Thread: I need advice on how to approach a delicate situation

I bought a storage unit the other day at an auction and two days later, I am at a loss on what to do. I am hoping members on this board have some suggestions. Here is what the deal is.....

It was a small unit and there was not a lot of stuff inside it as it easily fit into the cab of my truck (extended cab pick up).
Among the items I found was a small plastic box that is about the size of a big mac box. The top of it said, "Fluffy" and I immediately realized that the box contained the ashes of someone's pet.
Now I am a BIG dog lover and all 4 of the dogs I have had that died, have all been cremated and I have them in cedar boxes. I would completely freak out if I ever lost any of them and I figure whoever owned the ashes would want them back.
I went to the office and offered the box to them and asked if they could contact the owner and they told me that no one had requested any personal items to be returned and more or less said they didn't want the box. Note: I buy from that location a lot and did not want to compromise the relationship I have with them over this.

I got online and easily found a phone number for the person who had the locker but, this is where I am really at a loss and I don't know how to approach this.

My question:
How do I call the person to offer their pet's ashes back to them? I don't see it going over well if I was to say, "Hello, I bought the contents of the unit you had things in and want to give you the ashes for Fluffy but, that's all."
What do I say if/when they ask about the rest of the contents? I think some sort of a white lie may be appropriate here but, I don't know what to say.
I just know that I need to try to return the ashes to them one way or another.

Thanks guys!

Why not just be completely honest and tell them you bought their auctioned unit and would like to return their pet's ashes? Am I missing something here?

The only issue I see with calling and offering personal items is this, If you have Fluffy do you also have Blah Blah Blah. DFWR you don't want to get into that do you. I think I would give Fluffy a nice burial somewhere. Maybe on a nice hillside. Fluffy sounds like a cat name, cat do like to dumpster dive. JK Years back I asked an auction buyer what the strangest thing he ever found? He told me a human finger. I asked if it was a trophy or maybe an accident. He said he did not know. I have no idea what he did with it. It was not at our facility. So that's what people store huh.

Is there a vet's office name on the box?? If so, I'd bring the ashes there and see if they can contact the owner for pick-up.

If not, you can always see if your local vet is willing to be a "middle-man" to protect you, but also return "Fluffy" to his/her owner.

Originally Posted by TimburrWulf

Is there a vet's office name on the box?? If so, I'd bring the ashes there and see if they can contact the owner for pick-up.

If not, you can always see if your local vet is willing to be a "middle-man" to protect you, but also return "Fluffy" to his/her owner.

That is a good idea. Or maybe your attorney/attorney's office could be the middle man. They could represent you as their anonymous client.

call the number and see if they are the same people, then mail the box, return address as their address with a small note, then they have no idea who sent it!

Or for another take, we had an auction buyer contact a customer through a third party. The auctioned tenant ended up paying what they had owed us and more to reclaim SOME items from the auction buyer. Place a call from a payphone (do those exist anymore?) and tell them you have their items. Ask what they're interested in purchasing from you and then meet in a very public place with backup. It worked for one guy here quite nicely.

DFWRealist, you are a very kind soul.

I am really disappointed that the storage facilityowner/manager would not contact the owner for you. I know that I sure would have done so.

There are some good ideas already listed here. Please let us know what happens to Fluffy.

I understand your concern and compassion for fluffy. Being that it was a small unit and probably the least inexpensive, you have to consider if fluffy was of sentimental value to the owner, then why wouldn't they pay off their account to keep fluffy. From what I understand about auctions, they are not something that's usually done after 1 missed payment and a few phone calls. To my understanding there are multiple attempts at contacting the owner before selling their belongings... To contact the original owner seems a bit unsafe to me. You never know a persons state of mind. Let's say you contact them about fluffy, and they agree to meet with you, however fluffy is the least of their concern, they want something else that you have of theirs... That's not a very good situation to be in. If you're that concerned about fluffy... It might just be for you to give fluffy a proper burial. Fluffy is a nice name... It's almost safe to assume it was a nice pet. R.I.P. Fluffy.
Hopefully this helps.

Problem solved!

Thanks to all of you who posted or PM'd with your advice and take on it.
Geraldine: I agree with you that the manager should have taken it and called them but, they didn't.
I ended up having a friend of mine give the former tenant a call and she told them that one of her friends buys storage units that are auctioned off. She explained that she had been at my house while I was sorting through things and noticed a box sitting in the trash bin. When she looked at it she guessed what it contained and asked me if she could take it and try to find the owner and offer to mail it to them.
Yes, she made me out to be the bad guy but, it solved the problem and my friend told me she didn't offer any additional info about me or the other contents. My friend said that the woman who owned the ashes was "over-joyed" and put them in the mail today.

Oh and @ Satyra... Its totally nuts what I find in some units! There are people who pay to store absolute garbage for years and then there are units that have a lot of nice things and sentimental things as well. More times than not, a tenant has died or they are in jail and that is why the unit gets to auction status.

Thanks again guys!