To buy US or not?

So I've been a busy bee since we last spoke with my DIY projects. Unfortunately, I just put my SD in the slot on my iMac where the CD is supposed to go and it's disappeared into the bowels of my computer and I can't get it out. Have tried a knife, tweezers, a paper clip and can't so much as feel it. Such as bugger as that SD card has about 10,000 photos on it! Has anybody else done this before? Any ideas for retrieving it, or do I have to go to the Apple store? Shame it has all my before photos for the DIY projects I'm doing too!

Now for today, lesson one in buying from overseas.......

DO NOT BUY TAPS FROM OVERSTOCK.COM.

As you all know I was a big fan of Overstock for their prices and service, but I take that all back now. Not only do their products stink, their after-sales service does too.

Here's Exhibit 1 - our ensuite vanity taps. I noticed the other day a slight rusty coloured mark appearing around the base of the tap and staining the marble. I was able to take off the tap because it had been coming loose, and reveal this beneath. The whole thing has rusted. Now I'm sure it's happening on all the others too because you can see the slight staining happening already on the left, but of course I need an imperial allen key to get the tap apart and can't get my hands on one anywhere.

When I got the plumber over, he confessed he had cut the corners off the silver nut at the bottom (why they would use a metal that could rust for a tap is beyond me anyway!) because it didn't fit under the polished chrome cover and that's what has rusted. So do I blame the tap company for sending a part that didn't fit and could rust when exposed to water, or the plumber for mucking around with it and causing this problem?

Not at all pleased. So the only thing I can do is somehow open all the taps up and let them dry out, then cover them in silicone and hope that does the trick until the problem comes back. Otherwise I'll be up for two sets of taps plus installation! 

Exhibit 2 - the kitchen pull-down mixer with dual spray nozzle. The rubber attachment to this has been coming off for a couple of months now, and we just kept putting it back on. But now it just won't stay and it drives me nuts. You can still use the tap, it's just a bit fiddly and annoying and looks crap.

So I wrote to Overstock.com in the hope of getting a replacement head for the tap. I didn't ask for a refund, or a whole new tap, I simply wanted a replacement faucet head. Here's their response....

Thank you for contacting Overstock.com to let us know of the difficulty you experienced with your order. I apologize that the faucet head is defective. 

I would like to inform you that we cannot send out pieces or parts, for international orders.

Please accept my sincere apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience we may have caused. I hope you will give us another chance to provide you with the service you expect and deserve. 

If I may be of further assistance, please let me know and I will be happy to help. 

So I said I was pretty pissed off and disappointed and no I wouldn't give them another chance, as now was their chance to give me the service I deserved, and by the way I had a blog and would not say nice things about them anymore if they didn't send me the one piddly part I needed! This was their response....

I would like to inform you that we do not send replacements for International Orders, nor do we send our parts or pieces. Since the item is past our Return Timeframe, you may set up the return for the item for a refund, but you would only receive a partial refund, and you would be asked to pay for the item's shipping on its way back to our warehouse. There is no way to foresee how much of a refund you will receive, since that is up to our warehouse upon inspection of the item.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue. I hope you will visit us soon for great savings on name-brand products.

I was absolutely seething at this point. Then my husband suggested using the US Shop n Ship address I had. So I sent that to them, requesting the replacement. Here is their response....

Unfortunately it is too long past to do a parts request on that order since it was over six months ago I am sorry. We have a 30 day return policy on all orders. We could make an exception since it from 6 months ago and offer a partial refund to keep the item as is or you can return it for a partial refund (of 50% refund) but those are the only two options available at this point. I do not have any manufacturer information we are not provided with th at you could try searching online to see if they are willing to offer any type of warranty on the item. 

I then asked for the manufacturer of the tap, because is says on their website it comes with a 10 year warranty, but they refused to give me that information! Moral of the story, be careful ordering products from overseas that can break or be defective, because there's a chance you will have no recourse if something goes wrong, and it becomes a doubly expensive exercise when you end up buying the stuff from Australia to replace it. I am most annoyed because I have recommended Overstock to many of you and had thought their products and service were reliable. Apparently not.

I can however say, that Pottery Barn were fantastic replacing one of the bathroom scones. I ordered two Nash scones and one came without the backplate, so it couldn't be installed. I just asked for another backplate to be sent, but they sent me a whole new light straight away, no questions asked. 

Check out Exhibit 3, photo courtesy of my five year old!

I have been doing a lot of painting since the weekend, trying to tart things up and commit to my reinventing programme, including a number of items I bought on Ebay. It's proving a little tricky given the size of me now, as my belly is sticking out so much it makes it hard to get close enough to the table and it keeps touching the painted surface. No idea how people with really big guts get on all the time, it's so cumbersome!  And I'm not even 6 months yet!!!

But I'm thinking of giving it up anyway, because not only am I hideously impatient and get sloppy when it becomes too hard and I get bored, but I'm not sure that using enamel spray paint is the best idea when you're pregnant!?! At least I can say I tried.