Roof rack ransom

Just got off the phone to Brian Squirrell in Pulham St Mary, Suffolk (roof rack man) who made a whole palaver of this not being the roofrack on ebay, when it so blinking obviously was (and interesting because I didn't mention ebay this time!) and then said that if we want it back we have to pay him his expenses.

What expenses?
The cost of taking my roof-rack from where I had it (before I gave it to him for his project) to his place + the money he paid the landowner for it! I owned it.....he didn't need to pay the landowner a penny, but presumably did so to assert ownership, even though it actually belonged to me then.

This really irritated me, to say the least, and I said something like, "Look here, you want me to pay you for a roof rack I gave you completely free and which we gave you as a fellow J type restorer? !"

Then he said "actually, I'd rather cut it up".....and he hung up on me.

What a completely unprincipled bastard.

Well, some would say it serves me right for writing all that naive nonsense about restoring bringing the best out in people and how we are like a co-operative and it is not a money grubbing business. I suppose I can say goodbye to those springs of mine in his garage too; I expect they will be added to his ebay list.

Make a note of the guy's name. He's not the sort of character you want to do business with.

There's a moral, which is to make clear to someone you give something to, that it is for their project and must not be sold for profit; that if they decide not to use it, it must be returned to the giver....and put this in writing. If they can't agree to that, then they must pay the going rate for it.

I feel really hurt by Brian's attitude because I feel we were very generous and he has completely slapped us in the face.