Well, the sciatica and back pain have finally beaten me down. I'm not sure how many more nights I can bear waking up around 2.00 am with that searing/cramping/burning pain down the back of my left thigh & calf. An undisturbed sleep has become but a faint memory, and if I have to continue on like this much longer, I swear to God I'm likely to do myself in.
As I have an aversion to seeing doctors unless I'm more or less bleeding from every orifice, my best friend, Yvonne, recommended a local acupuncturist. He's apparently marvellous and specialises in relief from sciatica, so with that in mind, I booked in to see him next Monday at 9.00 am. I admit I'm a little skeptical as to whether he will really help me all that much, but at this point in time, I'm willing to give it a go. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that it works.
In other news, it was DH Russ' 53rd birthday on Monday, and Mum & I decided to go halves in a GPS for him. So, after searching around online, we decided on one and placed the order on 23 June for $389. I have purchased lots of products from this particular company and their service has always been fantastic - the items have nearly always arrived within 2 days of placing the order, leaving us with plenty of time before his birthday on 7 July. I received an email from the company (along with a post office tracking number) on 2 July saying the item had been shipped that day. Okay, so that's longer than the usual 2 days, but still left plenty of time for it to arrive in time for his birthday.
So Monday (his birthday) arrives and still no sign of the GPS. I tried the post office website, entered the tracking number, and it tells me it was delivered on 4 July - of course, it hadn't been. So after much to-ing and fro-ing with the post office, and the company I purchased it from, they told me it had been delivered, but they would investigate further. GRRRR.
Eventually the company emails me to apologise - not only it not been delivered (yeah, thanks I already knew that), but it appears it hadn't even been shipped AT ALL - the item was now out of stock. They finally issued me with a refund in the form of a cheque which I'm still awaiting to arrive (and I have to wonder WHY a cheque, when I paid via credit card - obviously a vain attempt at hoping I'd use the credit on some other item on their site - yeah, fat chance of that).
Anyway, we managed to track down another website that had the exact same GPS in stock - this time for only $355. Brilliant we think - we'll order it through them! I placed the order yesterday and thought "Oh well, it might be a belated birthday present, but at least he's finally going to receive it".
So I woke up this morning to find an email from THIS company to say that they too no longer have the item in stock, but "not to worry, as they haven't debited my credit card". I immediately logged into my bank account to find that they HAVE debited my card. SIGH. And after more to-ing and fro-ing with THIS company, they tell me that yes, it shows as debited, but they haven't actually processed it and my credit card company will actually delete the charge in the coming days.
So now I'm out approximately $750 for a GPS that should have cost me half of that, with no sign of either company refunding me at this point in time. Russ ended up finding another website and ordering it (3rd time lucky perhaps?) and using HIS credit card. Maybe he'll have better luck. If I ever receive the refunds, I'll pay it off his credit card.
Here I was thinking the internet was supposed to make life easier. I'm glad I don't run my business like these morons - I can only imagine how many happy customers *I'd* have if I offered beads for sale, accepted payment for them, only to tell the buyer that "Heck, I'm sorry but the beads are no longer in stock". Some birthday it was for him.
And on to beads.. I really hope to fire up the torch this weekend, so stay tuned. Assuming my back doesn't play up too much (ha!), I may actually have new beads to offer you soon.
Have a great weekend.
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