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Computer never picked up

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Comptech

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

Facts:
= I run a computer repair business. A man brought a computer that had a bad virus on it, to my office to have the virus removed. He bought it over in March 2010.
= I asked him to write down his contact information and he just wrote down his name and phone number and no address. He did say he lived in a very small town which is apx. 10 miles away.
= While I was fixing his computer I called him several times at the phone number he gave me, to ask him some details about what software programs he used on the computer and I was able to contact him even though I had to call more then once sometimes to get hold of him.
= I did $130 worth of extensive labor and was able to keep all his installed programs and data, remove the viruses (more then one) and restore his computer to reasonably good working order. My work was part time and it was completed in early May. He had told me when he brought the computer to me that there was no hurry at all to fix it since he had another computer at home to use.
= After It was fixed I tried to call him, but now I got a message from the phone company when I called that that same phone number was no longer in service. Each time I tried to call him I got the same phone company message.
= As of now (March 2011) a year later, the customer has never contacted me to come and pay me and pick up his computer.
= During the year I have tried to locate the customer to no avail. He has no new phone number in the phone book under his name. I even looked in a 2 yr. old phone book and saw a person with a his name in another town nearby and called them, but the person wasn't him. I also tried calling the phone number he gave me a year ago and now a new person has been assigned that number.
What do I do now?
Thanks ...
 


BL

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

Facts:
= I run a computer repair business. A man brought a computer that had a bad virus on it, to my office to have the virus removed. He bought it over in March 2010.
= I asked him to write down his contact information and he just wrote down his name and phone number and no address. He did say he lived in a very small town which is apx. 10 miles away.
= While I was fixing his computer I called him several times at the phone number he gave me, to ask him some details about what software programs he used on the computer and I was able to contact him even though I had to call more then once sometimes to get hold of him.
= I did $130 worth of extensive labor and was able to keep all his installed programs and data, remove the viruses (more then one) and restore his computer to reasonably good working order. My work was part time and it was completed in early May. He had told me when he brought the computer to me that there was no hurry at all to fix it since he had another computer at home to use.
= After It was fixed I tried to call him, but now I got a message from the phone company when I called that that same phone number was no longer in service. Each time I tried to call him I got the same phone company message.
= As of now (March 2011) a year later, the customer has never contacted me to come and pay me and pick up his computer.
= During the year I have tried to locate the customer to no avail. He has no new phone number in the phone book under his name. I even looked in a 2 yr. old phone book and saw a person with a his name in another town nearby and called them, but the person wasn't him. I also tried calling the phone number he gave me a year ago and now a new person has been assigned that number.
What do I do now?
Thanks ...
So what is your business policy about PCs that go un-picked up ?

What are you trying to accomplish here ?
 

Comptech

Junior Member
To the Reply asking what advice I am asking for in this Forum ..

The "policy" in my computer business is to follow the legal steps for what to do when a Consumer doesn't pick up equipment they leave in a place to have repairs done on it.

Being a legal Forum, I am inquiring for what poper legal procedures do I follow. For instance ...

Am I supposed to put some kind of short Notice in a newspaper that the Customer has 30 days to pick up the computer or it will be put up for sale?

Can I legally put it up for sale to recover my $130 repair fee?

Is the computer "abandoned" or "unclaimed" property which needs to be reported to NY State?

I'm sure my business is not the first one that had a Customer not come back to pick up an item being repaired and I'm sure there must be legal procedures to follow. That's why the inquiry is here in this Forum.

Advice would be appreciated.
 

BL

Senior Member
I would safety assume the property would fall under abandonment .

I would take out the hard drive and do with it as you please .

I'd also suggest since this is a business ,you write out your policy including abandoned property and give a copy to each customer .Keep a log of the customer name and contact and have them initial a space that they did receive a copy of your policy .

I'd also suggest posting large enough easily viewable signs in your business.

You are a business and I'm sure you could get some feedback on how to handle your business from others in the field .

Example :

If a customer has not contacted us in 60 days we will consider the property abandoned .We will make every effort to contact the customer by mail,phone, or email .

Once we consider the property abandoned we will destroy the hard drive ( if applicable ) and do with the rest as we see fit .
 

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