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!

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

Oh fucking great advice that 🙄

@R2519 I hope you're joking. The reason there IS never anyone to respond to jobs like this is because of complete fucks like you who abuse the system in this way.

I'd be removing it from the shop myself and if they tried to stop me, THEY could call the police and it could be sorted out then!

He did pay the cash to get it back. There are no police desks open anymore, so he will have to wait and see if 101 ever respond. I think as pp said it should be a case of if someone comes in and claims something is stolen and belongs to them, CC absolutely should withdraw it from sale pending police investigation.

I'd put it all over social media. Talk to your local paper as well.

For all Cash Converters know, he's pulling a fast one. He could've given the speaker to someone else to sell to CC, then claimed it was stolen so he gets his speakers back and keeps the money.

It's not rocket science to understand why they'd want police involvement.

@Mummymummums he literally told them it was stolen.

Nobody is disputing that @GiveHerHellFromUs, the problem is getting the police to take ANY interest whatsoever, they just don't have the resources to dedicate to it apparently. So CC can just happily continue to fence stolen goods, safe in the knowledge that they'll just get away with it.

He did pay the cash to get it back.

Champion. Now if he uses something you can't get off and writes 'stolen, do not buy' on it. It's less likely to get nicked again.

It's not just CC though. It's ALL pre owned shops.

@spacepoppers they're not getting away with anything though, are they?

They're just going about their business. Its the thieves that are getting away with it.

@GiveHerHellFromUs I would beg to differ. They are getting away with buying and selling goods that are stolen, even with proof of ownership from the victims of crime. If they didn't buy items so readily and without proper proof of ownership, the thieves would have less places to flog valuable goods.

@spacepoppers what was the proof of ownership? A receipt or a box doesn't prove anything as, as I said earlier, it could've been passed off to a friend.

There probably are things they could put in place but they won't choose to do so until it's legally required because they'd lose about 80% of their stock.

I'm surprised they're still running to be fair.

Man, you're properly unaccustomed to the second hand world aren't you OP?! Your outrage is palpable

Don’t hold your breath. My friend had something similar and its been two years, all evidence now gone.

Anyone could turn up with a receipt for the goods, even if they'd sold them on to someone else who'd passed them on to Cash Converters or any similar shop. You are being unreasonable to expect them to hand over the goods OP.

Did the car insurance pay out on the theft anyway? Presumably he's got business cover car insurance and his amp was covered?

It's really bad that they would sell the products when they know there is a good chance that they have been stolen . They should at least hold them back for a bit until there is further evidence .I would buy the goods so that they couldn't sell them. If the police don't help I would take cash converters to a Small Claims Court for the money.

@woodchuck99 they're not the neighbourhood watch. They're a business.

I have found that in this kind of situation dodgy companies rely on you not taking them to court and not being able to do anything to stop them selling it on. If they find he can stop them selling it on by buying the goods back and then taking them to court I bet they will be more cooperative.

@woodchuck99 they're not the neighbourhood watch. They're a business.

Yes but they now have evidence that the goods do not belong to them as they have been shown receipts. I understand that they're not going to just give them back but selling them on when there's good evidence that they are stolen is dodgy.

I’m pretty sure when they are advised that it’s stolen they then become privy to the crime?

You're missing the point @woodchuck99 - a receipt proves that he bought it at some point. It doesn't prove he hasn't sold it on to someone else. It doesn't prove he hasn't passed it on to a friend to sell on his behalf to con CC.

I’m pretty sure when they are advised that it’s stolen they then become privy to the crime?

Yes, if they sell it on now that they have evidence at a stolen they are knowingly selling on stolen goods.

You're missing the point @woodchuck99 - a receipt proves that he bought it at some point. It doesn't prove he hasn't sold it on to someone else. It doesn't prove he hasn't passed it on to a friend to sell on his behalf to con CC.

You're missing the point. The fact that he has the receipt, serial numbers and presumably a police report and he is saying that the property has been stolen from him is evidence that the property has been stolen. i.e. they have good reason to believe this is stolen property. If they sell it on they can't claim that they unknowingly were selling on stolen goods as they certainly had good reason to believe they might be stolen. They need to wait until there is further evidence one way or the other.

You're missing the point @woodchuck99 - a receipt proves that he bought it at some point. It doesn't prove he hasn't sold it on to someone else. It doesn't prove he hasn't passed it on to a friend to sell on his behalf to con CC.

You're missing the point. The fact that he has the receipt, serial numbers and presumably a police report and he is saying that the property has been stolen from him is evidence that the property has been stolen. i.e. they have good reason to believe this is stolen property. If they sell it on they can't claim that they unknowingly were selling on stolen goods as they certainly had good reason to believe they might be stolen. They need to wait until there is further evidence one way or the other.