Stolen/lost property - Did you ever get it back?

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Last Thursday I left my laptop case (sans laptop thankfully) behind at my university after a quiz. Along with it was a Playstation Vita, my four Mtg decks worth ~$300, and a $250 textbook. I've checked the lost and found every day since with no luck. I've contacted the police, talked with people at the university and called a couple of stores that the stuff might be sold to with information about it. Regardless I'm feeling really down and hopeless over it. It's looking pretty unlikely that I'll see any of it again

I was wondering if other people on the Escapist have had luck with getting back stolen or lost items, is it at all common or is it usually a lost cause?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's usually a lost cause for me. I've forgotten stuff somewhere (shop, store, whatever) and I've picked it up the day after, but that's it, tops. Never retrieved anything that was stolen from me, or that I lost.

 

[BQE]

If I had to speculate I would say you won't get any of your things back, I've just seen petty thievery too many times to think people can have a change of heart. That said, I'm absolutely sure you aren't going to forget your bag anytime soon will you?

Lessons learned hardest are learned well. Best of luck with that.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

If I had to speculate I would say you won't get any of your things back, I've just seen petty thievery too many times to think people can have a change of heart. That said, I'm absolutely sure you aren't going to forget your bag anytime soon will you?

Lessons learned hardest are learned well. Best of luck with that.

Oh believe me, I haven't convinced myself that they'd have a change of heart. If there's anything I'm hoping for at all it's that they'll try to sell the cards in bulk to a shop that I've told about what happened, or try to pawn the Vita since the police have its serial number.

Not much hope, mind you, but a little

 

[ParadiseOnceLost]

Not really maybe if a forget something and go after in a few minutes, but after an hour passes it seems that item is lost to the world. I have lost a 16 GB flash drive (luckily most of it was backed up on my PC and I have had no use use to the files that I lost forever), a key chain garage door opener and a book, all which are gone forever now. I don't fret over it because they are not worth that much.

EDIT: I once had like $20 and my keys stolen out of my bag never saw those again either, but yea shit happens.

 

[viscomica]

If you lose anything at my uni, then it's probably lost forever. Also I have to label stuff with my name at work so it doesn't get "lost".... I usually lose umbrellas, don't know why, though.

 

[xmbts]

Someone stole a few PS1 games from me which I never got back. Burnout 2 got nabbed by another friend. Halo 2 by a third friend.

I did get a controller back though that wasn't stolen so much as a misunderstanding about borrowing.

CD player was borrowed by my father who then got it stolen. Some lady attempted to pickpocket me but I don't keep things in the back pockets so she just got a handful of my butt. :v

And sister took couple of shirts that disappeared at boyfriends houses. Gave someone about $400 in random stuff and haven't been fully paid for it. (it's been a good 7 years at this point)

Oh and someone stole an old MP3 player and drop-kicked it down a staircase. I got that one back but it was broken.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Well I've had incidents of having things stolen, & having so-called friends borrow things then deny they ever had them when asked to return said items...
But..I also once lost my wallet with about $200 in it at a convention, & when I showed the people at the registration desk my matching key carrier and asked if anyone had turned in the paired wallet, they did in fact have it. It had been turned in to them, with all the money still in it!
Also when I worked at K-mart, one day I was straightening the shelves in my dept, and found a money clip with a large roll of bills in it on the shelf. I placed it in the cubby next to my register and went on working. A short time later a man came in and started looking anxiously around the area where I hound found the money clip. When I asked him if I could help him he nervously asked "I don't suppose anyone...found...anything..?" and I realized he must be the one who left the money clip. So I took it out of the cubby and handed it back to him. Astonished he counted the money and in a dumbfounded tone said "It's all still there." To which I replied, "Well what goes around comes around, right?". Fellow left, shaking his head in bewilderment. Never thanked me properly either.

 

[DefunctTheory]

We used to have a saying in the Army.

There's only one thief in the Army. Everyone else is just trying to get their shit back.

I'd say I've had about 3 grand worth of personnel and Army issued stuff stolen from me over the course of 6 years.

Oh, and I lent someone 2 grand they never gave me back. Asshole.

 

[Snowbell]

My purse was stolen on a bus. Strangely, my identity cards were returned, but not my loyalty cards, my id photos I had been keeping to hand. What is even stranger is that they were sent first class. Weird.

Naturally the theif kept the money and bank cards (which I had already deactivated). No surprise there.

 

[mysecondlife]

I dropped my car key in a parkinglot on my way to a meeting. An hour into a meeting I realized that I dropped it and sprinted out of the building and backtracked my way to the car. I couldn't find the key anywhere but thankfully I had a spare in my backpack.

