"Borrowed" Guitar

sloucho

It’s simple - if you know where his family live, go round there and execute one of his family, I would suggest to make it look like a tragic accident. He is bound to turn up to the funeral, you can then ask for your money back.
I he refuses repeat the process until either you get your cash or run out of family members.

mr-mixalot

Morning

I has someone do something similar to me over a £200 phone, one phone call to his mum and the 'threat' of having a damaged credit history made sure that £200 was sent to me before I could blink, some people need an incentive to do the 'right' thing :cool:

Give it a go, if nothing happens chalk it off to experience but at least you've tried

I might like to add I did have an ex baseball player on standby who required some batting practice if my plan failed

fivetide

If he's back local it won't be hard to track him down. If he is at his parents then you can enforce the order there. You just need proof.

Alternatively, as suggested above, you could 'sell' the debt to a recovery firm. You might want to warn the parents that will be the next thing you do and if they don't want receivers/bailiffs/etc on their doorstep on a regular basis they'll tell him to pay you back asap.

Nothing wrong with a bit of coercion in some cases.

pwharley

If you know the dates of the family members' birthdays, park near the family home on one of those days and (covertly) watch the comings and goings.

If he drops by to wish the person "Happy Birthday", follow him back to his new abode.

If the family go out for a meal, follow them; then follow him home from the event.

Alternately, you could pay a private detective to do the above.

Herbalus

pwharley wrote: »

Alternately, you could pay a private detective to do the above.

I'll do it if you want. It'll only cost you a beer, and I play baseball*.

*I don't actually play baseball, but shhh.

Herbalus

Btw, I'm not sure why police say this is a civil matter. If my friend had sold one of my possessions that I'd lent them, I'd be phoning the police immediately. There might not be proof that it wasn't a gift, but the thief would have to invent a damn good explanation as to why it was a gift.

In actual fact, a friend of mine once lent a Gibson LP to a guy, and then was told by someone else it was in cashconverters. Apparently the guy was using it as a payday loan and wasn't intending to sell it permanently to them, but obviously my friend went straight there and told them it was his guitar, and cashconverters called the police on the guy who'd pawned it with them.

SeduLOUs

Confusedandneedhelp wrote: »

He appropriated it honestly, you freely handed it to him.

When he gained physical possesion of the goods, he had legal right to do so, by your permission

I'm sorry but no.

By that logic I could go and rent a car this afternoon, gain possession of the car legally and then sell it to someone else tomorrow morning without committing a criminal offence.

adouglasmhor

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I'm sorry but no.

By that logic I could go and rent a car this afternoon, gain possession of the car legally and then sell it to someone else tomorrow morning without committing a criminal offence.

No because you would have the hire agreement in writing and so does the hirer. OP AFAIK only has word of mouth and a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's written on.

SeduLOUs

adouglasmhor wrote: »

No because you would have the hire agreement in writing and so does the hirer. OP AFAIK only has word of mouth and a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's written on.

OK. By that logic I could walk into my friend's house, walk out with their guitar and 'claim' they gave it to me as a gift. They have no proof or written agreement after all...

Are we really already at the point where if I want to lend my lawnmower to my neighbour for an hour I have to have a fully signed written contract in case they decide to keep it?!

Just think it's ridiculous that some scumbag has ripped this guy off for £600 and that isn't a 'crime'. Regardless of whether there was a written agreement or not OP did not intend to give the guitar as a permanent gift and it is the police's job to investigate and find out what actually happened.

I can't believe we are in a world where people just have to put up with this sort of crap, where this behaviour is deemed acceptable and it's people like OP who are being told to 'learn a lesson'. It's the thieving sh**s who should be learning a lesson!

Please don't give up OP. Spam him daily with payment requests on Facebook and any other social media you can find him on. Find his address and write to him and/or his parents demanding the money at least once a week for the rest of his miserable life. You might never see your money, but you can't just let him get away with it. Get a solicitor involved. If you push him enough he (or his parents) might just decide to pay up to get rid of you.

LuckyStar321

Dear KrisAlexRoberts,

Firstly sorry to hear of your predicament; I have been in a similar situation to you in the past so feel well placed to offer an insight into your options and your subsequent likelihood of 'success'.

Firstly, it seems from your original comment that you may already have obtained a judgment against the former friend but when you came to enforce that judgment at their parents' address (I imagine you went down the well-trodden but often toothless route of using Court-appointed bailiffs) you were advised that the person named on the judgment (the judgment debtor) was not living there and the bailiffs therefore could not enforce the warrant of execution at that address; is this correct?

If this is the case then all is not lost as there are other options open to you and obtaining judgment against someone should never be deemed as a waste of money, it may just take a bit of patience; infuriating as it may be.

With regards to the matter being deemed criminal / civil; the burden of proof in a civil matter is based on the lesser 'balance of probabilities' as opposed to criminal matters which (rightly) demand a far higher burden of proof; being 'beyond reasonable doubt'. It is only natural that you would want someone to punish this person with the full weight of the law for what they have done however at this point it is important to separate your emotions and focus on putting yourself in the strongest position to maximise your chances of receiving either the guitar back or value of the guitar plus costs as compensation. You can then potentially ask the Police to re-look at the case in the future if you have new or bolstered evidence that a crime has been committed.

Other users have suggested that you forget about it; this is a very subjective viewpoint. Others may find it easy just to write it off however the situation has clearly upset you (and rightly so) and so ultimately it is about getting the right result for you and your circumstances, without risking throwing 'good money after bad' as is so often seen in cases like this where emotions override objectivity and you risk ending up being in an even worse position than when you started the action.

Despite what another user has stated, following a claim in the High Court in 2012, service via Facebook is now in fact deemed as a valid method of service (see below). It is often useful to use this in addition to other methods of service to you which will be based on the circumstances surrounding the matter.

"A High Court Judge has ruled in the case of AKO Capital LLP and Anor -v- TFS Derivatives and Others that civil legal proceedings may be served on a Defendant via his Facebook account, where the Claimant had been unable to locate him for the purpose of serving the legal proceedings in a more traditional manner."

To be able help you further, it would be useful to know exactly the steps that you have taken since you initially found out that the guitar had been misappropriated, laid out chronologically in bullet points, so you can fully understand the options available to you and get yourself moving in the right direction. Please also indicate when the dispute first arose along with the dates of any Court / Enforcement action that you have taken (if any) as there are certain time limits that need to be adhered to. Be careful not to include any names of other parties that may prejudice your case and / or leave yourself open to claims of defamation, especially as you seem to be posting under your own name.

Please note that I am not a Solicitor and my advice does not therefore constitute legal advice; I am simply someone with a good knowledge of civil law with extensive experience of dealing with rotters and scoundrels through the Small Claims Court process and, more often than not, coming out on top