Honesty sometimes bites!

[Coytee]

Not really, but this was interesting.

My wife works at a higher end jewelry store who's recently gone out of business. (the original owners sold to Finly and Finly has gone bankrupt...the original owners bought the name back from the bankruptcy court and will be reopening them since they were the only ones actually making money for Finly)

Anyways....

A representative from Finly was at her store for the last 2 months as the liquidation sales went on. Her job (the lady from Finly) was to oversee and manage the liquidation of the assets and shut the store down.

This process is complete.

This lady had two LARGE garbage bags full of empty watch boxes, primarily for Rolex. These were earmarked for the trash bin but she said Marion (my wife) could take them. They (Marion & her co-workers) thought they might be able to reuse these boxes when the store reopens OR, perhaps, sell them on ebay and throw a party for themselves with the proceeds). The Finly lady evidently had no problem with that.

Marion has these bags in her car now for 2 weeks, just laying in there. I got industrious over the weekend figuring, let's get these in, documented, photographed and rid of!

I was organizing them on the table asking with a smile, if they all had been gone through (hoping to find a Rolex of course)

Marion assured me that they all were empty and that the Finly lady herself had gone through each one before she (Finly lady) threw them out.

It was just about then that I was opening a Breitling box....and don't you know.... tick tock tick tock tick tock..... inside was a brand new, stainless steel, automatic $2,500 Breitling watch []

Earmarked for the dumpster and only saved because Marion saw value in the empty Rolex boxes (they stopped carrying Breitling as I recall)

Although I told Marion I felt the proper 'authority' to report this to was the Finly lady... since it was their merchandise to liquidate, she instead, called the store manager (also unemployed until store reopens) and he said he'd call HIS boss (also unemployed until company reopens)

Seems...they might put it into store inventory when the company reopens. I told Marion that I personally felt that was wrong since when the stores reopen, it will be under the OLD (original) ownership and they never owned this watch to begin with.

Personally, I suspect it will disappear somewhere down the line after she gives it to her manager.

It will be interesting to see what happens to it.

[CECAA850]

I'd have put the watch in a drawer for a year or so and make sure no-one was looking for it, and then kept it. The boxes were checked and given to your wife. Finders keepers. They were thrown out afterall, at one point.

[Coytee]

They were thrown out afterall, at one point

You are absolutely right. This did create a bit of conflict because by all rights....these should be in the landfill by now.

I do know though....even though they were acquired quite by accident & circumstances, I would have never been able to wear the watch and feel 100% comfortable about it.

I could have probably sold it on Ebay and felt better 6 months later..... but to have the watch sitting in my home, looking at me.....staring at me..... knowing that she stumbled onto it..... would have always been a problem for me.

My suggestion to her was, why don't we call the lady from Finly and tell her what happened. She was after all, the person responsible for closing the store. Offer to send her (in the name of the bankruptcy court documents) $500 to pay for the watch.

If she agreed, then it's all above board. If she disagrees and wants me to send her the watch, I could then point out that I'll be MORE than happy to give the watch back to her/them however.... it was us that discovered her screw up and I wasn't going to spend my money to send it to them. If they want to have someone designated to pick it up, I'll happily hand it over (probably invite them into the house for a Jubilee jam session as well) but... in no way was I going to go out of my way to cover her hiney any more than simply handing it over.

I personally think she'd jump at the idea of me sending $500 since it covers her hiney and puts this behind them (they really do NOT want the merchandise since she thinks the store is now empty)

I'll give an update later on if/as I find out what happens.

[winchester21]

So what happened to the Rolex boxes?- may be interested if any are stil kicking around- interested in any warranty cards- manuals- hanging tags- submariner anchors - ect

I sell used ones if there is money left in the deal. Got a new SS daytona FS- white face - retail price- stickers still in place never worn- Just what you need Richard. Would match your Jubilees.[]

[russ69]

Coytee,

You did the right thing. Your wife might have been accused of grand theft, it's best just to return it to someone who is still connected to the store, even if it ends up on someone's wrist that didn't pay for it.

Thanx, Russ

[dtel]

I do know though....even though they were acquired quite by accident & circumstances, I would have never been able to wear the watch and feel 100% comfortable about it.

I could have probably sold it on Ebay and felt better 6 months later..... but to have the watch sitting in my home, looking at me.....staring at me..... knowing that she stumbled onto it..... would have always been a problem for me.

That's why you took the direction you did, you felt it was not yours even though it would be in a landfill. It's not worth the problems it could cause or how you would feel everytime you looked at it.

I also don't think it's your problem to return it to the lady who didn't even check all the boxes, send it to the court, it will end up on the judges girlfriends arm. [:|]

" I personally think she'd jump at the idea of me sending $500 since it covers her hiney and puts this behind them (they really do NOT want the merchandise since she thinks the store is now empty) "

I would not send that lady the $500, It would probably not get to the bankruptcy court and still leave you looking bad for paying 1/5 of the price.

[Arky]

Gotta keep your conscious clean. I would have called the Finly lady.

[Romak]

Check out this site for a good place to check prices and possibly sell. The box's that is..LOL

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=threadt&frm_id=32

[Coytee]

it's best just to return it to someone who is still connected to the store

The irony is, as best I know, all the stores are now closed and no longer exist. This doesn't howver, mean the bankruptcy trustee doesn't have a working office somewhere.

Sleeping at night is one of my virtues.

[Coytee]

So what happened to the Rolex boxes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200429887912&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Selling 15 of them as a single lot. Pulled maybe 10 of them out to try to sell as singles (virtually all the nicer wooden boxes). Most of these (at least the singles that will be sold later) have the paperwork inside. I made sure the singles had them. As for this lot sale, it's kind of all or nothing.

Proceeds from this is going to go towards funding a dinner party for all the employees at the store (about 7 as I recall) and since I'm doing all this myself, I think we'll also include all spouses!!

[IndyKlipschFan]

Karma is a thing always to consider.. Do the right thing, give it back, it really was not yours to begin with. Hopefully something will come back your way!!

BTW, Those Rolex boxes are worth a lot too.

[russ69]

Coytee,

You are an honest fellow. I can tell from my time here on this forum. It's was an easy choice for you to do the right thing, I'm sure. For those people that have trouble deciding what's the right thing to do, ask yourself one question; Did you pay for it? If you didn't, it's not yours!

Thanx, Russ

[wuzzzer]

Definitely what I would have done. I've worked at a jewelry store for almost 12 years and I got where I am (sales manager, timepiece specialist, registered jeweler) by being honest and hardworking.

I once sold an old piece of equipment for the store on eBay called a DiaView. We expected to get $50-100 for it. I think it ended up selling for over $600. I could have easily said it sold for $100 and pocketed the difference. Like others have said, I like to be able to sleep at night. I believe our store's owner paid me over $100 for selling that item.

[CECAA850]

I was organizing them on the table asking with a smile, if they all had been gone through (hoping to find a Rolex of course)

So you would have kept it if it was a Rolex?[]

[Daddy Dee]

Coytee,

Your analysis sounds right to me. Contacting Finly would have been the thing to do, IMO.