Its my party and I'll cry if I want to....

Well not my party exactly, but I can see both myself and Claudia whose 18th party it is this coming Friday, will both be in tears before long.  The reason you wonder? Well its all to do with that wonderful auction site called Ebay and a trail of dishonest sellers who are making our lives a complete and utter misery over my last three transactions.
First up, remember the Rabbit Fur Coat debacle I had back in July?  Well can you believe I only got refunded this week?  The whole sorry saga has been nothing short of a fucking nightmare with emails going back and forth and I ended up actually getting scared to open messages from the seller to see what crock of shit excuse she was giving for having not refunded me.  When I returned the coat, which was on a Friday, by parcel force, costing me £10.99, I got a message from the seller saying "hope it arrives by 1pm on Tuesday as I am going away then for 3 weeks".  Great eh.  Well according to my tracking number the parcel arrived and got signed for at 9.30am on that Tuesday morning she supposedly went away.  Then I went on holiday, came back after a week, checked my paypal account and guess what? Nothing.  Anyway it finally came in - minus her fees!  Can you believe the fucking cheek of it?  If it had been listed correctly over condition and size, I wouldn't have bought the bloody thing in the first place!

Secondly, A Pixie Lott Dress that Claudia wanted to buy with the £60 her boyfriend had given her.  She doesn't want this to wear to the party, but out clubbing the following night.  On Sale at Asos but out of stock in a size 8 and not on the Lipsy site in her size either, so last Sunday she uttered those immortal words "Mum can you have a look on ebay for me".

I found one, ending that night, quite a few bids, but brand new with tags.  Obviously you want a brand new dress if its going to be a present no matter how desperate or in love you may be with that particular garment.
I bid in the final 10 seconds and got it for £34 and with p&p it came to £38 which left her with £22 to buy something else with, so all seemed good.  Dress was posted 1st class on Monday, received Tuesday but when I pulled the dress out of the packaging, there was no way it was brand new.  It smelt of some sort of perfumery smell, but not in a pleasant way. Even if the dress had been worn once, being as it doesn't have a high neck or sleeves that would be touching your wrists, I doubt very much whether it would smell this much, it is the whole dress no matter where you sniff it!  I emailed the seller immediately explaining this was a birthday gift and it obviously wasn't brand new and that I wouldn't have been willing to pay that amount for a second hand dress and doubt it would have gotten bid up that high by any of the bidders had it have been described as used but in good condition.  When Claudia came home from school, she agreed that we probably wouldn't get another now, so we would just get it dry cleaned.  I still haven't got a response from the seller so have left negative feedback.

Thirdly, the biggest and most expensive fuck up of all - The Party Dress. 

Madam has had her eye on this dress for ages.  It was originally £185 on the Lipsy site (gulp) and is/was from their VIP range.  Come the height of summer it was sold out on their site in a size 8, but you could leave your email address if it came back in stock.  I never got an email.  It got reduced to £85 in their sale, in the other sizes.  I trawled every Lipsy stockist in the Land I could find courtesy of Google, and nothing.  I checked out other sites, like Forever Unique and Kate someone who designs her own stuff in Newcastle, nothing, nothing, "no, no, no" said Claudia.  "Nothing compares to the Lipsy dress, I need to have something a)stunning and b) so expensive that none of my friends parents would ever pay that much for a dress for them, its my party and I have to look the best".  OK, Claudz, thanks for that, thats me well and truly told then isn't it, so I looked on Ebay and this is where you know its all gonna go horribly wrong.
There was one on there, excitement grew, but it was buy it now for £130 and I told her I didn't want to pay that much when it had gone on sale for £85 and that I would continue to look.  Last weekend whilst looking for the Pixie Lott, I found one with a starting bid of £35 (the £130 one had disappeared by then).  Not wanting to let the auction run because of worries over the time factor I emailed the seller for a buy it now price, she emailed back, £80.  The deal was done, I paid immediately.  I sent a message with payment, could I please pay extra for recorded delivery, lied and said the party was this Friday instead of the 24th and that I needed it urgently and couldn't afford for the item not to be tracked so could she give me her paypal email address and I would send over some more money to cover postage.  She emailed back, Monday morning saying item would be posted at 11.30 am, she would email over the postage details and it would be an extra £1.99 but failed to give me her paypal email address.  Wednesday came, she hadn't emailed over the postage details and still no dress, I was getting anxious as the Pixie Lott dress had arrived the day before, just sent by normal first class.  I heard nothing.  Thursday came still no dress, I emailed again saying how desperate I was.  I got a response saying "I posted it when I said I would and don't worry about the extra £1.99".  I went back and said "Thats fine thanks, but you haven't given me any details of how it was sent, nor tracking details, can you please do so by return".  No response. 
Its now Saturday morning.  The seller thinks this dress was for a party last night.  I am furious.  I paid over the odds just to ensure I got it in plenty of time incase it needed any alteration or cleaning etc as obviously brand new without tags doesn't always mean that as I found out with the other dress.  That Ebay bitch has £80 of my money and Claudia doesn't have her dress.  To say I am in a complete state of panic is an understatement.  I need valium and quick, the Marlboro Lights just ain't cutting the mustard.

Everything I do is for the kids to give them the best possible life, the life I never had.  We are not loaded, not by a long way, I earn a pittance, if I'm lucky.  Up until my husband got this job last summer he had previously been out of work for 16 months collecting £65 a week jobseekers allowance.  I sold all my designer bags, shoes and clothes to keep my son in private school as the education system locally is beyond despair up until the age of 11 when at least the brightest children have a chance of taking the 11+ and going to the mainland, to a State run Grammar School.  We take them on holiday with us even though they have their own holidays with their friends.  I wouldn't dream of leaving them behind but know loads of parents who do, whilst my first husband, the girls Dad, strutts off to the Domincan and Cuba for his annual vacation and all these things are coming into my head all because of this party dress. 

Marc Jacobs Stella Tote was £715 now £429


We have just paid out £429 on a Marc Jacobs bag from the outnet, for her present, her Dad gives her £200, we always do double and more than he does, but he has no other kids and owns two houses one of which he rents out.  Their is the cost of the hall, the disco, the balloons, the announcement in the paper, the birthday cake made to look like a pink quilted Chanel 2.55, the 100 cupcakes on order, the table sprinkles, the balloons, the hair appointment, the nail appointment and then she comes in yesterday from her driving lesson and tells me she has to go online and book her driving test which cost me another £62!  I am getting in a state, I know you don't wanna hear this shit or about my Ebay disasters, but I have to tell someone.  I am just waiting for OH to say "has her dress arrived yet" and I will meltdown, I know I will and he will do his nut, even though it is not my fault.  He will say "you shouldn't have left it so late" etc etc ........
Someone please help, do you know anyone who has this dress, I will pay to hire it off them, she has to have it, but I have just trawled through over 4,000 Lipsy dresses on Ebay in a size 8 and in desperation even a 10, but nobody has this up for sale.  If you go shopping this afternoon and see it anywhere, please email me the shop details. 
Claudia's Dad has just given her a lift to work and she has rung me saying "Dad says it all sounds a bit Fishy, the fact that the seller hasn't given you the tracking details or responded since your last email on Thursday".  He is right of course and that is why I am turning into the neurotic bitch from hell.  This whole things stinks worse than that fucking rabbit fur coat and that Pixie Lott dress.......