I needed a new case for my smartphone. As usual. I trawled eBay looking for the best buy. I wanted a red one, for no other reason but a change from black. There were very many to choose from at a variety of prices. I made my decision and placed the order. The expected delivery date was 14th – 15th September. It did not arrive and so on the 18th I logged a ‘query’ with eBay.

I was fully expecting an auto response telling that I would hear from the seller in ‘x number of days’. So you may imagine my surprise when less than an hour later, I had this response.

“Hi Sorry to hear that the item you have not received yet we have shipped on time sometime Transit let us down they lost or damaged our parcel in transit or took time in delivery , we will send you again for you please accept our apology for that we are happy to send one again for you but we do not have Red color in stock we do have Black, Purple, Pink and Orange in stock for now please chose one of them and we will send one for you asap please accept our apology for that we are struggling for stock in this Covid 19 Situations. Thanks”

Well I couldn’t really argue with that. As I have mentioned, I didn’t want black again and the thought of either Pink or Orange didn’t really appeal, I looked at the Purple and just hoped that it wasn’t too bright or gaudy. The online image did look quite bright, but I bit the bullet and finally opted for it.

I went through the messaging system again and let them know. The bit that bothered me was the words ‘send one for you asap‘. I wondered how long ‘asap‘ would turn out to be. I was very surprised when the following day, a parcel popped through the letter-box that turned out to be my new Purple cover. It must have been posted 1st class to get here that quickly and I needn’t have worried as it wasn’t as bright as the pictures showed.