What would have done?

[hummer]

Back in March when my neighbor gave me Miffy,she came in the dog kennel she is still in. (I checked thelocal PetSmart and retail for the same one is $150.00) Iasked her if she wanted it back and she said no. Now thebunny was actually her son's (who at the time was into wrestling and isnow in the Marines), and he was given the bunny for xmas lastyear. From what I was told, the mom had talked to her acouple of times to tell her that she was going to give the bunny awayand to get the cage. She never did. The nowex-boyfriend knew about all this adnd did and said nothing.Now 5 months after this all happened, the girl shows up on my doorstepbasically thinking that I would give her the cage! I told herthat was not going to happen (at least 3 times), she kept saying thatshe wanted me to understand that the cage was not even hers, it wasborrowed from a friend of hers. I understood and that did notchange anything. I asked my old neighboor at the time aboutthe cage and she said no, its yours now. She made attempts tohave the girl come and take the cage back and she never did.



Am I right about this? I feel sorry for her and told her thatbasically this is an expensive lesson that she had to learn.My friend down the street heard them saying (they went to the wronghouse at first) that maybe if they say that they will take the bunnythat thenI willgive themthecage!:shock: NO WAY! Miffy is home and she is notgoing anywhere, especially to a girl who thinks it is ok to give abunny to a high school wrestler who is going into the Marines in amatter of months! And he did not care when his mom gave methe bunny.

 

[mambo101]

As my grandmother would say, Tell her to go pound salt!!!!

 

[Shuu]

Oh, heck no. They gave you the cage. You askedif they wanted it back. Their own fault. Tell them to go to some garagesales if they want a cage.

 

[naturestee]

It's been 5 months. It's your bunny's home. It stays.

Tell her you never agreed to take backs, and you made sure that this was what the owners wanted several months ago.

 

[Mr. Stee]

I would go get it in writing that the cage andbun are yours from the understanding neighbor. The more proofyou have they're yours the less trouble you may have to go through.

 

[hummer]

Thanks for the reasurring posts! Thiswas definatly one of those times where I felt I did nothingwrong. I did tell her that if she needed to replace it tomaybe check out garage sales and she gave me the look as "I can'tbelieve you just said that!:?". As far as I am concerned, itis a dead issue now, although it would not surprise me if the friend ofhers tried the same thing. I mean, if she comes 5 monthslater than obviously she is getting pressure from somewhere.



But not my problem! :wink:I am off to bed now (11:45 pm here) so that I can get up at a decent hour tomorrow!

 

[TinysMom]

hummer wrote:

AmI right about this? I feel sorry for her and told her thatbasically this is an expensive lesson that she had to learn.

First of all, I'm not saying that what you did was wrong - but it isn'twhat I would have done.I guess maybe I was broughtup a bit old-fashioned 'cause mom always told me to treat others theway I would want to be treated....

If it had been me, I would have asked for the name and contact numberof the person who owned the kennel so I could deal directly with themand find out the situation....and possibly asked the true owner forsome time to come up with a kennel or see if I could buy the kennel ata greatly reduced rate. It doesn't seem fair to punishtheoriginal owner of the kennel for this girl'sactions... I would also let the original owner know the wholestory and that the kennel was now the rabbit's home and that I didn'tthink it was right to rehome the rabbit if something could be workedout...perhaps the owner could get the girl to replace the kennel or thegirl and I could split the charges of replacing it with one from a fleamarket or something.

However, that's just me and what I would do....I'm not saying what youdid was wrong....just sharing since you'd asked what folks would do....

Peg

 

Hummer , HonestlyHad this happened to me I wouldhave told the girlthat since it had been solong since you had offered to give itback And no onewanted it then , Now A storage charge of$5.00 a day was in effect andshe owes you for storage fromDay one till now .

After all If she wasto have put it into Storagethis is about what it wouldhave cost her .

 

[Stan_and_Jane]

Keep the bun and the cage, some people!

