An Auction gone terribly wrong Part 1

The following tells a true story and as such I will make no attempts to protect the identities of the involved parties. In fact, I will even expose the identities just to show you that this actually happens and is not another urban legend.

The aution itself :
http://auctions.yahoo.com/sg/i:Lancome%20Miracle%20Perfume:99330434

It all started as a normal auction for an item on Yahoo Auction Singapore. In this case, the Lancome Miracle Perfume 100ml. Before bidding, a few simple questions like is this 100ml? New? Etc since no picture was displayed. The seller promptly replied to say its new and selling cos she does not like the smell. (New? Emm, ok maybe she tested it in the shop. And still bought it? Emm.. Anyway…) She even gave me 10% off.

So, I bidded and asked to close. Soon I get a nice reply to ask me to transfer the money to a POSB Bank Acct and she will send out the item. In fact, I have to do that or I will get a BAD rating within 3 days. How efficient. Anyway, the SMS is as follows :

Ive sent u a email yesterday too, kindly make payments within 3 working days to posb savings 209-04734-9 of $47 inclusive of $2 postage & handling fee. bad ratings will b given if buyer fails to make payment. thanks. save this msg as my email i sent today i didnt include my bank account no. thank u.

And of cos I prompt was a bit worried about closing this one by post because after all its perfume. Breakable. I send back a SMS and asked if we can meet up instead cos I worry about the bottle as well as the trustworthiness of the seller since she has only a rating of 1 (and the buyer of that rating has a rating of -2…). Anyway, she assured me that it will be wrapped and no problem. In fact, she is quite nice to offer registered post for free. After all she said $45 is a small sum. No problemo.

so sorry but i don do meet ups on small item, but if u're worried that it might break, i assure u that it comes with a box and i bubble wrap the whole thing, i can give u free registered mail u just need to pay 45 dollars.

So, it was transferred within 5 minutes. I forgotten all about it for the next few days. Until about 5 days later. Nothing came. I SMS her again to check if she send out the item. After a few SMS, no reply. Emm… Shit… I have a bad feeling about this. I called and guess what she doesn’t even pick up. After like 30 minutes of ringing. Not even a polite SMS to say I am busy or what. Then a guy (her hubby Eddie probably) picked up and ask me to call back after 11:30pm. Ok, I guess I can do that. Then it was 3 calls at 11:45, 3 more at 12:00 and no more pick up liao. At this point, I really wanted to say why would someone get a handphone and no pick up calls? Do you know there are still things call pager?

I tell myself. I must had been screwed. Police is the eventual thing that came to mind. I
realized I will have to keep all the records and audit trails proper in order for them to be creditable in court, if we have to come to that. My line of work has well prepared me for all the knowledge and skills to carefully not destroy or discredit the evidences. Anyway, I thought, its only been 1 days. Maybe I will try again and not have to resolve to Police. After all they are pretty busy people I suppose. And the next day, a few more calls, a few more SMS. Nothing. Until I send this one :

Had enough calling you liao. If you dont response by today then i have no choice but to have to file a police report against you for fraud.

Now, the police word probably caught her attention finally. A reply saying go report loh she hasn’t send the item out. Well, talk about efficient. Demanding people to pay in 3 days and after 6 days, she still has not send the item out after payment. And it really “helps” to stop responding to SMS and even phone calls. The first thing people will think is “Long Con” right? I realized that I can’t go to the police now that she has responded and that means I can say she ran away with the money. Ok, I will wait. Seriously, I wanted to stress that I had been a seller and buyer with a rating of over 150. Usually for a seller to ask payment within 3 days, I will get my item within 3 days as well. And I always send my item out within 2 days of payment. Its only fair trade. And I remain in contact with my buyer within the period and even checked with them to see if the item reached cos I am the only person who can chase after the Post Office in case of lost of damage items.

So, it was another wait and a Friday holiday followed by a weekend. I presume that this is a newbie seller trying to act professional, but I don’t really care if I get my goods eventually. The real problem then came. She said she did not receive the money. After being a bit of hostile cos I came find her, I decided I would be nice now to smoothen things out. I send her SMS again to check what went wrong. First, she gave me another account to transfer to. But I did that a week ago and it was a different number. I SMS again to confirm. After a few SMS, she said that was her friend’s account. So I asked her to check with her friend. Guess what, nothing also. Then I have no choice. I have to call up DBS. They were quite helpful anyway and traced the transaction. It well ok. So, what screwed up? I told her it was ok as the bank said and forwarded her SMS back when she asked for the account transfer.

The final nightmare came in. After a few more SMS, she finally said she key in the wrong number and that was NOT her friend’s account. Now, unless I am wrong about DBS, most bank has account numbers with a check digit. You can’t just key in an account number and its valid. It has to be checked against the check digit which is usually the last digit to be valid. Even 1 wrong digit will immediately show that the account is incorrect. What is the chances of giving me a wrong account number and its valid?

