Stolen boat from BPS

[gim]

If this is really what happened, Bass Pro is responsible and they should be held liable.

 

https://www.kcci.com/article/stolen-boat-missing-from-bass-pro-shops-altoona-under-investigation/61010659

[casts_by_fly]

Yep. And as much as they can’t replace sentimental value, they could give him a brand new trailered topper.

[DaubsNU1]

Daughter's Kia was at dealership getting new engine...and the cat converter was stolen. 

 

Service manager tried to say it was my responsibility, I had to turn in to insurance. They would not cover the theft or repair. 

 

Little did he know my college buddy, and insurance man, actually WROTE the insurance policy for that dealership chain(!). Yes, it was their responsibility...service manager was just trying to avoid a claim...and get me to pay.

 

Nope. Buddy coached me on language and who to speak with...and the dealership replaced her cat converter.  

 

Bass Pro is responsible for the boat...it was under their care. They have insurance. Just don't want to use it.  

[Junk Fisherman]

I'm surprised this is the first time I've heard of this type of boat theft occurring.  At a very prominent marine shop by me, most anglers don't put a lock on their boat when leaving it in the front.  Last year, I left my boat there on a Sunday and they told me most don't put a lock on the hitch.  I couldn't believe it but there were several 50K+ bassboats unlocked.  I locked mine.  Should of left it unlocked with a sign saying "steal me."  (I have good insurance!  lol)     

[gim]

21 minutes ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Last year, I left my boat there on a Sunday

I assume they weren’t open on a Sunday, so those boats were sitting there unattended until Monday, is that correct? That’s ballsy.
 

The service center I use every fall for winterization has a specific area out front to drop off your boat. It’s very secure and within sight of the office right next to it only feet away. I’ve never dropped off and left it unattended though. I wait until their tractor comes around and picks up the trailer to haul it into their secured area. Usually only takes a few minutes.

[Susky River Rat]

I hate theft. Keep your booger pickers off stuff that isn’t yours. People work to hard for what they have. 

[Bird]

What would Ted Nugent do ?

 

My wallet fell out of my back pocket at an airport and as soon as I noticed it, went to lost and found.

Sure enough it was turned in.

So I thought maybe there is a few honest people in this world.

Opened the wallet to find a little over $200 was snatched so my expectations returned back to normal.

[Texas Flood]

That Bass Pro is one of the worst Ive ever been to. They do not treat customers very well and Ive even heard employees argue with customers about certain baits(very weird) I havent shopped there in years and dont ever plan on it. 

 

This story is not shocking that they are treating the customer like the enemy. 

[Junk Fisherman]

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

I assume they weren’t open on a Sunday, so those boats were sitting there unattended until Monday, is that correct? That’s ballsy.
 

The service center I use every fall for winterization has a specific area out front to drop off your boat. It’s very secure and within sight of the office right next to it only feet away. I’ve never dropped off and left it unattended though. I wait until their tractor comes around and picks up the trailer to haul it into their secured area. Usually only takes a few minutes.

 

Yes.  I left my boat at the marine shop on a Sunday afternoon since they would work on it Monday and I couldn't get it there on Monday due to work.  I took a walk around the lot just to see what type of boats were unlocked.   There was a nice Phoenix and Ranger 620 with no lock.  I know it is in a rural place with low crime but still.  

[Tennessee Boy]

About 30 years ago a buddy of mine bought a new high end boat at a dealership 2 hours away.   He drove home and took it to the river to break it in.   The boat would not start.  It was under warranty of course but instead of driving two hours back to where he bought it, he took it to a local dealer and left it.  They fixed it and took it to the river to “test it”.  They somehow hit a dock and ripped a gash in the fiberglass.   They fixed the fiberglass but he basically paid full price for recked boat.  It was the equivalent of a $90K boat today.

[Bankc]

Yeah.  That'll happen. 

Here's what I've done in the past (though not in necessarily identical situations).  I have a good buddy who's a federal judge.  He informed me years ago that it's not illegal to impersonate a lawyer.  That is protected under the first amendment.  It IS illegal to impersonate a police officer, military veteran, and a few other occupations where specific laws apply, but not a lawyer.  It IS ALSO, illegal to PRACTICE LAW without a license, so while you CAN claim to be a lawyer and defend yourself, you CANNOT defend someone else, offer legal advice, charge fees, or anything like that, under the guise of being a lawyer.  I'm not a lawyer, obviously, so it may be prudent to contact a lawyer if you need clarification on any of this. 

