When I got back to my aunt’s appartment to test it out I took a closer look at the glamourous box. Upon inspection, I realised that the cover is missing one of the main actors’ name. That gave me the first clue that this was not a legit copy. The second clue was the actual DVDs. There were four in total but placed in plastic sleeves, two in each sleeve – not to mention all discs were scratched. No wonder it was cheap…but…I wasn’t going to complain so long as the viewing was of high quality.

After inserting the first disc a wave of green pixels flashed across the menu screen. That, and the menu buttons didn’t match those that I had seen screenshots of. Also, the picture was not as high quality as was told to me (yes, I found it odd that a seller would use that as a selling point). After doing some research online I had deduced that the version I had bought was the Hong Kong version, AKA poor man’s recording.

I attempted to return it and get my money back but the seller refused and tested the DVD out, viewing it on what I guess is a 7″ screen, compared to my sisters 15.5″ laptop. She didn’t see anything wrong, of course she wouldn’t with that poxy size screen, anything would look HQ on that… It was pointed out that even on her small screen the quality looked low. After refusing to believe that, the pixilation issue was brought up. She tried to pass them off as part of the starry effect. What the – The excuse of the “green glitch screen” was that it blinked when the viewer was spending too long on the menu screen. Then she insisted that it was a clip before the menu. Amazing. In the end, I didn’t get a refund (she wouldn’t give one with a receipt!) so…either I take that DVD, take a different copy or choose something else. I chose a live tour DVD of Jay Chou, an artist of whom my sister enjoys and is known to have corrupted all things of technology within the house… Hmph.

The moral is: don’t by DVDs from Hong Kong shops, which are piled with assorted CDs, DVDs and the like that aren’t presented in an orderly fashion.

Warning: this post is quite long-winded, heh.

I ordered a laptop from Ebay (8th April).  The laptop was despatched a couple of working days later (12th April) and was getting delivered through USPS.  Okay, fine, I’ve never used them before but my parcel would arrive before my sister headed back to uni. from Easter break.  I checked the status of the the parcel regularly throughout the week and see this:

What?!  My first thought was who in their right mind would attempt to deliver a package at 6 in the morning?  I also wondered why there was no “Sorry, we missed you.” note.  After a bit of research I found out that any parcels from USPS get transferred to ParcelForce.  I requested a redelivery thinking ParcelForce had tried to deliver the package.  I was wrong…not long after the request someone from ParcelForce explained that there were no attempts and I should wait for a letter for customs’ charges.  I remember him telling me it would cost £87.40 because out-loud I repeated the price in Cantonese.  Anyway, as said a letter from ParcelForce came through the post.  The charge on the letter was about £84, which surprised me but I’m not going argue about paying less.

Okay, customs’ charges paid (19th/20th April) and money came out of her account to ParcelForce on the Thursday (21st April) so I waited thinking the parcel would come on Monday, it didn’t.  Tuesday came and went, and still nothing.  My sister left for uni. on that Wednesday dramatically proclaiming, “I’m leaving for uni. with or without the laptop”.  I tracked the parcel but the status hadn’t changed – I thought that might have been down to ParcelForce not having acknowledged the payment yet so I gave it a couple of days.  Still…

I emailed them on Wednesday (27th April) thinking I’d come home from work to a receive a reply.  Not the case.  So, the day after (28th April) I called ParcelForce wanting to know what the situation of the parcel was.  They tell me that the payment failed…?  I told them my sister paid online and the money had come out from her bank account.  The lady then said she would contact a department and get back to me about 2pm.  I waited for the call that never came¹.  There might have been a possibility of a callback on Friday but then again, it was the Royal Wedding – I just assumed they were closed on Friday, don’t know why.

I, not long before posting this, called ParcelForce in hope someone could shed light on what was going on but I get the same response: payment failed…contacting department².  The only thing is I have to wait until Tuesday for a callback. -_-

University resumes next week so I’m hoping my mum can relay what I’ve said.

One thing that has come from this is that fact that I’m doubting whether I should even consider making my jewellery accessible to people outside the UK.  This local tax thing is troublesome and something people could do without the hassle of.

When this whole debacle is over I’m keeping the MSI!  It was bought through my Ebay account and I’m the one who has been chasing it around.

P.s. USPS should change the line “Attempted Delivery Abroad, April 19, 2011, 6:12 am, GREAT BRITAIN” to clarify that it is the hub/depot they are referring to and not the addressee.  Actually, you would have thought it would have already been changed considering I’ve read posts about the same confusion dating back 2006.

1. Note to self: if someone is taking an age to call you back, don’t wait, call them.
2. Note to self: always get the name of the person serving you.