So earlier this week, I suddenly started receiving e-mail messages on my work account from eBay. Since I do not have an eBay account, I naturally assumed that these e-mails were "spoofed" messages that were part of some nefarious phishing scam, trying to trick me into giving away my precious bodily fluids personal information. "Ha ha! You can't fool me!" I thought to myself smugly, as I forwarded the offending missives to spoof@ebay.com.
Shortly afterwards, I received a message in my inbox from eBay. Cackling softly to myself "One down, ten thousand more a**holes to go," I went to open it, anticipating news of my victory over the hapless would-be crooks. Instead, I got a notice that the messages I had received were not spoofed after all, but were actually "legitimate" messages from eBay:
This email you received was sent by us. Please be assured that we do not want to send you any emails that you prefer not to receive. You selected your email notification preferences when you registered and you are in control of the emails you would like to receive. If you would like to view or change the email preferences for your account, you may do so by following the directions below.
This was followed by instructions on how to log in to my eBay account and change said preferences. But as you may recall, I don't have an eBay account. Grr.
I noticed there was a tracking number in the subject line of the reply, so I tried replying to the message explaining the facts mentioned. I received another copy of the same, automated response. Grrrrr.
I sighed deeply and decided to try to humor them. If they say I have an eBay account, I will try to log into it and see if I can delete it or at least change the notification preferences. On closer examination of the offending messages, I see that message is addressed to someone with the username associated with my e-mail address is "happyv123." (Now I am even more annoyed. I would never choose such a dorky username!). It appears that someone has created an account and fraudulently attached it to my e-mail address. Now I am getting someone elses spam! As if I'm not getting enough of my own spam! Grrrrrrrr.
Of course, I have no idea what the password for the account would be, so I click on the link supplied for those who have "forgotten their password." It takes me to a screen that asks me to verify my identity by entering in some information like birth date, zip code, street address, etc. But none of the information I enter in is correct, so I can't get the password sent to me. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Grinding my teeth and mumbling curses under my breath, I start looking for some kind of e-mail address I can write to for help. There is a link for "customer service," so I click on that, and see that in order to get assistance, I must first log in to my eBay account!
I can literally feel my blood pressure rising, so I take a few calming breaths and consider my options. Apparently, if you are having a problem with eBay, you are SOL if you are not an official, registered customer. Needless to say, this experience is not exactly inspiring me to become an eBay customer any time soon.
Luckily, I do have one last trick up my sleeve. My cousin is a big mucky-muck at eBay. I e-mail him and ask him to intercede on my behalf. That'll teach 'em to mess with me. Ha!
Posted by ldfs at April 22, 2005 3:11 PM | TrackBack