So I got robbed over the holidays.... (1 Viewer)

...and the robbers made a total mess of my house in the process.

I came back from visiting my family today, and now my HT setup is pretty much gone (no more plasma HDTV, BD players, HD DVD players, DVD players, Xbox 360, Wii, games, digital cameras, etc), the thieves did leave older HT items, but unfortunately, they took all my remote controls, rendering my remaining gear pretty much useless at the moment.

It won't be fun cleaning up the place, that's for sure.

But, it's only stuff. All of it can be replaced, more of less, but just the feeling of being ripped off over the holidays just flat out sucks.

So sorry to hear about this Patrick. I've been burglarized twice, but it's been more than 20 years since the last time it happened. I do remember the feeling of helplessness, and the sick feeling of knowing someone else went thru all my things.

But as you said, it's just stuff that can be replaced and thankfully you weren't home at the time. I wish you better luck from here on out.

Wow, that stinks. Hope the find the idiots that did it.

I often wonder if it is a bad idea to put pictures on boards like this one and on personal websites. It is kind of like advertising for crooks. "Hey, look at all the expensive stuff I have. Come rob me. "

But at least you can show the insurance company what you had!

Patrick, just wanted to say I'm very sorry that those losers took what wasn't theirs. You seem to have a healthy outlook about it. I hope you're able to replace the gear easily.

Sorry to hear about it Patrick! I hope your insurance pays out well!

That really stinks! The silver lining is the insurance company will probably end up paying for you to get the newest equipment. If you have replacement insurance they will pay the replacement value of the stolen equipment. Then you can upgrade and make up the difference.

You're not alone Patrick.

I worked all day Christmas before heading straight to my grandmothers for a gift exchange. I was so tired afterwards that I decided to wait until morning to bring in my presents. I was off the day after Christmas, at around noon my sister called me asking if I wanted to run to a few stores with her. Long story short, I go out to my car to find my front window smashed and all of my gifts, some inexpensive tools and my old Ipod gone. Pretty shitty Christmas for me as well, altho its nowhere near as bad as your story it really affects my, as it turns out, false sense of security I had living in this apartment complex. My car was parked only 20ft from my bedroom window. I went and filed a police report but other then that what can I do. $500 deductible is hardly worth what was stolen and since I already managed to get my window replaced by an old neighbor who owns a bodyshop at not much cost ill probably not bother dealing with my insurance.

Some people are just assholes.

Sorry to hear this, Patrick. I hope the insurance company is fast and fair. Did they steal your DVDs too? I tend to think of equipment as being more replaceable but I would hate to lose my DVD collection, that is much more personal. So many DVDs have a story behind them, or were gifts.

Yeah, I just remembered there was either 1 or 2 long boxes of DVDs that is now missing, and some of them were hard to get at the time, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Did they get your computer too or was it with you/safe?

wow, didnt you have serious water damage a year or so ago too?

Very sorry to hear it! I don't take stuff like that, as calmly as you do, I'm afraid. It happened to me once, many years ago. They got stereo gear, albums, camera. A few nights later, a guy tried to sell the camera, to someone that recognized it. They told me who was selling it. I went to see him. He took me to the stuff, and needless to say, I got it all back, except the albums. He said they were scattered. I lucked up. I didn't have insurance...........
I hope you get lucky, and can replace everything. Check the pawn shops....

For some reason, they ignored it... this time around. I was shocked it was still here. Perhaps they plan on a return visit?

The cops claim that if you pawn stuff at the pawn shops, you have to get fingerprinted and photographed. Not sure if that's true, but that was the first I'd heard of such measures at pawn shops.

Perhaps we can use Patricks unfortunate incident as a reminder to take pictures and make note of model and serial numbers. Police and insurance companies realy like to have this information.

Also, there are other things you can do to make something like this a little less likely to happen. I have fake alarm co. stickers on all my windows and doors, motion sensor flood lights outside and a red blinking light inside my front and back doors (visible thru the windows) to simulate an alarm pad. There's no way to absolutely prevent it from happenning but every little bit helps.I didn't want to mention it in my first post but that's how I got hit twice. They came back a couple of months later. After the first loss the Police warned me there may be a return visit because they know people replace what was taken the first time and they are familiar with the layout.

Patrick, I have a spare HD-DVD A20. It's yours if you want it. I'll get it shipped to you after the first of the year. I wish there was more I had spares of. I have a crap load of cables, so, let me know if you need any of those as well. I am so sorry to hear about this happening to you. I was held up at gunpoint and it made me so fucking angry. I would love to meet the guy again who did it. Just me and him without his gun. Take care, man.

I'd first be suspicious (or is it paranoid?) of neighbor's teenage or college-age children, before I believed it was professional robbers. I'm sure neighbors would get quite pissed at me if I sent out a newsletter asking for them to keep an eye on any unexpected "purchases" their kids may have suddenly made...purchases that left no boxes or packaging, which they may claim they got on Craigslist or something.

Speaking of Craigslist, you should be checking that every day now too, sadly. Won't be clear what cities to include in the search though since you don't know where the robbers live.

This sucks.

More consumer electronics should have computer locks. Though I suppose the thieves had plenty of time to cut the cables, so I suppose that would have done no good; it would have only delayed them.

Sorry to hear of your loss. Like you said, it is only stuff that can easily be replaced. You and your family are safe which is the important thing.

My husband and I were burglarized many years ago. We actually came home to the people still in our house. Fortunately no one got hurt and because we came home early, they got nothing from us.

Patrick, that's appalling. You have my condolences, and Susan sends hers.

Sorry to hear that, I was robbed about 6 months after Katrina, they ripped my dashboard open and took my radio and other things from my truck.

Time to get a home alarm system and a nice new pistol.