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Posted By: Cerio Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 12:42 PM
It's the first time something like that happens to me. My wife left the equipment inside the car, but some rat got inside the private parking at late night, opened the car (destroying not only the door, but nearly everything inside the car) and took not only the P.A. system, but the mixer, the microphone, some percussion instruments, cables, etc...

I've work hard for earning the money I've loosed. I'm very, very angry, and frustrated, there seems to be not much I can do. Any idea REALLY appreciated.
Posted By: DrDan Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 01:01 PM
Sorry to hear this.
Posted By: Kemmrich Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 01:21 PM
Sorry to hear that. Robberies cause more victim pain than the law allows punishment for. I hope you get lucky and find the equipment. If you have the serial numbers, send them the the police and then start scouting out the local pawn shops. You will probably have to pay the amount the pawn shop paid for the items, but it will be 10-20% of the value (thread here)
Posted By: MarioD Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 01:42 PM
I am also sorry to hear this. I hope you had everything insured.
Posted By: MountainSide Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 01:46 PM
Oh no..ths is terrible. Happened to me once, I've never forgot it, made me paranoid...now I'm a compulsive locker, park under lights and park away from other cars so my car is not so hidden and hide allow valuables so they cannot be seen. Maybe its time to look into an after market alarm system if you are going to keep valuables in your car....Viper makes some good ones.
Posted By: KeithS Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 02:34 PM
You may find that at least some of your loss is covered by your auto insurance and/or your home coverage. I've always taken out a rider on my homeowner's insurance to cover my instruments since my insurance company's cap on coverage for them is about $2,000 and I have single instruments that exceed that in value.

I also make a point of never leaving my equipment in the van over night. No matter how tired I am, or how late it is, the van gets unloaded and equipment put up. That isn't just to avoid theft. Cold and hot weather are hard on musical instruments and equipment.
Posted By: silvertones Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 03:47 PM
That totally sucks.
Posted By: Danny C. Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 04:04 PM
Sorry to hear this terrible news, good advice above especially re: the pawn shops.

Best of Luck to you,
Posted By: John Conley Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 04:13 PM
Locally many musicians have registered with suppliers and after a theft of someone's gear they send out an email. It's surprising how many stories I hear of where they guy found his gear for sale on some board or another and recently a guy got back his guitar and the guy who had it met the cop parked across the street. Of course they guy 'found' it in a dumpster, ya right.

Where do you live?
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 05:47 PM
One guy here, several years ago, had 2 basses stolen from his car. He made the rounds of the local pawn shops. He was in the one near my house that I check out every week to leave the serial numbers with the owner of the shop. 2 guys came in trying to pawn his basses WHILE HE WAS IN THE STORE!!!! He gestured with his eyes, pointed discreetly to the papers he had given the guy. The shop owner was savvy enough to stall while the victim "said goodbye". He then went outside, called the police and they came to the store and arrested the thieves.

This a tale fo great restraint. The guy in question stands 6'5" and is a 3rd degree black belt who teaches matrial arts classes and has placed in the top 4 in national tournaments. I wonder if I would have had that kind of poise....
Posted By: Mac Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/11/12 06:55 PM
Sorry to hear about this.

In the US, it is a good idea to engrave your drivers license number somewhere discretely on all of your gear. This can often lead to recovery of stolen items.

There are some steps that you can take, however.

Print out a list of the stolen gear, make copies and take them around to the local pawn shops, used instrument stores, etc. and drop them off with the proprietors. Reputable proprietors will be glad to get the information. If you do not have your driver's license number engraved on your gear, sometimes you can still recover by showing the sales receipt, sometimes they might even just take your word for it.

--Mac
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 12:27 AM
All good stuff, Mac. I have everything in a spreadsheet with new value, replacement value, serial number, photo and the location of a unique identifying mark, a different type of mark on each instrument and in a different location. That spreadsheet is stored online, on a thumbdrive that is always with me, on a CD, and each computer, and a copy of the disc is in a bank safe deposit box as well as one in my fireproof safe with my will, etc....

Of course if they take the stuff an head for Guatemala....

But I have taken every precaution I can think of.
Posted By: lkmuller Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 02:15 AM
And don't forget to check Craigslist. They've actually caught a couple of thieves here trying to sell their goods. Of course, it was very difficult to prove that the sellers were the actual thieves, but a couple of musicians got their instrumenbts back, at least.
Posted By: John Conley Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 04:15 AM
You are somewhat lucky it wasn't from your house. I'm not in the area of the city where this happens, but in some areas they break into the house, take the stuff, and come back in 6 weeks and take the new stuff.

Insurance. They are in the business of keeping your money. I have, as suggested, used an etching vibrator pen to mark my stuff. My Social Insurance # is on it, 9 digits.

And the list, filed with my insurance company. They love to tell you a rider was required. I just say here:
Photo gear: x y Z etc.
Music Gear: l m n o etc...
Tools : a b c d...

with serial #'s, my marks, and digital photos, along with bills etc.

And I always pay with visa, I have extra insurance there.

