Ever been robbed?

[DarrenT]

So I'm in the process of flippin my first property. and a week before my rough in wiring/plumbing inspections, my house was robbed. Copper pipping and alot of wire went missing. I feel like the world around me is caving in. It's hard to recover from somethin like this , and would appreciate any uplifting comments

 

[bryan1]

Eh Darren sorry to hear about that mate but if ya got any copper left get your own back. Build an electric fence controller and connect it to the copper, when the thieves come back for more they'll get a nice reminder what their doing is wrong the hard way.

cheers Bryan

 

[things]

damn, that sucks!!! sorry mate! i agree, build an electric fence!muahahaha teach them a lesson!

 

[HiTech]

I sympathize with you DarrenT. Things like copper, aluminum, and brass should never be left alone unless they are VERY secured. That kind of nonsense happens alot on job sites... even the wood gets stolen, more so after a hurricane season has jacked up prices of wood. It's worth it to look into renting an on-site storage locker that can be placed on your property. Get a ROUND padlock that makes hammers and prybars slip off of it. Some trucking outfits will drop off a container/locker for a monthly fee. You can lock everything in it then, even your tools. I'm doing that at present, while I am remodeling my garage/workshop. Wouldn't you know that despite having two shackle padlocks on the latch, a thief hammered one off. The larger one held in place, thank God! Now, there's a round padlock on it!! They haven't been back.

 

[SPDCHK]

So what else is new? Sorry, but here in South Africa that's as common as drinking coffee in the morning. On a daily basis you here the traffic reports that some or the other traffic robot is out of service due to, you guessed it, Cable theft. If it's not some robot's power cable that was stolen, some poor sucker in some suburb will be without power because the power cable feeding the supply DB transformer was stolen.

Going fiber for telecommunications also does not stop these criminals. Here it’s not copper they’re stealing but Kevlar. they use the Kevlar re-enforcement to weave themselves bulletproof vests and then either hi-jack your car at the next robot, or rob the banks and convenient stores in broad daylight.

Welcome to Africa.

 

[stevez]

That stinks but it's alll too common. Just recently the local govt began requiring the local scrapyards to pay by check - I guess the thought is that it will make it a little more difficult for people to cash in what the steal.

 

[sam2]

Someone just took our solid brass war dead memorial from the downtown area where I live.

Someone also did $50,000 damage to local steel flood gates trying to cut and pry off parts.

We have a navy shipyard that has closed in recent years, and they caught a couple of guys ,who were going in at night and hooking the wiring in the building to their trucks and pulling it out. Also a funny case where a man and women, at the same base, climbed up into a crane to try and steal the cable, and got trapped in the cab and had to call police to get them out!

Alot of the people that have been caught here have been "Cranksters"( meth users)

sam

 

[Marks256]

People are just dumb. Sorry to hear about your loss, DarrenT.

 

[Andy1845c]

Was it all installed when they stole it? Or loose materials?

I don't really have any upifting comments, but I do have an ugly metal club you can bonk em in the head with if you catch um'

 

[picbits]

I've been held hostage in an armed robbery if thats any consolation.

Gets better with time.

 

[mneary]

Couple of guys dropped in while I was at work and took my stereo, VCRs, and CD changer. By the time they were done, they also took a laptop, two other computers, and my wedding ring.

I had to choose between obsessing, or putting it behind me. Some time later there was an ID theft situation, don't know if it was based on the laptop contents.

Was robbed a second time by Allstate. They cheerfully paid my $2K loss, and assured me that they wouldn't raise my "rates" but they forgot to tell me I lost my "claim free discount" so I paid $500 per year ($2.5K total) extra till my "discount" was restored.

 

[gregmcc]

Darren - sorry to hear about your robbery. As spdchk says cable theft here in South Africa is a national pasttime, that and robberies, hijacking, murder etc etc. Its a sad sad world we live in.

 

[things]

i haven't been robbed yet, i guess i'm lucky but they won't know whats coming for 'em

 

[atferrari]

Tell me a place in world where all that does not happen.

In my case, I was having lunch when two young guys came in, armed with a pistol.

One of them asked to see my Nextel (which is the cheapest model available) and refused to take it with evident disdain.

Even today I don't know if to feel happy or sad because of that.(??)

Next was when transiting a remote palce in Great Buenos Aires; somebody tried to stop me (I was driving my car) but Somebody told me not to hit the guy nor to brake, so I passed around him at high speed and escaped.

I hate that in the last 10 years I lock the car's doors before leaving the garage, something I never had to do before.

 

[things]

in my whole life so far i have only had 1 thing stolen, a crappy bike around the side of my house. we then found that same bike 3 streets away

 

[maor]

you might wanna add a mechnizem that will sound a siern when the power of the fence is cut

 

[Sceadwian]

I've been through several robberies (didn't live in the best of neighboorhoods when I was a kid) and had a bike stollen so I know exactly how it feels. Grin and bear it is about the only thing you can do. It's also one of the reasons why insurance comanies exist. There are inssurance products for just about everything, look into them.

 

[ThermalRunaway]

An electric fence, yeah. The sad thing is, if the thief injurs himself while on your property then you're likely to get done for it. And then he'll sue you and get a compensation payout. Forget the fact that he had no business rooting around your property in the first place!

Brian

 

[t.o.]

An owner of the house confronted with the robbery and killed the robbery. You know what, the police wanted to charge the owner of the house for murder. So, good luck.

 

[gregmcc]

yeah - its sad when thieves have more rights than you. Here in SA you cannot shoot a robber who breaks into your house. You have to be in mortal danger. ie. he must have already shot you before you can shoot back.