Jialing JH600 stolen in Shanghai

[Sonk]

Update!
Mr. Lee, the "bad guy", became flustered and told another company to take care of my bike. Those guys called my friend a few days ago and told him: "Hey, won't you pick up your bike which is here since a month already?" My friend told me and of course I went to the Police first. They were happy to have something against Mr. Lee now, picked up the photos (before that nobody ever came or even called me...) and now I call the Police every now and then and wait for the ok to go there and finish this story.
But it seems they want to get Mr. Lee, so just going to the storage place and picking up my bike is not so easy. So far I do not see the need in making the police angry.
But next week I will just announce to go there and pick up the bike, no matter what they say.
I keep you updated.

P.S. The plates of the van indeed were fakes as I presumed.

[ThePope]

Great news dude! Update us when you find out all the juicy details.

[bikerdoc]

Update!
Mr. Lee, the "bad guy", became flustered and told another company to take care of my bike. Those guys called my friend a few days ago and told him: "Hey, won't you pick up your bike which is here since a month already?" My friend told me and of course I went to the Police first. They were happy to have something against Mr. Lee now, picked up the photos (before that nobody ever came or even called me...) and now I call the Police every now and then and wait for the ok to go there and finish this story.
But it seems they want to get Mr. Lee, so just going to the storage place and picking up my bike is not so easy. So far I do not see the need in making the police angry.
But next week I will just announce to go there and pick up the bike, no matter what they say.
I keep you updated.

P.S. The plates of the van indeed were fakes as I presumed.

Interesting developments, no matter what though, don't go alone.. take a posse

[Sonk]

Update!
I finally got enough and decided to pick up my motorcycle. Told the police (let us call the officer Mrs. Pong, a young, but smart lady) I will ignore their ban and just go to Mr. Ding, the manager of the warehouse. Surprisingly she did not object but said I should not pay anything. So I went there with my colleague (let us call him John). We found the place, saw my motorcycle standing in the dust and after moving it into the sunlight there appeared quite a few damages from the transport (broken windshield, some scratches, huge dent to the cooler, small hole in the seat, worn away paint as well as a damaged handle rubber). We met Mr. Ding and he said that he transported the bike for Mr. Lee for 800 RMB from Shanghai to Jiuzhaigou. I paid 1200 RMB, but since Mr. Lee was an agent and also wants to live that could have still been a fair deal. The only problem: Mr. Lee told me he will provide a wooden crate for the bike (additional 1000 RMB) which he did not provide. Asked why there are always so many damages when it comes to transport of a bike Mr. Ding just shrugged his shoulders and answered this was not his business because he received the bike like that. Then he presented the bill which was 3600 RMB for the way from Jiuzhaigou to Shanghai. I told him there was no business relationship between him and me and if I paid, then to Mr. Lee but not to him. His explanation of the additional 2800 for the trip back was as weak as his previous explanation. He could as well have shrugged his shoulders again.
So I told him I would pay him the 800 but not more and there he refused to give me the bike and I let John call the police. By the way: I was asking myself why nobody from the police has made the simple step that I have done. I expected the Qing Pu police to be in contact with Mr. Ding but they actually never called him. Now I know why nobody came to my place earlier to pick up the photos of the suspect when I claimed my bike to be stolen. The simple reason is: they do not follow up cases like this, even if it is a value of 48,000 RMB (bike plus accessories).
Putuo district police came to the scene (four people in an old Santana). Btw the case was filed with the police at my place which is Qing Pu area. As John told me there is practically no connection between these two police districts. The usual talking started: where, why and what and after some time the police stated that a lost motorcycle has been found, so everything was ok and the case could be closed. Mr. Ding saw his advantage and raised his demand to 4400 RMB because Mr. Lee had not yet paid the first transport to him and so he wanted that money from me. I asked John why Mr. Ding did not file the case with the police and received an unsatisfying answer. (Later we found out that Mr. Lee had been there in the warehouse just a week ago and tried to pick up the bike by himself but Mr. Ding did not give it to him because the first payment was still missing.)
It was my turn now so I made the proposal to call Mr. Lee and order him to come to solve this issue. At the same time the Putuo district police could help the Qing Pu police to close a case with Mr. Lee (remember that they still have some cases with him concerning unpaid bills and a fake van plate plus my case). I thought that to be a smart move because that would help me and simultaneously give face to both the police departments. So one of the four policemen called Mr. Lee (Mr. Ding tried one of the many mobiles of Mr. Lee and finally succeeded) and told him to come. Mr. Lee answered that he would try to come within the next two hours and the officer accepted that (of course he did not come). I let John phone Mrs. Pong and explain to her this situation but she said she could not help since the case was in the hands of her colleagues in Putuo district now.
So it was my turn again and I asked the policemen what I was supposed to do now. John told me they still were very polite and tried to help (Laowai-factor) but wanted to go home. They proposed that Mrs. Pong let the bike be picked up by the Qing Pu police (confiscated) so that they could hand it over to me. Good idea, I let John call Mrs. Pong again and asked her about this. She refused because this case was now solved and just a commercial thing left. But what about the cheating cases of Mr. Lee? – “Minor issues.” What about the fake plate? – “Different case.” What about my case? – “It is solved now, you have your bike back.”
So then it was my turn again and I thought it time to give it up, after 3 hours I had learned enough. I gave 3600 RMB to Mr. Ding (he went down with his demand again, before he was just angry) who was very surprised that I accepted and not wanted to negotiate the 3600. I let John translate to the officers that I have been cheated twice: by Mr. Lee, by Mr. Ding and I go home with a damaged bike and there is nothing I can do. The answer of them was the usual shoulder shrugging. “Nobody got hurt.”

