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Stolen bass which pops on another website...

#61
I bought a run of the mill Fender MIM Arctic white/ maple board (IIRC) p bass with mirrored pickguard from a TB seller when I first joined TB years ago.

Paid through PAYPAL. Anxiously awaiting my bass.

Seller notifies me it was stolen out of his car at the post office. He would refund me & did.

The same bass (hard to say with 100% certainty since painted not wood grain but mirror pickguard & fret board wood) showed up for sale again months later.

I’m not even sure if it was the same seller this many years later , possibly was, I knew at the time but can’t remember.

Just relating the story now because the whole encounter was weird. I don’t know if the seller changed his mind, sold locally, got a higher price or what.

I was refunded , found a more desirable bass & moved on.
 
#62
Theobald said:
It is hard to believe. He filled a claim to DHL, plus it is a rather big shop... It does not sound clever to steal from your own business!
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I worked at a major camera store in Hollywood in the mid '80s (not Samy's, the other one) where the owner's son (el presidenté) very much was stealing from his own business. It's all documented in the press. I was working there at the time, watching this umbelievable raid by a bunch of Feds as they located and arrested him. :wideyed: :hyper:

Just another typical day in Hollyweird. :)
Theobald said:
I discussed a bit more with the seller, who is convinced the wood grain is slightly different.
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A blind person could tell that they are the exact same bass. :rollno:
 
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#63
TN WOODMAN said:
I bought a run of the mill Fender MIM Arctic white/ maple board (IIRC) p bass with mirrored pickguard from a TB seller when I first joined TB years ago.

Paid through PAYPAL. Anxiously awaiting my bass.

Seller notifies me it was stolen out of his car at the post office. He would refund me & did.

The same bass (hard to say with 100% certainty since painted not wood grain but mirror pickguard & fret board wood) showed up for sale again months later.

I’m not even sure if it was the same seller this many years later , possibly was, I knew at the time but can’t remember.

Just relating the story now because the whole encounter was weird. I don’t know if the seller changed his mind, sold locally, got a higher price or what.

I was refunded , found a more desirable bass & moved on.
Click to expand...
Did you post about it and stoke a debate you claimed you didn't want to have?:)
 
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#67
dead_horse_award.jpg
 
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#68

edit: for some reason the quoted post does not show

Seriously?

:rolleyes:

Ok, they ARE the same. The bits you circled look a bit different due to angle and light, if you look carefully you can see they match.

For a minute I thought you were the original seller ;)
 
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#70
100% absolutely the same bass, I would bet my life on it. I think the seller knows what happened for sure. He probably sold it elsewhere and gave you a cowardly response instead of manning up. Maybe the bass was never even IN his possession to begin with, and he got screwed somehow because he sold it to you before he actually had it?? Regardless, the seller is lying based on the evidence presented here.
 
#71
They look the same to me, but if you're happy with the bass you have, didn't lose out on any money, and don't feel cheated because you have another (mostly) equivalent bass that you're happy with... it sounds like it's not really worth your time and effort to play private eye. There's little to gain here and could cause you a lot of unnecessary hassle and trouble, all of which takes time away that you could otherwise spend playing that bass.
 
#74
Theobald said:
I agree. But they could have tell me "sorry, we made an inventory mistake, the bass was already sold". I would have been disappointed for 2 weeks before they offer me the black bass as a solution, that's all. And it would have cost them less money and time...

Edit: my bad! I understand that you think they were expecting another walnut bass soon enough to be unnoticed. It makes sense indeed!
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Americans can often go to great lengths rather than admit to fault or a mistake, sometimes including concocting entire false narratives in their favor. I’ve had it done to me multiple times over the years by TBers in the classifieds here as well (I’ve been refunded because seller found some last-minute “flaw” only to find out they sold it to someone else for more instead, or when a well-respected TB’er sold a flawed pedal that he had previously explained issues with publicly but didn’t disclose in his classifieds ad then made up a story about the sold pedal being a different “back-up” he had when I confronted him despite the pedal clearly having the same uncommon flaw he had talked about in a previous gear thread). We can be a strange bunch
 
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#78
In France, where I am from, and most likely in Germany, where I live, the seller is responsible for the goods until they are handed to the buyer by the courrier. The seller was responsible for the bass and owed it to me. His transactions with DHL were not my business. I got another bass, fine.
Officially, DHL never picked the parcel (in the tracking, they are still waiting for it to be collected from the seller). Hence I am not sure the seller got it reimbursed. But I don't know how insured are companies using DHL regularly.

The seller could also have informed DHL. I am sure DHL would like to know the name of the potential employees helping themselves in the stock. If any.

What triggered all the conversation was the "blindness" of the seller, "unable" to recognise his bass. And the moral issue of letting a theft earning money out of an object officially stolen.

We all (-2) agree it is the same bass. And we apparently disagree insults are not welcome on TB and diserve a thread to be refocussed by moderators or closed if they prefer...

As I said, I am happy with my bass. I can add that my faith in Humanity is already low, so the moral issue and the names-giving should not disturb me. But I still find them anoying.

Let's move on! :-)
 
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#79
Theobald said:
In France, where I am from, and most likely in Germany, where I live, the seller is responsible for the goods until they are handed to the buyer by the courrier. The seller was responsible for the bass and owed it to me. His transactions with DHL were not my business. I got another bass, fine.
Officially, DHL never picked the parcel (in the tracking, they are still waiting for it to be collected from the seller). Hence I am not sure the seller got it reimbursed. But I don't know how insured are companies using DHL regularly.

The seller could also have informed DHL. I am sure DHL would like to know the name of the potential employees helping themselves in the stock. If any.

What triggered all the conversation was the "blindness" of the seller, "unable" to recognise his bass. And the moral issue of letting a theft earning money out of an object officially stolen.

We all (-2) agree it is the same bass. And we apparently disagree insults are not welcome on TB and diserve a thread to be refocussed by moderators or closed if they prefer...

As I said, I am happy with my bass. I can add that my faith in Humanity is already low, so the moral issue and the names-giving should not disturb me. But I still find them anoying.

Let's move on! :-)
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imho if you think that there is a possibility that the seller is less than truthful then that is maybe cause to consider your future relationship, otherwise it sounds it like you are whole with your current transaction
 
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