At a show a few weekends ago, my bass head was stolen. It was/is nothign special, a yorkville 400. i was wondering what type of actions i can take against the person who might of taken it to.

This happened because i decidded i could trust this band with my head, because the bass player had his own cabinet. so i gave it to them, then waited a few days, no call, no nothing. i started to get worried, so i called aorund and no one seemend to know where it is. i finially got a hold of the bass player. he told me that they forgot it at the gig. so i went back to the church to try to get it/find it but it wasn't there.

yesterday i filed a lost/stolen property form with the police near my house. aswell i've talked to this bass player aswell about him paying me for the head or getting me a new one of the same or greater value. but he says its not his fault, and he doen't think he should have to pay for it since he can't.

so what i'm trying to ask is what can i do legally, or using the law to get this guy to pay me for the head. its approximent value new is 800$ and used they go for about 650$ around here.

Any advice would help. aswell if i posted this in the wrong section sorry.

Kyle

Sorry about the loss.

If you want, you can copy and paste the post here (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=72) and then delete this post.

Welcome to TB.

You have just about zero legal grounds. "Forgot it at the gig", how original. Oh and it's not his fault?

You could talk to the church where the show was held, if this zero is a teenager you could talk to his parents.

If you're VERY lucky you will get the amp back. Otherwise, lesson learned...NEVER NEVER loan gear out if you can't afford to lose it.

Talk to the Sexton, or whoever takes care of the church building to see if he/she might have run across it. Also talk to the AV guy at the church, or whoever is responsible for the sound that day. Maybe they ran across it, or might have seen what happened.

I would also send a spy into the house of the guy you lent it to to make sure it actually "disappeared". Either way, the guy is a tool. If you borrow something, it's understood that you will take care of it. If you lose it, you should pay for it. If the guy borrows it, he is responsible for getting it back to you, plain and simple. So how can he not be at fault? He obviously remembered to take his cab. Which means he had to pull the cable out of the head. A bass head is not something like a cable, which is easily misplaced or unaccounted for. Even if it was one of those, "I thought, so-and-so packed it away", he still should verify that it is there. My band always does a once-over before leaving the venue we played at to make sure we don't forget anything. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to find a bass head when I do a once-over.

Good luck in recovering the head.

Problem is that verbal contracts like that (especially when there's such vague wording as is found in the typical "here, you can borrow this and just give it back when you're done" type of conversation) are damn hard to prove in court, and the burden of proof is on our original poster up there. I wish him luck, but I'm not sure there's much the courts will do to help him.

Witnesses will definitely help, though.

This is why god created the Small Claims Court. Sue his sorry ass. He is a liar and/or a thief. OK, maybe an irresponsible nitwit, but I doubt it.

yeah my friends and i have a few plans to take out on him. i want to go to the next show they play, and just look form the back and see if he is actually playing it. if so i can just go take it, done and done. aswell im not sure how fast or if this might work is i have a guitar and drumm friend that might call him and although hes not the greatest bas splayer they want to talk to him sying he should come for a jamm session with them and see what gear he brings and/or ask him what kind of gear he has over the phone and se ewhat he says. and insider has already been tried by me going to his house when hes not there and telling his parents D** told me to coem by and grab his amp for him" or soemthing, but it wasn't there. ive thought about small claims,, but ive always heard rumors that soem guy aorund ehre posted soemthing here,

http://www.ontariomusic.com/message/index.php?view=229489&

and look at the second response by a guy named 'sean' this seemed to eb the ebst lead i ahve becaus ehe found it notto long ago, i loist it 2 weeks ago...ive also heard that this guy was attending the gig.

these are my options, and thanks alot for helping out a newbie to talkbass.com as much as you have. it is greatly appreciated.

Kyle

"i have one i found not too long ago.
i dont know much about it so ill sell it for 200."
That doesn't sound suspicious :eyebrow: , ask him about it

I deleted the pointless replies in this post, and am moving it to the gear stolen section. Good luck getting your gear back, and DO TAKE them to small claims court, don't do something ignorant like some have suggested.

how do i go abotu small claims court, do i just fiel it with the police or do i go to the court house to file the suit. i would guess the court house...

ive taken soem more steps towards getting a suit against him prepared. todday i went to Long and Mcquade where i bought it from, and i love their computers, they printed me out a copy of the reciept ive lost so now i know its value when i bought it. and i have the reciept as eveidence.

thanks for all your help again..

Kyle

The bill of sale should have the serial number and that is all you'll need to identify the amp as yours, the hard part is finding out where the amp is. It is a sad state of affairs when you cannot even trust musicians at a church to behave honestly and fairly.

Go to the courthouse. They should have a small claims complaint, which will be not much more than a checklist. The neat thing about most small claims courts, is the cost is relatively inexpensive and the actual court hearing is less formal than regular court. Plus, I'll bet your state has a provision for recovery of your costs and attorney fees (say you consulted a lawyer). Bring your bill of sale and an affidavit from you describing the facts and the bum's name and address. Hell, I'd name the whole band ni the small claims complaint and make them all show up to the hearing and give evidence. I'd help you out, but I can only practice in WI and MN. Good luck!

one of those bass player/lawyer types

how is it not his fault if he forgot it? if someone lets you borrow something then its your resposnibility until its back in the rightful owner's hands. if someone mugged him for it then it wouldnt really be his fault, but if he/his band just forgot about it then its tottaly his fault. you should take him to small claims.

