I'm Really Getting Annoyed....

Back around July or so, I decided that I was getting tired of carrying lots of CD's in my car and frequently switching them out, and I thought it would be nice to have an iPod with ALL of my music on it. The first step was to try out Robyn's old iPod, since she had upgraded to a new one. Well, the reason she upgraded was that the old one was giving her problems, and it turned out that it would not work. So she and I got on Ebay and found a decent deal on one like her old one (e.g., one without the video capability), and I bought it. When it arrived, I loaded it up with my music, which I had spent several days compiling onto iTunes, and I tried it out, using the FM converter that came with it, hoping to play my music in my car. Turns out the FM converter was really poor and only worked if I held the thing up in the window and pointed it in one direction, which obviously wouldn't do my any good while driving. So, back to Ebay, Robyn located a converter that she knew was a good brand, and we ordered that. When converter #2 arrived, I plugged everything in and tried it out. The sound was still not as clear as I would have liked, and one of the brackets wouldn't hold, so the whole thing tended to flip over every time I went around a corner, then on about the third day I had it, it stopped transmitting at all. I contacted the seller, who advised me to throw it away and he would send me a replacement. Okay, wait another week, get the replacement converter, hook it up, and FINALLY with converter #3, I've got good reception and a stable bracket.

You'd think the story would be over....but, no. Just a few days later, the iPod stopped working and displayed a "sad face" icon on its screen.


I contacted the seller of the iPod, who advised me to rap the thing pretty hard to reset the hard drive. That worked once, but the next day the sad face was back, and no amount of rapping would cheer it up. The seller agreed to replace the iPod, since I had only had it about a month. I sent him the broken one, and he sent me a replacement. Now we're on iPod #2. I plugged it in to load it up with my iTunes, and the computer didn't recognize it. I changed cables and tried again with the same result. I tried it in Ben's computer and Robyn's computer, and neither of them recognized the device. So I contacted the seller and told him what had happened. His first response was something like, "that is impossible, we tested it before we sent it to you," but after several exchanges of emails describing all of the steps I had taken to try to remedy the problem and several suggestions on his part, all of which I followed, he eventually agreed to replace it again.

I mailed iPod #2 off to the seller, and a couple of weeks later, I got a package containing iPod #3. At last, perhaps this can be put to rest....but, it was not to be. iPod #3 showed the same "not recognized" message on all three computers that the second one had shown. At this point, I've given up on the idea of saving money by buying a used iPod. I'm just ready to get my money back. Once again, I contacted the seller, asking for a refund, but after a week I had not gotten a response. I re-sent the original request with a note saying that I hadn't heard from him, and his response was quite ugly, telling me I should check my email and spam filters before I blame anything on him. I responded as gently as I could that I had been surprised that I hadn't heard from him, but at any rate, what was his answer regarding the refund request? After three days, I still hadn't gotten an answer, so I sent another email asking about the refund, to which he responded, "refund for what?" ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am so freaking frustrated by this whole deal. The iPod is boxed and ready to be mailed. Wish me luck!