Mover steals from me, what's my play? (Very long, with cliff's notes)

[Hopey]

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You may not get any additional money, but I would make sure that douchebag gets the book thrown at him.

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Believe me, I'd love to see that happen. However, I'm sure the best I can hope for is that the light slap on the wrist he will inevitably receive causes him a moment of slight discomfort.

I'm sure he'll just plead guilty and get probation and community service.

[Your Mom]

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The bank refunded me the money

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you have no damages. you are owed nothing but an appology.

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are you kidding? i think this is false. what does your receipt for the move say? i have never had movers before, but if the fine print says the workers are "bonded guaranteed" i think u should fight for a % off your bill. if there is no fine print stating that i'd still push for it, but u might not get it.

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Why? did they break something?

They stole a check. It was recovered. There are no damages.

Is Hopey afraid to sleep in his house now because he thinks the movers are going to break in and rape him?

Where are the damages??

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Pretty easy to write a letter to the editor threatening to expose this business. I'd blackmail the company for the money back.

[Hopey]

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They stole a check. It was recovered. There are no damages.

Is Hopey afraid to sleep in his house now because he thinks the movers are going to break in and rape him?

Where are the damages??

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What you're saying is probably true if I were to sue them in court. I probably wouldn't have a case as I didn't suffer any real damages once the money was returned to me. The only "damage" I can think of is that I could argue that they violated the contract *if* their employee was supposed to be bonded and was not. Also, it goes without saying that their employee stealing from me was not "part of the deal" when I negotiated the contract with their salesperson.

That's all irrelevant, though, as there's no way that I'd ever take this to small claims court.

What the company should be more concerned about is damage to their reputation. They can lose a lot of business through word of mouth alone. They can lose even more business if I were to spend 5 minutes and write a letter to the "consumer advocate" columnist in my local paper -- which is what I told them I'd do if they didn't compensate me in some way.

It also pisses me off that I haven't heard boo from them since this all went down. A week ago, I would have been happy with an apology. Now I'm getting a little ticked off.

[Hopey]

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Pretty easy to write a letter to the editor threatening to expose this business. I'd blackmail the company for the money back.


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That's pretty much the route I took when I emailed the company last night.

I believe my words were "If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, hopefully I will find the process of costing you future business to be cathartic".

[By-Tor]

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"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, hopefully I will find the process of costing you future business to be cathartic".

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Ouch dood. This was a bad idea. Poorly worded.

"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, I will be forced to inform local media sources of your business practices. This could potentially result in a loss of business for your establishment."

...would have been a much better idea.

Never threaten in writing to purposely try to cost someone business.

[Hopey]

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"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, hopefully I will find the process of costing you future business to be cathartic".

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Ouch dood. This was a bad idea. Poorly worded.

"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, I will be forced to inform local media sources of your business practices. This could potentially result in a loss of business for your establishment."

...would have been a much better idea.

Never threaten in writing to purposely try to cost someone business.

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Yeah, yours is worded better than mine. I get your point.

The previous sentence in my email listed the "media sources" that I'd be contacting (the BBB, "Action Line" in my local paper, etc...)

[Case Closed]

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"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, hopefully I will find the process of costing you future business to be cathartic".

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Ouch dood. This was a bad idea. Poorly worded.

"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, I will be forced to inform local media sources of your business practices. This could potentially result in a loss of business for your establishment."

...would have been a much better idea.

Never threaten in writing to purposely try to cost someone business.

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Yeah, yours is worded better than mine. I get your point.

The previous sentence in my email listed the "media sources" that I'd be contacting (the BBB, "Action Line" in my local paper, etc...)

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You sounds like a douche bag. The company does not owe you anything.

[Your Mom]

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"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, hopefully I will find the process of costing you future business to be cathartic".

[/ QUOTE ]

Ouch dood. This was a bad idea. Poorly worded.

"If you won't compensate me for the aggravation that you've put me through, I will be forced to inform local media sources of your business practices. This could potentially result in a loss of business for your establishment."

...would have been a much better idea.

Never threaten in writing to purposely try to cost someone business.

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Yeah, yours is worded better than mine. I get your point.

The previous sentence in my email listed the "media sources" that I'd be contacting (the BBB, "Action Line" in my local paper, etc...)

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You sounds like a douche bag. The company does not owe you anything.

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[censored]. Part of what you pay for includes the peace of mind that you are not being stolen from.

[NT!]

if the mover i worked for ever encountered a situation like this he would have personally brought the guilty party over to the customer's house and encouraged them to crack open a beer while he beat seven shades of isht out of the filthy thieving [censored]. however you used a large company which in this industry means they will never be accountable for anything and they will get away with it.

[El Diablo]

All,

I'm surprised at the percentage of people who think the right move is "eh, no harm no foul, got the money back."

F that. He paid the movers to move his stuff and one of them stole from him? Yeah, I'm all for some punitive measures against the movers here.