*updated* Opinion on a claim for loss of items - OT
Not sure how to approach this girls. For those of you on FB with me, you may have seen my posts about this. About a week and a half ago I went to get my car detailed (the inside cleaned, vacuumed, etc). It's like an "assembly line" at this place, you drive in, give them your keys, put your personal items in a bin, they clean it on a conveyor belt in a long tunnel, you get your car at the end. I had already cleaned everything out of my car except three thrings: A blanket, a CD case, and a snow brush. I put those items in a bin, went to the coffee shop and sat down and read a magazine. It usually takes about 20 min and I've been here several times without problems. They have glass windows all along so you can see everything but I wasn't watching really (didn't think I would need to). My car comes to the end, I go to my bin and it's empty. So the guy is like "oh, maybe I grabbed the wrong bin". He goes down the line and no bins have my things. I describe the items to him and he realized he put MY items in the car in front of my car! Because she was also blond, it was also an SUV, and she didn't have a bin he got confused and put the items in her car instead. At this point she has already driven off. In all the times I have been there before, they never put the items in the car for you, I've always just had the bin moved along beside my car (it's on wheels) and grabbed the items myself at the end! So, I start freaking out a little, almost in tears. The manager comes, gets my info and tries to see if she paid using a credit card or maybe is part of the frequent users club so he has her info. Unfortunately he does not. At this point there is not much we can do except wait to see if she realizes she has my stuff and she returns it. It's now be about 10 days and she hasn't returned my items. The manager/owner said if she doesn't return the items he will pay me for them. I was just doing a summary of my claim - do you think this is reasonable?The blanket was hand knit by me with organic cotton yarn - about $135 to replace the yarn so I can knit a new one. What sucks is this is the first full on finished blanket I ever knit. It went with me traveling to multiple locations and had extreme sentimental value. I'm heartbroken over the loss of it. CDs - In my CD holder there was about 20 CDs, including a box set of CDs I got as a gift years ago. It was imported and is not available in Canada. I just looked up the cost to replace it and it's $250 plus shipping from the US (not to mention the ding I will get in customs fees, taxes, etc at the border). That, plus about $15 per remaining CD - $490. In total I asked the manager for $625 to cover the loss of the items due to their error. Is this excessive? It seems like a lot but it's the truth of how much it will cost to replace the items. I didn't claim the cost of the snow brush though as it was old and not worth claiming. We just sent him the email so we have it in writing.....
