@Boman Forklift Just damn because that's just normal type business. The thing that a bank LO taught me long ago was that a missed payment, even for a day, demands your attention if you want to keep track of your collateral. The thing about running a small business (for me anyway) was that I had a lot of other plates to spin than working AR. All of our AR was unsecured. I noticed that nobody has mentioned enlisting the help of the beeb to do a local check on a pending purchase. It's cheaper than a plane ticket and saves a lot of time. WTH
I have filed the police report. I called an attorney I'm friends with, that is a real estate attorney so not a specialist in this field, and he said it will probably cost a good chunk to potentially win. A friend that is much sharper than me and owns a few hundred apartments and a few commercial buildings, told me he thinks the easiest, least costly way, will be to wait until the new tenant is in, and go after them for my stolen property. It will be easier to get into the building, when it is open every day. Plus the landlord will want this problem to go away, if I'm hassling his new tenant?
Maybe offer the guy $5K to buy it back. Kinda like buying back stuff from the pawn shop after you got Robbed.
Our A/R is unsecured too and that is one of my biggest faults. I'm so focused on trying to get the revenue, my bookkeeper is supposed to collect it and I get dragged in when things go sideways. Unfortunately I have lots of old A/R that I will never see. That came about when I bought Boman and was merging it with Active, and I trusted someone I shouldn't have,and took my eye off the ball. It is amazing how hard it is too collect from some customers, when you are doing business to business service work and bill after the fact, which is how this industry works. I always pay my bills and you expect people to do that as well.
We run a decent size equipment rental operation too, so that's cool we are kinda in a similar Biz... We deal with this crap too. Police in my area are the exact same way. Weve gotten rid of 90% of our "Accounts" this past year. Tired of chasing people for money. We lost some customers but the money we lost by not getting paid by others more than likely would even out. Typically, we have issues with the weekly and monthly rentals though, I don't think I have ever had an issue with yearly stuff, yet that is...I've personally went on numerous other people's property and taken my shit back. Going in a warehouse is tricky though, I would think if you were able to get the "right" officer, if there even is one, they would force the owner to release it. Its essentially stolen as it sits. This sounds crazy, but it's worked for us. We own a lot of rental houses and property. I've paid tenants cash to get out, yes paid them to leave. Saved me court fees, saved my time, and also let me rent the place sooner. So, I would imagine if you paid the dude some $ even though its morally the wrong thing to do, it would get you somewhere...At least get your forklift back to start generating revenue again.
Yes I think @BC and @Dillonjohnson have a good point, I'm going to drive over there later today and see if I get anywhere. I haven't been able to find that right cop that would assist. I think the police have "more important' stuff to deal with, plus if their bosses say "that's a civil matter you don't help out", what are they going to do? If I was in a smaller community, like where I grew up in Central Illinois, I think I could probably get some more assistance.
Ive completely stopped using G&S on Paypal. There is a lot of loopholes, and the person sending the payment can reverse it easily. Let's say you ship it to an address the buyer specifies, if the address on the PayPal account is different, it is very possible they can claim they never received the product, and get money back. Sounds crazy, but ive seen it MANY times. I have a lot of stories, and they are all a bit different, but PayPal almost always refunds the buyer.
I totally agree with you, but I can see it both ways. This is one of the largest wrecker dealers in the north. I would imagine getting bent over by a large dealership that bad, would be a surprise by most people. We've bought stuff worth well over 750 sight unseen many times. Perfectly fine each and every time. Like I said, dad still does it, me however, absolutely not. I'd rather not be the 1% of the equation getting shafted. @Boman Forklift, I would think if you offer the dude money to get your shit back he's not going to even know what to say. Hopefully you get it back and the dude can't sleep at night.
I believe that there is real value in employing a semi-retired ex-business owner type to help manage credit risk on a part time basis...for small business. Someone to keep us corralled on credit risk decisions, someone to manage the agreements, and especially someone to constantly monitor credit performance and collateral's location. My brother was completely tone deaf regarding credit extensions. He'd take an IOU from firms that were blacklisted on a board hung straight above his desk. I was whacked one time by a guy that had been C.O.D. for a while and paid as agreed. One day, he asked me to provide 30 days on several shipments. I agreed to half. A day or so after receiving the last shipment, he filed for bankruptcy. I had become comfortable and didn't feel like I had the time to investigate him properly.
$500 to a couple dudes with bats would probably get you some results. or other options. just sayin...
Ugg, that stinks. I could see falling for that very easily. In our business, we get an application, but don't really check it out that much. Lots of our business is with very small companies, but i've been shafted by big ones too. On equipment sales we get paid via a bank lease or loan, so as of now I haven't been screwed on one of those yet. However, there have been some scams in the industry, with fake bank approvals etc.
Aren't you able to put a lien against his property for failure to pay? It may not get you your forklift back, but it will create a legal speedbump that he will have to address if he wants to do anything with the property. Just thinking out loud.
Trust me I have thought about it. One of my best mechanics is a former gang banger, all tatted up, and offered me his connections many years ago. However, after he got out of prison (bs charges) and I fortunately hired him back, he became very religious and I doubt that offer still stands. I'm honestly ignorant of the law in this realm, and will have to get educated a bit more. I think because the contract was with a different party and not the landlord, that may make it difficult? Also forklifts have a serial number, but no title or registration like cars and bikes, so that makes things a bit harder to enforce.
i know i know. its a bad road to go down in any way that could come back to you... text, calls, internet, video, somebody gets caught and snitches. its just not worth it. but man is it needed sometimes. 20 years ago, something like that, man... now everyone's old and tired and got stuff to lose. lemme just say, i knew somebody one time that fucked up like this. 15 dudes i knew went to his momma's house and started ripping the siding off the house until he would come outside haha. ahhhh memory lane...
I think it could be worth looking into. Technically it's your property and even if the contract was with another party, the current party is unlawfully holding onto your property after written (?) requests to return your property or provide payment correct? Again, it may not get you the forklift back, but it would create a legal irritation.
He's in possession of stolen property. Pretty simple if you ask me. Sue in Small Claims Court and get a lien, at least.
Hope a lawyer will chime in, but I think this is more a case of conversion* than outright theft. *From recollections of a biz law course 40 or so years ago. Although I think usually that is something like an employee taking a stapler home.