posted on September 1, 2000 11:08:53 PM
OK Lets assume that this is a real post.
One: Have the person contact two folks, a personal injury attorney, about how he was treated, calling the cops ect. Way out of line!
Second: If This person has any type of personal property insurance, IE renters, or homeowners, condo owners, or Moble Home owners insurance, under the liability part of the policy, there is a coverage called damage to property of others, most Insurance companies limit this to $500.00, but The injured party has to show proof of loss, IE current cash value at time of loss considering condition.
I have never seen a $1500 book value doll in that arena of loss. To be honest, most antique stores put dolls for sale at above book, not adjusting for condition.
No one in their right mind would put a known $1500 doll in a rocking chair, on the floor, in an antique store!
PS I am an Insurance agent, as well as a collector/seller of the above.
Please have the person that broke the doll email me edhdsn@ pacbell.net I will help. Out of contact until Tuesday
posted on September 1, 2000 11:12:01 PM
I probably would have said: Well, here's a Nickel! Thats probably what the Doll cost when it was new, and thats more than you will be getting when you take me to court for your negligence. Plus, it will cost the store owner 15 bucks to file in small claims court. I mean, sorry to whomever this happened to... I wouldn't leave 1500.00 breakables out like that. If I had merchandise like that, it would be in a display case. I'm sure the doll is not 100% porcelin, and the body is most likely cloth and it flexed to sit in the rocking chair. The head, arms, etc were probably porcelin. Sure, what a "CUTE" display. Hope to hear the outcome of this story, although I can pretty much guess what it's going to be.
posted on September 2, 2000 12:07:49 AM
What shop owner would keep a $1,500 doll sitting in a rocking chair where anyone could damage or even walk off with it?
Every shop I've been in would have a $1,500 doll in a locked cabinet. Most shops have their $5.00 junk locked in a cabinet.
posted on September 2, 2000 02:00:01 AM
When I had a shop I asked this question to an insuarnce guy when I bought my Business Insurance. He told me to buy ???? insurance that would pay me the replacment price. The replacment price is what I would have paid for it....as this is what I could go out and buy it again for, even though it may be a one-of-a-kind. He said in most cases of this type of thing....even with a "you break it you bought it sign" it will not be the responsibilty of the customer (in this case) unless you can prove it was WILLFUL. Also, did you know that when you place a "you break it you bought it" sign it is equal to placing a "dangerous dog bites" type of sign on your gate. You are admitting that your dog is dangerous and he bites. So in this would be like you are admitting that this type of thing is likely to happen in your store. A judge would have a good laugh at this...especiall with a $1500 100 year old doll in this type of position. A common fact every business owner should do on a regular basis is...pretend you are in a wheelchair and go around your store and see what happens. I did this and put a nice sign in the window that said something like "This store is handicap accessible". I had many come in and said they loved the fact that I cared to think of them. If you don't subscribe to Country Business magazine or the like you should....give great tips/tricks and things to think about just like this with help for displays. "This was an accident waiting to happen"....why didn't you say something??? Im not on your case....but it would have been nice!!!!
[ edited by hamburgler on Sep 2, 2000 02:08 AM ]
I'm 5'2", weigh about 110 lbs and I'm afraid to go into a lot of shops! There's one in town that you have to walk single file through, because it's cram packed with merchandise. A lot of it is out of arm's reach too. Everything piled on the floor, shelves, protruding into the 3 foot aisle, etc. They have a big sign on the front door. "You break, you buy" Obviously, someone is going to break something. She gets huge crowds in season but I stay far away.
posted on September 2, 2000 07:56:23 AM
I'll say what others have said: I don't even GO to antique shops anymore because the ones here are so damn crowded that you'd have to be anorexic not to bump into something when trying to "browse". Stuff is piled high, covering every surface, and it makes me TOO nervous.
You know, I even take issue with places like Wal-Mart where the "aisles" formed by the racks of clothing are too narrow to navigate a basket through, when they KNOW you're going to be shopping with a basket. Or my other peeve, the thrift stores where the clothing racks are so crammed that you can't budge things an inch to look and see what they've got. Goodwill, for some reason, is the worst offender.. their "lingerie" section is always a jumble of tangled hangers and ANYTHING you touch falls off the hanger and onto the floor.
I agree, the shop owner wasn't too bright in leaving a doll of that value in a place where it could be broken!
Accidents happen! I was in a thrift store with a "you break, you buy" policy the other day when I broke a really cool ashtray that I had in my cart and was planning to buy. It was super cheap but I was mad at myself because it was *neat* and I wanted it. I offered to pay and the price wasn't even visible after I broke it into a hundred pieces, but since it was clearly an ACCIDENT they refused to let me pay for it, which I thought was very gracious since their policy states otherwise. I imagine the policy is posted for clear cases of *carelessness* or neglect, or people who are letting their kids run pell mell through the breakables section. For all they knew it could have been priced much higher than the $.65 price it had marked on it before I broke it.
posted on September 2, 2000 09:08:00 AM
I'm the original poster.
I was in the store this morning and the owner's plan to write a demand letter to the offending couple, write a second and third and then plan on taking them to small claims court sometime around mid December. I said nothing but merely sagely nodded my head. The rocker is in the same position as yesterday.
