Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Beware Rotten Rapier Bags!

We have been warning customers about an Ebay seller who got his hands on some rotten Rapier Bags that were designated for the garbage dump, due to water and mold damage. I do not know how he got access to the stuff, whether he dug them out of the trash, or someone sold them to him (he claims he's selling them for someone else). This seller is not authorized to sell our products, and these bags are a POTENTIAL HEALTH HAZARD due to the presence of BLACK MOLD. We do not recommend anyone buy these bags, and will not warrant or replace them. (For what it's worth, the seller will not accept returns, either).

A few people asked about the whole story, so here it is, so far...

A year and a half ago, we moved our stock of Rapier Bags out of out of our old warehouse into a pristine new facility. We had some serious issues with the ethics of the old warehouse, but I won't go into detail now. When we moved the last few cartons away from the back wall, we were horrified to discover those cartons and the bags inside soaking wet and covered in black mold! There were holes and leaks in the back wall! Rainwater had been coming in, probably for a long time. In fact, part of the wall came away when we pulled the boxes away. (Happily, those boxes sacrificed themselves to protect the rest of our stock, which we carefully examined and found to be in pristine condition).

The old warehouse promised to compensate us for the damage and advised us to leave them, and file a damage form. They even gave us a claim number to submit to their insurance company.



We moved the rest of our stuff to our wonderful new storage facility, and business went on as usual.

Except their insurance company told us it was a made-up claim number and there was no insurance. And the old warehouse refused to return our calls. So we sued them.

Six months ago, in court, they testified that they never did any maintenance to their storage building, and that they took the Rapier Bags and dumped them because of the water damage and the mold.

Recently, we were alerted that someone was selling those rotten bags on Ebay! Sure enough, and they're even using our company name right in their auction title! I don't know if this guy fished them out of a garbage dump, or if the crooked manager of the old warehouse sold them as abandoned property (which is not legal), or if the seller IS the crooked manager of the old warehouse.

We contacted the seller and sent a "Cease and Desist" notice, and explained that they were violating our intellectual property, and our material property rights, since they were not an authorized reseller. I also explained that these bags pose a potential health risk, particularly to anyone with respiratory issues, due to the black mold. The seller doesn't care. The bags are cleaned up, and look good to him, and he has a lot of them, and plans to sell them.

Well, we have the wheels of justice turning, but as you know, the wheels of justice turn slowly, and in the meantime, I am concerned about unknowing customers buying bags that may not be all they should be, or even a serious health risk.
Because these illegally obtained bags are basically hazardous garbage, we will not warrant or replace them, and the seller is adamant that he will not accept returns. We do frequently sell Rapier bags on Ebay under our own account Cavalierattitude! http://myworld.ebay.com/cavalierattitude%21/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

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