Q: Bought house, owners did estate sale. Cleaning crew took vintage mounted phone-NOT for sale, have stated their error. ??
The estate sale company has acknowledged that the clean up crew wrongly took the phone and sold it. Company says they want to make it right. It’s a for real vintage, red wall mounted rotary phone in pristine condition. It was mounted on the wall. (There’s a newer beige wall mounted phone in the kitchen that they did not take). Company said they’ll make it right, asking what can they do. There’s a few phones similar to one stolen on EBay & Etsy. We don’t want to gouge the company but we really feel violated and definitely want a phone close to the original they stole. This was a crime. What should we do?
A: I'm unsure this is a crime as there's no indication of criminal intent. Fortunately for you, the company seems to want to make it right. Show them the listings of similar phones and tell them which one they should purchase for you.
Kenneth V Zichi agrees with this answer
A: I concur this isn’t a ‘crime’ so be careful how you approach this. A ‘crime’ requires intent and this — particularly with the response of the company trying to ‘make it right’ — shows there is no criminal intent, just a very unfortunate mistake. It is ‘negligence’ at best and if you can find a similar ‘vintage’ phone and they can make it right by replacing the object, do let them do that and move on.
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