My Entire DVD Collection Was Stolen Last Night (1 Viewer)

[Deane Johnson]

The thief or thieves may not have been so dumb afterall. Equipment has serial numbers and is traceable. DVDs do not. The thief could walk right into a pawn shop and dump a whole bunch of them. You could be standing there and watch and do nothing about it. You couldn't prove they were yours.

The only way to hope to recover in the future would be a hidden mark as mentioned previously.

I have been wondering at what numerical point an insurance company would consider these a "collection" as opposed to ordinary personal property. Most home owners policies exclude "collections" and require you to insure with a separate policy or rider.

Deane

 

[Sarah S]

Sorry to hear that your collection was taken. I am glad to hear that you and your family is ok, though. Pawn shops, used bookstores that might also carry used movies, all good places to check.

On the other hand, they might just have wanted to build up their collection.

 

[Todd Robertson]

dvd thieves steal alot then sell just a few....just enough for that rock. it's easier to dump 5 dvds rather than 1,000 at once. need a fix? sell a few then later...sell a few more...right on the street. I'll bet you anything, the jagoffs that ripped him off, are loading their glass pipe with the white madness. a large dvd collection can keep a crackhead in the game for a month or less.

 

[StephenA]

That's just crazy. Sorry to hear about it. I hate dumbasses who steal other peoples stuff. I'm glad I have my 5 dogs. No one would dare come in my house.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Hopefully you can get full retail from your insurance, then hit Columbia House to start building your collection back up! At ~7 per DVD you'd come out ahead financially. Still a bummer, but at least a little silver lining on a dark cloud.

 

[MartinTeller]

Chuck - sorry about your loss. The important thing is that no one was hurt. The insurance will probably come through for you, and then you just have to deal with the large hassle of rebuilding your collection.

If you want to look for a silver lining... assuming your insurance gives you what you paid for those DVDs, then you will probably make a bit of profit due to price drops. It kills me to go into stores now and see $8-$10 prices on stuff I paid $15-$20 for.

(EDIT: whoops, looks like John had the same idea before me)

Todd - maybe you should tone down your posts a bit? You seem to be making a lot of assumptions.

 

[Patrick G]

Sorry to hear that Chuck! I'm also in Springfield. Which part of town do you live in?

 

[Richard_D_Ramirez]

:frowning: Sorry to hear about your situation, but it certainly makes me feel better knowing why I'm paying insurance every month!

The real shitty part is having to recreate that collection, especially OOP (and expensive) titles!

8^B

 

[Deane Johnson]

Most likely the insurance company will only pay replacement cost, whether it's more or less than what you orginally paid. Their job is to restore your property to it's condition before the break-in. They will not allow you to make a profit on the loss, only replace the item at actual cost, in most circumstances. The exception is when you have a separate schedule coverage which specifies in advance what the price will be. This is often done on works of art, etc.

Establishing a cost of a DVD collection could get complicated since it's actually 600 individual items to be priced and replaced. And you probably have to actually replace them to collect.

I hope you'll keep us informed on how this comes out and what you learn from the adjuster on their approach. We can all learn a little from this.

 

[Kimo Bonnelycke]

Chuck, I am in the same boat. I came home from a business trip (about 3 weeks ago), and somebody had broken into my home and stole approx 270 (of the 400+) dvd's, my denon 1600, a computer, lcd monitor, ps2, and some other odds and ends. I really, really, really hope they pawn this stuff, as i always keep my serial numbers. I had pictures of my DVD's (well most of them), so I have a really good idea of what is gone. Almost 99% of the dvd's I can replace, but there will be some difficult ones (disney comes to mind). I am still working with my insurance company, so we will see how that goes. (they can be very slow). I am just waiting for them to come back with some really low number :frowning: I used dvd tracker to create a report with the msrp price of all my disks (gotta start somewhere )...

I too had a security system installed, but that does not always make me feel 100% safe....

Kimo B.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Man, that's just lousy Chuck! I can't imagine how you feel.

Good luck with the adjuster! Hope it works out in your favour!!!!

 

[Patrick G]

Chuck, I'd definitely give CD Warehouse a call to see if anyone has attempted to sell/trade a bunch of titles matching the ones you had.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

That story just made my blood run cold. All I can think is that I have 410 DVD's sitting on two shelves just begging to be stolen.

Thank God you didn't get hurt. There are things more important than discs.

