unworthy1

My tale of...dumb*ssedness, I guess:
They say no good deed goes unpunished.
I had many things to do yesterday so was rushing and distracted, but among them was donating some clothes and a few crummy bike parts to my local Goodwill...and setting aside a few choice tools to bring to work and help a guy out with a loose BB.
Big bag of clothes, 2 small *identical* bags with A.) crummy parts and B.)tools
Guess which bag got thrown in and donated to Goodwill?
So this morning I ran down to the GW and was told that all donations had been picked up during the night and are down at the central processing center...called the number...can't go there and look myself, that is verboten...IF they find the tools they'll call me (didn't sound promising), if not they will be priced and sent to any of the SF and Marin County thrift stores, maybe even farther afield.
SO...if you find any Park Tool crank extractors (1 Blue handle, 1 Black) Park P-nut butter wrenches (14mm and 15mm), Park brake caliper centering wrench...anything like that...they were mine.
I'll PAY you whatever GW charged to get them back.
help a brutha out

pastorbobnlnh 

Oh man do I feel your pain! Best of luck.

TIOS

I'll keep a look out if I pass by any GW stores...

Scooper

Ditto. What a bummer.

unworthy1

thanks for the moral support, guys. I'm still working the system, I'll officially give up hope on Wednesday. And start scrounging the Goodwills with a vengeance.

notfrench

I'll try looking in the two I frequent in the city--though admittedly I go to them more for clothes than bike tools. Maybe I'll even swing by the one in the TL..

Tigerprawn

I have one GW near me I believe. I'll make a pass this week and see what I find. Although mine is a bit further than the others.

unworthy1

Here's the update: when I called the GW distribution center on Monday 7/13 the voice on the line took my info and filled out a report. That report was passed on to a Michael Bonjourni who's the man in charge of donation processing. I got a nice voicemail msg. from him saying he'd look into it and call me "IF" they found the tools. Being proactive, I made a "handbill" with pictures of all the tools I could find shots of, and with my contact and "REWARD OFFERED", brought them to the office and handed them to the lady at the front desk. Got another msg. saying Michael had received the flyers and would pass them out to "the people who process tools".
Today (1 week later) I called to ask if there was any update, Michael consulted his "notes" and cheerfully reported that the items would have been processed the day after they were brought into the center...in other words on Monday 7/13.
So my efforts were all just a waste of time...THANKS Goodwill, your name really says it all!
He says the center sends items to 18 thrift stores in SF, Marin and San Mateo counties.
So to repeat my (now very hopeless) plea: if any of you thrift shoppers in these 3 counties find them, please PM me...I'll pay to get them back!
Pics of some of them, not shown is Park compact headset wrench (32mm) and another caliper wrench...the blue-handle crank tool is the CCP-1 (not CCP-2)

Dyermaker

There are a few near me, but I dont think theyd make it up this far...

I will keep a look out however.

Sucks man.

jtgotsjets

Cmon dude, you made the mistake, not them. They're just doing their job.

Tigerprawn

I'm going to check my area this week... but not sure if they'd make it around here.

One good thing is that they're bike tools. Most people will look and not know what the thing does let alone if it still works. Hopefully that plays in your favor.

unworthy1

I never blamed them for MY mistake, they get ALL my blame for playing me for a week when they KNEW the tools were already gone: that's Michael's job, he's the head of "Processing".

rothenfield1

I'll check the Monterey/Salinas ones when I get home this Fri. But, I'd doubt they'd be sent that far down.

jtgotsjets

It isn't their job to return your stuff at all—they're doing you a favor by checking into it at all.

You said yourself it didn't sound promising the first time you called, then you waited an entire week before you called again. It doesn't sound like they played you, it sounds like they didn't find your tools (which you said you expected). Do you want them calling you with daily updates? "Haven't found your tools yet, sir!"

Tigerprawn

It's called customer service. "Michael" who claims he is the head of processing shouldn't have any problem giving information about donated goods. I'm VERY certain this is not a rare occurrence and I for one can remember at least 1 time I've donated/given away something by mistake.

The fact of the matter is "Michael" isn't being very helpful with the one thing he should be head of. He should have given Unworthy notice that the items would be processed the day after donation.

sunburst

Total drag. I'm just a few miles south of being in San Mateo county so my Goodwill isn't going to be a possible destination. I went in their once looking for bikes (my neighbor found a gorgeous '75 peugeot mixte in there for $25), but they seemed clueless, and disinterested, as far as bike stuff.

jtgotsjets

That's pretty much my point. I don't know why the OP expected special treatment—there are likely tons of people going through the same thing (not to mention a few people probably trying to scam the Goodwill).

It seems that if the tools were that important a few more calls might have been in order. It is completely unreasonable to think that they would just leave nice product laying around for an entire week—Goodwill is still a business and if something is sitting in a bin at the processing center, it isn't getting sold.

Yeah, maybe Michael should have told him that his donation was already being processed, but it may not have even occurred to him to mention it. He did seem to express doubt that the tools would ever be found.

It sucks a lot that unworthy lost his tools but I feel like, at this point, blaming Michael and the Goodwill is mostly a lot of misdirected anger and disappointment. It's not a matter of customer service, it's a matter of taking responsibility for your own possessions and actions.
Good luck continuing the search—sounds like there are plenty of people out there helping you look. At the very least, those tools might bring in a bit of change for a worthy cause and maybe even help someone else get a few bikes on the road.

-holiday76

customer service? The guy is the head of processing,not customer serivice. Good will's job is to take your stuff, not give it back. There is no customer service on that end.
The OP screwed up. Sucks, it sounds like something I would do and I feel your pain, but I think it's time to move on.

Tigerprawn

Just because you're "head of processing" doesn't mean you shouldn't show any customer service. Furthermore, it's in regards to item processing and the obviously have a procedure for these situations as a "report" was filed and routed to a specific resource. I mean this is GOODWILL for crying out loud. Am I just naive to think that people who work at a place that takes donations would be so unhelpful when someone who has donated items accidentally gives away the wrong items?

It's definitely not the Goodwill's fault. It wouldn't hurt for them to be a bit more helpful though.

JunkYardBike

I think unworthy1's primary purpose for posting this thread is to ask people to keep an eye out for his lost tools, and sell them back to him if possible. In the few years I've been a member on this forum, and I'm sure for many years prior, he has been a very generous and knowledgeable contributor. I don't think he's asking too much.

pastorbobnlnh 

Exactly! You have every right to be peeved. Now that you've vented and the naysayers have tossed their wrenches in your spokes, let's get about the task of seeing if the tools can be recovered w/o any help from not exactly "Goodwill."

Have you posted a similar help wanted in your regional and other sub forums?

Tigerprawn

Checked the one I know of in San Jose to no avail. The lady that was working said she had not seen any tools come in and they usually get clothes, shoes, and video games more than anything else.

I got a friend in Marin and I'll be in San Mateo next week. If I can take a small detour I'll check it out.

unworthy1

After getting some sleep I've come to the conclusion that I am wasting bandwidth and everybody's (real) goodwill. I'm really thankful for the offers of help and the sympathy, but it's indeed time to move on, Even though they have a special emotional value to me, they are only tools...let this thread die.