Random conversation thread

wkuo3 · October 6, 2018

The story so far......

Following the purchase of the Spalding irons shown over in the other thread I was anxious to follow their journey however on first attempt there was no indication of any movement despite seller's claim of fast dispatch.
By the end of the week there was still no information on USPS tracking which showed that they were still awaiting the package,accordingly I emailed the seller asking for an update and having drawn a blank with that decided that (in my view) there was something wrong and sent a request to cancel the transaction.
That did provoke a response.
Their shipping team made a "slight mistake" and sent the irons to an unknown (at least to me) third party but they had made contact with them and arranged that the third party would post them on to me.
I was pretty annoyed because it was only my cancellation request that had brought this to light,otherwise the seller would have said nothing and presumably the irons lost.Not only was the seller unable to guarantee the bona fides of that third party but obviously could not guarantee the status of the clubs.
Had they been damaged,were they complete?
I am persisting with cancellation,the clubs are still in the US but the seller has insisted that they will be shipped and accordingly I have told him that I will refuse delivery and they will be returned.
Maybe I'm being fussy but when things start to go pear-shaped I feel that the deal is tainted and merits cancellation.

Unfortunately, communication is not trending these days especially communication with a personal touch. Everything is text or twit or something, but never a personal conversation , not even through email.

I guess people view email today being too personal.

What's this thing about ignoring communication ? I don't understand this and it seems to be trending like ostrich burrowing their heads under the sand. Making mistake is quite a human thing to do and everyone, I mean everyone do it sometimes. No one taught them better to own up their mistake and grow out of it.

Believe me , ignoring and delaying was the Corporate way of paying their obligations but now , many individual had took up this practice.

I agree with you, I would not be able to trust whatever your seller's action after they proved their face value for trustworthiness !

There would be more golf clubs out there, won;t be surprised if you find better options, soon,

augustgolf · October 6, 2018

My father served in WWII, and was in the Navy. He had this great coffee-table book, soft cover, of naval images from the war. We've see lots of them in WWII documentaries as such, but as a kid growing up, it was a cool thing to see.

At his funeral, a friend told me that he enjoyed my father's telling accounts of D-Day, something that he never spoke to his family about, and apparently, only to others in his final years.

Wish I could have another conversation with him about things like this. RIP, Dad - you served your country well!

wkuo3 · October 6, 2018

Just saw this Neighborhood Post , regarding "confirmed delivery".

I won't mention the carrier's name but it is one of the major carrier known to almost everyone.

Anyhow, one guy in the next City had a valuable item delivered to his resident address, it was insured for $9,000. The item was marked delivered at the address. Buyer did not find the delivery after receiving the confirmed delivery notice, taking time off from work to retrieve the delivery. It was a bundle of hassle to deal with the carrier and the insurance company..... anyhow. The guy suspected the delivery person stole the item since his security camera did not capture the delivery of the item to his property.

A few weeks later, he had another package coming at insured value of $6,000. This time he took the whole day off from work instead of taking time from work to retrieve the package. He waited inside the house and when he received a notice on his smart phone the package just been delivered, he found nothing at the front door and the door bell did not ring. So he looked out the window and saw the delivery van going down the street ( confirmed delivery is tracked by GPS , so the driver has to be at the address to mark off the delivery ). He jumped into his car and chased after the delivery van, stopped the van a few blocks away and confront the driver of the delivery van for the delivery service. The driver denied at first then "suddenly" remembered that he was going to deliver the other packages first , then return to drop off the package later on his way back to the depot. He had nothing to say when the package was inside his van while being marked as confirmed delivery.

The guy said he used to ship using unmarked packaging for valuable for years to avoid attention and never had issue in the past.. But he will arrange to have the future delivery dropped off with signature confirmation ( his work place does not allow personal delivery ).

augustgolf · October 6, 2018

Just saw this Neighborhood Post , regarding "confirmed delivery".

I won't mention the carrier's name but it is one of the major carrier known to almost everyone.

