A Bit of Help

It's that time once again when we take a look at what's been happening with some of the gripes we've seen over the last few months. Keep in mind as we go that, except in rare cases, I don't try to function as an ombudsman by contacting the vendor on the reader's behalf. So, whether or not they were responding to the Gripe Line story about them, all of these vendors deserve some credit for having at least taken a

It's that time once again when we take a look at what's been happening with some of the gripes we've seen over the last few months. Keep in mind as we go that, except in rare cases, I don't try to function as an ombudsman by contacting the vendor on the reader's behalf. So, whether or not they were responding to the Gripe Line story about them, all of these vendors deserve some credit for having at least taken a few steps to help.

One story where help came from several directions was the one from a reader who could not get PriceGrabber.com or PayPal to get her purchase delivered or her money back. Shortly after that story was published, I was contacted by a PriceGrabber spokesperson who said the deductible should not have been applied in a case like this and offered to arrange a refund. Health issues however had kept the reader from taking PriceGrabber up on this offer when out of the blue she received an e-mail from PayPal informing her that the unrecoverable funds had now been recovered from the miscreant seller and were being credited to her PayPal account. What happened? " My guess is that the seller has decided to go back into business and wants his PayPal account back again," the reader wrote. "I looked at my PayPal account balance and it shows the full refund as listed in the e-mail. I'll never hear the details from PayPal but feel sorry for anyone who tries to do business with this guy in the future."

I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that Google's IP map of the universe no longer has a whole Texas school district located in Canada. I heard from several Google representatives shortly after that story was published who, along with offering to help, also pointed to the instructions on Google's site for the procedure to follow in such cases. "I feel a little sheepish that I did not find the link, but I Googled the problem for hours and never was presented with a hit for that page!" the reader wrote. It still required several more weeks for the changes to take effect, but eventually he was able to report that "We're back in the USSA, we don't know how lucky you are, eh ... Back in the US, Back in the US, Back in the USSA! Thanks, we really appreciate the help."