They tried to steal my motor PART II!

This evening, I was on break at work viewing my email. I got an email from another board member that said he saw my boat sitting on the side of the on ramp to southbound 167 at the Algona/Pacific exit. I immediately left work and raced down 167 and sure enough there it was right were he said it would be. My boat was stolen from AUBURN SPORT & MARINE and I did not know it was missing. The motor was gone and everything was taken out of the boat. They took the tail lights and winch assembly off of my new trailer also.

Tomorrow, AUBURN SPORT & MARINE is going to have some answering to do. I dropped my boat off there Saturday morning so they could inspect the motor for damage from the first theft attempt Saturday early morning.

Funny thing, the Trooper, and later, the tow truck operator that was at the scene were telling me an unknown caller tried to get his tow company to tow my boat to an Albertson's near by so he (unknown caller) could recover it. The tow company did not tow my boat and smartly reported the call to the WSP. My boat had not been reported stolen so the tow company would not touch it. Apparently, my boat has been sitting on the on ramp for three days and no one did anything about it till now.

I was beginning to wonder why AS&M had not called me with a repair estimate yet. Hmmmmmm.......

Dam Carl, your cursed. But this could be a blessing in disguise. Why did they not report it stolen? How the hell did someone get it out of padlocked razor wired chainlink fence? And of all the boats they could steal, why yours? Looks like someone is going to have to answer some serious questions. Looks as though you may get everything back for all your trouble. They must be liable or atleast insured. Hell, isn't that place expensive enough? Now it cost you your boat. Doesn't this world suck sometimes. I know what your going through man. It'll all work out.

I saw it there yesterday also. When I saw "Easy Limits" written on the side of it, I thought of you, but thought- NAHHH this guy couldn't possibly have that bad of luck.
Hopefully the fish Gods will make it up to you when you finally get back in the water. And hopefully the people responsible will get theirs also.
Let us know how AS&M handles this.

UNBELIEVABLE!! ...guess they were bound and determined to get that motor...man that sucks. Hope everything works out ok.

Seems to me that we need a few more cops on the street at NIGHT!!! And for crying out loud, you know that these boat dealers and repair shops are frequent targets of theft, why can't something be done about it? Like maybe some video surveilence, or maybe a doberman, or a pitbull, or a german shepard, or a security guard with a .357!!! I feel for you Carl, you're really gettin' screwed!

Another thing, I don't think your boat was on the ramp three days. I definitely would have noticed.
Did AS&M report a theft from their yard? One would think that there would be evidence of a break in. Were there any other things taken from them, or was it just your stuff?

BB,

AS&M has not contacted me about the boat being gone. According to the WSP my boat has not been reported stolen by AS&M or me.

I will be talking to AS&M later this afternoon to get more details. I hope they have a good insurance policy!

i think repair shops have a disclaimer stateing they are not responsible for lost or stolen items. which is real weak and lame but give them hell anyway.

They may have a disclaimer about theft. Do they have a disclaimer that says "we don't follow through with the customer when we have a repair order and no boat to go with it"? How about a phone call??

AuntyM, that is very possible. Why would someone want a damaged motor? Unless they have the means to repair it. I am thinking "inside job".

well, the way i see it is, do not put your name on it, they will and can target you, thats why i have no bumper stickers on my vehicle, after i was broke into and lost 4000$$ stereo, cd's, i took off all stickers, so did you ever get a good alarm on your truck?? im gonna go with the compustar, it has a remote with simulated car to tell if my doors open, anyways, shoo, hope all works out.. **berkley boy**

I need an alarm for my boat!

It just seems way fishy that your boat is the one that was targeted. There were numerous $15,000 boats just sitting there on the lot. It would be stupid to choose your boat over those, obviously. And how the hell did they get it out. Right next to auburn way too. You can't sit in aburn for more than 3 minutes before a cop drives by. I don't see how they did it. Can't wait to hear what ASM has to say about it.

Possibility.... Some mob connected hoods running from the cops sees your boat in the driveway and in desperation stashes 15 pounds of blow in it and runs away...

Scene 2> Large fat man siitting behind big desk smoking cigar..." get me that boat or your a dead man "....

Ya think???