Anyhow, one guy in the next City had a valuable item delivered to his resident address, it was insured for $9,000. The item was marked delivered at the address. Buyer did not find the delivery after receiving the confirmed delivery notice, taking time off from work to retrieve the delivery. It was a bundle of hassle to deal with the carrier and the insurance company..... anyhow. The guy suspected the delivery person stole the item since his security camera did not capture the delivery of the item to his property.
A few weeks later, he had another package coming at insured value of $6,000. This time he took the whole day off from work instead of taking time from work to retrieve the package. He waited inside the house and when he received a notice on his smart phone the package just been delivered, he found nothing at the front door and the door bell did not ring. So he looked out the window and saw the delivery van going down the street ( confirmed delivery is tracked by GPS , so the driver has to be at the address to mark off the delivery ). He jumped into his car and chased after the delivery van, stopped the van a few blocks away and confront the driver of the delivery van for the delivery service. The driver denied at first then "suddenly" remembered that he was going to deliver the other packages first , then return to drop off the package later on his way back to the depot. He had nothing to say when the package was inside his van while being marked as confirmed delivery.

The guy said he used to ship using unmarked packaging for valuable for years to avoid attention and never had issue in the past.. But he will arrange to have the future delivery dropped off with signature confirmation ( his work place does not allow personal delivery ).

FWIW - certain "large" and well known delivery services require signature for delivery for items over a certain value, at least they do here where I live and ship (US).

Also - I had 2 situation very much like yours occur to me. One, I was at home awaiiting delivery on a rush item, when I received notice that it had been delivered. I immediately called the 800 number for customer service. Found out that routes that delivered for that company were auctioned off to contractors, who, in turn, hired some pretty shady help.

In my case, the hired driver was marking items as delivered, when in fact, he was delivering them to his girlfriend. When my attention was turned to him, he skipped town by signing up for military service. I recovered my item in that case.

In another, I was contacted by my buyer of a vintage, scarce putter when he hadn't received his item. I showed him the delivery confirmation, yet he had awaited delivery, like me, and said that nothing was ever delivered to his house, as he was home all day on the day records showed it had been delivered.

In touch with higher management, it was discovered that the driver wasn't within 50 miles of the buyer's house on the day he said it was delivered, but....a rule in their "union" allowed the driver to manually adjust his delivery journal, to state that he did, in fact, deliver the item.

When I was able to obtain a copy of the adjusted journal, I was able to point out that he "made" the delivery - 50 miles away from the previous delivery, as well as the following delivery - within minutes of each...?????

Finally, after about 10 days of my research, the delivery company had to refund me. But, I certainly had to work for the money. They basically allowed the contract driver's employee to steal things, then make up after the fact where he actually was.

Nothing that I ship now goes out without signature confirmation. I include the costs (about another $3.50) in my shipping costs, no matter the value, because I don't want to have to deal with the hassles again. If my buyer doesn't want to pay, I don't want to finalize the deal. It is best for both parties, but the unfortunate thing is that the delivery company makes more money - kinda like the airlines, with all of their add ons.

wkuo3 · October 6, 2018

Just saw this Neighborhood Post , regarding "confirmed delivery".

I won't mention the carrier's name but it is one of the major carrier known to almost everyone.

Anyhow, one guy in the next City had a valuable item delivered to his resident address, it was insured for $9,000. The item was marked delivered at the address. Buyer did not find the delivery after receiving the confirmed delivery notice, taking time off from work to retrieve the delivery. It was a bundle of hassle to deal with the carrier and the insurance company..... anyhow. The guy suspected the delivery person stole the item since his security camera did not capture the delivery of the item to his property.
A few weeks later, he had another package coming at insured value of $6,000. This time he took the whole day off from work instead of taking time from work to retrieve the package. He waited inside the house and when he received a notice on his smart phone the package just been delivered, he found nothing at the front door and the door bell did not ring. So he looked out the window and saw the delivery van going down the street ( confirmed delivery is tracked by GPS , so the driver has to be at the address to mark off the delivery ). He jumped into his car and chased after the delivery van, stopped the van a few blocks away and confront the driver of the delivery van for the delivery service. The driver denied at first then "suddenly" remembered that he was going to deliver the other packages first , then return to drop off the package later on his way back to the depot. He had nothing to say when the package was inside his van while being marked as confirmed delivery.

The guy said he used to ship using unmarked packaging for valuable for years to avoid attention and never had issue in the past.. But he will arrange to have the future delivery dropped off with signature confirmation ( his work place does not allow personal delivery ).

