How long do I wait before I consider the prop stolen?

[ARKM]

Hi all.

My question is this... How long do you think I should wait before I consider a prop that I sent off to someone, a prop that I asked to be returned but has not been yet, stolen?

Here's the story... I sent a prop replica that I bought from a 3rd party, a prop that I paid over $500 for, to the person who originally created the prop, for some free modifications that were offered to me by the prop maker. All I had to do was pay shipping both ways. I thought this was a great deal and a very generous offer and sent off the replica in late February. Months later I still do not have it. For the record, the creator of the prop does not respond to all of my emails (which are far apart, time-wise) and when he does respond, it's usually (but not always) several days to over a week later. Anywho, over a month ago I finally decided that I was done waiting and asked for the prop to be sent back to me, unaltered (according to the emails I had received, it strongly appears as if no work whatsoever has been done to the prop). I of course offered to pay shipping and asked for a PayPal email address to send the money to. Nine days later and with no reply, I asked again. The prop creator replied right away this time and stated that he will get it back to me. He did not provide any PayPal info. Eight days later, still no reply so I emailed him again, asking why it has not been sent yet. His excuse was that he was hoping that I would wait longer so that he could do the modifications to the prop. I stated, again, that I just want the unaltered prop back. His reply was just this... "As you wish.". That was on Aug. 7th. Still no PayPal info, tracking number or prop. I emailed him again on Aug. 23rd but have not heard back from him. It's now Aug. 29th.

Trying to get this guy to reply or actually do anything is like pulling teeth. Since I did not get a proper confirmation from him until Aug 7th that fully implies (with no room for misinterpretation) that he would send the original unaltered prop back to me, how long do you think should I wait until I consider the prop to be stolen property? Please let me know your opinions on the matter. Thanks.

 

[laellee]

Is he located in the states as well?

Regardless, sounds like you are being more than patient and he is just stringing you along at this point. He's not even making excuses for not being able to send it back, he just doesn't personally want to. I had this happen with a piece where I was offered free 'improvements' in exchange for sending the prop over, it turned out the 'improvements' were just an afterthought and the guy's real motive was to cast and copy mine. I had to threaten legal action and mail some paperwork before my stuff magically showed up with no further correspondence.

Anyways, sorry for your situation. Promising improvements/modifications/etc don't mean anything if you can't even get the piece back... Hopefully he still has it unscathed in his possession and is just being lazy. I would give him a window of time to mail it with tracking, and threaten further action if he doesn't meet that agreement. Sometimes just threatening to put his name out there in a thread like this if he doesn't follow through will be enough to get the wheels greased, although it's nonsense that you should even have to do that. Good luck!

 

[ARKM]

Thanks laellee.

I did get multiple time frames for completion that have all come and gone and a few excuses before I asked for the prop back, that if true, are quite valid but since it's been over a month since I asked for the unaltered prop back, No excuses are gonna fly with me at this point.

It's probably laziness related (I hope) but I can only let that fly for so long.

 

[tommin]

Try talking on the phone with the prop maker. That's what I do when so much is at stake.

 

[ARKM]

I don't have his phone number and at this point, I'm not sure he would give it to me.