Damn Carl, I feel for you bro Keep us up to date as to whats going on. Funny thing is that I got a call yesterday from AS&M to let me know my part was in and that I'll need to drop my boat off for repairs. I told them I will come down and have it fixed and then take it with me!

if they screw you over carl, id say, get all the people on the board to quit shopping there and go to sportco, where you get far better prices anyways..i was looking at a gl2 1265 there, jus checking quality, dude there says that the rainshadow 1264 is just a knock off of the gl2 1265, so im not sure about buying from there, when i hear nukerous reports about the rainshadow being a super rod for the money.. **berkley boy**

I was going to go over to AS&M today for some supplies, but I will pass now. I am afraid I may ask a few questions about their negligence and there policies. Probably not the best move until Carl kicks their arses for a while.

I do know that if they do not make things right by him, I will personally take up with Carl in picketing them and spreading the word.

Just let me know Carl, and I will be with you 100%!!

Scott

EL Im with Dekuma on that one I have spent thousands of $ at A/S/M and if they dont take care of you I will go down a KICK some butt with you. David the owner should take care of you. If not I wont spend another dime there!!!!!!

Sure glad my name's not David.

But seriously, what do you think he should do for EL? Claim it on his insurance? Do you actually think he will? As much as I feel for EL, I don't think that they will.

I didn't want to say anything about an inside job until I heard about whether or not AS&M reported a theft, but that's my gut feeling right now. I see 3 scenarios of how your boat left the yard.

1. They broke the lock or fence. - AS&M would know immediately that something was up and should have called the cops.

2. The bad guys had a key to the lock. Either stolen or given to them. They pull the boat out and lock it back up.

3. Someone let the bad guys in.

I think it would be bad business for AS&M to try to blow you off. If there is even a hint that there's someone on the inside helping out the bad guys, or that they somehow have free after-hours access, they'll probably lose more business than your boat and trailer cost combined!

hey EL, I see you are on the board now, and I have assumed you have called them already. What's the word?

I would also consider throwing out terms that business owners hate to hear if you start to get blown off by them.
Those words would be BBB, and Attourney General's consumer protection division, oh almost forgot...King5 works too.

SkyGuy.

Sorry EL. bad luck.
If AM&S valued your bussiness or any one else they will take care of it. Why not have AS&M claim it on there insurance, it was on there lot.
As far as disclaimer about not being responsible, there are loop holes to that. Your property was on there lot with permission, they are liable . D o you know how many people sued the city of Seattle when they got hurt from falling debries from the Kingdom, quiet a few and they did win the case; on the back of the sporting events tickets has the same disclaimer saying they are not responsible for damage to property, theft loss ..etc..........

You do have a case against them because of liability. Harm, damge theft.... was done to you because of negligence ie (faulty gate, lock not working cameras etc.......on and on.

Don't let those disclaimers scare you off in thinking you are up **** creek.

Please let us know what happens. If they mis treat one customer then they are likely to do it to others which = bad bussiness. If they don;t take care of you, take your bussiness else where and I am sure many others will do the same on here.

Good luck in getting it resolved.

I have not called AS&M yet. I am stopping by there in person later, after I get off work. Let's not throw them under the bus yet. They have not had a chance to do things right by me yet.

I will keep all of you posted.

That is the pits man with AS&M you have to prove negligence and if the boat wasn't reported missing and the gate was broken or whatever means to get in wasn't reported to the police and a quick inventory never done I feel you have a case

I must say this whole thing is like a Seinfeld episode, that is if you are not the one victimized. The first attempt, along with the AS&M situation is crazy. The odds of that happening are astronomical. I think you have been targeted by somone, something. Wife. girlfriend, boy friend of girl friend??? Perhaps a land shark with payback in mind for all those dogfish you have slayed. Really, this is most unfortunate buit I can't believe it is by chance... Good luck to you

Carl,

I can't remember where the 3 days came up from but that is incorrect. As many times as I have talked to you and seen you on the river lately I vouch that it had not been three days. I live off of that exit and take it every night along with my wife so that would be 6 times one of us would have saw it. It hit me in the face when I saw it as if it were my own. I would say no more than a day. There is absolutely no way it was there since saturday sitting on that on ramp. NO FREEKING WAY!!!!

But keep us informed.

