is in par although it is no where near to 3.6 Mbps for downloads as promised by BSNL. So keep visiting my blog for further updates as I keep using this connection. Your comments and discussions are welcome.

Cheers
NEO

Contact on second bird HO-68 HOPE-16th December 2010

Pic courtesy AMSAT

After regular contacts on VO-52 it was time for me to work on other birds. I had been trying constantly to work on other birds with out andy success. As I was having QSO with OM Shankar VU2SWG he informed that at 21:35 hrs HO-68 will be switched on. This was an opportunity for me to work on a new bird. Earlier I had worked on U/V mode , i.e, Tx on UHF and Rx on VHF for VO-52, but working on HO-68 would be V/U mode Tx on VHF and Rx on UHF.


After the not so successful VO-52 pass I changed to HO-68 frequency, at first I did not hear any signal from the bird and I patiently waited then after few minutes I started to hear packet on the downlink. Hope for making a contact on Hope was good, Then all of a sudden I heard OM Guru VU2GUR calling CQ then followed by OM Shankar VU2SWG felt so good as this would be my second satellite to work with. After monitoring the uplink for few minutes and making sure no one is transmitting I gave a call to Guru and Shankar both of them responded. I gave them a report of 59 and 59+ respectively; They also gave me a report of 59. Wow that was my second satellite that I worked with and was successful.

Looking for many more birds to work with, now the satellite bug has really bitten me.

My next project is to put up an UHF Slim Jim and to homebrew a Arrow antenna. I will keep posted about my project.

Thank you for stopping by.

73’s

DE VU3NEO