It was not my day yesterday. After a series of small annoyances throughout the day, the final straw was that my iPhone was stolen out of my purse.
I only had it for 6 weeks! I have never had a cell phone stolen and only lost one (left it on an airplane) in the decade+ that I’ve had cell phones. And yet my nicest, and most expensive phone, was stolen in 6 weeks.
I don’t want to go into the specifics and nitty gritty details, but yes, it was stolen and not lost.
I don’t “know” the person who did it.
I did not witness the actual act of the stealing with my own two eyes but did witness the person (whom I’m 99.99% certain stole my phone) running for the door. I thought, that’s odd but didn’t think much of it.
Five minutes later I realized my purse zipper was open half way, and my purse seemed lighter, but I didn’t really think much of it.
Twenty minutes later, I connected all the dots when I went to see if I had any new emails and my phone was not in my purse.
My heart sunk. Ba-bye phone.
I had purchased insurance on it (twisted foreshadowing, see Question 3) and I filed a claim on it.
I still had to pay $199 for a “new” iPhone (but it’s probably going to be a re-furbished phone and not a brand new one. Ugh) but at least it’s not the full retail price of $750.
An ironic twist was that when I was trying to pay the $199 fee with my American Express to have a new phone sent to me, Amex thought that was a fraudulent charge and so mid-claim and mid-transaction, I had to hang up with the phone replacement company, call Amex, and let them know the charge was legit. I have been cardmember for 10 years and that has never happened.
The iPhone is being shipped overnight to me and I should have it Wednesday. In the meantime and using my old Blackberry. It feels like such a relic!
Service was supsended on the stolen iPhone within hours or the crime and the serial number was reported as stolen so if anyone tries to activate that phone, it will come up as stolen and they won’t be able to turn it on. I am sure there are ways around this because sadly, thieves can be very clever but I did what I could to make it very difficult for my stolen phone to be easily used by someone else.
I tried to track and Find My iPhone and had even set up my iPhone with the Find Me capabilities, but unfortunately, there is no data/GPS position coming up for my phone. Boo hoo. If you do have an iPhone though, check out those links. Worth a shot to set it up because you never know.
The only thing left to do at a time like this is eat chocolate.
No Bake Vegan Chocolate “Turtles”
or
No Bake Vanilla Cake Batter Chocolate Truffles
From my last post on Tofu Tips, I am glad you found my tips helpful. Yes, tofu can be tricky to make at home but once you have it down, it’s so easy and you’ll be glad you know how to make it at home.
Thanks for sharing your favorite recipes and ways you like to prepare your tofu, too! I loved reading everyone’s strategies and tofu making tips and tricks.
Questions:
1. Have you ever had anything stolen?
I think we all have had things stolen from childhood bicycles to hair brushes in the high school locker room to various electronics or gadgets that just seemed to “walk off” on their own in college dorm room living to whatever else.
Sadly, I have had my car broken into before and the thieves did steal my purse but I was young and the purse itself was cheap and there wasn’t anything too valuable in it.
However, just the act of having to call all your credit cards and stopping them, waiting for new ones to arrive, getting a new driver’s license or ID, it all takes hours and hours and hours of valuable “life time” just handling it.
And it seems to go on and on because six months later I’d be looking for someone’s business card and realize that oh, that was part of the stolen purse situation and then I’d have to track down the person’s info and number another way. Such a frustrating timesuck! The gift the just keeps giving, so to speak. Ugh.
As a kid I had bicycles, Barbies, dolls, toys and that kind of thing stolen. As a kid it’s so hard to wrap you mind around why someone would steal.
My sister’s apartment was robbed when she was in college and she lost everything from money, electronics, to my Grandma’s jewelry and family heirlooms. So sad.
As an adult, I still don’t get it!
What good was my phone (I also had it password protected!) to someone else? They can’t use it because the service is suspended and they can’t turn it on because it’s on the blacklist of Hot phones, and therefore can’t sell it. And, in the process it costs me time, money, energy, and frustration to replace it. I just don’t get it!
2. Have you ever lost or had your phone stolen? How did you feel?
We are all so dependent on our phones to do more than just be our phones. They are mini computers, they hold our music, photographs, contacts, our appointments, and are really lifelines to the modern world in which we live.