Anyway, what this means is you can borrow a buddies phone (for caller ID purposes), call up the sales manager and say you're from the law firm of whatever and whatever (I like to use my buddy's last name for authenticity with the caller ID), and you're doing your due diligence to avoid a lengthy and costly trial for "your client" but are committed to "making him whole".  Don't make it threatening and get angry.  Act bored, like you do this all of the time, like you're a real lawyer.  You don't want to seem like you're trying to scare the guy, but instead seem like you're trying to help everyone, your "client", "yourself" (as a lawyer), and the company, all get to a satisfactory conclusion with the least amount of time and effort possible, and everyone can be happy.  Or you can send them a letter with some legal jargon saying the same thing on some fake legal letterhead on some good quality paper. 

 

One of the truths of life that I've discovered is that people are like water.  They always take the path of least resistance.  And if someone has chosen the wrong path, you can easily get them on the right path by creating resistance on the wrong path.  So the goal here isn't to force someone to do something against their will, but rather to discourage someone from doing something else.  Basically, change the optics of how they view the problem to change their behavior towards the problem. 

 

Now, if all of this fails, and it could, then you actually go out and hire that lawyer.  The good thing about a company like BPS, is they have deep pockets and can't just close up shop and skip town like a small roofing company might.  So it's actually worth hiring a lawyer because the path of least resistance for a company like BPS is to pay up, rather than close up shop and leave the state.  But I'd bet 99 times out of 100, when big companies do things like this it's because they made the calculation that most people are lazy, and the path of least resistance for them is to take their lumps and sulk rather than take action.  And by just showing initiative that you're willing to take action changes the math on their calculations in your favor. 

[gim]

Impersonating a lawyer?  Hard pass.  Whether or not its actually legal I am definitely not going that route.

 

Usually there are two sides to a story.  We've only heard one, and that's from the individual who's boat was allegedly stolen.  Perhaps there's a reason that BPS and the police are keeping silent on this issue at the moment.

[Tennessee Boy]

I ask a lawyer friend (don’t like to admit I’m friends with a lawyer 😆). He said the law could vary by location but in general when you temporarily take possession of something you are responsible for taking reasonable care of it but you do not assume total responsibility for it.   If a tornado destroyed the BPS they would not have to replace every boat in the repair shop.  The guy would have to prove they were negligent in taking reasonable care to prevent his boat from being stolen.   He also said BPS might require you to sign a statement when you drop off the boat that might limit their liability.

[Glenn]

Clearly there's more to the story than what's being presented.  I hate stuff like this because people quickly jump to conclusions based upon limited information.

 

Pretending to me a lawyer? Not my bag of tea.  Sounds unethical at best.

[GaryH]

2 minutes ago, Glenn said:

 

Pretending to me a lawyer? Not my bag of tea.  Sounds unethical at best.

Yeah but maybe he stayed at a Holiday inn express the night before 😁

[Woody B]

I suspect the law regarding this varies from State to State.  I don't know what NC law is, much less anywhere else.  A decade or so ago the Chevrolet dealership I was working at had a couple customers cars get broken into.  The dealership replaced the stuff that was stolen.  They had the same signs stating "not responsible for items left in cars" as pretty much everyone does.  

 

I would suspect a big company like BPS is self insured.  They would have a fund to pay any liabilities, and usually a 3rd party to determine what and when payment are made.  If this is the case the individual store will often do whatever they can to prevent a claim from being paid.  This would include "refusing" to help a customer file a claim.  

 

Most big companies, like BPS don't want bad publicity.  At this point most companies would settle this quickly, and quietly just to get it to go away.  

 

I have way more questions than answers.   Was the work performed?  If the work was performed will BPS be expecting payment even though they don't know where the boat is?  Was the work paid for in advance, or was/is payment due when picking up?   Did someone else come pay for the work, and pick up the boat?   

 

 

Are BPS stores all company owned, or do they have franchises?   

[VolFan]

If the boat was stolen or lost, no matter where it was, this would be a job for my insurance company. 