 

[Todd Robertson]

Todd - maybe you should tone down your posts a bit? You seem to be making a lot of assumptions.

the minute I tone down....I'll be ripped off.

really, I apologize. my wifes brother is a police officer and I hear about dvd/cd/ld collections being stolen, then sold/traded for drugs....all the time. some are recovered..some are not. we live in the real world here.....and it happens much more than you think. rules for protection: if away for days or weeks, have a house sitter. no..they are not perfect...but have a security system. invest in a properly trained protection dog...maybe a Rot or GS. secure the collection WITHIN the home, however is seen fit. make an effort and you will be much better off. be lax about it....good luck. stress is a killer.

 

[Jeff D Han]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

I had an insurance claim about 4-1/2 years ago on
my audio/video equipment, some of my laserdiscs and
CDs. I had renters insurance and I got market value
on all of the damaged items (this was a fire claim
so it was obvious what I had). The insurance company
handled the situation great- very fast and the
settlement was fair. As Deane said, if you have
homeowners/renters insurance and some kind of
catalog on your stolen DVDs, you will get the
money to replace your loss at current market cost.

It's funny that I bought a combination laserdisc/DVD
player with some of the settlement money and now my
DVD collection is almost triple the size of my lasers.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

The cops couldn't even dust for prints? Sorry about your luck.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I'm really sorry Chuck. You've suffered my worst nightmare (this from someone who's house burned down twice when I was a kid..my two worst losses was my dog and my collection of complete sets of Topps baseball cards 1968-1973).

 

[LarryDavenport]

duble post

 

[ChrisKe]

Sympathize your loss - I hope the insurance comes through.

One thing for all HTF'ers to check is that there is not a clause in the policy that caps the payout for things like DVD's. Most insurance companies here in Australia do this and cap collections like this at approx US$1200. Fortunately you can specify a greater value for the collection as long as it is written in the policy - mine is up to about US$8,000

I had a similar experience about 3 years ago - I was away on business and some scum broke in and took the entire collection, a guitar, camera and other small things. Insurance did pay to replace the collection and I used the opportunity to weed out some of the rubbish. The guitar appeared at a local pawnshop the following week and I got this back but the local police never did find the DVD's

By the way, put an alarm on your house - it's a good deterrent.

 

[CraigF]

Sorry to hear about it Chuck. For some reason, getting DVD's stolen really bothers me, don't know why, maybe because I think of the time and trouble I went to to get many of them. Wouldn't want to do it again. Many DVD's fit into that virtually irreplaceable items category (very practically speaking), like personal photos etc.

FWIW I never talk about what I have in overall/large terms, and only keep databases where I can get at them. My insurance company *loves* the database thing, and a few pics don't hurt at all, though they prove nothing. Luckily, my agent checked around and dealers knew me, just helps establishing bona fides, if the insurance co. insists on doing that. And that's why I keep all purchase records, and keep copies of receipts for rarer items offsite (at work). JIC, a fire at home would be even worse for loss.

I don't know how you can prevent this, but I *do* know DVD's without cases are much harder to pawn. Unfortunately, just as many pawn shops work with the criminals as do with the police...probably even more do. Let's face it, if you think of what they do, pawn shops are not intended for the upper echelons of society. Around here, cops do absolutely nothing for an individual theft, only go after rings, don't have the manpower or motivation. They usually don't even come to your house unless it's a massive theft. So I'd forget getting the discs back unless by luck. I'm convinced the easiest way to prevent media theft is to take the media out of the cases, and preferably store the discs somewhere safe. It's a shame that somebody has to do that to enjoy having a DVD collection, but that's modern life in many places.

The best marking is ultraviolet, you get your own "unique" UV code, can't see it and nobody will ever know the item's marked. But it's not like the cops are going to go around with a UV light, so it doesn't prevent theft or really help in retrieval, just good for ID.

I don't know how it usually is in the U.S., but in Canada "replacement value" means exactly that: you get what the exact same (or equivalent item if no longer available) costs, whether more or less than originally. If you choose not to replace an item, then you get a cash settlement which is typically significantly less than replacement value: this discourages fraud to some extent, no equal $$$ for having something expensive "stolen" so you can replace it with something else or "better". "Replacement" value does not mean "depreciated" value for household items in Canada, it means just the opposite, thus the name for it. DVD's don't depreciate anyway, it's not like they get "used up" in a traditional sense.

So be nice to the adjuster, what they say makes all the difference in what you get. But it won't compensate for your time and effort that went into amassing the collection. Good luck.