Tips for retrieving a marker?

[fullofpaint]

So I sent a gun out last year to be repaired by Brad Potter at East Coast Angel (ECA). He has been extremely uncommunicative since receiving it, the couple times he's responded it's just been excuses and "getting to it this weekend". To the best of my knowledge nothings been done. I had been fairly lenient about getting it back because COVID has been rough on everyone, but I asked for it to be returned regardless if it was fixed about a month ago and it's been radio silence since he said he would ship it back.

Fortunately I'm somewhat close and can afford to take a day trip if I have to, but does anyone have any other advice for retrieving property like this? I vaguely remember with Punisher and the like people were firing police reports? I'm a little reluctant to go up in person unless I have to mostly because of today's rather trigger-happy climate. But I'm leaving the area in a couple weeks so my window to do anything in person is shrinking.

[Trbo323]

Certified mail with a letter informing him off your next steps should you not receive your property in the next week should get his attention.

This also comes in handy should you have to file a police report because you have proof that you sent him notice

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[XEMON]

Just as a CYA, I would print all your communication with him.
you could also send him a copy attached to to said certified mail, it can add a bit of weight and show him you're not playing around anymore ...

Let us know what happens, hope you get your gun back.

[Tarsun2]

i tried sending certified mail and it was returned to sender unopened.
So that was a bust.

[ghilliesuit]

To ECA or a different transaction?

[Tarsun2]

i had a car like that. beater for $500 plus another $300 in parts and labor. Excuse after excuse for months. a few 100+ degree days, kid was sick, Heads being resurfaced, timing chain cover broke, wrong part delivered. on and on. Then when i asked for the $ back, they said theyd finish it. I told them to just give me the car in whatever state of repair it was in. and thats when communication stopped...

i had the title, so i just went to the shop it was tucked away at with a tow dolly. car hadnt been touched the whole time. Owner knew something shady happened and told me to get the damn thing out of here.
scrapped it the next day and recovered almost all of my $. Lost a "friend" in the process. one that i would talk to almost on a daily basis. one that we would go on downhill mountain biking trips with. one that wed spend weeks hanging out with, working or projects and cars. So, that added insult to injury.
such is life i suppose.

[Cyberpyr8]

I would call the local (to him) police department and see what they suggest. You don't have to file a report yet but if they say they can get it back that way, I would go ahead with it. Your only other alternative would be to out him on social media but that's only going to get you so far if he isn't a real business and this is just a side job.

[Grendel]

I was in a similar situation and what it took to get it resolved was a member here who had local contact with the individual stepped in on my behalf to get the issue resolved. I will not name any of the parties because this was personal between the three of us but somethings that is what it takes is to have someone who is willing to step in and act on your behalf in a face to face manner. Once this was done in less the 4 weeks I got my marker back with the work done.

We had a section in the member's section in the previous iteration of MCB to discuss these types of issues in a more private setting. Many times the issues like this are due to miscommunications, mis-fortune,....etc. then more nefarious reasons and we have been able to solve the issues without destroying reputations and friendships unnecessarily. Maybe we need start that up again? This is how mine got solved I basically asked for alternative contact information and provided periodic updates to the situation and one of our members reached out to me and said they would see what they could find out about the situation with their friend and that is really all it took to get things finally sorted out.

[SignOfZeta]

What are the actual time frames we are dealing with? When was “last year”?

[Arthur]

Seconded, how long has he had it?

[Trbo323]

I would call the local (to him) police department and see what they suggest. You don't have to file a report yet but if they say they can get it back that way, I would go ahead with it. Your only other alternative would be to out him on social media but that's only going to get you so far if he isn't a real business and this is just a side job.

Most likely they will just tell him to file a they report. I've been through this. The police also tend to not care as much about things that are not immediately urgent

I ended up dropping my case because the value of the HPA tanks was less than what I would pay in fees if I choose to pursue it and there was no guarantee of winning as I never had stuff like a proof of purchase or a work order saying when they went in for hydro (long story as to why not)

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[fullofpaint]

Certified mail

Yea, I think I'm gonna do that today. My biggest worry with that is he's not home and it just gets returned

miscommunications, mis-fortune,....etc. then more nefarious reasons...

I don't think this is particularly nefarious, but this tech has been known for these long uncommunicative periods and I know other people are in a similar boat as me, though I think mine has been gone the longest. I've reached out to some other people who know him to ask for help but haven't really made any progress there.

What are the actual time frames we are dealing with? When was “last year”?

Literally a year, shipped and received last January 2020. Asked for it back a year to the date he received it.

I ended up dropping my case because the value of the HPA tanks was less than what I would pay in fees if I choose to pursue it and there was no guarantee of winning as I never had stuff like a proof of purchase or a work order saying when they went in for hydro (long story as to why not)

Yea mine's a little more valuable but the fact that all I have is basically a message to agree to rebuild it worries me.

[SignOfZeta]

Ah, just checking. Some people are very impatient but a year is a long time.

[fullofpaint]

Honestly if there was communication it'd be fine. It's the fact that he'd read my messages and never respond when I asked for updates that puts me off. Especially with COVID I can understand being a little behind, but when you lie to me about working on it multiple times and then ignore me, I get a bit annoyed lol

[Arthur]

Not sure how long he's had the gun but the lack of communication alone, plus rejected mail, tells me there are shenanigans going on. Whatever you do, don't just leave this thread without following up with what happened. I get a lot of work done on markers and want to avoid this mess.

EDIT

Just read he's had the gun for over a year -- way too long, imo.

[Roger7pball]

I hope you get your markers back. Seen many posts as of late about him not coming through and lack of communication. I know who you're talking about and it makes me want to make it very public to avoid that person/company to help others out, but not my place.

If it were me I would make the trip to his address and get my stuff back. But I understand the hesitation with it.

[Trbo323]

Yea, I think I'm gonna do that today. My biggest worry with that is he's not home and it just gets returned
.

Maybe certified wasn't the right one then, there is like signature required mail, that way you know he got it. And they won't try just once either. That's what I did, I had a home and business address for my jerk, sent the same letter to both addresses. Both showed they were delivered.

The biggest thing from here out is keep every piece of anything. The hope is that you won't need any of it but trust me from experience, it really comes in handy when you do. My case lasted over a year but because I had text communication, pictures and mail receipts it really helped paint the picture of what happened. In the end there was no negotiation even, labor and industries slapped him with $2800 in back pay and fines, all of it came to me and it started with $950 of pay I was owed

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[Trbo323]

I hope you get your markers back. Seen many posts as of late about him not coming through and lack of communication. I know who you're talking about and it makes me want to make it very public to avoid that person/company to help others out, but not my place.

If it were me I would make the trip to his address and get my stuff back. But I understand the hesitation with it.

Why not? It's a public business, nobody better than the public to call them out for bad practices

I've been doing this for over a year for dirty works. My post above that's who my case was against. And when anyone asks about them I just tell them the truth of my experiences

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[Roger7pball]

Why not? It's a public business, nobody better than the public to call them out for bad practices

I've been doing this for over a year for dirty works. My post above that's who my case was against. And when anyone asks about them I just tell them the truth of my experiences

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I'm not a customer of theirs, I do my own work. If FOP wants to publicly blast him it's up to him.