"Borrowed" Guitar

SeduLOUs

Jurassic_spark wrote: »

I am really sorry to hear that the guitar has never been returned. Put it down to experience and get on with your life.

I wonder if all the people telling OP to put it down to experience and forget it would be saying the same thing if the guitar had been worth £6,000. What it it had been worth £20,000?

19lottie82

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I wonder if all the people telling OP to put it down to experience and forget it would be saying the same thing if the guitar had been worth £6,000. What it it had been worth £20,000?

Likewise I wonder what they would say if it was worth £1.99?

joe-blogs

NO, NO, NO, Don't 'just put it down to experience'. This sends out completely wrong messages - its ok to 'borrow but steal' 'lie to gain' etc.

As other posts suggest, it may be hard or impossible to prove theft or fraud but there are other ways particularly in the social media age to skin a cat.

Possibly ( as LUCKYSTAR 321 suggested) you could try getting the county courts to serve the CCJ via Facebook
And as CHRISTDY34 suggested contact the family - be open and explain the anguish their son/brother/etc. has caused you - and if you don't want to directly contact them send a letter. They may feel embarrassed/ashamed enough about their sons action to get something done about it.

You could stalk him (I'm old school - stalking is ok if its for right/justifiable reasons), + leave messages on the social media sites he frequents - BUT word them sensibly or you could be the one in trouble.

Health + Safety Warning - do all/any/other of these things when you feel you can. Its not a crusade/jihad SO DONT GET OVERLYOBSSESSED ! - you want recompense or at least acknowledgment you been done wrong, not revenge, not geteveness (I made that one up), sleepless nights, psychiatric episodes, cats + dogs living together etc. etc.

JoeB

"I aint PC, I'm old school.
That means I aint decrepit and I aint Nobody's fool."

Voyager2002

krisalexroberts wrote: »

Hi,

About 5 years ago I leant a very expensive guitar to a friend - it was never returned. My 'friend' vanished off the face of the earth immediately after for quite a while and went to mexico, I've heard rumours that he sold the guitar as soon as he got it.
This person is now back in the country and I have discovered his families address, but not his.
It was worth about £600 and I have tried to get the money back several times, both through Small Claims Courts (which ended up being worthless and a waste of money as his parents just told the courts he no longer lived with them, and the police say it is a civil matter.

How can I get the money/guitar back? Can SCC issue warrants over facebook (He is an active facebook member, however he has blocked me as I requested the money for the guitar on it).

Basically I have been robbed and I have no way of putting things right, I have been chasing for years now!

MSE insert, 29 July 2014. We're using this post in our weekly email. Thanks to krisalexroberts for posting this.
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Not a moral dilemma, since the morality is entirely clear. You have been ripped off and have a right to the money you are pursuing. This is purely a practical question: what can you do, and is the chance of success sufficiently great to justify the cost and effort involved.

Unless you know his address, the most that can be achieved through the court is obtaining judgment against him and perhaps registering a default. This will trash his credit record, but that is about as far as it goes. Perhaps you could post him a letter (in an attractive envelope) to his family address explaining that this is about to happen, and see whether he would be willing to make a payment to save his credit record. Unlikely, but possible.

Your other option involves finding out a bit more about him: general detective work.

dom_london

"Small claims court"? "Letter to parents"? No wonder you people are being taken advantage of!


A few years back, one of the tenants in my dad's flat stopped paying rent. The kind of issue that takes years to solve trough the courts, and leaves the landlord thousands out of pocket. I went there, forced my way in when he opened the door, spoke extremely firmly to the guy, and took his laptop when leaving. He was gone within a week.


Just DEMAND your money back, for f**k's sake. And steal back from him if you have to.

dandelionclock30

You need to put this down to experience and the move on, what good is it doing you trying to get something you are never going to get?
Its a lesson learned for you about lending people things. Its best to never lend friends money or items. Decent friends as well wouldnt be asking for anything.
Regarding the person above and his Dads flat, I'm very surprised the tennant didnt wreck the flat after that.

adouglasmhor

dom_london wrote: »

"Small claims court"? "Letter to parents"? No wonder you people are being taken advantage of!


A few years back, one of the tenants in my dad's flat stopped paying rent. The kind of issue that takes years to solve trough the courts, and leaves the landlord thousands out of pocket. I went there, forced my way in when he opened the door, spoke extremely firmly to the guy, and took his laptop when leaving. He was gone within a week.


Just DEMAND your money back, for f**k's sake. And steal back from him if you have to.

I would have coshed you while in my flat or reported you to the cops for stealing my laptop, you would have been warned to stay well away.

MEM62

Draw a line under it, chalk it up to experience and move on. Life is far too short to waste energy on a situation that you will not get the better of.

dom_london

@adouglasmhor: a tenant not paying their rent is exactly the same thing as stealing the rent's money from their landlord. If you are a landlord, or become one one day, I hope it'll never happen to you but if it does, I think you'll remember my words.


Back to the original subject; if I was the poor lad whose guitar was stolen, I'd pretend to want to re-unite with my former pal for the sole purpose of helping myself from his wallet or his bank account at the first opportunity.
This is not within the letter nor, alas, the spirit of the law, but as far as I am concerned, this is perfectly well within the limits of morality and the right thing to do. And that wouldn't keep me from sleeping at night!

adouglasmhor

dom_london wrote: »

@adouglasmhor: a tenant not paying their rent is exactly the same thing as stealing the rent's money from their landlord. If you are a landlord, or become one one day, I hope it'll never happen to you but if it does, I think you'll remember my words.

!

Sorry I don't take advice from self confessed criminal thugs. There are legal means and it's a risk of being a landlord.
Like I say I would either have hospitalised you as soon as I asked you to leave and you didn't or reported you for theft and you would have been arrested and banned from approaching me again. I assume it was someone you had no problem intimidating, an old fellow or someone with health problems, maybe a single mum?