Warning: This may turn long, but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible while retaining all the pertinent facts.

I was in the market for an Oculus Rift for a project I've been working on, so I hopped on eBay and found one that came with the TF2 hat code, which I thought would be a nice thing to have. It was originally an auction, but I asked if they had a BIN price in mind. They did, I agreed with it, they added the BIN to the auction and I used it. The item was listed as being in "new, unused" condition, and there were no caveats to this in the listing description.

The item went out last Monday and arrived on Thursday, and I signed for it and set it aside for 24 hours at which point I opened it up and started setting it up. Once I got it up and running, I discovered that there were two bright spots on the LCD screen inside the Rift which looked really weird. I started poking around online to try and figure out what they were, and I shot off a message to the seller and one to the Oculus VR support team (makers of the Rift). The seller's message was letting them know that there might be an issue, that I was contacting the manufacturer to see what it was and possibly get a repair, and that I would be in touch with them when I had more info. I got a couple of basic suggestions from Oculus (spray out dust, make sure it's not the computer/cable/etc) and the weekend rolled around before we could continue.

Through some more research and careful examination of the damage (which turned out to be physical both to the LCD and the LCD plastic coating/covering), I started to realize that the damage was LCD burn. Because the rift has two magnifying lenses over the LCD, sunlight or bright overhead lighting can be focused onto the LCD screen, resulting in irreparable damage. I was at a loss for how this could have happened until I happened to glance at the listing again and realized that the seller had taken pictures of the Rift and accessories outside in bright sunlight.

I immediately contacted the seller and then Oculus again, letting everyone know what I had discovered. I informed the seller that I still was hopeful that Oculus would repair the damage (despite them not being obligated to do so), and if not, I would have to return the item since it was damaged before it arrived.

I then received a long message from the seller accusing me of having buyer's remorse, violating a "warranty" by performing the "unauthorized" action of contacting Oculus and a whole host of other things. Their end statement was, essentially, that they had no intention of giving me a refund and to take it up with eBay. I did just that and opened a dispute claiming that the item was not as described when it arrived. In the message I had to send to the seller, I summarized my original message and points.

Since then (it's been under 24 hours since I opened the case), the seller has escalated their claims to saying that I'm trying to scam them, that I admitted to damaging the unit myself (reviewing my messages, I can definitively say that I did not say anything of the sort, and I have been denying those claims in follow-up messages) and again that I did something wrong (indeed, so wrong that it means she cannot refund me even if she wanted to) by trying to contact the manufacturer about the issue, an action I took to try and minimize this type of situation in the first place.

Here's the interesting thing. As an 8-year, 100% positive feedback score (with around 45 transactions), I expected a 10-year, 100% positive with 100+ transactions to act rationally and politely, which is why I was being nice and keeping them informed with what I was finding out about the damage during my research.

What's my likelihood of winning this case? She claims that because she had another person look at the Rift with her and they both didn't see any issues (which I completely understand, since they likely did that before taking the photos of the Rift where the lenses were in direct sunlight) there couldn't be any damage and I'm a scammer. I have a photo of the damage here which isn't super great, but is time stamped on my phone.

My current actions are simply to reiterate my points (I received damaged goods when I was promised goods in new unused condition) whenever she responds, since my trying to explain what could have happened are falling on deaf ears. It'll be 3 business days before I can escalate the case, but is there anything else I can do in the meantime? I haven't used eBay in a while, but when I last did, it was a good experience. This pretty much sours me to the whole thing.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ebay/comments/1eljri/seller_sold_me_an_item_that_was_damaged_and_is/

Do you know that a person can survive without water for only 3 days, but Mahatma Ghandi was able to survive as much as 21 days without food?

Those were things I used to know as a normal student in a small town. I know none of those things anymore. I just know about rage and feeling constantly hungry.

I was in my last year of high school and working a part-time job so I could save money for higher education. Things were dull, but mostly fine until an otherwise normal afternoon after classes.

It happened in the light of day. I was shoved inside a vehicle with expertise.

I never saw the faces of the men that took me. I never saw their van stinking of old blood and rancid food. I could only see the blackness of my blind and taste the slight sweetness of chloroform before I lost my senses.

When I woke up again, I was completely naked in a poorly lit room. The state I was in made me expect the worse, but there was no pain or bleeding indicating that kind of violence. It was cold, and there was a maddening dripping sound.

