Bike Forums - Bike Shop Ethics re. stolen bikes

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielmolloy (Post 9746954)

Is it right for a bike shop to call the police to check if a bicycle is stolen when a customer brings it in to have it fixed?

I was faced with a real ethical dilemma today, with a very suspicious bicycle that ended up being stolen after I called to check. The bike was taken by the police, and now the customer is out the money they paid for it, with no recourse. My position is that they should have checked before they bought, but is it right/ethical for me to act on hunches? I'm glad one stolen bike is going back to it's rightful owner.

My bike store has been very good. My dealer has always tried to stock only items of good value at reasonable prices. I was not surprised when someone brought a stolen bike in for repair that he called the owner to come down to the store.

A recent series of robberies had committed on stolen bikes. My dealer identified the original owners of the bikes.

All of the stolen bikes have been returned to their original owners thanks to my dealer.