Help with a legal situation, how to fix this?? Az'ers i need your advice?!?!

acedonkeyace

acedonkeyace

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I put a deal together for a trade and partial payment for a higher end cue case,

i got an offer for a reduced price on the case, and i instead asked the buyer if he had any books, dvds or instuctional material that he would consider a partial trade value, applied to the price on the cue case.

I accepted the cash plus 20 dvds & and gave each other our shipping information,

anyway, i posted the payment and then the buyer pm'd me back and stated that the dvds of the matches were not originals, but were copies he had made over the last few years,

i explained that i was a volunteer for the boys and girls club in the local area and because of some medical issues, i wasnt able to play pool anymore, but i wanted to stay involved with the pool world and that i was teaching kids at the club and also was involved with a media-library center that the kids used to entertain, educate and learn more about the world or pool and the enjoyment you can obtain from this great game.

So, i told him since theses dvds would only be being donated to the media center and that the kids would be watching these, that copies would be fine, since they would not be re-sold, i didnt ask for an adjustement on the price difference or anything and so the deal went through.

I received the dvds and at the same time the buyer got the case and due to a discrepancy on the name of the case, he didnt want the case anymore,

originally, i told him that i was fine with the refund, but i wasnt going to cover the shipping costs involved in the refund,

but after thinking about it, i decided to give him the full refund on the case in regard to the cash he paid.

The dvd's, i was going to return but i forgot about the dvds and after about a month he contacted me again and i told him that i totally forgot about the dvds but i would return them when i got a chance.

I had a personal family matter that took me out of the state for over a month, and i explained this to the buyer, and he stated numerous times that he wanted the dvds back, he accused me of copying the dvds and that is why i had them still and he didnt care about any personal matters i was going through.

I told him that i would return the first friday of june and that i would send them to him at that time, and i was back in florida, on saturday and was invited to a get-together, welcoming me back to the area and one of my friends is a lawyer and another one of my friends is a postmaster for the area. Anyway, i explained the whole situation and what had happened and then my laywer friend said that shipping bootlegged, copyrighted, pirated dvds or materials is a federal offense and my other friend stated that the mailing of pirated, copyrighted materials is a federal offense as well, which could get a fine or prison time??!???!!

So here is my question, with this buyer being so unsympethetic to me and my situation and only cares about himself and no one else, why should i bother doing anything that would put myself at risk or in jeopardy of getting penalized due to this illegal act and pirated materials he has sent me??

What should i do?? I refuse to send these back or deal with them anymore if this is going to put me at risk in any way,

should i run a video of the dvds and put them through a shredder and send him the pieces back??

I can offer to have him pick them up, but at this point i dont even want them around me or have anyone be able to find me with these illegal/bootlegged/pirated tapes.

If i would have thought about this before, i would never have gotten involved, especially involving kids at the boys and girls club that i have a lot of pride being involved with??


Please give me your advice, so i can put this issue to bed and stop having this az'er and others who do not have all the facts, to stop bad-mouthing me and also, stop this issue and also stop the other azer's who have known me for a while or know my situation and my personal high level of ethical business practices and have been coming to my defense and have been there for me on this site.

Like i have stated before, of all the people that have been banned or removed from this site, if i was a bad, unethical person who stole people stuff, or didnt pay or return items, i not only would not be on this site, but i would have a 99% postive rating, i would have a 5 or 10% positive rating.

At this point i want others to be involved in the decision process and give me some advice as to what they would do??

--the fact is, these dvd's are sitting in my office.
--the dvds are exactly as they were sent
--these dvds have never been played
--these dvds have never been copied

these statements and fact are factual and true.

Waiting for any info or input

thanks

respectfully


mike 'acedonkeyace' kennedy
 
I think he told you they were copies to begin with and you excepted
them.Just give them back to him and forget about the Miami Vice junk.
I'm sure your lawyer friend doesn't give a flyin poop about something
so miniscule and petty.It doesn't take much time to go to a post
office and send them out.If you have the time to be on AZ,you have the time to give him back the DVD's.You may be a great guy,do the right thing
and end it.
 
thommy said:
1. Put the damn things in a box.
2. take the box to the post office.
3. Send them back to him
4. Get on with your life


just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

amen_square500x500_normal.jpg
 
He sent your case back and you agreed to send him his DVDs back. He followed his end, so send him the DVDs back. Don't cop out saying that he is hassling you and now you feel hurt.

Just do what you agreed to and it will be done.
 
I was accepting something I was donating to people I thought

could use them and I was willing to accept them in partial trade. I did not know that these were copy-righted and federally protected and all this other stuff.

If I did, I would never have accepted them,

Why would I put anyone at risk when I am doing this a favor to the kids and these items are going to be donated to the kids.

This makes no sense,

I didnt know exactly what was going to be on the dvds.

But now that I have been informed on the Fines and Prison, and weighing in the fact that the buyer on cares about himself, should I go out of my way and put myself at risk??

If there is another way to send these where I am not at risk like this, please let me know and I will probably ship them that way??

Mike
 
I conferred with both my cousin who is an University Ethics professor and my neighbor who is a Priest and both thought you were some kind of welsher.
(and they both thanked what ever they believed in that they didn't have to deal with you or your "name discrepancies" or your "forgetting to returns").