Something was gleaming in the dark. As soon as I adjusted my eyes, I realized it was a knife.

Drip, drip, drip.

The small room had nothing but an already dirty toilet, the knife and a crack on the ceiling dripping slimy, slightly green water. The walls and floor were gray and featureless.

A very strong light, like a camera flash, popped into my face, blinding all my senses with the shock. It disappeared after a moment, and I heard a voice.

We want to watch your suicide. Let’s see how long it will take.

_______________________________________________________

They took someone unremarkable, frail, with nothing to live for.

But now I had a purpose.

I had to frustrate my captors.

If they wanted to watch my suicide, I would be the most resilient person in the world. I wouldn’t grant their wish.

Back then, I didn’t know I was being watched by a bunch of sick and twisted people, who kept up with my daily misery in the comfort of their houses and their anonymousness.

I slept on the cold, hard floor, food never came, and the only source of water was the murky leak on the ceiling. I drank it, humiliated. It tasted worse than shit, and I would know that, since I fed on my own waste during the first few days.

The only indication that a day had ended was the blinding flash and the same cold, mocking voice telling me that they were surprised I had made it so far.

I was so hungry. So hungry. So hungry.

The room was getting hotter from my breathing every day. There was no proper ventilation; it seemed to be just enough to not let me die from carbon monoxide poisoning, a merciful death compared to the one they planned for me.

I didn’t know why they chose me. I still don’t know.

I never wronged anyone. I never excelled at anything to be a target of one’s envy.

It was just a purposeless act of evil.

The fact that it was completely random made my hatred grow and, with it, my determination.

My stomach hurt beyond words.

I was constantly sick from the putrid smells all around me.

My body ached all over.

My skin was matted and flaky, my hair falling from malnutrition.

I grabbed the knife.

I felt watched in cruel anticipation.

Not today.

I chopped off my left pinkie and shoved it in my mouth before I could think too much about it.

My own blood dripped on my chest as I chewed on my own bones.

The crunching sound should be so sickening. My teeth should be hurting so much or even breaking, bone against bone. I should be horrified to phagocyte a part of my own body.

But I was just so happy to be eating.

______________________________________________

After that, I felt my body growing stronger every day, like a member of the cannibal tribe on Papua New Guinea after ritualistically feeding on their departed loved ones.

I laughed maniacally for hours at a time and trembled endlessly but I was more alive than I’ve ever been in that captivity.

I rationed my food/body wisely. I needed my right hand, so it was crucial to spare at least 4 fingers on it, but I was free to feed on my left hand. My toes were pretty much useless; I’ve been dragging myself on the floor to move around anyway.

But I didn’t need to feed on myself for long.

No more than a week after I first took a bite on myself, the voice after the blinding flash had something else to say.

We are selling you

______________________________________________________

The official story is that I miraculously escaped my perpetrators during their flawed operation to move me to my new “owner”.

And by the time I had reached a neighbor and the police was called, they had already fled the crime scene.

The investigation was kept under extreme secrecy, so I didn’t make the world news. Hell, I only made the local news as “local teenager mutilated by unknown man”. Someone even donated me a prosthetic hand.

The police was able to take down the website where my daily tortured was being streamed non-stop, and just then I found out that I was a star.

I laughed for days because everyone felt so bad for me, not knowing that the torture I endured was way beyond losing a hand and a few toes.

I laughed for days because I know the truth no one else does.

I know how, right when they opened the door to my prison, my body felt like it was possessed by a bestial creature and, before I knew it, I used superhuman strength to crush the bones of five men all at once, then eat their fresh corpses whole.

I even licked the leftover blood from the walls before I opened the doors and headed to the closest house, dragging my bad foot.

In that moment, I felt like I was the co-pilot of my body; the wheelsman was a voice screaming KILL AND DEVOUR.

I could never escape if something hasn’t taken hold of me; I’m not strong or even fast.

I’d do anything to spend the rest of my life quietly, having my body and mind slowly heal and recover from a devastating trauma.

The problem is that eating the raw flesh of my captors was the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had in my life.

And, while I’ve been chasing mercilessly all the monsters that watched my suffering for their own enjoyment, I’m too hungry.

Their tainted flesh has not been enough for me – no, for us.

Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/cwor0f/i_was_the_star_of_a_deep_web_cam_for_40_days/