[Sonk]

My personal lessons learned:
1. Chinese and Chinese policemen are always willing to help a Laowai. (Thanks again to my friend John!)
2. The rule of giving face or letting somebody lose his face does not count anymore in China when it comes to money (independent from being a Laowai!).
3. Chinese business inevitably involves wangling.
4. Chinese police does not care about commercial issues (at least not below a value of around 50,000 RMB.)
5. If a Chinese police officer is telling you to do a certain thing, you may ignore him.
6. Reporting smaller commercial cases to the police in China does only make sense for formal reasons (insurance claim, proof of theft etc).
7. Chinese businessmen know about this police behavior and usually do not report commercial cases to them.
8. Chinese people expect this behavior of the police but still report incidents for a better own feeling (John confirmed that).
9. This might be totally different when it comes to injuries (see all the stories about accidents here in the forum).

Of course it is an unnecessary experience and should I ever meet Mr. Lee I will have a decent discussion with him (or not, maybe I just slap his face and go) but I am not angry. Under the bottom-line I am glad to have had the chance to make this experience because otherwise I would have never received this deep insight into Chinese culture. I understand now why everybody in this little story acted like they did. And frankly speaking it also helped me to loosen my respect towards Chinese policemen. I still had the European view but I treat them different now.

[prince666]

Hi Sonk

The story ends, and you got your bike back so sorry for you to have had all this shit. you done what you considered to be right at the time and we can all do things differently in insight, but here in China its Dog-eat-Dog.

[ZMC888]

This is why there are all sorts of gangsters in China. Some are dangerous, others are actually very reasonable and can be paid to sort out problems that the police cannot get involved with.

[JayDee]

Police can't be taken serious, just seldom I met one who did his job in a professional way. Damn few, even if it's just directing the traffic.
The whole story sucks, kudos to you that you tried to solve it the correct way till the end.
Bottom line is you have the bike back, and that is a good achievement. Even though it was you at the end who had the damage and as well had to pay. I hate it that so many times other people screw up here, but do not suffer the consequences.
Anyway, shrug it off, lesson learned.

[Lao Jia Hou]

Dear Sonk

Glad you retrieved your bike, despite the great misfortunes, and maintained a reasonable attitude.

Your case is yet another example of why this country still has a long way to go. Maybe the next generation, or perhaps the one after that. That is about as much positive outlook I can muster.

As JayDee mentions, "shrug it off" and move forward.

[bikerdoc]

Police can't be taken serious, just seldom I met one who did his job in a professional way. Damn few, even if it's just directing the traffic.
The whole story sucks, kudos to you that you tried to solve it the correct way till the end.
Bottom line is you have the bike back, and that is a good achievement. Even though it was you at the end who had the damage and as well had to pay. I hate it that so many times other people screw up here, but do not suffer the consequences.
Anyway, shrug it off, lesson learned.

+1 amen, bruddah, amen!