Bad deal, did I do the right thing?

[Aguila Blanca]

This feller held the gun for over a year and then sold it. When that feller in Houston called, no questions asked, refund the money and wash your hands. He had his chance. Seller is not a gun shop with lay away, not a safety deposit box nor a storage shed, He waited long enuf.

One minor problem with this analysis: Layaway is where you make a down payment, then keep making small additional payments until the item has been paid off, at which time you get to take your merchandise home. In this case, the buyer paid in full without ever seeing the merchandise. This was not a layaway situation.

I agree CT waited long enough. When he got tired of waiting the only right (and legal) thing to do was to refund the purchase price. As it went down, CT sold someone else's firearm without the owner's knowledge or consent.

 

[mec]

Solipsism

The flip side of the Cartesian "Cogito". The belief system that holds that one is the central focus of the universe and everything else is merely an illusion set to serve him. eg:
"Good creatures do you love your lives
and have your ears for sense?
Here's a knife, like any knife
It cost me fifteen pense.

I need but plunge it in my heart
and down will come the sky
and Earth's foundations will depart
and all you folks will die."

That would describe the guy who left you hanging for over a year. It's a pretty popular world view. The gunsmith who sets a date for completion of your work and a year later is saying "I'm working on it as we speak and...."
Or the guy who took a bunch of advance payments for a group holster order and kept the money without delivering. Or, how about the concealed handgun school applicant who lets you scheduel him for a class and then does a no-show because he didn't want to miss an IMPORTANT FOOTBALL! GAME!...."but sign me up for your next class!"

They also satisfy the definition of "Matter"- Has shape and occupies space- but not much more. I'd be happy that I didn't supply such a varmint with a firearm, give him back his money and shake the dust off my feet.

 

[johnmcl]

Did Well

CT,

You did fine. Don't worry about re-selling the gun as he essentially abandoned it. An analogy is a guy that has service done on his car and then leaves it on the lot for a year. The auto shop can do what they want with it by law and tradition

You could have told him to bug off as you didn't hear from him in over a year. You did the honorable thing in refunding. You're my kinda guy...

John

 

[rust collector]

You don't need us to tell you that you did the right thing in refunding the guy's money. It was wrong of him to abandon his gun, but disposing of it then puts you behind the eightball.

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, make sure you leave a paper trail by notifying him by mail, with receipt of mailing and copy of the letter, that he must pick up the goods by a specified (reasonable) date, and if he fails to do so there will be a stated monthly storage charge or you may dispose of the property without further notice. If he fails to take care of business, you then have a legal argument known as estoppel that may be useful. The law frowns on forfeiture, so unless you've got a solid, provable agreement providing for that or a statute that specifically applies, that claim isn't likely to help you.

Don't know what causes people to do this--probably a form of depression--but it's not uncommon. That's why most states have case law and statutes which deal with unclaimed property (it may escheat to the state in some instances )

 

[Cacique500]

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, make sure you leave a paper trail by notifying him by mail, with receipt of mailing and copy of the letter, that he must pick up the goods by a specified (reasonable) date, and if he fails to do so there will be a stated monthly storage charge or you may dispose of the property without further notice.

Yep - certified mail saying he's got X number of days to complete the transaction...blah blah blah.

I wonder if there's more to his story - that's just very weird that he waited that long...even with a new job & long hours.

 

[akodo]

Once you had your money and made reasonable efforts to deliver it to him, you had three choices, both of which required oyu to contact him and give him an in stone deadline. Followed by

A- Refund 200. This would leave you with the asked for $25 to 'hold' the gun, which is always kept if the sale falls through.

B- Refund 175, leaving yow witht he original $25, and keeping an additional $25 to hold the gun a 2nd time, for another month. If he shows up at the end of the next month with $175, the gun is his.

c-Drive to police station. State "This gun is not mine. It belongs to X." and leave it with them to deal with as they see fit, same as if you found a gun lying on the floor.

What you should NOT have done is resold it.

 

[secamp32]

My 2 cents

Returning the money is the right thing to do. I would probably keep the difference between what you got for the gun and the $225 (assuming you sold it for less than $225) if not then keep the $25 down and send the rest back.