New Suxs Thread

[victoriavictrix]

@MeltedCaramel

Ruptured disk, lumbar 5. Subsequent surgery. My neurologist prescribed the exercises (which are actually golfer's exercises) to take the pressure off the nerve.

[MeltedCaramel]

Victoriavictrix Jesus, lumbar five, that's really low back right? I could swear that's the same disk I ruptured/herniated/bulged/medical jargoned as well but I'd have to pull out my MRI report to be sure (I get confused by all the medical terms various specialists throw at me .). No one recommended surgery though. That's my problem, is that they seem to refuse that there IS one. Plus back surgery and my family don't exactly have the best history. To make a VERY LONG story short, my father almost died having back surgery for a relatively minor but persistent enough back pain that made surgery an option. He's now bent up with metal rods in his spine, on medication that could kill several large equines, lives in pain worse than before every single day, and to make it worse the second surgery to "fix" him, he contracted merca (I am not even looking that one up I am so damn tired, too tired for spelling error checks), which is a bacteria/virus/whatever that we all live with on our skin daily, but if it gets into deep tissue it can kill you easily. So they had him AWAKE for two weeks while his back was peeled in half like a butcher cutting down the spine of a salmon so the infection could clear out. Meaning he was literally awake with his back muscles hanging off of him in giant slabs. Yeah. I am now sufficiently terrified of back surgery, but honestly, with the pain I'm in, if they find something and recommend it, I'm looking into the laser surgery route. But I'm still terrified. My father was never much of a father, but what he went through was dehumanizing in a way I can't stand to see anyone suffer. They want to try another surgery but he's too scared to go under the knife again. And for all that my father wasn't a father, I will say this: He's not a wimp. He was a car mechanic for years, one of the best (his boss hated his guts but kept him on because he was the best mechanic at the shop) and he would get sometimes debilitating injuries from his work. He's the kind of guy where it's like "Oh my finger fell off? Just get me some duct tape to reattach it, no big deal." So for him to be honestly and truly afraid of a third surgery, the second surgery had to be living hell on earth.

But for now the "medical mystery" is to do no exercises. Honestly, that's fine with me because everything hurts me. Standing up to microwave a TV dinner puts me in agony. Once they figure out what's going on I know I need to rebuild my muscles with physical therapy, but honestly until they figure out what the hell is going on I'm not doing shit for fear of injuring myself further.

[victoriavictrix]

Well I had the best neurologist in a 3 state area (quite by accident! but my primary care physician was awesome which is probably why it happened), and my surgery went slick as a whistle. I still have minor back pain but I use a zero gravity chair with my desktop or laptop computers. When I use the desktop, I have a lapdesk with my keyboard and mouse on it. The zero gravity chair makes a huge difference, and yes, the cheap recliners work just as well as the expensive ones; just make a cushion out of NASA (temperature sensitive) foam. I use a 1" thick mattress topper folded in half.

[Qrinta]

Sinus colds suck. >< Trying to get rid of it by just drinking a lot of water and juice and using a hot cloth to help break everything up and get it out of my head. Finally started draining a little today so hopefully that's a good sign.

[Stormlight]

Wow. So, if I return a limited damaged head and its headback to Dollmore and only the head FRONT shows up, what the hell do I do? Dollmore is holding my Lumie head for ransom asking where the headback is. How the hell should I know? It was in the package when it left! Try interrogating your customs people about it! Or see if a coworker has memory loss? I'll bet somebody on that side has something to do with its disappearance. Why would I keep it? What am I gonna use it for, a paperweight? >__<

At this point I'm almost ready to just sell the damned doll and be done with it. Who knew something like this could be this much trouble? I just want my Lumie back! All that anticipation is sort of being ruined by this stupid crap. Gah.

[MeltedCaramel]

Stormlight Oh man. That is just...what in the...? Reminds me eerily of Ebay shopping. "Totally New Condition!" *Melted Caramel gets the box* "...Did they put it in a grinder? And what IS that...biological substance on the back of the book?" *Snort* That would be one creepy paperweight. Honestly it sounds like someone didn't bother searching the whole package and are holding you responsible for their mishandling of the product. It's happened to me before.

I'm sorry it's killing your enthusiam for your doll. I had a disastrous experience with my "Holy Grail" 1/6 doll where I lost $700 because it was an international transaction and they claimed to have sent a refund and Amazon Japan couldn't help me because it was an overseas credit card and MY credit card couldn't help me because I had authorized the transaction and by the time I untangled all the legal knots I would have been out much, much more. I tried not to let it get me down though, and I finally managed to get my Holy Grail. Keep up hope Stormlight!!

[Stormlight]

They replied and said not to worry about it, so either they found the headback or just figured customs lost it. Which is good I'm not being held accountable. But the rep just asked if I sent the eyes as well (at least I think she did; her English isn't perfect), which I didn't. So I told her I've still got the default eyes and to just send the head back without eyes. So IF this gets sorted, it should be sent out tomorrow. Or today? Either way, the package won't be in time for Christmas, but at least it'll be before New Years.