I had been very frustrated now. But I have to keep my cool. I asked her if she sent the item and she did not reply. I SMS again to tell her its been very long and it just isn’t fair for me to wait so long even after I has made payment according to her instruction. Can she send the item out first while I try to see if I can resolve the issue with the bank. Of course, I called the bank next and realized I have no choice but to go to the bank to make a statement declaring that I MADE a mistake and deposit to the wrong account. Well, its not really my fault, but I am willing to settle for it as long as the issue can be resolved. So I have to mark down one days the coming week to settle this. Still, I get no reply from her again. Lots of questions when through my mind. Did she actually send out the item? It was holiday on Friday afterall. Is she going to just keep quiet and pretend nothing happened cos she did not received her “small sum”. Or was this a setup right from the start?

To be continued...

There was a time...

I feel like pulling out a machine gun and shooting everyone's guts out or taking a grenade and blow everyone to pieces...
Before I say anything else, lets listen to this clip.

http://www.zshare.net/download/recording-4-amr.html

Well, its recorded on my handphone while its inside my pocket and imagine the ampitude of the actual noise. Thanks to the student of Temesak Primary School. Don't clap please, its already loud enough.

Which inspired my next novel "The Sound of Silence"...

Help! my Ah Long has voted for me!

Ok, this is meant to be funny. But its about a serious issue.
What IF, my IC was taken away by the Ah long I borrow money from or the security guard at some private estate and he used my NRIC to vote?
Will I be arrested when I go vote later?
No, according to what I know. But they will require you to sign some paper to invalidate the previous vote. That fair enough right? You dun get double vote.
BUT here is the catch. From what I heard, you are not allowed to voted otherwise after invalidating the previous vote. Basically you have lost your right to vote?
This is pretty crap as far as I am concern. I am already a victim of the incident and yet I and sure not allow to vote?
Ok, supposely I ask what my previous vote was. If its what I wanted anyway, can I don't invalidate it instead. Err... They will tell you NO. They can't tell you. What? You mean I am NOT allowed to know who I voted for? I mean its sensible to keep the vote secret, but thats as far as other people's vote is concerned. Why should I NOT be allowed to know who I voted for?
Ok, I know thats getting ridiculous.
But guess what? In order to invalidate the vote, they will have to find the serial number which is listed with my name previously. OK, so this IS the reason why there is a serial number to track me. Wow, how many people are you expecting to vote twice?
Voting is secret. Voting is anonymous. Most importantly, voting should be be taped recorded on a video camera mounted on top of the voting center right?

MySQL 5 + PHP 5 + vBulletin 3.5.4 ... on Windows IIS

Yeap, the obviously crazy combination. Running 3 open sources, 2 being free (vBulletin is not free and I wonder why would anyone pay for it) and one Windows 2003 with IIS. Who would want to do it? Not you? Well, I just did because of some crazy client needs. Personally I still feel open source should be left on the *nix platform.

Firstly, lets do MySQL. Piece of cake using the Installer version. But the problem is only beginning. Lets worry abt it later though. Make sure you dun get any errors during the installation.

Next, lets do PHP. Installing it again from the Installer version. If you encounter any errors, which some peopel do and I did, simple uninstall it and redo until you can get all working esp the Wscript part because its going to get very messy fixing that.

Throw in the vBulletin and Tada, it works. No way man, not this time. Go to /vBulletin/install/config.php and immediate you get the "VB3.5 requires that the MySQL functions in PHP be available. " error. Totally cryptic. Basically, what you need to do :

1. Go to %windows%/php.ini and uncomment the line ";extension=php_mysql.dll"
2. If you like you can try again, but you will get the missing php_mysql.dll error.
3. So, this is the hard part, you need that DLL. You cant compile it in Windows with a make, make install. So you will need to download the package version. You will find the DLL inside "ext" directory. Copy this to your PHP directory. (C:\PHP).

Now kick the /vBulletin/install/config.php and you are in business.
Well, I wont go about explaing configuring vBulletin here, you are on your own.

The Package Revealed

This is what is in the box. The Dell Inspiron 6400. Mac-ish looking computing monster.

This is what is in the box. The Dell Inspiron 6400. Mac-ish looking computing monster.

The package

The wait was over, after 2 whole weeks of waiting since the PC fair. Its finally here... What is it? See next post...

All this just because of Webshot Screensaver

176 Critical. Well done. Lets see you install another screen saver again. The best screen saver by the way, is power down your monitor. BTW, Webshot screensaver is a spyware.

Dominoco has a new look

Dominoco is old and the only AMD around now... But the casing is totally shitted out. So instead ofa full revamp which is really goign to cost me, I just changed the casing... Its not a new casing, but its pretty decent. Just missing the front USB though...

$7 for soup?

This bowl of soup is $7 or so... Would you pay for it? Lets leave out the point whether its tasty or not, but its $7... ok, maybe you get a bread along with it... Or are we simply getting too rich until we do not know what to do with our money. Well, please refer to my "Funds for Future Tsunami Victims*"... In anycase, since I am nto against this shop or something lets not mention where it is... but its sure crowded...



* Refer to definition of future and tsunami. Not applicable for any other cases of crisis and funds expires in 3 years if unused.