FWIW - certain "large" and well known delivery services require signature for delivery for items over a certain value, at least they do here where I live and ship (US).

Also - I had 2 situation very much like yours occur to me. One, I was at home awaiiting delivery on a rush item, when I received notice that it had been delivered. I immediately called the 800 number for customer service. Found out that routes that delivered for that company were auctioned off to contractors, who, in turn, hired some pretty shady help.

In my case, the hired driver was marking items as delivered, when in fact, he was delivering them to his girlfriend. When my attention was turned to him, he skipped town by signing up for military service. I recovered my item in that case.

In another, I was contacted by my buyer of a vintage, scarce putter when he hadn't received his item. I showed him the delivery confirmation, yet he had awaited delivery, like me, and said that nothing was ever delivered to his house, as he was home all day on the day records showed it had been delivered.

In touch with higher management, it was discovered that the driver wasn't within 50 miles of the buyer's house on the day he said it was delivered, but....a rule in their "union" allowed the driver to manually adjust his delivery journal, to state that he did, in fact, deliver the item.

When I was able to obtain a copy of the adjusted journal, I was able to point out that he "made" the delivery - 50 miles away from the previous delivery, as well as the following delivery - within minutes of each...?????

Finally, after about 10 days of my research, the delivery company had to refund me. But, I certainly had to work for the money. They basically allowed the contract driver's employee to steal things, then make up after the fact where he actually was.

Nothing that I ship now goes out without signature confirmation. I include the costs (about another $3.50) in my shipping costs, no matter the value, because I don't want to have to deal with the hassles again. If my buyer doesn't want to pay, I don't want to finalize the deal. It is best for both parties, but the unfortunate thing is that the delivery company makes more money - kinda like the airlines, with all of their add ons.

I'm glade you had retrieved the value for the lost item, although you certainly worked at it.

I guess the days of a firm hand shake the same as the bonded contract is over sometime ago.

Or , that my father had surrounded our family with trust worthy people ( or at least that they behaved when my father was around ). I can't say that with my own generation and certainly it's been down hill since then.

I've met strangers from all over the Country, through golf and business, my feeling is, there is no moral standard but whatever suits them. Very self centered thinking.

birly-shirly · October 6, 2018

I'm not buying the idea that theft or fraud is more common today than previously. What you have nowadays, as Augie's stories bear out, is the facility for identifying fraud.

Chris122 - I'm certainly not condoning the seller's actions, but I'm assuming you bought off ebay and, as buyer-friendly as ebay is - I'm not convinced that what you've described is a great case for cancellation. Now, if the clubs arrive in a bad state, that's completely different and an expensive (for the seller) refund is on the cards. But making an @rse of the original shipping and losing a week probably isn't sufficient justification for walking away from the purchase contract.

Chris122 · October 7, 2018

The real issue I have is that the clubs have been sent to an unknown third party who is supposed to be forwarding them on to me.

The correct procedure in my view would have been for them to have been returned to the seller in order to ensure that their condition was unaltered before re-sending to me.

Who knows?

The third party might have switched out the Spaldings for something less desirable......Pings or similar......

Moving on....

Did any of you follow my recommendation and watch the LPGA UL Crown event from Korea?

What a terrific tournament and some great golf.

The course was set up perfectly for matchplay,one of the highlights for me was Ariya Jutanugarn making eagle to get team Thailand into the singles matches.

Nice to see Michelle Wie playing well again although the bottle-blonde look is a bit dodgy (ask Charly Hull).

All very watchable and entertaining.

For something completely different....

A different view of golf in the UK.

Visit Golf Vlogs UK on Youtube.

These are ordinary golfers from Stixman's county who laugh,rip it out of each other and love golf.

Not everyone's cup of tea but some of it might raise a smile or two.

No_Catchy_Nickname · October 7, 2018

The real issue I have is that the clubs have been sent to an unknown third party who is supposed to be forwarding them on to me.
The correct procedure in my view would have been for them to have been returned to the seller in order to ensure that their condition was unaltered before re-sending to me.
Who knows?
The third party might have switched out the Spaldings for something less desirable......Pings or similar......