 

[bunsforlife]

I like Gypsy's advice. PErsonally I would tell her tough luck =p

Had a situation like that with a printer. A girl who wasliving with us for a while (since my parents took pity on my collegeroommate who had no where to go for breaks) got a free computer with aprinter from DCF. She didnt want it. She told myfamily multiple times that she was giving it to them for taking her in(she never paid for rent or anything, even took her on vacation withus!) Thank goodness I have this written down by her.

We had a falling out, a really bad one, wont go into details except shealmost broke a family apart, my then boss (I was a nanny).Well my mom kicked her out. About 3 months later she sent mea nasty email saying she was going to call the police if we didnt giveher her computer back.

We sent an invoice to her.

Room and Board for 12 months (total time she stayed with us, excluding school time)

$ 500 for the vacation to Niagra Falls

$100 for storage of her belongings (She had a LOT Of junk which we had to haul after the falling out for her)

$20 for breaking the glass tabletop in her bedroom

and various other little expenses. We also sent her a copy of the letter she sent us giving us the computer.

Never heard another peep out of her =p

 

[cirrustwi]

This is a crazy situation. I would getit in writing from the neighbor that the rabbit and the cage are nowyours. I would then tell the girl, if she comes back, thatshe needs to deal with the guy she gave the rabbit to in the firstplace. He didn't care enough to find the rabbit a home andallowed the cage to be given away. Replacing the cage shouldreally be between them.

Jen

 

[Stan_and_Jane]

This is bad advice, asking for it in writingimplies some doubt in your mind, title to that rabbit and cage passedwhen you took it on, period! When I give or accept something I usuallyask for or give a nominal £1 and legally that's it.

 

[JimD]

I've got an extra cage she can have for free......

....she just needs to come pick it up in New Jersey

~Jim

 

[cirrustwi]

JimD wrote:

I've got an extra cage she can have for free......

....she just needs to come pick it up in New Jersey

~Jim

Yeah, tell her if she makes it to PA, I probably have one too.

Jen

 

[Mr. Stee]

The problem with verbal contracts in our systemis that they don't hold up sqaut legally. If they can showproof of purchase without a written document to prove otherwise theycould press the issue into small claims courts and have a good chanceof winning.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

Sounds like maybe the boyfriend broke up withher and she's just being snitty now. Tell her to take it upwith him.

Isn't possession still 9/10 of the law or something likethat? Obviously, she doesn't have any proof or she would havebusted it out by now. I hopeshe doesn't find thereceipt from when she bought Miffy.

Laura

 

[Mr. Stee]

you are right. Possession is 9/10thsthe law out side of written contracts and a proof of sale (A.K. areceipt) is considered a written contract.

 

[Carolyn]

Although I agree that it's important to getthings in writing, I'm hard pressed to believe that the girl would gothrough the trouble of small claims court since she doesn't even wantto bother getting another cage - which would take 1/2 the time andtrouble and then some.

Tell her she can get a cage on Ebay for more than 1/2 of what she paid for her last one.

Besides...she gifted it to you and once someone gives you a"gift", you don't have to give it back. Her wordagainst yours,it would be quite surprisingif it didgo to the small claims court that a judge would reward her with it inthe end.

-Carolyn

 

[Mr. Stee]

Your right. I'm sure she is raising a stink just to blow steam anyways. Stand strong.

 

[JimD]

Mr. Stee wrote:

The problem with verbal contracts in our system is that theydon't hold up sqaut legally. If they can show proof ofpurchase without a written document to prove otherwise they could pressthe issue into small claims courts and have a good chance of winning.

Wouldn't sheonly be able to prove proof of "borrowing", inlight of the fact that.... "she kept saying that shewanted me to understand that the cage was not even hers, it wasborrowed from a friend of hers."

She indicated that she did'n't own it.

Even if she did, she gave it to her boyfriendand relinquished ownership unless some other agreement was made, right?

Judge Judy would have a blast with this one, eh?!?!

Who was it that said, "Neither a lender nor a borrower be"...was that Poor Richard?