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#228526 - 07/25/11 10:05 PM Robbery ARG
LCranston Offline
2
Enthusiast

Registered: 08/31/09
Posts: 201
Loc: Nebraska
Lesson learned relatively cheaply, at least so far.

It appears that Saturday night we left our garage door open, and some @$$hole went in and stole my wife's purse from the car.

We found out when the credit card companies called to ask if we had visited 7 Wal-Marts that morning.

Spent an exciting Sunday calling around cancelling stuff.


Lessons learned

1) PAY ATTENTION- if we had not been distracted by the kids, the heat blah, blah- we would not have left garage open, nor left purse in car

2) calling banks on Sundays SUCKS

3) Buy locks that are easy to re-key- I have kwik-set locks, and was able to re-key them in 3 minutes......After buy the tool my kids lost sigh.

4) there are alternate good uses for Credit Reporting services- They make a nice checklist for figuring out what needs to be cancelled vs what you can keep.

5) having 2 accounts on payroll accounts is a nice safety net- the checking account had to be closed (Wife had checks in purse) and it was primary payroll account- Since I had secondary account set up, was able to get payroll re-routed same day

6) realized that we have no deadbolt on door from garage into house. It is pure luck that thief did not enter house. At least on laptop was on kitchen table.

Okay,
What preps do I do to avoid repeat of this?

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#228529 - 07/25/11 10:17 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: LCranston]
Blast Offline
INTERCEPTOR
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 07/15/02
Posts: 3760
Loc: TX
Wow, that's a bummer. Does your wife normally leave her purse in the car? We have a big "pigeon-hole" thingy by our garage/house door where my wife and daughters leave there purses...and I leave my manbag. A quick glance makes it obvious if a purse/bag was left somewhere it wasn't supposed to have been.

-Blast
_________________________
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#228534 - 07/25/11 10:25 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: LCranston]
7point82 Offline
Addict

Registered: 11/24/05
Posts: 478
Loc: Orange Beach, AL
We have a little panel in house that tells us (via two little LEDs) whether the garage door is up or down. Handy little gadget.
_________________________
"There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother." -Theodore Roosevelt

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#228539 - 07/25/11 10:44 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: LCranston]
NuggetHoarder Offline
Member

Registered: 07/01/11
Posts: 145
Loc: Appalachians
Originally Posted By: LCranston

What preps do I do to avoid repeat of this?


Glad to hear they didn't come into your house.

I'd bait them in again and catch em on camera. Repeat the conditions of the first heist. Same car, same day of the week, same time of day. Except this time, have a good quality camera taking some really good face shots of the bad guys. It might take you a few weeks before they make their rounds through your neighborhood again, but like a racoon, they always come back for the easy pickin's.

Beyond that, I'd say a burglar alarm would do you some good, and maybe some better exterior lighting. A petty thief would probably be scared off from an audible alarm and lights. You can also integrate a garage door alert monitor if you leave the door open again that will chime inside your house. They even have garage door autoclosers now that will close the door after a certain period.

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#228551 - 07/26/11 12:18 AM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: LCranston]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2995
In our old hood, we had a neighbor who had retired and would stay at home for a week and then visit one of her kids in another city a week at a time. She returned home from one visit and opened her garage door and it was empty. The thieves had slowly chiseled around old cement blocks until they got enough to climb through, disable her alarm and then open the door and haul away all her stuff.
I bought a couple of those big Stanley wheeled job boxes that Home depot sells and some chain and locks. I started locking all my tools up and chaining everything to large bolts through the wall studs.
Sure someone with enough time could still steal stuff but it was enough that it would slow them down and make noise.
I bought a nice new steel door for the front and took the old steel front door and replaced the wooden back door into the garage with it. Then another exterior door between the garage and kitchen, then bought three sets of deadbolt locksets and had them key'ed alike and installed in all three doors with 4" desk screws into the studs.
Of course they then broke into my shed and stole the lawn mower and bicycles.
In larger towns no one even responds to alarms anymore due to too many false alarms, I used to try and call them in and only annoyed the dispatchers, the alarm salesmen who come around really hate me when I tell them that.

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#228577 - 07/26/11 11:49 AM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: Blast]
LCranston Offline
2
Enthusiast

Registered: 08/31/09
Posts: 201
Loc: Nebraska
No, regularly her purse is in the house; I am almost glad it worked out this way; at least they did not appear to come in the house.


Yes, am considering the alarm system; wondering if they have one with automatic on/time schedule. We had one at last house, and it was nice, when we remembers to use it.

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#228589 - 07/26/11 03:19 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: NightHiker]
NAro Offline
Addict

Registered: 03/15/01
Posts: 517
My wife's purse and credit cards were stolen too, but I didn't report it to the police or credit card company:
so far the crooks are spending less than she does

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#228595 - 07/26/11 03:57 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: LCranston]
bws48 Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 831
Loc: Anne Arundel County, Maryland
I hope this is not a thread hijack.

When a purse is stolen, there is not a lot you can do.
HOWEVER, as a banker, I see a major security gap that many women are subject to.

It is this: it is very popular for women to carry an "all in one" type "wallet/organizer" (my term, don't know the right one). In this single organizer is a convenient place for: cash, checkbook, credit cards, social security card, etc. and who know what else. I think these were designed by identity thieves. It gives them everything they need in one place.

You lose/have this stolen and you have major problems. Your identity is up for grabs. This happened to DW once when we were first married many years ago. She then switched over to separate checkbook, driver's license, and credit card carriers. If she lost one, she didn't lose everything. Only one was out of her purse at a time. Of course, they are still in her purse and if that goes missing. . .

Don't make it too easy for the bad guys. It's bad enough as it is.
_________________________
"Better is the enemy of good enough."

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#228599 - 07/26/11 05:46 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: bws48]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
That's all probably true, except for those of us with ADD.

If I had to separate everything, I would never find them, nor would I have what I needed when I needed it.

I have to have everything together that I need. And as soon as I walk in the door I have to place it on the shelf inside the door that is there for the purpose: purse, little wallet (for work, it has to fit in my pocket), cell phone (that's where the charger is, too), and keys.

For years people have told me that the weight of having a relatively large set of hanging from your car ignition all the time can damage the ignition. Maybe so, but I just don't have that option. OTOH, my old crate had its 26th birthday and has never had ignition problems. Maybe the newer ones are more delicate. smile

And carrying your social security card is just begging for trouble. You only need it rarely, and should know when those times are. If anyplace (like Macy's) asks for it as a source of identification, shop elsewhere.

Sue

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#228600 - 07/26/11 05:50 PM Re: Robbery ARG [Re: 7point82]
GoatMan Offline
Member

Registered: 08/17/07
Posts: 119
Originally Posted By: 7point82
We have a little panel in house that tells us (via two little LEDs) whether the garage door is up or down. Handy little gadget.


What type of device is it and where did you pick it up? Sounds like a good item to install. I don't really want to integrate anything into my alarm system that makes noise, so this item sounds ideal.

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