How long is long enough?

elekTRONarcade

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So, here's the scenario: I was contacted by a guy locally to put back together a disassembled Sea Wolf, and restore it to working condition. He came by, dropped it off along with $100 for parts and left. That was five months ago. I haven't heard from him in four. I've left numerous voice mails, emailed him numerous times, nothing. It's been taking up a decent chunk of real estate and at this point I'd really like to just get it gone.

So my question is: When do you consider something abandoned by a non-responsive customer?
 
Its ninety days here from the moment the customer is contacted to pay for services rendered and pick up, which has passed in this case. Morally though, how long would you give someone if you've made repeated attempts at resolving the matter?
 
I don't know what your local laws are, but 5 months is ridiculous.

If there was any sanity in the law (long shot), you would be safe.
 
Its ninety days here from the moment the customer is contacted to pay for services rendered and pick up, which has passed in this case. Morally though, how long would you give someone if you've made repeated attempts at resolving the matter?

If it's 90 days, then 5 months is plenty. Do you have his physical address? If you want to be super nice, send him a letter saying you consider the machine to be abandoned if he doesn't come get it in 30 days.
 
You really need to check your local laws. Common sense doesn't prevail here. There have been several other threads posted here re: the same thing and the rules vary wildly from place to place.
 
I acquired a nice dedicated R-Type that way. Will have have been 2 years this spring I recapped it and put in a new PS. Haven't heard from him and has since then moved so I have no contact info.
 
sea wolf

consider it yours. takes pics of it all apart or if you already have pics of it in the "before" condition. if the person ever took you to court, maybe they could get 200 dollars from you in a judgement. i would not worry after 5 mos.
 
How is the cabinet. I got a complete unit but the cabinet is not good enough for me for a full restore. I think it has been plenty long enough (hint hint).
 
consider it yours. takes pics of it all apart or if you already have pics of it in the "before" condition. if the person ever took you to court, maybe they could get 200 dollars from you in a judgement. i would not worry after 5 mos.

I'm not too worried about a judgement...considering he only paid $75 for it, and the $100 retainer he left me was completely spent on parts. Its a solid game, everything works now except the main board, which I need to send off to be repaired (which is precisely why I've been trying to get ahold of him, to authorize third party repairs). I've kept all of my receipts for parts, which goes above the retainer, and also a job sheet of all work done. Currently he's in the red by $237.
 
Here's how it looks currently. He wanted to keep the look of the metal parts as-is, though the camera makes them look rusty.

dsc00055fa.jpg
 
enjoy

enjoy that bad boy! he aint coming back. its yours now even if he did.
you can also probably charge storage. they got no case against you.
 
You certainly deserve to be paid for your time/parts and for holding on to the game so long. Storage isn't free. I'd send off one more contact to let him know that if you don't have any contact within x days, you'll consider the value of the game as payment for your time, parts and storage. After a week or two, consider it yours.
 
You should ask Modessitt about his experiences with this. They'll make your hair stand on end.
 
A friend and fellow collector in my neighborhood has a Mario Bros WB that he sold years ago. The guy still hasn't picked it up. He'll say in a few months or whatever, but there it sits. He doesn't want to sell it to someone else in case the guy eventually comes, but I fixed the monitor in it so it's playable now.

Really, you should be able to charge them for storing it, though perhaps that should have been mentioned in the beginning of the deal. However, I'd figure you are out money/space because of storage, so I'd send him one more message that he has X days to respond, that it's well past the business 90 days, or you consider the deal void, the game abandoned.
 
If figure out his address and send a certified letter showing the repair cost and breakdown of storage fees for every day after he was first contacted thagt it was done. THen say he has 15 days from reciept of the letter to pick it up/pay in full otherwise it will be considered abandoned property and you will take posession/ownership of it.

Mod sold one, took the guy 2.5 years to pick it up.
 
So a quick update for everyone.... I finally got a reply email back from the guy after 3 months. Here's his response:

You want it? Sell it fix it or whatever. No point in me keeping it if its that big of a nightmare. I got it cheap so not a big loss, this happens sometimes with these machines but if you want it, its yours no cost?

So, looks like its mine after all :D

On a side note...anyone interested in a nice looking Sea Wolf? I have pics! :D
 
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