Tuesday, 22 May 2007

The Routerless Wireless Router

Setting up my home network with my new Dell PC is taking longer than expected. I had ordered a Belkin Wireless router and USB adapter combo for $112 from an online supplier, and originally had a delivery ETA of 5th May. After that date had come and gone I chased up the supplier and was advised that the new ETA for the equipment to arrive from their wholesaler was 18th May. As it still hadn't arrived last Friday I thought I'd check with their online order tracking service to see if there was an updated ETA for delivery. The tracking page gave a "page not found" error (a *very* bad sign), so I went to the companies home page. Apparently they stopped taking new orders on the 12th May, and are working their way through old orders that are outstanding. I sent another email checking on the status of my order, and hope to get a reply tomorrow. At least my initial payment for the order (via Paypal) never was finalised - Paypal initially confirmed my payment, but then cancelled it three days later when the "eCheque" money transfer from my bank account into Paypal was declined (I'd forgotten that I can only transfer funds from my Paypal account into my bank account, not vice versa). This means that possible outcomes are:
1. I get sent the equipment and the supplier never gets around to invoicing me because they're going out of business.
2. I get sent the equipment and they invoice me for the outstanding balance - which I'll be happy to pay by CC once I have the goods.
3. I never hear from them and end up having to buy the wireless router from some other supplier.

None of these options are terrible - although I'd like to have setup my home network a couple of weeks ago. If the original payment via Paypal had gone through OK, I'd be in the unhappy position of having paid for goods and never receiving them. Trying to get money refunded by Paypal is a financial adventure I'm happy to do without.

Enough Wealth

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