I agree with your position on this. I actually think the excuse of "sorry, I accidentally sent it to a completely random third party, whom I have since contacted and got them to promise to send the clubs on to you," is complete BS.

wkuo3 · October 7, 2018

The real issue I have is that the clubs have been sent to an unknown third party who is supposed to be forwarding them on to me.
The correct procedure in my view would have been for them to have been returned to the seller in order to ensure that their condition was unaltered before re-sending to me.
Who knows?
The third party might have switched out the Spaldings for something less desirable......Pings or similar......

Moving on....

Did any of you follow my recommendation and watch the LPGA UL Crown event from Korea?
What a terrific tournament and some great golf.
The course was set up perfectly for matchplay,one of the highlights for me was Ariya Jutanugarn making eagle to get team Thailand into the singles matches.
Nice to see Michelle Wie playing well again although the bottle-blonde look is a bit dodgy (ask Charly Hull).
All very watchable and entertaining.

For something completely different....

A different view of golf in the UK.
Visit Golf Vlogs UK on Youtube.
These are ordinary golfers from Stixman's county who laugh,rip it out of each other and love golf.
Not everyone's cup of tea but some of it might raise a smile or two.

Minus the noise level, a better watch than the Rider Cup. Did I just said that ?

HoldenCornfield · October 7, 2018

Regarding vintage golf purchases from eBay, the best bet I've found is to bypass them completely. I just send Teevons an email and tell him what I'm looking for. So far, EVERY SINGLE TIME I've done this he's not only had what I was seeking but usually in better condition and at a better price than anything on the bay. I never even haggle with him because in my estimation, everything I've ever bought from him was worth more than he was asking.

I have not ever met him (hope to one day) but I have this picture in my mind of Teevons being like the musty old guy who runs the used bookstore. You walk in and the door bell chimes, he emerges from the backroom with mustard on his chin and cats trailing him. He asks you what you want and you tell him. He stares at you a moment, grumbles "Harumpf," and strokes his long beard, lost in thought. Then without a word he turns and disappears, bounding down into the basement. You hear indeterminate mutterings, boxes shifting and falling, feline screeching and protesting.

Then suddenly he's back, thrusting a book in your chest. And says, simply, "First edition."

augustgolf · October 7, 2018

Regarding vintage golf purchases from eBay, the best bet I've found is to bypass them completely. I just send Teevons an email and tell him what I'm looking for. So far, EVERY SINGLE TIME I've done this he's not only had what I was seeking but usually in better condition and at a better price than anything on the bay. I never even haggle with him because in my estimation, everything I've ever bought from him was worth more than he was asking.

I have not ever met him (hope to one day) but I have this picture in my mind of Teevons being like the musty old guy who runs the used bookstore. You walk in and the door bell chimes, he emerges from the backroom with mustard on his chin and cats trailing him. He asks you what you want and you tell him. He stares at you a moment, grumbles "Harumpf," and strokes his long beard, lost in thought. Then without a word he disappears, bounding down into the basement. You hear indeterminate mutterings, boxes shifting and falling, feline screeching and protesting.

Then suddenly he's back, thrusting a book in your chest. And says, simply, "First edition."

HoldenCornfield · October 7, 2018

Regarding paterfamilias war stories, my father got called up from National Guard Reserves in 1961 during the Berlin Crisis. He was fitted with a typewriter and sent off to Kansas in the dead of winter. Thinking the crisis would last some time, and probably lead to war, he thought he could get a better deal with warmer weather in the regular army. So, he applied for a transfer to officer's school with a two year stint.

Shortly he was approved and the Guard sent him home, telling him to await a letter with further instructions, including where and when to report. In the meantime he went back to his young family and his old teaching job, this time as a substitute teacher. He waited and waited on that letter. Eventually, needing full time employment, he accepted a teaching gig in another town and moved.

He never did get that letter, though he said the prospect of it randomly appearing in his mail box haunted him for years. He's 83 now. I asked him not long ago if he had ever looked into any veterans' benefits he might have coming. He said, "No, and I'm not about to ask. They might open my file and find that letter."

For years and years after the Berlin Crisis whenever he would hear the clattering of a manual typewriter he would hit the deck.

Well...okay, that last part isn't true, but the rest of it really is!

BIG STU · October 7, 2018

My father served in WWII, and was in the Navy. He had this great coffee-table book, soft cover, of naval images from the war. We've see lots of them in WWII documentaries as such, but as a kid growing up, it was a cool thing to see.

