I was robbed, DVD's are gone (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Wright]

Nothing is covered under insurance as one of the stipulations of insurance is you have to buy it BEFORE something happens and being a student, I can't afford some things.

As you now know, this is false. The truth is that you can't afford NOT to have insurance.
Renters, let this be a wake up call!
Insurance for you apartment dwellers is usually less than $20 a month. That's one DVD per month to protect the thousands of dollars worth of things in your pad. Considering that apartments are more likely to be burglarized than most homes, insurance is not an option. It's a necessity, almost as important as air.
That said, Lawrence, I'm sorry this happened. I've never had a home broken into. I can't imagine what it would be like, other than "hell". Even if you did have insurance, they're just going to give you a bunch of cash and then what? I've got a ton of DVDs that I enjoy watching, but would not replace if I had the cash right now. I'm sure we all have DVDs like that. Good movie, fun to watch, you've seen it enough times that you wouldn't exactly miss it, but it's not worth the hassle to sell it for the measly $5 you'd get.
Then someone comes in and decimates your collection and you get a check for a few thousand bucks. What do you do? I certainly wouldn't replace all of my discs. To be honest, out of my ~100 disc collection, I'd probably only replace a dozen or two and blow the rest of the money on new HT equipment or something else. Who wants to spend the time (and money, now that you'd have cash on hand) to replace a bunch of so-so movies (assuming you can even remember all of the titles?) It's a no-win situation. The only saving grace is that you've got your money back, but you've still been violated, and your DVD collection will never be the same.
My experience with thieves is that the police really don't care. Even if you're talking tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff, little or no effort will go into finding it. It's just not worth their time. On the off chance that they do catch the crook, he'll spend a few months in jail and be let right back out.
Personally, I think we should go back to cutting off their hands. This sort of crime would drop off the face of the planet.

 

[Travis Olson]

Man, reading what happened to you Lawrence made my stomach turn. I can't imagine the grief you must be going through right now. I have about 360 DVDs and if they where ever stolen, the bastard that took them could just as well take the easy path and kill himself before I got to him. I know it's just stuff, but it's the fact that some people have the nerve to do that shit. Take care.

 

[Max Leung]

I have home owners insurance (condo), and I only pay about $150 CDN a year. It's about the same as renter's insurance. Covers $40,000 CDN, which is close to $25,000 US.

Fortunately, break-and-enter seems relatively rare where I live. My main concern is fire...luckily for me none of my immediate neighbors smoke! A couple of years ago, the units beside my apartment complex were destroyed when a careless smoker fell asleep with a cigarette on the bed. Half the renters had NO insurance. Unbelievable...they lost EVERYTHING.

I feel sorry for your loss...man that hurts.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I saw a story on the local news a long time ago about a guy who had a big CD collection stolen but the thieves sold it all to one used record store so he was able to get them all back- if any of my discs went missing the first thing I'd do is check all stores in the area (and beyond) that pay cash for used DVDs. Some stores that buy discs now do fingerprinting too, so if someone sells them discs that turn out to be stolen they can still get caught.

 

[Colin Dunn]

A question - if you file an insurance claim to recover money for the stolen CDs and DVDs, do you need a detailed inventory report to show them? Or just an estimate of the number of discs missing?

I have not saved receipts for the CDs and DVDs I have bought over the years. And I am skeptical that a claims adjuster would just take my word for it about the number of discs I had...

 

[LawrenceZ]

Thanks for the support guys. I'm not really that angry about it, I'm sure I will be eventually, but more just numb right now like there's been a death in the family. You can bet that I'll definatly be getting renters insurance now though.

Also, I think I'll take everyone's advice and call all of the pawn shops in the area. I had marked most of my DVD's when I moved in here with red dots over the UPC codes to keep mine and my roommates DVD's septerated, hopefully the thief doesn't notice them.

Again, I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, it really helps, thank you.

Lawrence

 

[Michael*K]

Sorry to hear about those bastards. You might consider what you didn't lose in the robbery, though. As someone that lived through a house fire, you can consider yourself fortunate that you didn't lose more than you did.

 

[Danny R]

And I am skeptical that a claims adjuster would just take my word for it about the number of discs I had...

Well, as they say, take a picture, it will last longer.

Seriously I would make up an inventory, and as supporting evidence have a few polaroids (use a film camera, not a digital one) of your collection as collaborating evidence with something like a paper present to prove the date.

---

My experience with my local State Farm agents are that they will do anything to downgrade the claim. We had a NEC VT540 projector stolen off my property. Because I was using it at the time for a business presentation, they claimed it was "business" equipment and thus only gave us $250 for a $4000 machine. They ignored my arguments that it was no different from my TV. Likewise they did not think it would qualify as a part of my computer system, which had its own separate clause in the agreement.