Don't get me wrong, Dollmore has been more than obliging with this entire ordeal and have gone out of their way to help me, which I appreciate. They refunded me all of my shipping to return the damaged items (which gave me $145 of store credit), and will ship the new package back free of charge. It's just all these little delays are getting frustrating. I'd had so many plans for holiday shots with her and all, but it'll wait until next year, I guess.

(I did just get another email confirming that my package is going to be sent out asap, so finally! I just hope it arrives safely!)

Ah, yes. I've had issues with Ebay recently myself. Not for THAT much money. Did you try opening an Ebay dispute?

I've been trying to collect the Hallmark fairies for my tree, and I managed to win the rose fairy that was listed as "used like new", but she arrived covered in dust and sticky substance that I think was tree sap. There's a long stain on her arm that looks like ink or something. Won't wash off whatever it is. I tried to contact the seller and ask what happened and got nothing but defensive attitude and the person kept calling me a liar. Um, right. I'm imagining the gray, sticky dust all over the "used like new" ornament. Pfft. These things are highly collectible, but only if they're actually IN like-new condition. I just want them because my Christmas tree theme is fairies and there aren't a lot of them out there, so I'd even buy slightly damaged as long as the seller is honest about it!

Well, it ended up with me threatening to leave bad feedback and all this person had to say was "I can't work with you if you don't try to resolve this!" I'm like, I'm TRYING to resolve this and you're the one being defensive, obstinate, and repeatedly calling me a liar when you're the one who is obviously lying! I ended up leaving the negative feedback and then opening an Ebay dispute, and asked for a partial refund (because I wanted to keep the ornament given I actually managed to pay under thirty dollars for it). I had $10 refunded within the hour. Ebay is nice for finding things you wouldn't otherwise, but it still is a pain when you have to deal with flaky sellers.

[MeltedCaramel]

I'm glad the Dollmore thing is working out good! I know the delay disappointments though. My seamstress sent my custom Alois outfit out like two weeks ago, and it's coming from Portugal, but a bunch of things I ordered all seem to be stuck at a particular New York USPS chokepoint and it hasn't been updated for like 5 days. I WANT MY DAMN OUTFIT. *Ahem*

As for the $700 thing, that wasn't Ebay, that was Amazon Japan's Marketplace. I will NEVER buy there except through a proxy ever again after seeing how easy it is to cheat people out of their money.

As for Ebay....ewww, tree sap covered faeries. You'd better hope it's tree sap! I get the same attitude a lot from sellers who have high ratings because they think they're above the rules. I recently bought a comic book that said literally "BRAND NEW", and I get it and it's obvious someone broke the spine to scan it into a computer, and then spilled some noxious purple substance on the back, the pages are almost coming out...but this is besides the point. The guy who sold it lives in New York, and I live in Pennsylvania. A two to three hour drive at most. This package took over 2 months to arrive, so naturally after a month with NO tracking information I assume it's lost and file a report for not receiving my item. He's condescending the entire time, then stops talking to me, and wouldn't do jack shit until I escalated my case to Ebay and they made him pay me back. Needless to say when the package arrives two months late magically he speaks again! I get a "Change my feedback and refund me" email, to which I replied in much longer, nicer terms, basically: "Dude, your listing sucks, this book looks like a garage sale reject and after the shit you put me through I should leave your negative feedback as is." Finally he says "Please just change the feedback it really affects my score, and if you're feeling generous send me $5 for a used-book copy of the book." So of course I go "Look, if this were a legitimate, on-time transaction we would be having a WHOLE other argument because of the deplorable condition of the book, because I didn't BUY a "used copy"."

Needless to say, changed feedback with halfhearted "yeah whatever", gave him a positive feedback but still gave him zero stars on everything because he was just an a-hole.

But a good tip to remember: NEVER threaten to leave bad feedback. Your goal when communicating is to make yourself look like a well spoken victim of circumstance. Ebay support reads through your conversations and if anything sniffs of extortion for money they'll favour the other person. The best thing to do is to document everything with photos, show them to the seller, and politely try and work out whatever kind of refund you want (I often ask for partial refunds because going to the post office is a bitch). If they're just uncooperative a-holes, wait the seven days and then send your case to Ebay customer support and you get to keep the item and get a full refund. I've even gotten a refund for posters that got lost in the mail and SAID they got delivered on the tracking number. Basically try and be as well spoken and "victimize" yourself without whining. Works like a charm. ^_~

[knittnkitten]

I just wish people at my job would leave me alone and let me do my job and stop correcting me the moment they think I'm stepping out of line. doing a 3 person job by myself and I'm probably drowning in it.

[Vetinari]

...Sooo my twitter account has been hacked - I didn't use it for anything but following a couple of author's blogs/accounts, but but it's irritating. I've done all of the officially sanctioned things - and Twitter says they can't do anything... But 1) I'm still receiving emails about my account ...in Russian. 2) The person who did it is posting as me, in Russian... FFS. Luckily twitter was only linked to a spam inbox but now worried about security for everything else if it was this easy to lock me out of my own account!