At his funeral, a friend told me that he enjoyed my father's telling accounts of D-Day, something that he never spoke to his family about, and apparently, only to others in his final years.

Wish I could have another conversation with him about things like this. RIP, Dad - you served your country well!

Had a Uncle that was a WW2 Navy veteran. He was one of the survivors from the USS Indianapolis. When he got out he was never normal but did not drink or smoke either. He had his own apartment at his Mother's house and his sister who was married to my old man's brother (recently widowed) took care of him. He ate all his meals in that room and had his own bathroom too. If there were family gatherings he would stick his head out and wave never spoke. When I came home for Christmas my second year in the Navy I was in uniform of course. Aunt Bonnie (his sister) suggested i go in and see him. From what i had heard from family members I was scared afraid I would set him off or something. Aunt Bonnie told me do not listen to all the BS (which was dammed odd coming from her) that your Dad and Doris (my Dad's sister) have sprouted. I went in and he was glad to see me. Stayed in there with him 4 hours talking about the Navy. He also showed me all his scrap books of stuff he sent home and told me of some of the stuff that went down with the ship. Aunt Bonnie said thanks that he had not opened up like that to anyone in years. The only people he would really talk to were her and his Mom. Last time I ever saw him he passed about a year later from what was deemed natural causes. I think he was in his early 60s when he passed. I did a lot of research in various Navy Libraries and got to be sorta an expert on the USS Indianapolis. That story the character Quint told in the first "Jaws" movie is darn near exactly like Uncle Russell told it to me.

birly-shirly · October 7, 2018

The real issue I have is that the clubs have been sent to an unknown third party who is supposed to be forwarding them on to me.
The correct procedure in my view would have been for them to have been returned to the seller in order to ensure that their condition was unaltered before re-sending to me.
Who knows?
The third party might have switched out the Spaldings for something less desirable......Pings or similar......

I agree with your position on this. I actually think the excuse of "sorry, I accidentally sent it to a completely random third party, whom I have since contacted and got them to promise to send the clubs on to you," is complete BS.

That "excuse" from the seller will cut no ice at all if the clubs don't show up, or turn up damaged. In either scenario, there's no question that ebay's policies will protect the buyer with a full refund of price plus shipping.

If the buyer sent the clubs out to the wrong address, then I will bet that what they're doing is not asking the recipient to ship them to the UK - but rather having a courier pick them up again and send them on to Chris122 direct rather than back to the seller. Which is the quicker way of getting the clubs to the buyer given what's happened.

It's just not good advice, IMO, to let a buyer think that they have a right to cancel an order as soon as something goes awry.

Better advice perhaps to let the seller know how poor their feedback is going to be on communications and shipping if they insist on fulfilling the order, and at that point they might decide to let each side walk away from an ill-starred deal. But refusing to take delivery on a transatlantic shipment could get needlessly expensive.

TimV · October 7, 2018

The third party might have switched out the Spaldings for something less desirable......Pings or similar...…

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

augustgolf · October 7, 2018

The third party might have switched out the Spaldings for something less desirable......Pings or similar...…

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Yeah - I saw that last part, but let it go, due to my unseemingly good nature!

wkuo3 · October 7, 2018

When I came home for Christmas my second year in the Navy I was in uniform of course. .

Exactly why he took you into his world, the uniform represented kinship.

Can't say the same for today !

Chris122 · October 8, 2018

wkuo3 ;

I agree with you...it was far more enjoyable than the Ryder Cup,the womens' game has never been better,in the past they seemed to struggle with the short game and putting,now no longer the case.

I bet McIlroy wishes he could putt as well as Ariya Jutanugarn!

The entire tournament was well structured and a finely balanced finish.

Was that racket in the background a funfair or South Korean pop festival?! Aaaaaagh!!!!

wkuo3 · October 8, 2018

FWIW - certain "large" and well known delivery services require signature for delivery for items over a certain value, at least they do here where I live and ship (US).

Went back and checked the original post.

The author stated since he would be home within 10 minutes from work to retrieve the package, he waived the signature delivery. Thus the insurance was fighting his claim. With the delivery guy caught red handed the second time around, they had agreed to pay for the lost package.