I complained to the insurance commissioner, and their response was just to fax me back the clause that stated the $250 limit for business equipment. Nevermind that my whole point was that this wasn't a xerox copier or the like.

 

[Chris Wittry]

A question - if you file an insurance claim to recover money for the stolen CDs and DVDs, do you need a detailed inventory report to show them? Or just an estimate of the number of discs missing?

Any insurance company employee would laugh in your face if you asked them this question. Recently some friends of my parents had their house burn down. The insurance company gave them a small check right away to get some clothing and a motel for a little while. However, in order to get reimbursed for anything else, they had to provide an exact list of what was lost and also receipts were preferred. This extended even to things like the spices that they had in their kitchen and condiments that were in the refrigerator. The best thing to do is to keep a list of all of your major collections (DVD's, CD's, books, etc) and videotape the contents of your house/apt every 6-12 months, depending on how often you purchase new and expensive things. Another good thing to do is to scan in copies of ALL of your receipts that show anything you might want replaced in case of fire/theft/etc. I know this sounds extreme and most of us won't need it, but who wants to find out after everything is gone that they should have done this? Kinda sucks, but that's life!

 

[Graeme Clark]

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I know the feeling of coming home and seeing the door busted open and much of your stuff gone. At the last house I lived at I was broken into 3 times while I was there and had 85 DVDs, 140+ CDs, my TV (a rather nice $2400 one I hadn't had for all that long), DVD player, Receiver, VCR, Dreamcast, my old P100 computer, and other odds and ends stolen as well as all 3 doors busted through (after I moved out, they tried to break in a 4th time but got caught by the neighbor, and did break in a 4th time around Christmas). I started to dread coming home to that house, and had all sorts of troubles sleeping at night. Every noise woke me up, and the place I moved to temporarily didn't have insurance, so I was very paranoid.

The only good thing to come out of this, was that I was covered by insurance, and that I got to do a little bit of upgrading when I got everything replaced (better TV, better receiver, some more Criterions than I had etc). I did have a few DVDs and CDs that couldn't be replaced though, which really sucks.

A question - if you file an insurance claim to recover money for the stolen CDs and DVDs, do you need a detailed inventory report to show them? Or just an estimate of the number of discs missing?

It will depend on what your policy covers, and your agency. Some policies will cover replacement value, so they'll give you some money to go and buy what you want (say, $10 a CD). Some will simply replace them, such as the one I had. I gave them a list of all the CDs and DVDs I had (as well as everything else) and worked with me on getting them all replaced, and if they couldn't replace the exact item, the would give me the closest thing (ie, my Receiver had been discontinued, so they gave me the next model up, some DVDs they couldn't get so they gave me whatever I wanted in exchange).

For the CDs they just took my word for it. Although if you had 1000s stolen, they'd probably want some proof. For the DVDs, I fortunatly had just about ever receipt from my collection as they wanted proof for that. For the rest of it I mostly sent them manual covers and receipts to prove that I had the stuff I was claiming.

 

[Sean Conklin]

That really sucks, Im sorry Lawrence.

My DVD's mean the world to me too.

 

[Frank Anderson]

And I am skeptical that a claims adjuster would just take my word for it about the number of discs I had...

I use DVD Profiler. It has several awesome reports you can run. Every few months I run complete reports for my insurance agent as well as take a few digital pictures. When I started to gain a large collection I raised my insurance from $75,000 to $97,000, that's on just contents, nothing to do with the structure. That almost $25,000 raised the cost only $7 per month.
To all renters. Buy renters insurance. Like someone else said you can't afford not to.

 

[MikeH1]

Yes Lawrence I feel for you too. I just got renters insurance a month ago after moving in my new pad 3 months ago and the truth is I sleep better at night because of it. The reason is I'm usually out of town working and currently on holidays. I only own 7 DVD's but have a lot invested in the hardware.

Believe me, until I had the insurance I was sweating bullets because I lived on the ground floor on the busiest party street in Edmonton. College student or no college student, ALWAYS have insurance.

 

[Stephanie T.]

Another vote for renter's insurance. I currently have $30,000 coverage for about $229/yr., IIRC, through an indie agency that is affiliated with Farmer's Mutual.

I can recommend another step: get an electric etching pen [cost: about $17], and scratch your name into everything worth something to you! With a little luck, a burglar (or opportunistic "friend" or acquaintance) will notice and be deterred from the get-go from making off with the CDs, DVDs, etc. with your name permanently etched into the inner hubs and on the outside of the storage cases. (Why both? The outer, so it can be readily noticed; the hub, so that the thief can't just change the case and keep the disc risk-free.)