At least I have my Blackberry to use, but I feel lost without my current phone. For the record, love the iPhone wayyyy more than Blackberry.
I feel lost, violated, mad, and frustrated, but hey, it’s only a phone and a new one is coming. Now I just have to set it up, import my 1000 contacts, my 10,000 iTunes, my photos, etc. All over again. Fun.
But whatever. At least I “got this out of my system” now for awhile. I should be good to go for a long time without any black clouds, right! The only thing you can do at times like this is just let out one big GAH!!! Scream, then shrug it off because stressing about it (or replaying the events and how or why things happened) isn’t going to bring my phone back. So just shrug it off and…
…I have something fun that I am off to do this afternoon. It couldn’t come at a better time.
Have a great day!
I am so sorry about your phone :(
I lost my cell phone in January. I think I left it at the grocery store on a shelf. When I went back my phone wasn’t there and no one had turned it in. I don’t have a landline either so I replaced it quickly. I went to my cell provider’s kiosk in the mall and they set me up with a new one. Normally I would have been so fussed up about it but I had a close family member die the week before. I just remembered thinking “This is fixable”. Compared to the loss I and my family was feeling….my cellphone was minor.
But having said that….I had my debit card duplicated and my bank account wiped out last year and I found it to be so violating.
Averie that sucks!!!! I am so sorry to read this.
I’ve had stuff stolen out of the trunk of my car — CD’s, movies, rollerblades, some other junk. I filed a police report (more so that the police know what is going on in that neighborhood!) but had no hope of ever getting my things back.
Our house was broken into (before Jason and I started dating) — a man kicked through the front door and started rummaging through some of Jason’s things. Jason’s roommate came home, saw the door, ran upstairs and saw the guy. Thankfully the guy just ran out the door instead of fighting, etc. They eventually did get the guy since he burglarized a bunch of houses.
Oh my God, aren’t people who steal just the most WORTHLESS human beings? What makes them think they can just take something that isn’t theirs just because they want it? Who made them so entitled? Oo, this really pisses me off.
Last month I was at the mall carrying a bunch of cash that my roommate had just given me for rent. I was planning on a bank run first, but long story short I wasn’t able to do that. So I was at the mall and set my purse down for a split second. I realized it was gone and a friend ran to get it. A woman had it and was walking with it and saw my friend and was like, “Oh, is this yours? I was just turning it in.” (No way to know this since the counter in the store was also on the way out.) My friend said yes and thank you, and by the time I realized there was $300 missing, she was long gone. Stupid b*ch. I needed that money, I was definitely not in the mall to spend it all, I just wanted a shirt. And she took it. She screwed my finances up for weeks.
Ugh that super sucks, girl!! Long ago I had on old brick-ass Nokia and my wallet stolen out of my purse from the back room of the CD store where I worked in the mall… we were doing inventory and left the door propped open like idiots. Turns out mall security were on to the guy anyway, chased him through a field (where they ended up finding my phone, flung it while he was running, probably because my co-worker was calling it over and over again while me and another co-worker ran through the mall trying to hear my ringtone), never caught him… but weeks later my wallet turned up at a bus station… still with the 3 bucks cash in it and all my cards, which were now cancelled with new one re-issued. People can be such a$$holes!
Guh – people never cease to amaze me, unfortunately. And not in a good way! I can never wrap my head around someone’s thought process re: stealing. At least you had it password protected and it’s been reported and suspended! I hope they get busted and you get the last laugh. I’ll refrain now from calling them anything bad.
Oh geez, that really blows. Feels pretty violating, doesn’t it?
My house was broken into 3 times when I was growing up because my parents never locked the doors- we lived in a pretty upscale suburb of Boston, so it was kind of the perfect place to rob… lots of people with a pretty entrenched feeling of security who never locked their doors. You’d think we would have learned, but no. Hah. Anyways, they stole our desktop computer, TV, an entire chest of heirloom silver and it was pretty upsetting. They also stole an heirloom gold necklace out of my bedroom, which really freaked me out because absolutely nothing else was disturbed adn I only noticed a month later when I went and looked for it.
