Dale,
Just writing to inquire as to why the below off-topic post about the problems of bike theft is a welcome contribution to the CR list, while my post from July 14, also about bike theft, got me kicked off the list in a very public manner.
I know it can't be the use of the term "I know this is not on topic" or a variant thereof, because both postings used it.
Anyhow, my 30 day suspension is up and I'm eager to participate again. It just doesn't seem fair that I get dinged for something others do not.
My two cents.
Ken Bensinger Brooklyn, NY
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:32:55 -0400 From: Michael Allison <cyclo_one@verizon.net> To: Tom Sanders <tsan7759142@sbcglobal.net> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Re: Stolen bike on ebay . . what to do Message-ID: <4e7ed6ead9d485b53f6f6b212fe53540@verizon.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v624) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 2
Hi Tom and list:
First, I want to offer John Jorgensen my sympathy for his loss. No matter how long it has been, I'm sure it still stings. While in college, my 1958 Cinelli SC, safely locked up or so I thought, was stolen. I cried like a baby.
About six years ago I had the experience of reclaiming my stolen A. C. Fairbanks Whyte Ladie 5-string banjo that was being auctioned on ebay. Here's what I had to do to get it back. The instrument had been stolen ten years earlier but I had kept all the paper work: photos, original bill of sale, insurance valuation and police report. I immediately called the NY State police who filled the original report.
They connected me to an internet fraud unit. Of course, the police asked me to prove that the banjo was mine. I offered all the paperwork I had but that was not enough. The banjo had a serial number that appeared on the insurance form but that was not enough. I had to contact an expert in Boston who made an affidavit that the serial number was unique to only the banjo on ebay. When the police were finally satisfied, they got a subpoena that required ebay to give them the sellers contact information.
As it turned out the seller lived only a few miles from the police and the site of the theft. They questioned the man, who showed them a bill of sale from a music store that no longer existed. The police took the banjo and eventually returned it to me after a media circus. When I showed up to claim it, they told me the seller's brother had worked at the hotel where it was stolen. The police said that the statue for stolen property is seven years in NYS, so the department no longer had any paper work. They said that under the law, they didn't have to take any action. But since the seller was so close, they gave it a shot. Moreover, the police said if the banjo had been in another jurisdiction/state, they could only ask for a "consideration" from the other police department.
Sorry Dale, I know this is not on-topic, but it is important information for any CR member who wants to claim a stolen bike. When I assemble a bike, I tape my personal contact info on the fork stirring column and put it in the BB.
MIchael Allison
New York, NY