State laws regulating the pawn industry and sales of used goods vary. Here in NJ, you have to show I.D. and sign your name testifying that the goods aren't stolen. This applies even to selling a music CD to a store that buys used CDs.

I've taken the precaution of etching my discs, TV & other electronica, and even the backs of my watches. I don't keep a private storage box at a bank, but I've distributed Polaroids to my brother for safekeeping. I also maintain a list of my collection, although I'm lousy at maintaining printouts. After reading this thread, I'm considering doing something about my years' worth of checkbook carbons(they're piling up) and retail receipts (which I do keep, but have never photocopied or put into safe storage).

What happens if, as in my case, much of what you buy was bought at bargain prices from the used bins, garage sales (where discs go for $1 or $2), etc.? Is the replacement value what you paid or what it still commands in retail?

And for you people with the big collections: locked, steel storage cabinets (a la Can-Am's) are probably safer than racks. And since they're stackable, you can store a lot more product in a small space.

 

[Michael*K]

Certainly I have homeowner's insurance to cover a fire or catstrophic damage. My best insurance policy against theft though are my two dogs.

 

[ChrisMatson]

My fiancee and I live in a rented condo in Washington, DC. The day we moved in, I made sure that we had renter's insurance. Before I took her engagement ring home from the jewelry store, I added a separate jewelry policy and had the jewelry store send an appraisal to my agent.
As some of you may recall, my apartment was broken into exactly three months ago. I was lucky, as little was taken. My insurance company (Erie) was easy to work with.
I wish you luck with getting your stuff back. I haven't heard from the police in about 2 months, and I doubt I will hear from them ever again. I think the DC police have other things to worry about than finding a Playstation 2 and a DVD player.
:frowning:

 

[Ryan Wright]

This thread inspired me to call my State Farm agent.

Everything (at least on my policy) is replacement value. They do need some sort of proof, but they don't need receipts. She said a videotape or pictures would more than suffice.

That story about the projector ticked me off. I would have fought them tooth and nail. When my Fiero was wrecked, they tried to tell me that the new 3.1l V6 I had in it (as opposed to the stock 2.8) wasn't worth anything. I called BS and refused to settle. Ended up getting ~$1500 more for the car than they originally wanted to give me. It was still less than the car was worth, but it was enough for me to buy a nice replacement.

One thing about insurance companies: Don't be in a hurry to settle. Drag it out as long as possible - they don't like that.

 

[Matt Krapf]

Me= State Farm / 20K Coverage / $95 per YEAR

200+ DVD's...mostly all bought at Costco...who keeps records of everything I've ever bought.

Those of you who use the NET to buy DVD's also have Credit Card receipts for purchases, along with the retailer's records.

Lastly, the semi-annual inventory/video is a good thing, since frankly, after the initial inventory, not a lot will change except DVD's and other consumables. Seriously, how many people make multiple capital purchases in a year?
I've had the same furniture and AV gear for 5 years...except for new DVD's and a new TV. in all that time.

Pay the ~$100 for renters insurance.

 

[Chet_F]

Lawrence, I am truelly sorry for your loss. I have had my Jeep broken into twice and my radio stolen twice, and amp, sub stolen once. Now I have a solid steel locked case bolted to the frame of my jeep that holds most of my valuables. The rear speakers are bolted to the wheel well and body of the vehicle also. I have taken all of the screws that keep the speaker in the box and drilled them out so they are completely stripped. I truelly hate thieves. If you cannot afford something get a fricken job u lazy SOB. I also had my garage broken into and a 10HP motor stolen. Definately check the pawn shops. They might get u a lead.
As u can see I understand your pain.
I've had more than my share of insurance claims(more than I want to admit). The few things I have learned:
1. Always have receipts or photos of the items that r very important to u.
2. Never settle with the insurance company until u feel u have received the value of your lost or stolen property.
3. Always read your policy with a fine tooth comb. If you do not do this your company will use every possible loop holes to screw u over. I have twice had a comprehensive claim that the claims agent tried to say was a collision claim. Both were "acts of God" and therefore a comprehensive claim.(State Farm by the way). The difference between comprehensive(50 deductable) and collision(500 deductible). Needless to say the agent changed his mind
In my opinion claims adjusters are in the same field as the thieves. Just on the legal end of the picture. It's all about the bottom line for them, never about customer satisfaction. Keep in mind this is my opinion and based on my experiences.

 

[Chet_F]

On a side note: Dogs rule when it comes to thieves.
Case in point: My coworker had a cabin on a lake that he was staying at. After he got home he noticed blood on the screen door. He got inside and found his dog somewhat lethargic, which is not the norm. He brought him to the vet in a panic. The vet found someones' index finger caught in the dogs' throat. Now that's security. The dog was fine after the extraction and needless to say he got a good dinner. Man's best friend...I'd say!!!