I stopped by AS&M today on my way home. I walked into the store and played dumb. I ask the service counter about my boat I had dropped off Saturday morning. I explained to the counter person I wanted to know how the damage estimate was going since they had not called me. They looked around for a work order and finally said they were going to get the manager. The manager (President David Knudtzon) came out with the work order and said, "you have a 14' Northwood?" I replied, "yes". The manager said, after a brief pause, "we don't have your boat." I said, "really". Then I said, "I know you don't have my boat because I recovered it last night off of Hwy 167." The manager said, "was it striped?". I said, "oh ya, completely".

I told them the whole story about the weekend. They were in aw! What our conversation boiled down to was he was willing to make some kind of settlement with me providing I show him my receipts for the boat/motor/trailer. I explained to him my insurance allotment would not nearly cover the full amount of loss/repair and I did expect some compensation from him/AS&M.

We shall see what happens next.

Tell him you want one of HIS overpriced boats sitting in his lot for your trouble. Anyway at least something is coming out of it. Did he happen to mention noticing his place had been tampered with (Fence) or had anything else been taken along with your boat?

Just seems if you were to be willing to take something off of that property and take the chances that were taken, there is alot more things on top of the list than your boat on that lot.

Guess that is why criminals are always caught doing something totally stupid.

So, Carl, what did they say about how it happened? Did they even know it was gone before you got there? Had they filed a police report? Inquiring minds want to know!

I personally think you ought to go buy a lottery ticket - you have piled up a considerable amount of karma here. I think you deserve a lot of credit for reserving judgement on the boat shop as well. Such calmness in the face of fire is rare.

Carl... You are waaaay to nice man.

I'd be demanding them paying for everything. Thats real sloppy business if they just let go of a boat like that and dont pay for it all either. Sloppy.

Just another scam in corporate America. Geesh.

Curtis

Sorry if my typing is bad... Just got back from a cross country meet.

AS&M has an unprotected side lot across the street from their main lot. They keep all of the boats they are going to work on there, during normal business hours, so there is parking on the main lot for normal customer traffic. When they close for the day they move all of the boats on the side lot to the fenced in main lot for security. Like I said, the side lot is unprotected. I even mentioned to the president of AS&M they need to change there storage policy/procedure for the side lot so what happened to me does not happen to someone else.

You know what, I think the whole thing is bull****. Too unforgiving, screwy logic, and a another fish tale. This is some kind of cry for help from FS. Think about it. They try to steal your motor. You find your boat stolen, listing on a ramp. Not all that concerned about the people who lost it? This is an x files case led by FS! Two days after the motor theft? Sounds like an insurance scam. Think about it.....

Golfer, you lost me.....who is FS?

I am lost too Carl, don't feel left-out.

I know what you mean by the "side" lot. It was the first place that came to mind when I read your post. I have seen many people hanging around in that lot at times. Seems to be a hang-out for the punks in Auburn at times. Still, AS&M should do right by you, one way or the other.

Scott

Hey EL, I think the guy at AS&M knew what was up before you showed up.

I am not 100% sure but I wan't to say there is a guy on here who frequents this BB and does a lot of business or works at AS&M and he could have gave them a heads up about the problems you have had. This is not a good or bad thing but becareful in how you approch things.
I can say, I would have flown off my handle and gone bezerk on there ass but you seem more calm and collective. Hope everything works out well.

P.S. if you need a new place for your tackle give Salmon Bay a try, great shop and a great customer service ( had to get that plug in for my fav. tackle shop)

me what? or another FS you lost me too??

that does suck EL..

i had my car broken into recently at the cowlitz and know how it feels, but twice DAMN DUDE!!!!

Divers, on a brighter note.....I did not loose any fishing gear during either attack! Other than my Scotty Lake Trolls that were hanging off the back of the boat. Those are no big deal though.

Well at least they didnt get any of your gear.ASM Really needs to rethink how they treat peoples property.My boat came from there.And sticking custumers
boats across the street in the unprotected lot is unexceptable.
Im not even sure that the lot is thiers or the cemetarys.And they need to see your reciepts.Well I would be pissed but I would give them to them and tell them that that is the amount of $$$ they can give you off the new 15' smokercraft lodge model with the 25hp four stroke that they should give you for cost.

Maybe this will be a wake up call for them. Since this has supposedly "never happened there before".

Hell carl, you should tell them that 100's of people are talking about this on PP's BB and how ASM will suffer if things aren't handled correctly. And that everyone is pissed and are already considering never going to ASM again. I KNOW they will listen to that. NOONE wants a bad name on the internet. You know how moody fisherpeople can be. Settle for nothing less than what you had before this happened!!!

