Update: Pensacola mandolins stolen

[Eric Hanson]

Dale,
Man. What a bummer. I sure hope this gets worked out for you. I would hate to lose what I have to a thief. So frustrating. I sure hope it works out in your favor.

Interesting item of note:
The owner of BAM is a retired Navy Captain/ Fighter Pilot. I wonder if appealing to him, not just the store manager, on the level of maintaining military honor would appeal to his sense of reason.

[journeybear]

Well, now! This has moved along a lot quicker and better than I'd expected. Really heartwarming.

[Dale Pauline]

After talking with the store manager earlier he removed my Pava from ebay. This is far from over I'm afraid, but will keep pushing forward.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pava-Knezevi...p2047675.l2557

So to recap. The store listed the two mandolins for a combined $8k, but the buyer got them both for $600 at the flea market! What a STEAL!

[Tom Sanderson]

Violates Forum Posting Guidelines

[almeriastrings]

How ironic (from their listing):

It is serial #97. This one will be yours for life!! Sells new for $3250.

Yours for life.. until some scumbag steals it and we get our hands on it, maybe?

I too worked in a music store many years ago, and if this happened, we had no hesitation if returning stuff to the rightful owner. We also did 'due diligence' when buying used items from people we did not know.

[pheffernan]

This is bittersweet as I'm told Florida law says that once something is purchased in a legal manner the property is theirs.

As a Florida resident, I know that my local Guitar Center holds used instruments acquired via purchase or trade for ~30 days before releasing them to the next purchaser. Now that may well be a store policy, but I always assumed that they were complying with a state law so as to avoid trafficking in stolen goods. Did Blues Angel Music meet its legal obligations in allowing the victim of a crime ample time to recover his stolen property before attempting to profit on that property thirteenfold?

[Mandobar]

Towns and municipalities have different laws concerning selling used properties. The person at the store gave you his interpretation of Florida law. I'd guess it is biased, as he has a dog in this fight. The key here is would a reasonable person have suspected these were stolen.
The flea market shopper knew he got an absurd bargain, was probably afraid to sell them himself (knowing full well they were stolen) and hid the sale behind the music store. He takes a great find like that to a music store to consign?
Insurance companies have lawyers on retainer, let them handle this. I know that it is hard, but you could also contact the Florida AG's office and report the moving company, and everyone else in this chain of events. My guess is that if you reported this to the authorities they've visited the store. That or he has had dozens of angry Cafe members pressuring him.

[Dale Ludewig]

Where is the moving company on all this? That's where it started. They have to know who was on the crew. More than one person has to know what happened. Not to be PollyAnna, but perhaps someone has a conscience?

[multidon]

I have done numerous trades of my old instruments for newer and different ones at several Guitar Centers. I know they have been discussed pro and con here a lot but one thing you have to say about them is they have effective policies in place to prevent this from happening. Every time I have traded something in they have made a copy of my drivers license. They know me and they know the instruments are not stolen but they do it anyway. If something were to end up stolen it would lead to the person who brought it in, not them.

If every store would do what Guitar Center does it would really cut down on these situations. If I were the OP I would not take that interpretation of Florida law at face value. You should be able to find the exact wording of that law somewhere on line.

If the sale of the Gibson crossed state lines, that makes it a federal case and the FBI can get involved. That might be a good thing, as that would bypass the seemingly ridiculous state law. Seems like if you can determine who has it the FBI could get a warrant and just confiscate it as evidence of illegal interstate commerce.

[Mandobar]

I provided a link to the Florida law earlier in the thread. The flea market sale violates the statute. The items did not change hands for fair value. If the flea market buyer communicated the price he paid to the music store that taints the consignment sales.

[G. Fisher]

I provided a link to the Florida law earlier in the thread. The flea market sale violates the statute. The items did not change hands for fair value. If the flea market buyer communicated the price he paid to the music store that taints the consignment sales.

He mentioned the mandolins were bought for $600 from the flea market and that the buyer thought they maybe stolen because of the low price. I have a hard time believing the store didn't know something was up. I also think that the store is very shady for taking the instruments in and trying to sell them. I also noticed that they sold the Gibson for the "Best offer" which makes me wonder if they sold it under fair value also.

[Northwest Steve]

Violates Forum Posting Guidelines

[Mandobar]

According to the lost and stolen ad here on the Cafe, Dale's mandolins were discovered missing this week when he finally received his belongings from the moving company.

[Tom Sanderson]

Violates Forum Posting Guidelines.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Violates Forum Posting Guidelines

[Scott Tichenor]

This discussion has moved beyond the bounds of what is acceptable per our Forum Guidelines which are a condition of each individual's membership.

- Grievances, personal and corporate: The Cafe discussion forum is intended to be a nurturing community. While it is fair game discussing vendor corporate policies, malevolent harassment of individual employees, including posting names, email address, or any other personal contact information will not be tolerated. For example, a concern about a manufacturer's warranty policy or a reseller's return policy is permissible. Using the forum to malign or leverage personal advantage in a conflict is strictly forbidden. Though intent or motivation are not always provable, the moderators reserve full right in deeming whether or not comments made are consistent with policy, and may take action to edit, delete, or when necessary, revoke posting privileges.

While we support and aggressively assist the finding of lost and stolen instruments, the use of this space to harass individuals and businesses is not tolerated. If you want to use the discussion space to exchange information and learn about Florida's laws, that's likely within bounds. Building a small lynch mob to seek out and damage a business when most of you have no place in this fight is going to stop.

[ccravens]

Dale - condolences and good thoughts to you on all of this mess.

I thought the rules of this forum were that no stores should be mentioned by name in any disparaging way. Sending threats to a music store when we may not have all of the information? If people were to Google this store and this this come up, it might be very unfortunate for the store owner.

I have no problem with naming names, mind you, but I thought that was straight MC policy.

I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, and be willing to contribute to a Gofundme account for the OP if this situation doesn't have a happy outcome.

In the meantime, as I said, my good thoughts and wishes go out for a happy resolution.

[Scott Tichenor]

After further review of inappropriate and harassing comments made I'm closing this discussion and expect to not see it resurrected elsewhere. Many of the comments here are encouraging a virtual lynch mob and encouraging group harassment which violates our Forum's Guidelines.