Kevin
 
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brandoncook26 said:
He sent your case back and you agreed to send him his DVDs back. He followed his end, so send him the DVDs back. Don't cop out saying that he is hassling you and now you feel hurt.

Just do what you agreed to and it will be done.
Click to expand...

I'd send them back because I told him I would. There's no way that there could be any real risk in doing so.
 
acedonkeyace said:
could use them and I was willing to accept them in partial trade. I did not know that these were copy-righted and federally protected and all this other stuff.

If I did, I would never have accepted them,

Why would I put anyone at risk when I am doing this a favor to the kids and these items are going to be donated to the kids.

This makes no sense,

I didnt know exactly what was going to be on the dvds.

But now that I have been informed on the Fines and Prison, and weighing in the fact that the buyer on cares about himself, should I go out of my way and put myself at risk??

If there is another way to send these where I am not at risk like this, please let me know and I will probably ship them that way??

Mike
Click to expand...

At the risk of applying a little logic here . . .

Mike,
Do you REALLY THINK that anyone is going to prosecute you for sending these things back to the original owner?:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
You knowingly accepted the copied DVDs and made a mistake about the name on the case. He/she was honest with you as to what you were getting. The right thing to do would be to send them back.
I dont believe you have an issue with sending the DVDs back because you had no issue with receiving them. What is the real reason you dont want to live up to your end of the deal? Because he didnt feel sorry enough for your personal problems?
Id be quieter about it and send them back.
 
Not that hard to figure out in fact Thommy did it for you, nice huh.

Quote from: Thommy

1. Put the damn things in a box.
2. take the box to the post office.
3. Send them back to him
4. Get on with your life
___________________________
Agree 100%
As did everyone else
 
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If there are any AZ'ers who live in Largo, Florida and are willing to ship these

back to the buyer, I am willing to turn these over to them, as long as that is OK with the buyer.

OR, let me know a way to ship these so I am not in violation of Federal Mail Practices??

Thakns

Mike
 
acedonkeyace said:
could use them and I was willing to accept them in partial trade. I did not know that these were copy-righted and federally protected and all this other stuff.

If I did, I would never have accepted them,

Why would I put anyone at risk when I am doing this a favor to the kids and these items are going to be donated to the kids.

This makes no sense,

I didnt know exactly what was going to be on the dvds.

But now that I have been informed on the Fines and Prison, and weighing in the fact that the buyer on cares about himself, should I go out of my way and put myself at risk??

If there is another way to send these where I am not at risk like this, please let me know and I will probably ship them that way??

Mike
Click to expand...

To me you sound like a drama queen, just pack the DVD's up and send them back. Do you really think there is some government body that is going to arrest you as soon as you hand them the box?

You accepted the DVD's and I don't believe for a minute that you didn't know that having copies of them was legal.
 
Mike

I've got a question for you. A while back some guys were trying to raise some money to get a cue built for the member that won the Bill Stroud "design a cue" contest, and some deep thinker came on the thread to lambaste them for not raising the dough for a worthwhile cause, such as supporting you.

Is there some amount of money we can raise (not saying I can get it done, but it might be fun to try) that we can give you and you can just promise to go away?

Thanks

Kevin
 
Maybe pool matches aren't the best choice for donations to kids. They like candy and toys. It sounds worse than getting clothes for Christmas.
 
Hey Mike. Remember that time you used MY Pictures of MY Cue to try and sell one of yours without disclosing it until I called you out and asked you to remove them. That was awesome. You should be named the AZBilliards authority on doing the right thing.
 
dorabelle said:
Maybe pool matches aren't the best choice for donations to kids. They like candy and toys. It sounds worse than getting clothes for Christmas.
Click to expand...
I think I mildly pissed myself,that was funny.The other thing I was thinking ,that there has been enough ivory shipped to fill a small city up with all these cues and wonder if he's ever shipped any cue with ivory in it.This is the prime example of the making a Mountain out of a Molehill.
 
You should keep your illegal dealing to yourself. Why dont you talk to the sender and not the rest of AZ? Its kinda not cool. You willingly accepted them knowing full well they were copies and I dont buy for a minute that you didnt know the risk involved.
 
There is only one proper course of action.

Publish here in the forum what you wanted for the case. The actual price, the one you advertised or presented to him along with evidence of that such as a previous (unedited) post, email, or PM on the matter.

Then publish how much money you accepted.

Then subtract the amount of money he paid from the asking price of the case and send him the difference.

Next, apologize to the Boys and Girls club for engaging in shady deals in their name. It is obvious that you knew they were copies and no reasonable person could play ignorant about that...as you are apparently trying to do.

Then come here and post the actual address of the Boys and Girls club for any further donations to be sent to rather than your personal residence.

Lastly, turn yourself in to the nearest federal authorities with jurisdiction in this matter. Make sure to take the evidence with you. I would include record of any donations that went through your hands including any receipts of said transactions. I find it highly unlikely they will cause you any great troubles over it since you claim to be innocent in every way but it would address your conscience, and it seems you claim that is a very important point.

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