The Saga of the Bicycle

For Grant’s 25^th birthday I bought him a bicycle. I also got myself a bicycle so we could ride together. We enjoyed riding our bikes around the neighborhood and to the beach. Grant started riding his bike to the gym every day before work.

In August I left to visit some friends in DC and Chicago. Grant called me while I was away and asked if I had locked my bike after I used it last. I told him that I had. He then told me that my bike was missing. I was bummed, but told him we could go to Target and buy another one when I get back.

The next day Grant called again. He said that while he was working out at the community gym he saw my bike! Our HOA has bikes that you can rent from them. They store them outside the gym. I told him that the bike I had was pretty common (a Schwinn from Target) and that the community probably had just purchased the same bike as I had, so chances are that it’s not my bike.

When I came back from my trip we went to Target and bought a new bike and a new lock. We continued to ride bikes together like old times. Until one afternoon last week…

Grant usually gets home before I do. One afternoon last week he called me when he arrived home. He told me that there was a note on my bike asking us to return it to the office, as it was their bike! That was obviously not the case. He called and told the office staff that it was not their bike, and that it was my bike. They insisted that it was theirs, stating that they had receipts from Target with the serial number that matched that of our bike. Apparently they were not aware that the number on their receipt was the UPC code, the same code on each and every navy blue Schwinn Beach Cruiser. To make matters even worse, they also said that a couple months earlier they lost another bike and “found” it locked at the bike rack near our building. At the time they decided to “reclaim” the bike and cut off the lock and took it back. So not only were they trying to take my second bike, but they had in fact stolen my first bike!! I was furious when Grant told me this.

I called the office. They insisted that my second bike was theirs…again. I informed them that the number on the receipt was the UPC code. They did not believe me. I told them that we’d prove that both bikes were ours. They said to bring it on (in so many words.)

The next day Grant went to Target. He got our receipts reprinted and took photos of the UPC codes on the bikes they had in stock. He took his “proof” to the office staff. When he met with her she wouldn’t even let him speak. She began to apologize for her actions and for how she treated us. Grant left and called me and told me that they were sorry and that we could keep my bike.

However, I still felt they owed us for the first bike that they stole. I called again and asked for a check or for them to return my first bike. The office staffer said that the first bike was not necessarily mine and that they have lost several bikes since then. She said that she kept the bike lock and that I could come by the office the next day to identify it.

Even though I thought it was ridicules that she kept a cut lock for a couple months, I agreed to stop by the following day. When I stopped by she did not have the lock. She took me back by the bicycles and asked me to identify my bike. Surprise surprise it was not there. She felt that this proved that she did not take my first bike. However, she had told me that they have had several bikes stolen from them…so who is to say that my first bike was not one of them! I told her that and she said that she didn’t think she took my first bike.

I decided that I was getting no where with her. I told her that I planned to write a letter to the editor of the local papers about this incident as they are still trying desperately to sell many many condos in the community. She asked that I not do that.

For the next week I tried to contact her supervisor. When I finally got a hold of her she claimed that it was a “he said she said” argument and she didn’t know who was right, but could not do anything about my first bike.

I just cannot believe that my condo HOA would admit to cutting locks off bikes that they obviously cannot keep track of and “reclaiming” them when those bikes could easily be the property of their own residents!! There is no marking on the bikes they have available for rent saying property of the management office. The whole situation is horrible.

Lesson: don’t trust anyone…the people you least expect might be out there stealing your stuff!