My story

So I’ve been playing piano bit over 2 years now and with the basics starting to set it, the real fun starts or at least I thought.

I do not have much money to spare but I managed to save enough to get a used Yamaha P35 with an issue with one of the speakers. Because of the price was really good and I was going to connect it to my computer to use a free VST anyway. It turned out it had a few small problem with the keys but nothing a beginner like me should worry about.

It served me well for the past two years, been enjoying learning and slowly getting there. I have been saving as much as I can to upgrade to a new piano, which takes a lot longer when you are on your own in the area I live. I have been going to a local music store, who offer good warranty and are known for their service. They had several entry level piano’s with nice key feel but low quality audio, but paired with a good VST, I knew it would be plenty for me. When I tried the Pianoteq demo, I was blown away. Especially compared to my free VST it sounds just so amazing, I added the purchase price to my goal immediately.

With some bad luck underway where I had to use more from my savings than I wanted, I got close enough to my goal that I put my Yamaha up for sale to cover the last amount. Since people often bid lower than asked, I set the price higher than average even with the issue listed, could only try right. Day later I got a mail from someone who was interested and asked if he could come by to have a look, great!

He came over to my flat, was friendly, had a nice chat about the piano (he was a foreigner but learned the language decent enough), he tried it and talked about the price but I didn’t go lower just yet. He was going to think about it and would let me know. At that point I thought I blew it already but fine.
Only about half an hour later he called me, saying he was going to buy the piano now that he still was close by, he asked if it was allright to come over. He was waiting for his friend to come with a bigger car and then he came over, for the full amount listed.

Awesome news, I set everything together and couldn’t stop thinking about finally getting my new piano. He arrived together with two other guys, in the same friendly chatty tone, one of them joked that I lived small but cosy and was looking around at some of my wall decorations. The main buyer started talking about payment and took his wallet out so I turned towards him.

One of his friends grabbed my from behind, arm around my nek in a choke hold, lifted me that I barely had my toes on the ground. The other guy pushed against my chin so the grabber could get a better hold (I’m told). He choked me till I passed out and woke up on the floor several minutes later. Still fuzzy I looked around, saw that my piano was gone, I got up and went to the staircase down and outside but they where nowhere to be seen. I tried to check what time it was but  I didn’t have my phone on me. Turned out they also took my phone, wallet, watch and laptop with them.

I had to go to one neighbour down to call the police. They came to take my statement and the emails I had from my online listing. I didn’t have a phone number since they took my phone but they were going to collect it from my provider and get camera images from nearby location (none in my building). I know they will do whatever they can but I’m not setting my hopes up to ever see my stuff again.

Anyway this happend last week and was by far the scariest thing that has happend to me, I’ve been scared and paranoid ever since. The laptop and piano were the two things I spent all my free time on, they are still replaceable though. The watch I got from my grandfather is not. I am completely devastated by all of this, I got lucky to buy a replacement laptop and phone from a colleague, both older stuff but more than plenty. Not sure which piano just yet..

I wanted to share my story to remind people to be careful with this kind of stuff, I would never have thought that a digital piano sale would lead to this, with something like an expensive smartphone or laptop maybe.

I also saw a few people selling their Pianoteq license on here before, if you do feel free to pm me if your price is low enough.

Thanks and be safe