Got box full BROKEN CFL from ebay seller

[kaymin]

Got the set price priority mail box crammed full of three boxes of 4 CFL's each. I mean the box was bulging out on the top. The guy put a few peanuts in the box and that was it. Needless to say, one of them was shattered. Alarms go off in my head about the 2k worth of clean up costs and i freak out and start putting the priority box into two garbage bags and tie the top. i took out all but two of the bulbs. I then opened all the windows and left the room for like 30 mins.

I email the guy yelling at him and he doesn't reply. He's a power seller on ebay with 100% feedback too.

Supposedly, there was a required insurance fee. But am I really gonna haul a priority mail box full of shattered glass and phosphorous and what not the PO for 3 bucks?

I mean I wasted like an hour on the clean up (of course i didn't call a govt agency) and research on the internet on how to clean it up. I'm guessing all the mercury evaporated in the box anyway. But it was a MAJOR HASSLE.

Am i wrong to want some compensation? Can i file a complaint with paypal or something? It's not about the 3 bucks or whatever for the broken bulb - i mean who the hell ships light bulbs with a few peanuts?

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: kaymin


Am i wrong to want some compensation? Can i file a complaint with paypal or something? It's not about the 3 bucks or whatever for the broken bulb - i mean who the hell ships light bulbs with a few peanuts?

You received a box of item from the sender. As far as paypal is concerned transaction successful.

 

[Tangerines]

BTW, CFLs barely contain any mercury (about the size of the dot at the end of this sentence). You don't need to pay 2k in clean-up costs.

 

[FoBoT]

Mercury is overrated

Uranus, on the other hand, is the shiznit

 

[Kirby64]

Originally posted by: Tangerines
BTW, CFLs barely contain any mercury (about the size of the dot at the end of this sentence). You don't need to pay 2k in clean-up costs.

QFT. The amount of mercury needed to actually cause harm is far greater than anything in a few CFL's. People who think that a single CFL is going to kill them if it's broken are overreacting.

 

[uhohs]

sailor mercury > sailor uranus
ami-chan <3

 

[mugs]

How much did you save (or would you have saved) by buying them off eBay vs buying them at Home Depot or Lowe's or Costco or Ikea?

 

[shabby]

Sailor moon > *

 

[jagec]

First of all, you're overreacting about the cleanup...the stuff's not nerve gas or radioactive waste.
Is it bad for you to regularly break flourescent bulbs and breathe in the fumes? Yes.
Is a pre-broken bulb in a box going to kick your dog, give you AIDS and burn down your house? No.

I would complain about the packaging, just because that is a little sub-par for a glass bulb, but don't go ballistic on them. Just ask for a replacement.

Of course, you already berated them via email, so you may have burned that bridge. Just go buy a bulb at Safeway already.

 

[FoBoT]

i broke lots of flourescent bulbs as a kid and i am fine

in fact, i broke open several mercury thermometers and played with the liquid mercury, no lasting effects on me!! i feel fine!!!!111oneone

 

[Eli]

The whole CFL thing is somewhat alarming. What are we going to do when water table mercury contamination goes through the roof due to people throwing them away?

I think we need some hard-core recycling methods to be developed. Every large chain supermarket should have a recycling center, where they can take used oil, antifreeze, paints, household chemicals, electronics, and.. used fluorescent lightbulbs.

Maybe it's not that big of a deal, but something like that certainly wouldn't hurt. We need to make it easier to recycle such things. Most people break a lightbulb, they don't think twice about throwing it away.

At least in your case, the bead of mercury is still in the bottom of the box and not in your carpet. It just sucks, because there really isn't anything you can do with it. I don't know how you will dispose of it properly.

Originally posted by: Kirby64

Originally posted by: Tangerines
BTW, CFLs barely contain any mercury (about the size of the dot at the end of this sentence). You don't need to pay 2k in clean-up costs.

QFT. The amount of mercury needed to actually cause harm is far greater than anything in a few CFL's. People who think that a single CFL is going to kill them if it's broken are overreacting.

Don't be so sure about that. I have never seen a CFL with a bead of mercury the size of a period. It's also bigger than an "o", although smaller than an "O".

It probably depends on the wattage and size of the bulb, but they do contain a fair ammount of mercury, and if you were to ingest that much mercury directly into your bloodstream, you would be damaged.

Of course, that would be impossible short of a mercury IV, but that isn't the point. Mercury is an extreme environmental toxin, you do not want to be in contact with it. It's invisible, you aren't going to know you are being poisoned until it's too late.

 

[Jeff7]

Maybe check the yellowpages for local recycling centers, or look under "environmental" perhaps. Or under "fluorescent?" There might be a company nearby that takes fluorescent bulbs. Hopefully they'd have some idea of what to do.