[Bankc]

37 minutes ago, VolFan said:

If the boat was stolen or lost, no matter where it was, this would be a job for my insurance company. 

And then your insurance probably goes up when you make that claim.  And I don't know about you, but my insurance is getting ridiculously expensive as it is, without making any claims.  And that's assuming you've got comprehensive insurance. 

 

Pretending to be a lawyer might be unethical, depending on your ethics.  Ethics are a complex and deeply personal belief, not universal.  Lots of people make a living arguing various ethical dilemmas with no clear answer.  But to me, if I had borrowed someone's boat and it got stolen, I would want to make them square, as best I could, rather than deny all responsibility.  That's my ethics.  So in this situation, I'd be okay with pretending to be a lawyer, if I was doing so to prevent having to hire an actual lawyer.  I might be lying about being a lawyer or having hired a lawyer, but I'm not lying about being willing to hire a lawyer.  So to the other party, the situation they're in is unchanged by the lie.  It doesn't affect them either way.  The only real difference between the truth and the lie is the lie allows me to avoid a potential fee from the lawyer to get the same result.  If they believe they're in the right and that the law is on their side, they won't be bothered by the intervention of a lawyer, real or imagined. 

 

But yeah, we don't know the whole story.  I'm just saying it's a path I've chosen before when wronged and I found it useful to motivate the other party into doing the right thing.  But if the story is to be believed, and they didn't even inform him that it was missing until he went to pick it up, that does suggest to me that they weren't respecting his property to begin with.  If someone cut the bolt off your fence and stole the boat, that's one thing.  If a thief wants something bad enough, they're going to get it.  But if it wasn't locked up and wasn't even noticed when it went missing... well that doesn't seem very responsible to me.  But that's IF the story is true as told...

[VolFan]

What actually happens in most cases is my insurance company talks to the other party’s insurance company and reviews the facts of the theft. Then they come to a decision about resolution, and possibly I pay my deductible. If I’m not at fault it is very unlikely that my deductible would change at all. 
 

as far as impersonating an attorney on the phone, I would see that as a high-risk, low likelihood of success tactic and would not.

[Boomstick]

I’m not sure of the specific laws, but if it went down like presented then shame on BPS.

[airshot]

On 6/7/2024 at 8:35 AM, Texas Flood said:

That Bass Pro is one of the worst Ive ever been to. They do not treat customers very well and Ive even heard employees argue with customers about certain baits(very weird) I havent shopped there in years and dont ever plan on it. 

 

This story is not shocking that they are treating the customer like the enemy. 

Sorry to hear that, the BP in my area is very helpful if you can find an employee, very scarce except for cash registers.  About an hour away is a Cabela's, their employees no nothing but then again about the only thing they have in stock is clothing.  Their fishing dept isn't much bigger than my bathroom.  No wonder folks are using online buying.

[Boomstick]

1 hour ago, airshot said:

Sorry to hear that, the BP in my area is very helpful if you can find an employee, very scarce except for cash registers.  About an hour away is a Cabela's, their employees no nothing but then again about the only thing they have in stock is clothing

I had to check if you lived between Nashua NH which has a pretty well kept and well stocked BPS and E Hartford in which the fishing section was picked clean the last few times I was in there.

[gim]

2 hours ago, airshot said:

Their fishing dept isn't much bigger than my bathroom.  No wonder folks are using online buying.

The Cabelas by me has about 30 aisles of fishing tackle. No other retail store remotely near here has anything close to the selection they have either.

 

I still shop there too. And get most of my reels re spooled there every spring, no charge.

[airshot]

17 hours ago, gimruis said:

The Cabelas by me has about 30 aisles of fishing tackle. No other retail store remotely near here has anything close to the selection they have either.

 

I still shop there too. And get most of my reels re spooled there every spring, no charge.

Our Cabela's used to be that way, awesome place for fishing gear.  Then they built a BP about an hour south of the Cables store.  The BP store has a really big fishing dept but low on stock.  In the mean time the Cabela store has reduced there fishing dept by 60-70%.  There clothing dept is hugh...as is the bargain cave.  Glad the BP store is only 15-20 minutes away, last few trips to the Cables store was very dissapointing.

[gim]

There are really no BPS stores up here. The closest one is probably in Iowa. I’m sure the proximity to a BPS plays a role in stock reduction of items.