From: sgilbert@utkvx2.utk.edu (Steve Gilbert)
Subject: Re: Tape trades gone bad? Help!
Followup-To: rec.music.gdead
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 03:40:00 GMT

In article <milewski-070193134053@fp2-st-affairs-3.uoregon.edu>, milewski@oregon.uoregon.edu (Steve Milewski) writes...
10000>In article <9301071810.AA11626@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca>,
>stevep@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca (Steve Portigal) wrote:
>>In one case I've been waiting 7 months for the tapes,
>> each time I send email I wait weeks before hearing back, and am told
>> "it's in the mail". Funny how one person can't seem to manage to reach
>> while everyone else has no problem.
>> 
>>  I'm wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and how they have
>> dealt with it. Do you just write it off? It's really tempting to blast this
>> person's name all over the net with a dire warning "Do trade with XXXXX",
>> but that seems somehow vengeful. What I want is to get my tapes, if not
>> then at least get blanks back. I would like to prevent others from having
>> this problem as well, but I don't want this to degrade into name calling.
> 
>Steve:
>I've run into the same problem with tape tree traders on this net. Only
>it's been the other way around, I've sent recorded tapes and have been
>waiting for blanks to be returned.
> 
>There are a number of people who I've had this problem with and I've had no
>response at all to followup letters and postcards. I'm just a FOG (front
>office grunt) here and so, don't make that much money so being burned on
>the tapes is a real drag.
> 
>I've basically written those tapes off and I've learned my lesson. On tape
>trees I'll trade directly with the branch and won't make copies for anyone
>unless they send blanks first or I'll deal with folks on one to one trades
>rather than trees. As far as I'm concerned, these folks just ruin it for
>everyone, but why spread bad karma by throwing names around on the net?
> 
>I'd be interested to find out if this has happened, and on what scale,  to
>some of the big tape tree coordinators like Paolo Galtieri. (Folks like
>this need to be commended for the job they do).
> 
>Anyway, FWIW, Steve

Sorry about including all the above stuff, but I'm on a funky keyboard and
can't get my editor to work properly :-(

My case is a little different, but perhaps it can be helpful.  I've traded with
several people on the net via trees and one-on-one.  All of this trading has
been successful for me.  However, a  few months ago, I finally met someone at
my school who trades Dead tapes.  He had a huge collection of real crisp shows.
I was psyched about doing some trading--no more snail mail or postage costs!  I
got to know this guy pretty well, or so I thought, and felt really confident
about taping with him.  I went to his apartment one night and took three tapes
of mine that he didn't have and a box of blanks that he was "more than happy to
fill for me."  Anyway, I had an exam to study for the next day, so I STUPIDLY
left my tapes with him and his five tape decks.  
	Anyway, one month, a thousand phone calls, a hundred messages with his
roomate, and twenty trips to his place later, I still hadn't heard from him. 
To make matters worse, I was moving out of my dorm to go home for the vacation
(fifty miles away).  This was a major bummer.  I was ready to write him off as
the child of Satan and forget it.
	A week after I got home I was talking to a friend's mom who happens to
be a cop.  She told me to go back to his county and take out a warrant to have
him arrested for theft.  Although it did sound very tempting, I wasn't really
willing to have some jerk thrown in jail on Christmas because he has no life. 
However, a friend and I got an idea.  All I knew about this guy was his campus
address and phone number and that his parents lived somewhere over in the next
town.  We got that town's phone book and looked up everyone under his last
name.  Since he was only twenty years old, we hoped that Mommy and Daddy might
have some influence.
	I called his dad and started letting the crap flow:
	"Hi, Mr. xxx, this is Sheriff Pusser from xxx County.  I have a citizen
here who claims that your son, Mr. xxx of 1313 Imatheif Lane has stolen some of
his property.  He's come to me and filed a warrant #(blah, blah) for his
arrest.  All I need to do is transfer this to your county and the local
authorities will  pick your son up.  I just thought that maybe if I could
contact you, we might be able to settle this without any legal hassle."
	That was all it took.  The old man freaked out.  The next morning my
tapes were delivered to my door.
	What I did was probably illegal, but it was better than really throwing
someone in jail.  Perhaps there is some legal action you can take.  Of course,
your crook may not be under his parents' control.  The fact that he's far away
complicates the matter, too.  Look into your legal rights and see what you can
do.  Good luck.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Gilbert            ~ "We can make beans 	~ sgilbert@utkvx.utk.edu
Clement Hall, Box 408    ~  into peas!"         ~ pa26017@utkvm1.utk.edu
1629 W. Cumberland Ave.  ~     --Benson,        ~ gilbert@cs.utk.edu
Knoxville, TN  37916	 ~	 "Time Bandits" ~ sgilbert@nyx.cs.du.edu
Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead