Tuesday, October 12, 2010

A Load Of Crockery



As some of you know, I went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for my fabulous honeymoon. While there, I couldn't help but notice that everything that was served to me during a meal was on coordinated, magnificent, Mexican crockery. And I mean everything. The plates, bowls, condiment trays, salt and pepper shakers, mugs, small dishes, etc., all coordinated with each other. It was beautiful. Since I am never one to turn her nose up at a retail opportunity, I decided that I had to take some of this beauty home with me. My Guy agreed, and we set out to find beautiful matching crockery to bring home to compliment our new married life.


We went to downtown Cabo and talked/bargained with some of the shop keepers, looking for the best deal. Each one had crockery more beautiful than the next, but what we were most concerned with was how we would get the stuff home. We knew it would need to be shipped. On our last afternoon, we were chatting with the manager of the hotel, telling him about our plans for the day, which were to secure the gorgeous Mexican crockery to send home, when he pulled out a business card and sent us to a place that sells the stuff to the hotels, wholesale. I was ecstatic! We immediately got in a cab and rode over to the warehouse. When we arrived I was overwhelmed by the number of beautiful styles, but I got right to work.


I selected service for 8, meaning I chose 8 coordinating dinner plates, salad plates, mugs, bowls, creamer and sugar, a butter dish, a serving bowl and a pitcher. The warehouse had a staff, but when we asked for help in locating a certain bowl or dish, their lack of English or their disinterest in our plight as they pointed a finger in the direction we were already in, told us we were pretty much on our own. There was a large sign at the cash desk that said, "CASH ONLY. NO CREDIT." We literally stole the gorgeous set of crockery, as it was relatively inexpensive for what we got, and My Guy paid the two Mexican gentleman extra to wrap up our purchases.


We returned to our hotel/resort and called in our butler. She had agreed to take care of having the 2 large boxes shipped back to the US for us, but when we got the price to do so, it was slightly more than we paid for the entire set of crockery. In hindsight, we should have carried the boxes onto the plane ourselves, because we paid the shipping and when they arrived home to us, almost every single plate; dinner plate, salad plate, was broken. And a few mugs and bowls too. And one of the salt and pepper shakers. Yes, they were insured by the shipper DHL, but I really don't care because I want the dishes more than I want the money. It's not like I can call the place that we got them and have them look the number up on the computer and re-ship me what was broken.


So I have been sitting on this for over a month now, and every day when I look at my coffee mug, all I see are the broken dishes and the lost opportunity. Until today. This morning I went online to try and locate my dishes and I did! The plate above is almost identical to the ones that were broken. BUT-the kicker is they are on eBay, and you know since I got screwed by eBay a few months ago. I'm not really looking forward to dealing with them again. The other issue; they are only advertising one plate for sale and I want 10. I sent the seller a message, so we shall see what happens. I would LOVE to replace the items we lost in shipping, but could I be that lucky? And with eBay? I'll keep you posted.


It's either that, or My Guy has to take me back to Cabo and soon.





8 comments:

Nick said...

Watch out for metals like lead in some of those foreign paint jobs. Even uranium was used at one point. Talk about a hot dish.

Sass said...

I'm thinking a trip back to Cabo is in order. ;)

Cora said...

Ebay is one of my very best friends. However, that being said, I think a trip back to Cabo is the way to go. Mm-hmm. ;-)

sybil law said...

Cabo!!

Scope said...

I think Frick & Frack would volunteer to go with you, so you could use their carry on space for more of the dishes.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

Did you guys do it?

Scott Oglesby said...

Or he has to bring you here to Spain. This is one of the things that they do exceptionally well, is cookery and décor. Much better than say, the food itself.

the walking man said...

Buy American. From Wal-Mart!