Klarinet Archive - Posting 000092.txt from 2000/11

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Bass Clarinet back on ebay
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 09:18:29 -0500

David Hattner writes,
>I am sorry to report that the bass clarinet we have discussed lately is back
>on Ebay.
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=486389342
>
>I have writted to ebay to complain. This jerk now is having a 'private'
>auction so the bidders will remail anonymous.

Unbelievable! What chutzpah! His brazen nerve in putting the clarinet back
up on eBay does suggest to me that perhaps he's not lying when he claims he
purchased your clarinet at a police auction. If he had no receipt for it,
surely he wouldn't put himself in jeopardy of arrest this way. (OTOH, maybe
he belongs in the Ann Landers "Stupid Crooks" archives....) Have you been
able to verify whether or not this police auction actually took place?

Jay Webler wrote,
>>I must admit that I haven't read each post on this issue. Were you
>>reimbursed by the Insurance for the loss of this instrument. If you were,
>>what is the major concern? Unless you have an emotional attachment to this
>>instrument it seems as if it has been an insurance concern from the time
>>that the reimbursement check was sent. Wouldn't you have to reimburse the
>>Insurance company if you were able to get the instrument back?

Jay, if something you care about ever gets ripped off, you'll understand
what's going on here. I can't speak for David Hattner, but *my* major
concern is that a thief is getting away with a crime, right here in the
middle of the clarinet-playing community. It's *wrong*. Society sinks
toward barbarism if people see this sort of thing happening and do nothing.
Vigorous reponse by the public has a way of motivating officials and
insurance executives to take action, even if this isn't the biggest case on
their docket. Under the "broken window" theory, if we just shrug our
shoulders and turn away from what seems to be a fairly minor property crime
(though it's not minor to the person who loses the property!), the bad buys
will feel emboldened to try something bigger and worse.

Meanwhile, this eBay seller, Doubledge@-----.com (who, if he is not the thief
or the fence, is *at best* some slimeball callously seizing a chance to
profit from the theft) damages the already-dubious reputation of people who
buy and sell used merchandise. The threat to destroy the instrument if he
doesn't get his profit outrages me. I take his dishonorable behavior
personally. This creep is breaking the unwritten but generally understood
rules of conduct followed by honest pickers and cockroaches. Most of us
engaged in this form of recycling dread that we might inadvertently buy
stolen property. When a transaction smells bad, we feel a duty to try to
clean it up. Moral issues aside, this seller is also hurting our business,
by making us look like an unsavory, untrustworthy crowd of Ferengis.

BTW, eBay sent me another computerized response asking me to go to the site
and fill out a response form responding to their response to my response. I
did so, leaving the message that their computer-generate boilerplate response
was unresponsive. The format gave me space to explain the situation again.
Maybe this time a human being will look at the communication. I just got
done posting a complaint to eBay about the new auction and hope that others
will chime in, too.

Glad to hear the insurance company finally rolled over and sat up. Sic 'em!

Lelia

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