Clearly his fault - I just don't get how he can possibly claim otherwise. I simply don't understand how anyone can borrow something off someone else, lose it and then claim it's not their problem. If this is true then the attempt to duck out is almost as bad as him stealing it. And if he has stolen it, this has to be the most inept, badly conceived theft in the history of crime. How old is this guy? If he's a youngster I would definitely try to make contact with his parents. Unless, I suppose, they're as dysfunctional as he is. If he's older than that, court, double quick. I agree with the suggestion about naming the whole band in your complaint; if they associate with this sort of a**hole they deserve it. If there is any justice at all out there you'll win for sure.

Jeez......

Go to the courthouse. They should have a small claims complaint, which will be not much more than a checklist. The neat thing about most small claims courts, is the cost is relatively inexpensive and the actual court hearing is less formal than regular court. Plus, I'll bet your state has a provision for recovery of your costs and attorney fees (say you consulted a lawyer). Bring your bill of sale and an affidavit from you describing the facts and the bum's name and address. Hell, I'd name the whole band ni the small claims complaint and make them all show up to the hearing and give evidence. I'd help you out, but I can only practice in WI and MN. Good luck!

one of those bass player/lawyer types

Whether he forgot it, it was stolen, it was misplaced, he was robbed for it, it caught on fire, it doesn't matter. It was in his possession - he's responsible for it. If I loan X to Mr Smith, and it goes missing, gets damaged, gets lost - it may not be his fault, but that doesn't clear him of responsibility for it.

Try to get some form of a written statement from people at the Church. Preferable people of importance. With that in your hand, increases your chances of getting something back. If not in court, possible on some sort of spiritual karma level. Even attend a Sunday at the Church, and ask somebody to make an announcement about your gear being stolen. The more people that know about what's happened, the greater the pressure on the guy (assuming he took it), or whoever took it, to return it. Do this every weekend. Bury the bands reputation in disgrace. I'm sure the Church goer's will side with you, and even try to help you find it.

Good luck.

ps: if you're from Ontario shout me back. Always willing to help another bass player in town.

I agree with the small claims court suggestion. Any self respecting musician would never ever leave an amp at a gig.
Shame on you for lending it but not sticking around to collect it right after ..... but hard lesson learned. The important thing now is to get it back.

How old is this guy?? Personally I would march over to the little sob's house with the old man in tow and have a word with the father and/or mother. If you don't get any joy, I think you will have to send a registered letter asking for the return of the amp you loaned. Then it's off to small claims court. I wouldn't waste my time trying to lure him into showing up with his gear. This will only delay things. This guy needs a serious lesson in honesty

Ouch, that sucks.

I wouldnt go to the kids house or anything... But I would take his arse to court. No questions asked, but It sounds like you will come off on top of this, and you might be able to get him accused of theft, and if the value of the item stolen is worth more than $400 its not concidered "petty" Theft anymor... he may go to jail for a bit :hyper:

Once you sue him see if you can have him convicted of Theft, he may go to Juvi or jail for a month. He WILL learn his lesson that way for SHURE.

guy borrows bass head
guy doesnt return bass head
guy says he left head at gig
guy claims its "not his problem"


a.) whenever lending someone something, always make sure you get on him right away about returning it.

b.) beat him till he poops teeth for a few weeks.

If the guy says its not his fault because he left it at the gig, then the guy is a COMPLETE moron. Offcourse its your fault for leaving something thats not yours at a gig. I would get on him and make him pay for it. If he has no money make him sell something (fillings, hubcaps, stamps), because thats just not right

Wow, that's pretty lame. :hmm:

I wonder what happened with this. Just in case no one noticed, this thread is from last July...

Yes, I would also like to know what happened. FreeSpirit, can you give us an update? Mr. Packerguy gave some excellent legal advice...

Well, almost a year has gone by, and nothing happened. I filed the police report and everything. The cops phoned his house and he said i had nothing to do with it. the cops told me that i wouldn;t go far in claims court, so i didnt file. I kept contacting him and his mother to try to get something back for it,, even if it was just his old squire p-bass. The funniest part of this was talking to his mother. I called once and she wasn'; home, i got a better time to call and then called then. When i called the second time, she seemed all okay and she was going to replace it again. Then she found out that i filed a police report and she flipped out on me the next time i called. she sayed that i was harrassing her by calling every hour, when really i had made 3 calls over 5 days. Then this may be the best part: She ells me that she doesn't have the time to deal with "kids and their toys!" i still kept cool and sayed "well i don;t think i'm being a kid about this i mean being a kid i would come over and try to fight your son and then steal from you guys, but im not" and then she went on about me being a kid and hung up on my while i was talking, so i called her back and sayed well then ill just take this to court. and then she contacted the police trying to file a restraining order on me, and then they moved out of town and i havent seen or heard from anyone knowing this kid since.

I know its been a long time and i should of doen this ealrier, but could i still file in small claims court now? Although it has probably been too long of time. By the way i in toronto Canada if it matters.

Can't really claim on them if you don't know where they are. Mom sounds like a crazy woman to me. Best just put it down to experience.. me, I hope the kid gets hit by a truck before he brings any more misery into other peoples lives. I'm sure the world can just creak along a little better without him.