I said it earlier in this thread, but I'm going to reiterate it here. PLEASE contact one of the moderators and make sure they know the board identity of this person. At the very least they can maybe prevent him/her from posting on the Rent Trade board again.
This is going to be long... forgive me while I rant. I think I've earned one 'rant post' after this drama. One of the mods does know the identity of this member... and I'm discovering brand new limits to my patience with this lady! I sent her the first STERN email I've sent since I've been dealing with her. Every message and every email until now has been nothing short of patient and understanding. When I got the 'e-check bounced' message from Paypal, my tolerance switched off. Here's what I sent her:
"I have been as patient as possible throughout this situation. Just as you are busy, so am I and so is my family... and following up on my money on a day-to-day basis is the last thing I want to have to think about. The e-check you wrote me for $610.00 from Paypal has now bounced. I was contacted by Paypal today to let me know that they would try again in 3-5 days, which results in an additional 5 day delay while they verify availability of the funds. Right now, you are holding my money against your word and against the contract you agreed to. Due to the miscommunication between you and your husband I have effectively been not only cancelled out of a planned vacation, but you are still holding my money illegally. I still want to believe that no ill will is intended by you in this situation, but you truly don't understand the level of concern and frustration you are causing us. I need to hear back from you asap with a specific expectation on when I can expect my money back. If I don't hear from you by the end of this week with an actual answer, I will be talking with the attorneys we have in our family and amongst our friends to find a way to rectify this situation once and for all."
And my jaw dropped when I got this response back from her:
"I have been very polite, as well and I don't appreciate the assumptions. When you asked to postpone your initial payment, I was fine with it, rather than cancel the reservation. I understand you have been inconvenienced and will fix whatever the problem is. Paypal has just taken them funds from my account and this is what I have from received, from them as of today." She followed this pleasant verbiage with a screenshot of her paypal account showing the 2nd $610.00 refund attempt.
Maybe I should have stopped myself, but I did send her a response back. It was short, I stayed polite, but I did stick up for myself:
"No assumptions have been made on my part other than to, as I said, believe that you are not intending to cause us any distress despite how painfully slow this process has been. The payment I made to you was in 100% agreement with the contract you agreed to, and I have every email between us to prove it, along with the signed and initialed contract document. I have not violated a word of that document in any form or fashion. If you were uncomfortable with the date of payment (which, by the way, was only 8 days after I received your faxed confirmation), then it would have been better for both of us if you didn't sign the contract. If my refund payment goes through this time, we can both rest assured in knowing this deal is finally resolved."
She sent a response back saying she has had a bad day and didn't mean to be so harsh. I won't be responding to any more emails... I've already stooped to lower levels by responding out of frustration, so instead I quit.