The package was unmarked, only the carrier knew the value of the insurance. He waived the signature delivery because the routing center is far away from his house, and his work place does not allow personal delivery.

I had always had my packages delivered to my office, at minimum, someone will be there to receive the package .

augustgolf · October 8, 2018

I should then send him a copy of a couple of books that I authored:

1) Shanking for distance and accuracy

2) How to line up your third putt

wkuo3 · October 8, 2018

wkuo3 ;

I agree with you...it was far more enjoyable than the Ryder Cup,the womens' game has never been better,in the past they seemed to struggle with the short game and putting,now no longer the case.
I bet McIlroy wishes he could putt as well as Ariya Jutanugarn!
The entire tournament was well structured and a finely balanced finish.
Was that racket in the background a funfair or South Korean pop festival?! Aaaaaagh!!!!

I enjoy watching the LPGA events, Their game is more like the golf I know. I can't drive over 300 yards and fly the 5 iron over 200 yards. I mean, its great to see the PGA events, but I can't relate their game to mine, cause I can;t even imagine copying their golf game.

Your observation is correct, the ladies short game had come a long way, a few of them has the shot making ability like the guys.

BIG STU · October 9, 2018

I should then send him a copy of a couple of books that I authored:

1) Shanking for distance and accuracy

2) How to line up your third putt

My famous book I wrote Saturday "How To Worm Burn a Penna Driver" Followed up by How to Hit a Butt Ugly Stinger Cut With a Hogan 2 iron"

TimV · October 9, 2018

Stu, :rofl:

We feel your pain and we've all been there Buddy.

So, Today I was playing my modern set starting to get ready for the Peak Season. Off on my own again today and made good time. It's all relative of course but for me I was P___ Pounding the ball for some reason. The Drives were strong but my Custom Made 4 Wood/Hybrid I was killing it with. Iron play was strong too. Only thing that held me back at all today was inconsistent chipping and putting.

Highlight was the 18th where I hit a decent drive, then a strong 4 wood. That left me about 45 to 50 yards off and my Sand Wedge from the Fairway took one good hop, a short hop, hit the pin and dropped for the Birdie. I did a little dance in the Fairway. Here's what I looked like...

:yahoo:

augustgolf · October 9, 2018

I should then send him a copy of a couple of books that I authored:

1) Shanking for distance and accuracy

2) How to line up your third putt
My famous book I wrote Saturday "How To Worm Burn a Penna Driver" Followed up by How to Hit a Butt Ugly Stinger Cut With a Hogan 2 iron"

Personally, I think that we should do a couple books like this....after all, the book "Who's Boat Is This" is doing quite well on Amazon. What do we have to lose?

Chris122 · October 9, 2018

Playing better ball on Monday I hit a good drive on 17th,pulled 'Old Trusty' persimmon 3-wood,lurched and hit the deck about 2" behind the ball which popped in the air about 70 yards.

Running chip with a 9-iron came up short.

Chipped again,same club from 15' and down for a 4 net 3!

Partner :taunt:

Opponents :cry:

wkuo3 · October 9, 2018

I should then send him a copy of a couple of books that I authored:

1) Shanking for distance and accuracy

2) How to line up your third putt
My famous book I wrote Saturday "How To Worm Burn a Penna Driver" Followed up by How to Hit a Butt Ugly Stinger Cut With a Hogan 2 iron"

I had taken the Deuce out of the bag since a couple of years ago. Used to be one of my favorite club in the bag. Replaced it with a 3 hybrid and a 5 wood on rotation.

_tcarson · October 9, 2018

Started a YouTube channel - first one is for the Mid Handicapper on bunker game. Would love some feedback.

oldschoolrocker · October 10, 2018

Thoughts and prayers to all you lads on the Gulf and SE coast, Bug out if you can. If not, Hunker down. Keep us posted.

elwhippy · October 10, 2018

The day has finally arrived. The fitter recommends R flex in irons and woods.

Chris122 · October 10, 2018

The day has finally arrived. The fitter recommends R flex in irons and woods.

Is that based on data or on course performance?

I ask because having watched a number of videos of people being fitted I'm not sure about how much credibility can be attached to machines that extrapolate information as opposed to how you perform with a real ball on the golf course.

Do the two relate closely?

Genuine question.