Although my issue deals with coins, this rookie mistake can be a heads up for any item that you may take to a store for appraising, servicing or troubleshooting – whether it is a gun, camping, hunting, or fishing gear, taxidermy, you name it.
Several weeks ago I took some coins in to a local store for appraisal, and made a mistake that cost me a number of them. These were coins and trade tokens that I had found during my treasure hunting days, and I was considering selling them. The store owner stated that he could not appraise my coins at the time and assured me that if I left them with him, they would either be in his personal possession or locked in his safe. And I could trust him since his business depends on his integrity.
I did remove my inventory listing from the coin book before I left them, although my gut feeling was not to leave them in the first place. To make a long story short, when I got my coins back a week later, an entire page was missing, including a unique trade token and my 3 silver dollars. I called the store owner who assured me that the missing token and coins were not in his store and he had never seen the ones in question.
However another token collector saw that specific token in his store during the time he was “appraising” them, and I specifically recalled seeing the silver dollars in the book before I left it with him. The store owner then sold the trade token to another individual the day after informing me that it was nowhere to be found… and after I described it to him in detail.
In the end, the token was returned to me and the store owner refunded the money to the individual who purchased it. In an agreement with the store owner, I retrieved one of my stolen dollars and he paid me fair market value for the other two dollars. As for the rest of my missing coins and tokens, I cannot guarantee that they were in the book when I left it with him.
The lesson to be learned is that whenever you leave something with a store for whatever reason, make sure that you get a signed and dated receipt for the item including serial number. Even if you leave it with someone that you personally know and trust, it is a good idea for insurance purposes if nothing else. When you pick up the item, check it with the original receipt and get a return receipt.
This protects both you and the store: you verify that the item that you left is returned, and the store is protected against future claims concerning the item. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not to be considered legal advice.
Tags: fraud, good business practices, protection against theft, theft