It does help to have spent many years working with Insurance Adjusters. They have some odd quirks. A mis-step causes HUGE delays, and your file gets kicked around.
Posted By: Pat Marr Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 04:44 AM
Quote:

Of course if they take the stuff and head for Guatemala....




if they take the stuff and head for guatamala, I hope the same people who are giving the Gibson company grief will nail them for taking exotic wood out of the country.

on a personal note to Cerio: very few things in this life make a person feel as defiled as being ripped off... especially when the thief steals things that are important to you. I sincerely wish there was something I could do to help you get your stuff back.
Posted By: Keith from Oz Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 05:02 AM
With regards to etching you drivers licence/Social Security numbers onto you possessions, doesn't this cause a problem if you decide to sell something legitimately?

Sorry to hear your bad news, Cerio.
Posted By: Cerio Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 09:33 AM
Thank you very much everyone for your kind words, it helps a lot.

Unfortunately nothing was covered by any insurance; in fact, it's not easy here in Spain to get this kind of material insured, for some reason no company want to work wit musical instruments. The car's insurance didn't cover robbery either, I'm just a poor musician and I just got the cheapest one

And thank you Mac, Eddie and others for your clever ideas, it will help in the future. In addition of that, I'm going to send a mail to all my fellow musicians with a list of the stolen equipment; if they resend this message to all their friend there will be a lot of people aware of this, and maybe I'll receive a telephone call in the future...

At least, I hope this thread to be useful for those of you who potentially would leave your equipment in the van thinking that nothing is going to happen; please, don't be as silly as I was and never, NEVER DO THAT.

PS: Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be my year; I've just loosed a hard disk with a lot of personal information, work, songs, music, etc...I'm going to work in a cruise ship along the North Sea in a couple of months, I hope it won't sink
Posted By: PeterGannon Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 09:47 AM
Cerio,

Sorry to hear about that. I hope that the instruments turn up somewhere.
Posted By: Mac Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 05:13 PM
Quote:

With regards to etching you drivers licence/Social Security numbers onto you possessions, doesn't this cause a problem if you decide to sell something legitimately?

Sorry to hear your bad news, Cerio.




That is what the little diamond-tipped GRINDER bit is for.


Grind it off when transferring legitimately.

Collectibles, like good old guitars, I have to find all sorts of tricks so as not to take the risk of destroying future value. For example, with electric guitars, I often engrave my state and DL number on the back of Volume and Tone pots, stuff like that, rather than into the wood of the cherished instrument. That also effectively hides it from where the average thief might find it.

But that is not the only step taken. Keeping good photo records of your equipments, keeping all receipts, all these things can work together towards recovery in the event that the worst case scenario happens.

Car alarms -- good ones -- plus never just leaving stuff such that it can be seen through windows of the car, are in order as well. And a good dog is always a plus. And, well, reputation. That last one can go a long way towards not having to deal with any of it in the first place, but establishing the rep of being somebody not to mess with can be tricky.

Ya gotta be creative...


--Mac
Posted By: Tommyc Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/12/12 05:17 PM
My Strat was stolen and it has my name carved in it top and back . The pawn shop bought it anyway from the crook that stole it. My wife called every pawn shop around until she found it ,she told them all she was with the Sheriff's Dept. When she found it she said she will send the owner down to pick it up . I had to pay $100 to get it back but was worth it . Hope you have some luck getting your stuff back.
Posted By: Cerio Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/18/12 10:34 PM
Quote:

PS: Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be my year; I've just loosed a hard disk with a lot of personal information, work, songs, music, etc...I'm going to work in a cruise ship along the North Sea in a couple of months, I hope it won't sink




This seemed to be a bad and unfortunate premonition. The guys in the Costa Concordia¡s orchestra are the guys with whom I was going to work (in another ship) in a couple of months. Luckyly, despite the deplorable behaviour of the Captain (abandoning the ship and causing eleven mortal victims until the moment), all of my colleagues are OK.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blog...NVV5P_blog.html
Posted By: bobcflatpicker Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/18/12 10:44 PM
I'm glad your friends are okay.

As far as the captain goes, his goose is cooked, as it should be.
Posted By: Keith from Oz Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/19/12 02:47 AM
After this, he won't be allowed to rent a rowboat.
Posted By: Mike sings Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/19/12 09:35 AM
Man that really sucks! I just can't stand that there are people out there who are too lazy to work and go about stealing other peoples hard-earned belongings.

Since I earn my living gigging and I have done some pretty high investments in my gear I can't take any risk on losing it: I simply couldn't replace it all. I have a special insurance for my music gear that covers all my stuff when it is in my house, at any other place and on the road. I can't leave it in the car or in the trailer between 11:00 pm and 06:00 am. So like Keith I also make a point of never leaving my equipment in the car or trailer over night. No matter what. It just isn't covered by the insurance otherwise.

Good luck. I hope you'll get your gear back.
Posted By: KeithS Re: Stolen equipment :( - 01/20/12 06:12 PM
Quote:

I had to pay $100 to get it back but was worth it




You really should have gotten the police to confiscate it for you. If someone buys stolen property, they are guilty of receiving stolen property and the rightful owner has absolutely no obligation to pay to get his property back.
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