Through the Eyes of a Delivery Goddess |
|
|
Most of you know I recently took on a few hours per week at a salvage yard near our home here in Shantytown. One of our newer responsibilities has been towing in cars for charities. There is a main organization called Car Program that is in charge of dispatching tow trucks to pick up cars donated to different charities all over the USA, and apparently, our reputation preceeds us, since we were picked from a sufficient list of bonded salvors in the area. We had a few long distance donations for which we just couldn't seem to reach the donors to set up a time to retrieve their cars. When we finally reached one of the 3-hour-away cars, our driver decided to take the phone numbers of three other long distance cars to see if he could get an answer from them on his way back from the 3-hour trip. Unable to reach anyone, he drove past the one least deviant from the path home, according to Tom-Tom. The car was sitting along the side of the street with no plate - its condition appeared to be "ready for donation", so the driver filled out the receipt, knocked on the door with no answer, and left the receipt in the mailbox, then drove off with the car. No, this is NOT standard proceedure, but we had all of the info on the car, it appeared "abandoned"; I'd have to say that, in his shoes, I'm certain I'd have done the same thing. The Car Program folks had been getting a bit antsy about the four cars with which we hadn't made contact, so when we called them the next morning to report two pick-ups, they were pleased. But then, the morning took an interesting turn... We received a call from the car program to confirm that we hadn't actually spoken directly to the donor. He encouraged us to refrain from doing that in the future, and all was well again. Or was it? Shortly there after, the donor called accusing us of stealing his "precious" car. I was the one who answered the phone. All I can say is that I've lead a sheltered life, and do NOT think quickly on my feet unless it's to be the "class clown". It didn't seem like the proper time to make fun of this guy, so all I could do was listen. He claimed to call the state police, and I encouraged it, since we had the order to pick up the car - it was all in writing - what sort of leg did he have to stand on, anyway? The owners of the yard were in the office toward the end of my conversation trying to butt in, but I continued to put a finger over my lips, signalling them to stay quiet. I wanted them to have time to think of a strategy, rather than say anything we'd regret. After I hung up the phone, we had an administrative meeting - since it's a family owned business, it was me and the family.... that's it. By the end of the half-hour hash-out, it become obvious that this guy was out to scam somebody. See, when I answered the phone, he asked if we had his car, and I said that we did - but before I could offer to return it, he said, "I don't want it back - I want fair market value for it." The owners have had a bit more experience with scammers than I have, and they recognized this stunt right off. I told the gentleman that we only offered $75 for junk cars, and from what I'd heard, that's all it was worth. (ok - that was a little white lie on my part - I had NO idea what the condition of the car might be, but he donated it ,right? How good could it be?) Later that afternoon, a State Trooper called, so I put our most experienced head honcho on the phone. He asked the officer if the donor had presented the certificate of donation, or even MENTIONED donating the car. After a pause, the cop said, "Well, ... as a matter of fact ... NO." At that point, we had the cop on our side, even though we'd made a tiny error - this donor-guy lied or withheld information from the Police. That didn't sit well. By the time Mr. S was done chatting with the police, you'd think they were best buddies and were on their way out for a drink. Mr. S. went out to the car and pulled receipts out of the glove box, then proceeded to call the mechanic and another garage who had issued a couple of the receipts. They confirmed that due to the condition of the car, it was worth no more than scrap prices - the engine had a major problem (the crank shaft was cracked, for those of you gear heads out there), so Mr. S. placed another call to the State Police to report the new information. Things were not looking so good for Mr. Donor who thought he was going to get $1300 for this hunk of scrap worth about $100 at the weigh station. Last I heard, the donor was still planning to press civil charges, since the police refused to carry forward with any kind of criminal charges - he DONATED the car ... it couldn't be stolen, and therefore, he is actually at risk of being charged with filing a false police report. I'm sure that is NOT the outcome Mr. Donor expected. Just another day in the life of those who have jobs looked down upon by people who THINK they're better than the rest of us. The driver said the condition of the residence wasn't much to write home about, either, so I could make a haphazard guess that this fellow was exercising his infiriority complex muscle which, in the end, was obviously torn by Mr. S. turning the scamming table. |