Rigby Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I started working on computers for family and a few friends back in 1998 and over time they told people and those people told people and now I get a lot of them to work on, which is ok. I enjoy doing it and the extra money is nice, but in the last year I've noticed an odd phenomenon. People will not come and get their stuff. I've had one laptop here for over a year now and the woman I fixed it for won't come and get it, and I've have 4 more laptops, a desktop and a Playstation 3 sitting here for the last two months. This is ridiculous, aside from not being paid (even though I have their stuff as collateral) I don't need all this junk cluttering up the place. I hate to be mean but I'm going to start calling them and telling them if they don't come and get them I'm putting them on eBay. I'm not sure I can legally do that though. What is the deal with these people? :s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted July 16, 2013 MVC Share Posted July 16, 2013 I'd tell them and then sell it. Legally you're fine at a certain point the property is considered abandoned. If you're ultra paranoid, make them sign a notice that if they don't pick it up x days after it is ready it will be sold off and considered abandoned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILikeTobacco Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 The entire point of collateral is that you get to keep it when someone else doesn't hold up their part of the bargin, in this case paying you for the work. I see nothing wrong with warning them that you will sell it in x days and then put it up in x days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Wanderer Chicken Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 This looks like a messy legal situation, maybe you could have a lawyer send out notices or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rigby Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Thanks for the replies, I'm sure a few of them have legitimate reasons why they haven't come yet but the one that's been here a year, that's just silly. I think I'll go back to just working on them for friends and family, it's getting to be too much of a hassle with strangers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted July 16, 2013 MVC Share Posted July 16, 2013 This looks like a messy legal situation, maybe you could have a lawyer send out notices or something. That would make it a financially ruinous situation. A lawyer will more than likely eat up whatever meager return he can hope to get selling their junk off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 What is the deal with these people? :s I guess they don't value their computers. Maybe they rather spend their money on booze, cigarettes, cell phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Wanderer Chicken Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 You could send them a letter saying that if they don't pick their computers up in a certain amount of days, they will be in your possession now (like a Pawn Shop). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Thayios Subscriber² Posted July 16, 2013 Subscriber² Share Posted July 16, 2013 You draft a document for them to sign upon drop off/pick up - you'll auction off any materials if not picked up within X amount of days. When I first opened my business I chose to skip this because of time restraints, now I've got two five tier racks full of equipment that people have abandoned or refuse to pay for. We've already mailed out notices saying if they didn't come pick it up it'll be going in the recycle pile next month. I actually had a lady that dodged her phone for almost a full year and then popped up out of the blue and demanded her stuff be done the same day. Needless to say, she waited for the paying customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
episode Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I started working on computers for family and a few friends back in 1998 and over time they told people and those people told people and now I get a lot of them to work on, which is ok. I enjoy doing it and the extra money is nice, but in the last year I've noticed an odd phenomenon. People will not come and get their stuff. I've had one laptop here for over a year now and the woman I fixed it for won't come and get it, and I've have 4 more laptops, a desktop and a Playstation 3 sitting here for the last two months. This is ridiculous, aside from not being paid (even though I have their stuff as collateral) I don't need all this junk cluttering up the place. I hate to be mean but I'm going to start calling them and telling them if they don't come and get them I'm putting them on eBay. I'm not sure I can legally do that though. What is the deal with these people? :s After 30 days its considered abandoned. Its yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 The reason (at least the majority of the people that do this) is simple: they have no money. Because of that and because it's possible that the value of the bill you showed them is higher than the value of the material itself, they will never reclaim those goods; a friend of mine is passing the exact same situation, only with cars (he owns a repair/paint shop): people ask to repair their cars and then they never show up to pay or reclaim the car. It's insane since it puts the business in a very difficult situation (loss) and he legally can't sell those cars until some time has passed (not sure how long, but it's long). Plus some of the cars are expensive ones: he had a crashed Porsche 997 that he fixed; owner never comeback to reclaim the car back :woot: so the car is rooting in a park :angry:, a Nissan Silvia SX200, that most of the car pieces he had to buy directly from Japan; owner took like a 1 year or so to reclaim the car, because he didn't had the money to pay for the repairs and he didn't even said anything during that time. It's a sad situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcfan Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I'm not in the storage business....but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night. Hum and Rigby 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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