I contacted the security for it and contacted frequently. They were able to find it a week later.

 

[Strazdas]

PRetty much everything i lost i found in exactly same spot i left them at, noone touching. coudl be im just very very lucky. one exception though, i once lost a phone (my first one too) in a park and i never found it.
I once found a purse. it had an ID in it but not really much else. i found that guy (dont remember how now) and reuturned and he even blamed me for taking the money. he obviuosly didnt believe i just found it laying under my balcony.

Now i did have my bike stolen. 3 times. one of them in foreign country while camping! so i stopped buying bikes.

 

[Yopaz]

Someone stole a few PS1 games from me which I never got back. Burnout 2 got nabbed by another friend. Halo 2 by a third friend.

I did get a controller back though that wasn't stolen so much as a misunderstanding about borrowing.

CD player was borrowed by my father who then got it stolen. Some lady attempted to pickpocket me but I don't keep things in the back pockets so she just got a handful of my butt. :v

And sister took couple of shirts that disappeared at boyfriends houses. Gave someone about $400 in random stuff and haven't been fully paid for it. (it's been a good 7 years at this point)

Oh and someone stole an old MP3 player and drop-kicked it down a staircase. I got that one back but it was broken.

I've never understood why people would want to have something in their back pockets. It seems like advertising the fact that there's easy money to be had. I am one of those who rather keep most of my stuff in an inner pocket anyway so this might just be me being paranoid.

I am not sure, but I either lost my phone or someone stole it a couple years back. I never saw it again, but it wasn't a new phone so I wasn't very broken up about it.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It's half and half for me, it depend on what I've lost and where was the last time I've seen it.

Example-
Found it- I bought a camera belt pouch thing from a leather shop. Despite having alot of stuff in my pocket already I still fit it in my jean pocket. When I left and shop and walked back home, it was sometime later after that I realise I had lost it.
The next day I went back to the shop to see if anyone had return it and the shop employee had handed me back when I entered. It turn out I had drop it a few meters away and since I had put the recipe in it, someone had found it and know where the shop it to return it. Needless to say I was very thankful to both the shop smployee and to whoever return it.

Also there was time when I lost my pencil case and my Naruto wristband in University (didn't lost them together) which luckily there were in the teacher room since they were the one who found i.

Lost it-
A pack of chewing gum which again I foolishly put it in my pocket despite it wasn't full that time. Since I put it from a superstore, I know as hell someone would of taken it for sure. Sure it was only £3 but still I don't like to be wasteful with my money!

 

[Otaku World Order]

True story of my own: A couple of years ago, I dropped my PSP on the bus. I was hoping someone might have turned it in to the Transit Office, but I was already calculating the cost of replacing it in my head. Then, about a day later, I received an e-mail from a guy who found it. He even apologized for having to run my PSP to get my e-mail address from it. So, I got it back in perfect condition because someone was willing to do the right thing.

Sometimes thing do work out.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

We used to have a saying in the Army.

There's only one thief in the Army. Everyone else is just trying to get their shit back.

I'd say I've had about 3 grand worth of personnel and Army issued stuff stolen from me over the course of 6 years.

Oh, and I lent someone 2 grand they never gave me back. Asshole.

Haha it happened in the Air Force as well. Whenever someone was getting ready to head out to another base and had to turn in all their issued gear everyone else kept all their gear under lock and key or stashed somewhere. I had a Gortex jacket and a flak vest get boosted from my room one day while I was at the chow hall. Luckily I was able to acquire new ones from one of my friends in supply, he marked the old ones as damaged so I didn't have to pay the cash to replace it. We had a PVS-7 night vision set go missing once on a night exercise, ended up with 80 people searching for it, one of the Army Opfor we were defending against snatched it and the idiot left it in his ruck.

 

[Queen Michael]

Today, I found a lost computer on the bus, so I went to the police station with it.

 

[Living Contradiction]

Misplaced a thumbdrive yesterday and when I went back to my college to look for it, there it was in the lost and found box. Yay, honesty!

I'm constantly finding bank cards and wallets. If there's a contact number, I give it a call and let the nervous person on the other end know that I've found what I've found. If not, I find the bank or a nearby information centre and give them the item to hold onto for the owner. Only takes a few minutes and it spares so much anxiety.

 

[an annoyed writer]

I lost one of my wallets last year and never got it back, which makes me sad because it was a
halo-themed wallet with a Spartan Helmet bezel. Luckily what was in it didn't cost much. I cancelled the bank card in there ASAP and replaced the driver's license the next day for like, $10. Still sad about the wallet though, that thing was cool.