Interesting customer story

[sisterpine]

About 21 months ago I sold two nakedpine coat trees to a gal at a trade show. She paid wholesale price for both. She could not get them home in her car to the small town in northeastern Montana she lives in. Told her I would take them back to my place (few hours from show) and hold them till she got to the nearby town to pick them up. Stuck a sold sign on them, threw a sheet over them and left them in the shop. A about a year and a half later I got a divorce and moved from Montana to Arizona. During all this time I had no way to contact her for what ever reason and she also did not contact me though my information is on the net site and her receipt. So I pack up the coat trees and somehow manage to wedge them into the small trailer I am bring to Tucson with all my prized possessions. Moved to Az in July. It is now October and I get an email from her saying she is ready to pick up the coat trees on Thursday and would I please meet her in a near by town. I tell her I have moved to Az - permanantly and that I brought the coat trees with me as I had no place to keep them in MT. What should we do what should we do? Told her there are very expensive to ship since they do not come apart but that ex husband would be in AZ for turkey day and has offered to take them back up to Mt for her. This is a good plan. DH gets to AZ has turkey and visits friends and on Saturday tells me he is leaving very early Tuesday morning and that he needs a name and number to call to get the trees picked up in Montana since he has no room in his apartment for them. I send off an email to the buyer as does he. About 10 hours after he leaves without the coat trees I get an email back with the name and number of a contact in Montana. Tell her she missed the ride. She says the only option is to refund her money after almost two years. I tell her I am willing to refund half the money since I have stored these items for almost two years and moved them cross country at my own expense. She says for half 125.00 she could ship them both so would I please have them both shipped to her location in Mt. Tell her I will check out the rates so she can make an informed decision cause I am not paying the shipping for her. I did a guestimate on UPS and FEDEX and both come in at about 160.00 to ship the smaller one and more for the larger one. Waiting now to see what she wants to do? My attorney says I do not need to refund any money after they have been abandoned for almost two years but I want to be decent about it. I just dont have the whole amount handy to send her or I would just to get it done. What a odd mess! sisgterpine

[Pelenaka]

Like you wrote she missed the boat.
You were & are decent about it as you tried to arrange passage from A to M. If your lawyers is correct then her loss. Maybe next time a disclaimer about merchandise left after so many days is reverted back to inventory ? Sounds like she is a procrastinator.

~~ pelenaka ~~

[glidergurl03]

I would say her loss as well. I, like you, always try to be fair, but you've stored them for that long. I would say either refund her half as you offered, or she needs to pay for shipping, period. Heh, if you were a storage company, she'd be paying you A LOT of money Most people require a pickup in a certain amount of time or the item is forfeit. You are being VERY generous