General News
28 February, 2024
Have you been told today? Well, I have
LOCAL PERSPECTIVE By MIKE LESTER I’VE certainly just been told! No names, no pack drill but it happened alright when I tried to buy a fairly rare car manual via computer. Spoke to a gentleman overseas who said he had the publication, price and...
LOCAL PERSPECTIVE
By MIKE LESTER
I’VE certainly just been told! No names, no pack drill but it happened alright when I tried to buy a fairly rare car manual via computer.
Spoke to a gentleman overseas who said he had the publication, price and postage to be confirmed but we both had a pretty clear idea of the cost. We exchanged pleasantries and established I was elderly but something went terribly wrong when the discussion turned to payment.
First, let me tell you that I was caught up in an Optus data breach back in 2022 and had been warned to take extra care with financial transactions on line. The seller indicated I had nothing to worry about if I had a credit card. He offered more information in an email ... “our store card processing is run by an Oz company called Stripe – very big all over the planet and very secure, I promise you. I will edit the shipping cost for AU this evening and then get back to you once you are able to buy on the store.”
And so, to ensure I was ‘able to buy on the store’, I contacted Stripe to see if I needed their approval. The seller was not happy about my action and I began to be told!
“I am sorry but if you are going to make this into a mission and annoy people like Stripe then I can no longer help. The book is no longer for sale. We do not need to do business with people who do not trust us. Regards ...”
On regaining my breath, I emailed back with “Wow! I shall share your concerns with Stripe. I had no idea that contacting them, telling them that I was in Australia and I wanted to buy something in (a country I won’t name along with a seller and his company) - and how they wanted me to use Stripe but deemed that emailing them was turning ‘this into a mission and annoying people.’ I call it due diligence - as I said, I had not heard of Stripe previously - and I genuinely didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. I am sorry you feel the way you do, but so be it. Again, thank you for your time”.
The recalcitrant seller fired back with “maybe stay off the internet or let your grandchildren make such inquiries”.
By this time I’m offended and offered “as a journalist, long-retired but still active, you have provided me with the bones of a fascinating little story. If there’s anything else you wish to add, please do it now. Incidentally, I don’t have grandchildren and I don’t plan to stay off the internet. In fact, our conversation will most likely be featured”.
Angry overseas sales person responds: “Please stop being a pest. You should have the experience in life to be able to tell when others are going the extra mile to do you a favour, and know similarly not to tell such people that you do not trust them. Probably for the best that there are no progeny.” I hit the keyboard with: “If communicating with you comes under ‘being a pest’ then I am sorry. At no time did I say or indicate that I do not trust you or your company. I imagined that I would need to set up some sort of an account with Stripe, the payment organisation you mentioned that I had not heard of previously and that’s what I set out to do. That’s how I thought payment would be made. To my surprise, you made it clear that you did not appreciate the fact that I had contacted Stripe. You withdrew the book from sale and showered me with verbal abuse. If you think that’s an incorrect or unfair summary, let me know. Otherwise, perhaps we can let (readers) decide which one of us was out of line. The working title for the story, and subject to change, is “Welcome to (the country in question).”
Very unhappy salesperson spits dummy. “Change the title to ‘reading is a skill’ but please have the integrity to post the story (for your readership of 12 old mates) in its entirety. viz: “As long as you have a credit card in your wallet I can set up a payment method for you on the store” and, by way of further unnecessary reassurance for a doddering senior not well versed in the ways of the new millennium: “Our store card processing is run by an Oz company called Stripe – very big all over the planet and very secure, I promise you.”
But no, still not good enough for the paranoid and demented old fool, who decided he would have to do “due diligence” before parting with the huge sum of $55 (or so) to score a rarity that he won’t find anywhere else in the world, so set about pestering others. Yes, you said you did not trust me – now suck up the consequences and I am serious in saying stay off the internet. Nobody has time or interest to accommodate dinosaurs. Publish away, but publish EVERYTHING - your journalistic ethics demand. You can now proceed to have the last word – I am sure your day would not be complete if you did not. Knock yourself out!
I will take up the offer of having the last word. Good day sir.
Probably won’t shop there again and right now, I’m sitting here really hoping I’ve got at least 12 old mates who still read!
* Mike Lester is a retired radio and television journalist and Loddon Shire ratepayer for 35 years, now living near Dunolly.