Wrong number on MU cell phone sales
The Associated Press has picked up a Columbia Tribune report on the MU athletics department accidentally selling a group of cell phones that included text messages and contact numbers on phones used by basketball coach Mika Anderson, football caoch Gary Pinkel and AD Mike Alden.
According to the AP, Mike Bellman paid $190 for 25 phones. They included text messages to and from Anderson, Pinkel and Alden. E-mails and contact numbers were also on the phones.
The university offered to buy them back, but Bellman said he hoped to sell them to a sports collector. Bellman did not immediately return calls and e-mails from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Athletics department spokesman Chad Moller said all information will now be wiped out of phones before they are discarded.
Mike Bellman: Dirtbag.
Probably the same kind of guy who has ruined autograph collecting by hawking everything on eBay, rather than building a collection for a rec room.
This story has been out there for several days on the Columbia Daily Tribune web site, http://www.columbiatribune.com - and the vast majority of comments in the home of the Tigers have expressed (a) NO surprise that the Mizzou Athletics Department would screw up in this way, and (b) sided with Mr. Bellman as an entrepreneur the Mizzou Athletics Department tried to screw out of a fair return on his investment.
This is Mizzou’s fault. Mr. Bellman buys used technology equipment for rehab and re-sale. He offered these back to Mizzou Athletics FIRST for a fair return on his investment - the price of $1,000 for the whole lot, a cheap price to cover MU’s screwup and get the phones back, information intact. Mizzou Athletics, for all of its fundraising on the backs of long-suffering fans, balked at such a small price to make this go away.
Do not blame a honest entrepreneur. Blame Mizzou Athletics for stupidity, incompetence and knowing the price of everything and the value of noting.
In this case I must agree with Olde Gold. I cannot blame the guy for running a legal business.
It looks like MU screwed the pooch on this one. Pay the guy his lousy one-thousand dollars. That is tiny compared to the amount MU extorts for parking. Consider it a Stupid Tax.
I think highly enough of Coach Anderson and Coach Pinkel, that I cannot believe there is anything bad on their phones anyway.
For me the real question is what the hell kind of resale surplus operation MU is running. I would be very worried if they are selling surplus computers from the MU hospital if they are this sloppy about removing data. Be afraid of this kind of stupidity at our Alma Mater.
Why is Mizzou just now thinking it’s important to clean the information off the phones it sells? This is really dumb on Mizzou.
I agree with the earlier comment on extortion for parking … Mizzou made enough off me and my friends on parking last year to pay this guy for his phones.
Has he sold Mike Alden’s phone cuz I know there is some Sopranos stuff on that phone.
Really Yawkey? You want to back up that comment with your real name next time? Real brave when you call someone out using an alias. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Hey Bellman, you have my kudos for being a true entrepreneur. I read your side of this in the Columbia paper. You have been reasonable and more than fair. Mike Alden and his high-paid coaches could have made this just simply go away by meeting your very fair one thousand dollar asking price.
I hope you made five times that much. MU deserves it for how they pillage the pockets of loyal fans.
Do you mean Mike Anderson? Might want to get a copy editor. –denny, http://www.tracychapstick.com
Why the hell would you want to pay money for a phone with Mike Anderson’s old text messages on it anyway? Don’t you think if there is anything controversial or “juicy” Bellman will find it first anyway? What are you going to do, buy a Gary Pinkel used cell phone and glue it on a plaque that says “Gary Pinkel’s cell phone?” I don’t blame Bellman for wanting to make a buck, but I have to question anybody who actually pays for that stuff. Seriously, they are cell phones from coaches’ offices, not relics from King Tut’s tomb.