MLB: Flush or Fleece?

Remember those wonderful player paintings the Pirates auctioned off in the name of charity?

I won one of them.

July 13, 2006.

I was promised 2-4 weeks delivery at the auction. I couldn't wait to add Maholm's painting right beside Duke's from 2005.

August 9th - a month after the auction and I still didn't have the painting. I called MLB's offices in New York and I was told the Pirates were in charge of shipping and they would do their best to get the order fulfilled.

August 29th.. still no delivery.

September 6th.. still no delivery. Another email to MLB and they tell me they don't have any idea what the holdup is, the Pirates should have long sent the item, and they will check on it.

September 13th.. still no delivery.

September 20th.. still no delivery. It's now been 10 weeks since the Pirates took my money, deposited it in their account, and sat on their thumbs. I start to get a bit more active and shoot off a couple of more emails to MLB. Here is one of their answers:

"I received and e-mail from Eric Wolff at the Pirates who is looking into
this ASAP, I have asked him to send you a note directly to let you know
the same.  I had no idea this was still an issue since the last time you
sent me a note so I apologize."

You guessed it -- no note from "Eric Wolff" ever came.

Either did the painting.

September 29th.. still no communication or delivery.

October 3rd.. still no delivery 3 months after the auction. Another series of emails to MLB gets me this response:

"I will contact the Pirates again to see what the hold-up is.  Last time
you e-mailed I was assured this was being take care of."

Obviously MLB doesn't know the Pirates like we do, huh? I asked the MLB rep if they had already forwarded the proceeds to the Pirates and they said yes.. months ago.

Call me a glutton for punishment but, in good faith, I went ahead and bid on the Sean Casey painting and won that auction October 4th. MLB assured me I would have both items asap.

October 10th.. no delivery.

October 17th.. no delivery. Another email to MLB gets me this reply:

"I spoke to Eric Wolff at the Pirates today and he said he was going to take care of mailing the paintings. I am going to follow-up with him on Monday to confirm."

Right.

October 22cd.. no delivery. I've had enough at this point and I wrote MLB and told them I guess I better cancel my order because it looks to me like I just threw about $800 down the gutter. I told them if the paintings aren't in the mail, cancel my order. I got this reply back:

"I have refunded you for the paintings.. if they should surface I will let you know.  I am very sorry for the headache."

What the??? If they should surface? Wow.

About 20 minutes later I received a second reply:

"Of course as soon as I have refunded you I received an e-mail that the
Grabow and Casey items have been located, do you still want them."

Sure they found them, I thought to myself. I pushed for a refund and asked the wonderful auction manager at MLB if she blamed me, and she said:

"Not at all, I understand and think you have been remarkably patient."

A well learned trait Pirate fans must endure.

Well, I'm off the fight MLB for their automatic billing practices now. For some reason they billed me for a ton of monthly services I never ordered. I guess I'm not alone as a friend of mine in the new MLB call center in California tells me that's all he does everyday anymore - refund credit card charges for services not ordered.

No wonder the game is so flush.