Almost all my friends got their cell phones stolen out of their pockets, purses, backpacks, etc when I was living in Kenya. I just kept my phone in my bra and problem averted!
Aw, so sorry to hear about your phone. =(
I’ve never had my phone stolen, but our garage was broken into a few months ago. I’m sure they tried to get into the house, but the door was locked. (they broke my dad’s truck window and took his garage door opener). They took a bike, drill, sunglasses and other small (but expensive) things. Violated is the perfect word to describe how we felt afterward. To think that someone was in our home while we all slept was jarring, to say the least.
On a brighter note, those sweets look delicious! Off to go hunt for my last “Oreo” truffle before I get back to work! =)
Averie, I am so sorry that happened to you!
A couple months ago I has someone steal my credit card info and it was such a hassle trying to get everything back in order. I think the worst part about having something stolen from you is that feeling of being violated. At least thats how I felt.
I hope everything turns out ok for you!
I’m usually a lurker, but had to come out and say something. That really, really stinks, and it makes me so angry for you! I’ve had things stolen from me before. Someone I trusted in school stole money from me, and then pretended to help me try and find it.
My car got broken into TWICE in one year, in safer neighborhoods. I was so mad that I just drove around with no stereo for years. The first time they broke in, they actually broke into my trunk and stole my shoes. Now that was just the ultimate violation.
For me, it wasn’t so much about the hassle and the insurance claims, it was that someone was touching my stuff. Yes, I was really young and broke, and shelling out money I didn’t have sucked, but mostly, I just felt really violated. I worked hard for what little I had. You work hard for the stuff you have and shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s dishonesty.
So sorry to hear about that! When things are stolen I always feel like my privacy has been violated so seriously.
Quick question….on your iPhone screen, you only have a few of the apps it comes with originally. Is that all it came with or did you find a way to delete the apps I will never use…such as the stocks and youtube apps?
GET MOBILE ME! You can remote WIPE AND LOCK your phone should this happen again. PLUS you can locate your phone down with it and possibly police could track it down? I don’t know how possible that is, but for $99/year I think it’s definitely worth it.
to carly:
to delete apps you don’t want just hold down any app till you see an x in the upper corner of each of the apps. Then click the x for those you don’t want. when you’re done hit the home button.
And I didn’t mean to reply to you about mobileme. That was for averie
By doing that, m phone only lets me delete ones I added, not the ones it came with. Were you able to delete yours that way?
So sorry to hear about this!!! Unfortunately, I’ve been there, done that.. And, it sucks!
About the insurance (this has happened twice to me) – DO NOT let them send you a refurbished phone. You don’t pay a monthly charge + 199 for a refurbished phone – that’s bull sh*t. Instead, when they send you the refurbed phone (because they will), you call and say it’s not working (I don’t know, say the keys are sticking) and then demand (DEMAND) they send you a brand new phone. Haha, can you tell this gets me worked up?! Any who, I’ve done this twice, and each time, I’ve received a brand new phone after the first refurbed one. Ugh, I don’t know what is worse, cell phone insurance or thieves… ;)
So sorry to hear that happened to you.
on thought is that If you paid for the phone with your Amex card, Amex may be able cover the cost of replacing it. not sure if it applies to phones though but my good friend had her brand new louis vuitton wallet stolen and Amex covered the replacement cost.
It may not cover phones but it may be something to look into if you haven’t already.
Booooo….that sucks :-(
You know, my sister had the same thing happened to her– phone stolen right out of her purse! Ugh. It’s times like that that you have to believe in karma.
Aww im so sorry that is sick someone would go in your purse and take your phone. Especially now with us storing so much on our phones its a total violation of privacy not to mention a major cost to buy a new one… hopefully whoever stole it is unable to use it!
Girl – you know what I went through recently with my car being stolen so to say I feel you is an understatement. Fingers crossed that this person gets there’s sooner rather than later. I truly do believe what goes around eventually comes around.
Omg I can’t believe someone would just steal it from your purse!! People just have no respect for other people’s property :( I’m so sorry this had to happen for you, I would have been seriously pissed off. I’m gonna look into the find my iphone 4 link