To be mightily pissed off with cash converters

[spacepoppers]

Long story short, my nephew lives next door to me. A lovely boy who teaches kids music. He had his amp etc stolen by opportunistic car thieves, lost in excess of £1k value goods. The whole kit showed up in a local cash converters, who told him despite the goods clearly being his (matching box and receipt with serial numbers) he would need to wait for a police response to return his goods, by which time they might be sold unless he bought them back, at a cost of £250.
I mean, WTAF? Their whole business model seems to rely on the police being under resourced abs unable to respond in situations like this. By the time the police see fit to pay au attention, all cctv will have been wiped anyway. Sorry for the rant, I'm just so mad!

Fair enough isn’t it.

That’s outrageous and I would be kicking up a massive fuss. I’d be a thorn in their side till they gave me my goods.

@TheRealShatParp not really sure what you mean...care to elaborate?

@SinglePringle I fully intend to be all over their twitter / fb & insta, and emailing the ceo until it's resolved.

Trouble is in the eyes of the law Cash Converters aren't selling stolen goods because they have to be knowingly selling stolen goods. We had a similar situation with an eBay seller and the police couldn't help us as he had a valid receipt for where he'd bought our goods from (an auction). So it was a civil matter. Very wrong I agree.

But surely then the police would be able to go to the buyers house and seize the goods? If it’s stolen it’s stolen, you don’t get to keep it just because you bought it in good faith.

Take pictures, draw up legal type letter. Surely this is trafficking in stolen goods? Bring case number of police report. As far as you know, someone from cash converters could have nicked the stuff as they now have it.
Don't let them get away with it.

It was still for sale in the shop @DillBaby, hadn't even been sold on yet. But still cash converters stance was that they bought it in good faith so wouldn't actually do anything until the police stepped in. Police haven't even responded. FFS.

Cex is the same. You have to get the police involved.

They won't cover shit up though. This happens, they won't get in trouble for it. It's expected in second hand sell your stuff type places. He'd be better off buying it back.

Sucks I know.

If you buy something in good faith and it transpires to be stolen then unfortunately you loose it as It’s stolen goods and legally doesn’t belong to you. It’s happened numerous times with cars on eBay and place like that.

I get it @R2519, if you buy something in good faith that is stolen, you lose out. But if cash converters are fencing stolen goods and ignoring people who step forward (with proof) to claim their own stolen property, that had to be wrong, surely?!

It's the same at the local cash converters here, they know the stuffs nicked but they don't care because they get it for a good price from the thieving drug addicts.

Work tools are guaranteed to be at cash converters the next day and the police aren't interested, cc know the law and know what they're doing.

The only other thing you could do is dial 999 outside cash converters and say you’ve been robbed and need the police. When they arrive go inside and tell them they have your stuff. May work, may not. Not strictly a lie but a big twist of the truth!

Wouldn't that be considered a waste of police time though? I imagine they'd be pretty pissed off.

OP yes it sucks but at this point isn't it better for him to pay 250, rather than risk someone else buying it and he then has to pay over a grand? He can always go through the police process too and push for cash converters to give him his money back, not sure if they would have to but at the worst he has his stuff and it costs less than buying the whole lot again.

Also, he should insure his kit.

the thing is they need police involvement as it could be a scam, you could get your mate to go in with some stuff to pawn and then the next day you could walk in and say thats my stuff, heres the box and all that and just reclaim it for nothing

Do not call 999, police are so stretched that by reporting a robbery (a violent crime) someone else won't be seen quick enough and may be seriously hurt!

Just buy the stuff back and then try and recover the money!

Re the give it back if someone comes in and can prove its theirs - that leaves them wide open to scams. Your mate brings your stuff in and gets cash. Days later you go in with proof it's yours. They just give you the stuff and they're out the money.

What they need is to have a policy where if someone comes and shows proof of ownership and they weren't the one who sold it, the item is withdrawn from sale pending police contact

Well of course he has to go through the police! Otherwise anyone at all could just take their expensive stuff, get their mate to sell it to cash converter then go the next day show the original receipt, claim theft and get it back and they would have the money and the items!! The mate might be banned but so what if police aren't involved...

I thought places like CC were supposed to check for proof of ownership before they buy things from people. If I were your nephew, I would be going to the local police station and asking for somebody to go to the store today to sort this out.
For the store to leave the goods on sale is outrageous - the least they could do is take them off display until this has been investigated.
This is the reason I would not shop in a place like CC - too risky.

I could buy a £1k tv from curry’s. DH could take it to cash converters and get some money for it. I could then go in with my curry’s receipt and say it’s stolen and get the tv back and then take it back to curry’s for a refunds

Can you not see how just handing over goods even with a receipt is open to everybody doing it as a scam?

@R2519 presume that’s not serious advice!

I understand why you are mad, it is reasonable to need the police to verify things but it isn't reasonable to have the items still available for sale while it is sorted, they should remove the items from sale.

I would speak to the local Council as well .They get interested as this is happening in their vacinty ! I thought places like CC were expected to be closed if any stolen stuff goes through their doors ! The one near us takes photos and keeps very strict records .WTF should you have to buy back your own stuff?!

This is a crap situation but he will have to buy them back.
As an aside, many people on MN are living in the past with regard to what the police are able to assist with these days. There have been huge cuts. Very few police stations are ‘open’ in the sense that you could walk in and speak to someone/receive assistance. My husband’s car was stolen, he called 101 and was given a crime ref number for insurance. No further contact. Same with a friend whose car was stolen. Same with my uncle who called 999 after being burgled. Same with a friend who called 101 to report a persistant shoplifter in her shop. CCTV is irrelevant now as the police don’t have the time/manpower to collect the footage and view it. A Tesco Metro near here was ram raided. Crime recorded on several cameras. Police openly admitted they would not be investigating.

Surely they should remove it from sale until sorted- saying you pay for it back or risk losing it to a customer seems like a form of coercion to ensure they don't lose out in any scenario!