I am going to relate a shocking experience I had this past month. As I have mentioned in a previous posts, I buy and sell used golf carts on a small scale to make a little extra money. I hire a professional hauler to haul my carts whether I am getting one or if the people that buy from me need the cart delivered. I go and see some of the carts before I buy them sometimes driving as much as 150 miles round trip. Some of the carts I just take the money and a Bill of Sale to Tim, my hauler, and he takes it with him to pick up the cart and gives it to the seller and brings back a signed copy of the Bill of Sale. He has hauled over thirty carts for me in the past eighteen months. On one occasion where I did not go look at the cart, Tim called me and said the cart will not run onto the truck what do you want me to do? I told him come back do not give them the money. The seller said the batteries were only two months old, Tim looked at them and determined they were no good and probably several years old. So, I paid Tim $150 for the trip and did not get a cart. Another occasion people stopped him on the Freeway and wanted to drive the cart on his trailer so he let them take a spin. The man wanted the cart the woman did not, so it was just a deviation on Tim’s trip. Tim lives in the town ten miles from me. The town I live in has a population of about 80,000 but many of the carts are from as many as 100 miles away. I determine with the hauling cost if I can make money on them selling them in this area and if the cart is in excellent condition, I do not repair them.
Last month when looking at Craigslist Phoenix and Facebook Marketplace I found a Western golf cart that seemed like a very good deal. I had purchased a couple of carts previously from this seller so felt pretty confident it would be a good cart. I called Tim and set up the time for the pickup and told him I would go to the bank and get the money and ask if he would be home. Tim said he was going to a doctor’s appointment, he said just leave it under my garage door, I will leave it up a little bit just slip it under the door. I will leave as soon as I get home from the doctor.
I had $1600 cash at home and went to the bank to get $1,100 from my bank account. I went inside and got $1100 in $100 bills and went to the car to prepare two envelopes as I always did on purchases, one for the seller, one for Tim. I put $2600 in the seller envelope and $180 in Tim’s envelope and put them in a bank money bag. I then drove to Tim’s house about five miles away. When I got there the garage door was up about two inches. I slipped the bag under the door and went back and pushed it a little further and looked to see if you could see anything standing outside near the door. I HAD A BAD FEELING LEAVING $2700 THAT WAY AS I RETURNED TO THE CAR. It continued to bother me as I drove home.
Two hours later, I get a frantic call from Tim asking me if I left the money, I said “yes I slipped it under the garage door.” He said, “there is nothing on the floor of my garage, someone has stolen the money.” We both agreed for him to call the sheriff’s office. Later that day they sent an officer that collected all of the details. The officer also called me to get information. The officer speculated that since the neighbors on both sides of Tim were elderly and not likely suspects, that someone followed me from where I counted the money in my car at the bank, and held back a little on the street following me in a vehicle to see where I was going with the money. After I dropped it, they just pulled up and probably had to get something to fish the money bag out of the garage, but they got it and were gone. The officer said they were getting more and more calls where criminals are following people after they have been to the bank, and several have involved shootings. He said I was lucky that when I got out of the car that the bad guy did not stop me pull a gun on me and hold me up, and possibly shoot me for the money.
I did a lot of research on Homeowner’s Insurance policies and cash losses. Homeowner’s policies sometimes will reimburse policy holders a small about from $200 to $1000 for cash losses. I had Tim file a claim with Geico and they pay nothing for cash losses. We both determined Geico is not a good insurance company. They were rude and seemed insulted Tim would file a claim. Tim and his wife filled out the forms and sent them in and got them back with a big “Denied” stamp on the front. So the result is I am out $2700. I should never have agreed to put the money under a garage door.
BE CAREFUL CRIME IS EVERYWHERE IT SEEMS AND THEY FIGURE OUT ALL KINDS OF WAYS YOU MIGHT NOT BE AWARE OF TO GET MONEY FOR DRUGS