16th November 2018 - A Detective Story - The Game!

Thought for the day:"I was asked me what I knew about dwarfs. I said ''Very Little''

Theresa May is still there - no real surprise there ...

Trump is still there - and interestingly has not done anything so crass as to knock the Brexit news off the screens  - must be a first...

Meanwhile - a Detective story.....

Arriving back from the depths of Southern England, as we entered the house I saw a large - unexpected box...   apparently delivered by Yodel and because we were away - left at No 43 next door. As No 43 were kind enough to look after the chickens while we were away (chickens I may add that have turned into free-loaders again - plenty of food and no eggs !), they naturally accepted the parcel and dutifully brought it into the house like a modern day Trojan horse...

I am not saying that there were hoards of Greek soldiers hiding in the box - rather that I do not know what is in it, was not expecting it, and found its presence thought provoking.. it was not a small box - but it was only 1.7Kg  which in real money is "not that heavy"

So I looked at the delivery slip - that is often a good clue... the address on the box was clearly my name and my address..

and so the invoice / packing slip had the correct details (blurred here for security) but the billing address and delivery address were correct - apparently packed upon the 7th November while I was out in Crete and the email was clearly wrong - ??????????@gmail.com (edited when traced)

I started the checks on the email - and cannot find any email on any social media or links...

So what is it??

Apparently, I am now the proud owner of a Fallout 76 Power Armour edition - UK Retail Exclusive PC mint valued at £174.99 - with free post and package ...   and I know a couple of people who may be playing this game.... so I thought I would check ... But nope - those likely suspects had no knowledge of any order - though I think there was a small piquant of interest ...   !!

And yes - it seems to be a nice little bundle - if you play Computer Games ...

looks to be a shoot em up 

and is from the makers of Skyrim which I have heard of...

and from reading the social media seems to be quite popular... and a fair bit of hype
indeed it is only meant to have been released on November 14th ..

But... I did not order it ...
It does seem to be for the PC - which is one thing - as I do not have an XBOX or any of the other platforms that it could have come with...   But How?  and Why??

So I check my credit cards - I was in Crete and would have used my debit card and my Tesco Credit Card while out there. Nothing on my bank account, so not using the debit card and nothing on Tesco card...  I don't use any other cards and have not for over a year - but I checked the MBNA cards - one of which is an amazon card from MBNA - but nothing on those...

So I check Paypal... and no transactions there either....

So I call GAME and a very nice person says that he cannot check the details but his boss can and he will get right back to me - and indeed within 20 minutes I had received the following

shaun A (GAME) 16 Nov, 10:09 am GMT Hi Iain‍, Thank you for your call. The order you have received was paid for using a Paypal account.  GAME would take payment before we post, so there would be no delayed extraction of funds. If you are still concerned we can arrange a collection of the order from you and the refund would go back to whoever paid for this item. If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Kind Regards, Shaun A‍ Game Customer Services

So - it was a Paypal Account - but it does not say it was mine - so I ask for clarification but have not received a reply yet.. But it clearly states that the package will not be sent until payment is received - and no payment has gone from the account....
and why would someone who was scamming the system actually send it to me without charging me...
I can understand a small item - just to check that you can access an account  and then go for the big one with a changed delivery address to a poste restante address... but why £174.99 and send me the goods?

And then I thought - what about the Paypal Credit options .... Looking at the GAME site you can go straight to a 4 month interest free application for a PayPal Credit Card / Option when buying your goods.. A bit like trying not to join Amazon Prime when you purchase anything at Amazon...   could someone have opened a Paypal Credit card that would not show on my systems until it asked for payment in 28 or 56 days time???  That would
explain why I could not find a transaction - though not why I was sent the real game and helmet....

And so I called Paypal - and got through to a real person - after ten minutes playing with the AI auto answer system that answers every question except the one that you are asking for.... I wondered if playing Fallout 76 was a little like playing the Paypal AI System...  If you find that you are in a similar position anytime here is the "cheat" :  say "AGENT" whenever it asks you "what would you like?" I tried several other options but is is American so AGENT is the key word. It still struggles against putting you through - but like all good games - sometimes you have to persevere...

A friendly American Voice greeted me and informed me that it was bright and sunny wherever he was..... which put me at my ease of course in the glum and grimness of Llanelli in West Wales... but he seemed nice enough and took all my details and listened to my situation ......

Well - for the record - we went through all the transactions that I had on the screen in front of me - because that is what his rules told him he had to do presumably - even though I had told him I had checked all the visible transactions.. and after a few attempts he agreed that he would see if there were any credit cards associated with the account. Of course I had done this already on the on-line options - and knew that my debit card was linked and my bank account was linked - cos that is how you set up a Paypal Account... and finally got him to say that there was no new credit card linked to the account.  So I have that on record....

And so - I am still in the dark.. I have a nice box full of "stuff"

I am not worried about Fallout 76  but....

I don't know who ordered it - or who paid for it - or why it is in my name - or why it was delivered to my address, or whether it would work on my computer - even if I did play computer games other than Diggy's Adventures on Facebook. I never bought a computer with the sort of spec you would need for a "proper" shoot-em-up style game....

and so - we will wait and watch for a while  - see if anything comes out of the woodwork - and shoot it if it does...

Maybe I should try gaming...
Once the Funeral is all sorted ...
Once the accounts are all done ...
Once we have got through the Silver Trowel and Royal and Select Meetings as Director of Ceremonies tomorrow ...
Once I have learned the Cynygstun 10-90 lecture for the installation on Monday as well as the Grand Court Certificate address...
Once I have sorted the officers and ceremonial for the Scarlet Cord and Secret Monitor Meetings in a couple of weeks where again I am Provincial Director of Ceremonies ...
Once I have learned the Prelate Second Part for the Appendent Orders a week tomorrow ...
Once I have brushed up the words of fours ongs for the Medieval Banquet next Saturday...
Once I have got the founders meeting sorted for a new Court of Athelstan in Pembroke Dock ...
Once I have got he Banner ordered for the Province ...
Oh and the Provincial Bills are paid for Red Cross of Constantine - and done the annual returns for the Operatives...
Yes - after that - I shall have to have a look

Cheers - Just remembered why I don't play Computer Games ... I think I need a nap ...