Xbox 360 doesn't have Blue Screen of Death

Ya, I can prove it... Its not BLUE. Its BLACK. Its STILL BSOD anyway. Emm, E71 is sure a lot more informative then the Windows errors? Ya, right. So much for XBox 360. Lets wait for XBox 720. (360=$360SRP)

iCock... My Idea finally in production liao...

Features:
3 models : snow white, metal and jaguar
> easy-to-use, touch-sensitive scroll wheel to adjust vibrating speed
> rechargeable via your mac's firewire port or with travel charger
> using rendez-vous and bluetooth technologies you can control your iCock from your computer or cellular phone

Yes, its a MP3 player which has other functions...

Introducing the iCock Mini

And then there the Winter Edition


And of course, plugins...
Features:
3 models : classic, royal flush and big dipper.
> made of solid titanium with anticorrosion polished finish.

Taiwan Food at Jurong East Center

I hardly recommend food. However, this is one store which I pay Kopitiam price (actually its really a Kopitiam foodcourt) but get good service. I ordered a beef rice set which comes with soup and side dish. Because the beef was already cook with bean shoots, she had even changed by side dish which is the same thing to sweet sour vegatables... The owner is pretty friendly too.
And how much did I have to pay... emm... $4 or $4.50 I can't remember... Its good price and good food. I just hope they can keep it up. Well, ya I know the plates are emptied cos I finished everything. Hehe :P

For kids only

Have you ever seen this? Emm, can anyone explain to me the logic why is there something which can only be ordered by kids? Who in the first place don't pay for it and second what reason is there keeping an adult to consume it?

I did not think its cheaper anyway... In fact, the looks of things is very likely going to make whoever is paying pay more anyway. So what is stopping an adult to order 2 of these? The restuarant did not want to earn his money? Emm... This is really puzzling...


Unless they put in something there that is only suitable to be comsumed by children... And what can that be? ...

The Bird-Flu is here?

Actual photo taken at Boon Lay Point... YES, I insist of calling it Boon Lay point because its in Boon Lay, not Jurong. Why can't people just name places with some directional sense.

Everytime you see some dead bird anywhere now, people will make a big fuss and say the Bird Flu is here...

So, here is my turn...

BIG deal. Birds die everyday... IF you are so afraid of the B-virus then go live in a rented silo in Siberia.

Puff the Magic Dragon

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.

Oh, Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail,
Jackie kept a lookout perch on Puff's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came,
Pirate ships would low'r their flags when Puff roared out his name.

Oh, Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant strings make way for other toys.
One great night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow - green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his lifelong friend Puff could not be brave
So Puff that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave.

Oh, Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei...
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei

Midi

Ultraviolet - Redefine Cool

After the try-so-hard to be cool Underworld:Revolution, I guess I am pretty dead hearted about seeing another one good cool movie. I am not even looking forward to the end of trilogy Underworld:Revelation (Just guessing) ... Until I saw this poster and this trailer...

Ultraviolet is about a futuristic world where super soldiers were made from vampiric blood mutation and suddenly the government feel threaten and wanted to get rid of them. The problem, Milla Jovovich is Violet. One of the best and guess what, the starring of this movie.

Well, I am looking forward to this one. To be honest, I did not really regconise her in black hair though. To catch the really good trailer, you can try grabbing it off Sony's site or to get a really good one, try the 104MB ones around. Megagames one is cool.

Goodbye 白白

One of J's new hamster has gone missing... for a week. We were wondering how it got out of the cage... Maybe eaten by cats, fall into pipe hole.... Well, we were all wrong. 白白 did none of that. He must had gotten stucked in one of the tube in the Hamster house and practically died inside... Until it was discovered very late...

Before we go on about hamster house safety, I think we should just let it rest and mourn for 白白 for now...

All your coins are belong to me

The coke machine "eats" my coins again. This time 2 single $1 ( Don't ask, I was stupid enough... ). I felt likely kicking and murdering the vending machine on the spot. Well, then I realise there was a number 1800-xxxxxxx to call label on the machine...

That was some days back. And within 2 weeks, I got a letter like this one here :


Well, and of course there is this $2 attached to it...


I might not be able to get back the lost airtime on my mobile phone (yes, I can't believe it either, you still pay airtime for 1800 number in Singapore...), but at least I dun have to keep remembering this incident and having to wake up from a nightmare where the Coke machine is murbering "All - All - All your coins, are belong to me..."

What Lies Benealth

Ever bought something from the store somewhere and there is a sticker over it...
Well especially when it comes to drugs and medications. What actually lies benealth the sticker? Ever wondered?

Well, the above is covered with a local distributor... What is actually said is this :

Well, from my knowledge, there are several possible reasons why sometimes this is done. Mostly its due to regulations. In some country its ok to claim something which is totally not true or even claim it contains something that is not present in the formulae. Believe me, such countries exist. And very often, its because some of these has been modified to be sutied for local sale. For example, instead of saying "it can cause death due to drug allegie", they might want to rephase it as "allegie can results in various reactions"...

In any case, I am not here to attack the company or this product. But I am saying, next time when you see a sticker over your product, do entertain yourself and see what you have been missing. (BTW, in case you want to know, I will NEVER buy these product in general, especially pets food, where its so common to see these)