[meteorite-list] Update: Stolen meteorite shipment

From: Gary Fujihara <fujmon_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:41:44 -1000
Message-ID: <1AB30400-A8EB-48B9-87AA-73E80968C240_at_mac.com>

Aloha,

Since my original post on this subject June 1, a lot has transpired
and I thought it in the best interest of the parties involved, as well
as the members of this list to know (as the late Paul Harvey would
say) "The rest of the story".

The meteorites I had purchased were won on ebay in a bulk auction that
took about 3 hours to run. I paid for the items, and they were
shipped out of South America soon after. When the package arrived, I
eagerly went to the post office to claim my treasure. After the
discovery of the theft of my meteorites in shipment (I received an
empty box from the post office), I staggered home in disbelief. I
emailed the seller notifying him of the disaster, but did not hear
from him in a couple of days. At this point I was not a happy camper
and filed a grievance with IMCA, a claim with eBay and Paypal, and
wrote my email to the list.

The seller responded to my emails, was empathetic and offered to
assist on his end by filing a claim at his post office, and suggested
I do the same at my post office. I returned the next day to file a
claim at the USPS. Meanwhile Maria Haas, representing IMCA, responded
almost immediately by contacting both the seller and me separately
first to gather information from each other's respective viewpoint.
She extracted the facts and shared with me the IMCA code of ethics and
the issues of insurance, customs, taxes and other things that which I
was not aware (but were reiterated by list members in response to my
email). She then took steps to mediate the situation in as tactful a
manner possible.

At some point, the seller offered to share the loss with me, and
agreed to refund me half of my payment if I would drop my claim with
Paypal (which was withholding my payment to him until resolution). I
dropped the claim, the seller reimbursed half my loss and the rest, as
they say, is history...but wait, there's more.

Since then, I have become a member of the IMCA. Not to become a big
dealer, but to establish and uphold a modicum of the integrity and
honor that was demonstrated to me by the characters in this story,
themselves upstanding members of the IMCA. I have learned a lot from
them and other IMCA members and dealers, and am dedicated to extending
and perpetuating those values to the current and next generation of
meteorite enthusiast.

BTW, the seller (as many of you can guess) is Eduardo Jawerbaum, and I
am a happy winner and recipient of some of the meteorites he had on
auction a couple of weeks ago! Yes, I bought some more meteorites
from the same person in the same country and postal system from which
my previous shipment was stolen. Slow learner? Repeat offender?
Obsessed collector? Maybe a little of all, but I must tell you that I
am happy to continue to be a customer of Eduardo, and the proud owner
of the freshest Franconia you've ever seen. Mahalo Eduardo ... Peace
and poi.

Gary Fujihara
AstroDay Institute
105 Puhili Place, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 640-9161, fujmon at mac.com
http://astroday.net
Received on Tue 04 Aug 2009 10:41:44 PM PDT