Potentially the Worst Mistake of My Life

Vale das Estrelas

Before Scott and I moved to Portugal and during this first year, I’ve participated in various webinars to learn more about what's required to live here successfully. Taxes, drivers’ licenses, etc.

Last month, an email came from one of the organizations that does some of the webinars. It was an invitation to (buy tickets to) a fundraising gala. The funds were to support art-based programmes for children across Portugal. It looked kind of fun and like a good value for the ticket price (compared to the US). But it was black-tie. We don’t own fancy clothes like that. I didn’t bring any of my heels… just no, you know?

However, I did note that at the event there would be a live auction and also an online silent auction. I can’t say why exactly, but I’m a big fan of silent auctions. I checked out the items, but only found one that truly interested me.

There were lovely photos to go with this…

Off-grid private two-night eco-luxe escape at Vale das Estrelas on Portugal’s wild Alentejo coast. Stay in a spacious villa with sweeping valley views, enjoy a bespoke three-course meal with regional specialities, wine ‘Story-tasting’ with co-founder Alastair Leithead, stargazing under Europe’s darkest skies, a guided nature walk with a visit to the Medronho distillery, and optional coastal walk with chilled bubbles.

The value was listed as €1000, and the opening bid was €800. In the year that we’ve lived here, we’ve done almost no traveling. This was mainly due to my back issues and subsequent back surgery. So, I thought this would be a great Christmas present for Scott (and me)!

I decided to go ahead and bid €1000, hoping I’d just win. I registered myself as a bidder and proceeded to bid. Now, I was aware that the format for the euro is different from that of the US dollar. To date, I’d had no reason to type or write a euro value above three figures. I expected the website would format correctly and I would just verify.

At this point, I’m still not sure what happened. Did I misidentify the number? Did I hurry through it, assuming it was right? Probably both, I’m thinking now. My bid turned out to be for…..

Wait for it…

€100,000 yes, that’s one hundred thousand euro. Except I still don’t think I’ve typed that right.

I was aghast at what I had done. Scott would not appreciate his “Christmas present” being a charitable donation of this amount! Frantically, I looked all over the page and the site to find something that allowed one to identify an error or a phone number to call or an email address to use. Let me add,

it was then late on a Saturday night.

I found a number for the charitable organization's HQ. It was in Hong Kong. It was approaching one o’clock in the morning of the next day in Hong Kong. I’ll spare you the full extent of my searching. Eventually, I found a form that looked potentially helpful and realized I could also email the company that invited me to the gala.

After all that, I settled myself to wait. Once I calmed down, I also realized that my credit limit was not even close to that amount, so they’d never put it through. But I was still worried that the organization would insist that I had to pay up.

Late on Sunday, I finally got an email telling me the error had been fixed. Monday, I got a follow-up phone call. It’s nice to be able to breathe normally again!

You’re wondering if I won the item. I did not win the item. After being outbid a few times, I decided I would just call the place later. 

I did call them the following week. I’ve ended up getting a 4-day trip instead of a 2-day trip. It includes additional meals and outings for well below the winning bid amount. Huzzah!

What a nightmare it would have been if they hadn’t been reasonable about this American making such a rookie boo-boo! Phshew!