Carl, What kinda shape is your hull in after getting ripped off the trailer? You mentioned a dent. But how do the rivets look? It took alot of pressure to break the tie downs. Hope this didnt tweek the hull enough to make it a leaker.

I have taken my boat to thier shop for work before and ya know what? They won't even let you put a paddlock on the trailor to make it hard for someone to take the thing. Hope they change that policy.

The hull of my boat has two guides on it to help it track through the water. The guides took most of the beating, a lot of scrapes. I still need to water test the hull.

Hey Carl,

I would call a lawyer and get some advice over the phone. It would seem to me that if you have a signed work order that the place of repair is fully responsible for all damages. If they leave boats in a situation where they could be stolen then they need to have that as a disclaimer, if not....pay up.

I managed a garage once, damage was done to a car that was not in our posession but since the customer had a signed work order....we had to foot the bill. Courts will side with the customer. You had reasonable expectations that the store wouild take reasonable care of your boat and make sure it was not stolen. Placing an unsecured trailer in an unsecured lot for whatever time with no security or cameras or anything is negligence. Sorry that business is so good that they have to park there but still negligence.

Also, call the police and see if the store filed a stolen boat report. It would be good to write down sequence of events too. If the store made no effort to find you, file a report or anything then you have them over a barrel.

Don't settle for anything less than full replacement of what you had. Don't let them discount the cost for wear and tear....you had perfectly working stuff that was not old.

Finally, I can't say it enough..... find another place to live and do business. At least it will get you to a better area and maybe get you off the scope of whomever has you targeted.

I do not think this is random. Too many things happening in too short a time.

EL,

Sheesh! They just don't want to cut you a break do they? I'd highly suggest getting yourself a good attorney (or at least talking to one). Something tells me AS&M gonna give you HE double hockeystix.

Kick Arse EL!

Here's wishing you Good Luck and hopefully soon to be Good Fishin!

~SFJ

Thank you all for your concern and advice! I hope this can be a learning experience for every one.

Except for the A HOLE who took my stuff. You, Mr. A HOLE, better hope I don't see my motor on the back of your boat!.

Like I said before, I am going to give AS&M every oppurtunity to make things right by me. I do have a lawyer waiting for my call just any case. There won't be any new developments till next week.

Carl,

Be sure and post when you get that new equipment so Mr. A-hole knows that you now have a new motor waiting for him to come pick up. Old trick with thieves, hit a place, then hit it again 3 weeks later knowing that most people go out and buy brand new to replace what was stolen. This guy doesn't even have to drive by your place, he just goes online to see when he should schedule a visit to you.

Might be time to go stealth on this other than letting everyone know if AS&M is an ok place to do business or not.

Hope it works out for you.

I agree with you PD. On the other hand, another visit from Mr. A Hole would be welcome by me but not real smart on his part, if you know what I mean. I am not to worried!

Easy Limits

I have an old fashion "gadgit" that was once used for making steers out of young bulls. If you catch this bast*** I will jump in my rig and come up there and demonstate how it is used for no charge.

An "elastrator"? I got one stuck on my finger once. Dang, it was a pain to get off. Just think of where it can go.

Hey Carl, Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I would have to agree with the number of people
on this board that think that this person is getting their information by reading this web site.
Man, I thought my luck was sheeeitty at times. I truly hope that everything works out in your favor and get back to the inportant things in life! FISHING! ! ! I really admire how cool headed you've been through this and it's a shame that all this has happened to a person like yourself.
You've always been helpful to alot of people when you didn't have too.
Anyway, I know that I certainly will not do buisness at AS&M if they don't make things right.
Good luck!!!
Craig

Carl,

I am very sorry abouty all your difficulties. Let us all know if we can assit you and bring additional pressure on AS&M. They are wholly at fault for their failure to protect your property that they assumed full responsibility for. Why do you have to tell them that your boat is missing from their store? You are a great source of information on this board and we need to help and protect the good ones. Keep all of us advised

What a mess EL. Your little mishap made me finally sign up for an account on the forum. Let's hope AS&M makes right. I bought a brand new boat there earlier this year and have spent a small fortune since. I have had many issues and problems with the dealer.

Make sure you let us know how they take care of you. What a great opportunity for them to gain some much needed exposure about their service.

Thanks guys! I will have something new to report this week. I will see what happens.