Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

  1. #1
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Castle Shannon, PA
    Posts
    19,316

    Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

    Something very odd happened about an hour ago.

    Amazon Delivery dropped off a package. What's odd about that? Well...

    Last week at work (no, I don't work at the insurance broker anymore), I realized that one of our lab routers was bad. It was a 24 port Netport unit. (Now I know why it only cost me $5 at the last hamfest; here I thought I'd talked the guy down from $15, he was probably happy to take whatever a sucker offered him! But I digress). So over the holiday break, I went online and ordered a replacement. Only an 8 port, as that's all we need for what we're about to do.

    The key is that I ordered the router... as well as some extra long CAT-5E cables... on eBay.

    So why would Amazon deliver a brand new, still in shrink wrap, router to me? At home? And... marked as a gift, an anonymous gift, for free?

    How could someone have known?

    Coincidence? Sure would be an odd one.

    I checked with my Field Engineer. He didn't order it. No reason for him to, either. I get reimbursed for office expenses, and this counts.

    Cookie harvesting? Someone would have to have harvested cookies on my work laptop, and from there jumped to my home address. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

    I just don't get it.

    Now, I'm not complaining. I can certainly USE this! I'm just trying to figure out what happened.

    (And I have to wonder why couldn't my anonymous benefactor shipped he, oh, I don't know, a TS-890S?)
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
    Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.

    Just remember: Abraham Lincoln didn't die in vain. He died in Washington, DC

    Cutch 2K!!

    “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders

    Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati


  2. #2
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Castle Shannon, PA
    Posts
    19,316
    Things just turned a little stranger.

    The router I ordered was, allegedly, delivered about 1602 PST, 12/28 (today), according to the e-mail informing me of delivery. Hmmm. Got the message at 1159 EST... that’s 0859 PST. So who’s doing the delivery, Marty McFly and Doc Brown?

    So, I get home about 1830 EST... no package. Nothing. Nada. Not on the porch, not down by the garage, zip.

    Delivery ZIP code? 15216. Dormont. Small borough a few miles from here... 15234. There’s a whole community, The Great State Of Mt. Lebanon, between hither and thither.

    Not sure what all is going on. Already contacted the seller and requested a refund. We shall see.
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
    Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.

    Just remember: Abraham Lincoln didn't die in vain. He died in Washington, DC

    Cutch 2K!!

    “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders

    Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati


  3. #3
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Castle Shannon, PA
    Posts
    19,316
    Heard back from the seller.

    Yup. The "gift" I received on Monday was the switch I ordered. But no paperwork, no indications who sent it, just sent as an anonymous "gift."

    Yesterday's delivery receipt? Bogus. Not sure how he pulled it off... or if there was really a delivery, or where it went...

    I smell a scam. I wasn't the one being scammed; I don't know if he scammed eBay out of whatever they'd get from the delivery fee, if he scammed Amazon for a "free" delivery he should have paid for, disguised as a "gift", or if something else is going on... like the real delivery being something... I don't know, illegal? contraband? a cover up for something else?

    It certainly is the strangest "gift" I've received in a long time, if ever.
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
    Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.

    Just remember: Abraham Lincoln didn't die in vain. He died in Washington, DC

    Cutch 2K!!

    “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders

    Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati


  4. #4
    Forum Addict n6hcm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    FN13wb
    Posts
    2,820
    is amazon delivering directly to you, or are they using ups/usps/...?

    we got amazon direct delivery a few months ago and things have been kinda weird. they just turn up and drop off a tremendous pile of packages in the lobby of the building (not with the reception desk) and it is very much an inexact exercise.
    "... and another thing about you democrats ... you all believe in science!" -- denny crane

  5. #5
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Castle Shannon, PA
    Posts
    19,316
    Quote Originally Posted by n6hcm View Post
    is amazon delivering directly to you, or are they using ups/usps/...?

    we got amazon direct delivery a few months ago and things have been kinda weird. they just turn up and drop off a tremendous pile of packages in the lobby of the building (not with the reception desk) and it is very much an inexact exercise.
    Direct.
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
    Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.

    Just remember: Abraham Lincoln didn't die in vain. He died in Washington, DC

    Cutch 2K!!

    “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders

    Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •