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Laptop Stolen from Dorm
DJ-99
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I got back to college from Christmas break on Saturday to find that my 2-month old laptop had been stolen. It was attached to the desk with a standard laptop lock, which apparently you can cut through with wire cutters.
Now, my natural suspicion is that the cleaning lady stole it, although I could obviously be wrong. She's the only person who is "supposed to" enter my room over break, even though I was not permitted to deny her entrance.
Now, there were no signs of a break-in, and the door was left locked, which leads me to believe a key was used. Even if the cleaning lady herself didn't take it, I'm convinced it's her fault, because she might have left my room unlocked for any period of time.
I feel like this incident is completely my college's responsibility. Paying $8,000 a year just for room and board should provide you with the security that the college will not give out keys to people who are going to steal your stuff.
So my quetsion is, how should I go about complaining in order to try and get at least partial compensation for my computer? I go to a 1,400 student liberal arts college, so the administration is very accessible.
I don't want to point the finger at any one person, but I would like to make it clear that the college is at fault, because they can't just give people access to my room for all my stuff to be taken.
Also, I don't think there's any chance another student took it, because my $300 external hard drive was sitting right there and it didn't get stolen. I'm assuming the person who stole my computer knows very little about electronics, and is thus a low-level employee at the school.
Thanks for any advice. If there are questions I'll try to answer them tonight.
Now, my natural suspicion is that the cleaning lady stole it, although I could obviously be wrong. She's the only person who is "supposed to" enter my room over break, even though I was not permitted to deny her entrance.
Now, there were no signs of a break-in, and the door was left locked, which leads me to believe a key was used. Even if the cleaning lady herself didn't take it, I'm convinced it's her fault, because she might have left my room unlocked for any period of time.
I feel like this incident is completely my college's responsibility. Paying $8,000 a year just for room and board should provide you with the security that the college will not give out keys to people who are going to steal your stuff.
So my quetsion is, how should I go about complaining in order to try and get at least partial compensation for my computer? I go to a 1,400 student liberal arts college, so the administration is very accessible.
I don't want to point the finger at any one person, but I would like to make it clear that the college is at fault, because they can't just give people access to my room for all my stuff to be taken.
Also, I don't think there's any chance another student took it, because my $300 external hard drive was sitting right there and it didn't get stolen. I'm assuming the person who stole my computer knows very little about electronics, and is thus a low-level employee at the school.
Thanks for any advice. If there are questions I'll try to answer them tonight.
DJ-99 on
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File a Police report.
Then, move on to the people directly in charge with the residence. Ask them for compensation, or any surveillance info (like who was in and out of the building).
Keep filing complaints, and speaking further up the chain. You might eventually get a response that is somewhat favorable.
Hopefully you kept track of things like serial numbers, because the police will probably ask for stuff like that.
2) Second, contact your university residential housing department. It may go by a name like "Student Life" instead of something that makes sense like "Campus Housing."
That said, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Stuff gets stolen/destroyed at college all the time, and a lot of universities (including the one I went to) have an escape clause in their housing contracts that say that they're not responsible for loss or damage to your property while you're living there. Dorm rooms are not secure and you really should have no expectation of security.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
After that, I would talk to your RA and see if they can point you in the right direction.
Speak with your RA and perhaps file a police report, but it probably won't get your laptop back. This is not the school's fault.
edit: There also may be a slim chance of hope that perhaps someone did not steal it but put it somewhere secure. Does your college have a lost/found or a security office? I left my backpack once when I went to have dinner with a girl from school and when I came back it was gone. I was furious and immediately assumed it was stolen. It was not and I felt like a shit head. Granted my backpack isn't your laptop, but its worth a shot.
Shogun Streams Vidya
His point here is that the person who stole the laptop actually works for the university and thus had a key, so he/she didn't need to do any lock-tampering...
sounds kind of ambiguous to me, I'm guessing you're pretty much at the mercy of whichever governing institution at your school that makes these decisions. They'll probably just hand you a line about how you should take your valuables with you when you leave the dorm for extended periods of time, and no doubt there is something to this effect in the contract you signed when you first moved in.
Also, most schools make you agree to the usual "We're not responsible if your stuff gets stolen" thing.
Plus, the thing is, our dorms are VERY safe. Nobody gets into our dorms if they're not supposed to. The problem is, I'm almost positive my computer was stolen by somebody who IS allowed in our dorms. That's the real thing I'm bitching about. If it were some random thief then I wouldn't be blaming the college. My issue is that I'm pretty sure they gave my dorm key to the criminal. Generally there's no need to worry about strangers taking stuff from your room.
I'm going to look to see if there's any type of guarantee that came with my lock, and also check with my insurance policy.
Fortunately in that case homeowners insurance covered it. But like everyone's been saying, don't expect the college to do jack.
This is absolutely true. I stole a key at my highschool my senior year to the underground AV room to setup a senior prank that involved airing porn across the school instead of the channel one news gig. I tried to copy the key at several places (walmart, lowes, home depot) only to find out they couldn't do it because they don't carry those types of keys. The difference between the keys is the length and I think there may be more tumblers on the lock. I took it to a locksmith who immediately knew what was going on and I got busted.
I would try to find out who all had access to the dorms over break for starters.
Shogun Streams Vidya
Well I didn't. Next time I plan on committing some felonies I'll give you a call. And OP keep us updated this thread could be useful for future reference. I also want to know if you get your comp back.
Shogun Streams Vidya
And I'm actually King of three different countries.
See, I can make shit up too with zero evidence. Keys that have 'Do Not Duplicate' on them are extremely difficult to get copied, and it's pretty safe to say that if you have those kinds of connections, you aren't going to be wasting your time getting dorm keys duplicated.
I really feel like a jackass for doing this, but Than isn't all that off base. Of course, I can't prove it because it's of questionable legality, but there are ways to get around that whole "Do Not Copy" thing. Let's just say that my supervisor, the lead network engineer at a very prominent private school in LA, was flipping shit when we watched a video on security that detailed how to break in to buildings using generic keys so that you didn't have to force your way in.
No, you don't have to believe us on this since we can't prove it on the boards, but there really are ways to do these sorts of things.
I guess I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to the technicalities, but it took the building service workers about 15 seconds to switch out my lock when my roommate got suspended from school.
Be persistant. It pays to be nice and understanding of the rules and regulations of the school and not being a dick about it at first. If they start to give you the run-around, don that asshat becvause they are helpful in these situations. Sometimes it really can pay to be a dick.
I thought Lemming was referring to the laptop lock, I thought they had some guarantee if tampering was done.
"MicroSaver Guaranteed Notebook Replacement is the strongest security cable from Kensington backed the industry's first replacement guarantee. Kensington will replace up to $1,500 per laptop and up to $10,000 per year per purchaser under its replacement guarantee program. "
http://us.kensington.com/html/2221.html
I'm not sure, obviously, b/c there aren't any pictures posted.
However, it's described to the TEE. Especially the "4 months old" part. I'm pretty sure I bought it in September, but I'll check my bank account to make sure.
How to proceed?
Also, my lock was a Kensington but a different model, which looks like didn't come with a guarantee. It was the only one available in our book store, otherwise I would have bought one with a guarantee.
Set up a meeting and act like you're going to purchase the laptop. You need to see the computer itself and preferably play around with it to find out if it really is yours. Does it have any distinguishing marks on it or anything? If it is yours call the fucking police and have that shitfuck arrested.
Shogun Streams Vidya
See at my school, when I worked security/maintenance, if a universal key got loose, they immediately had all the locks replaced, then billed it to whomever let the key slip. Had one of those suckers get dropped behind the security desk once. It was a pretty tense afternoon, let me tell you.
I would be cautious with this approach. If the person has deleted any pictures/vids/anything that might have your face on it, they might recognize you.
Poke around with it, but if it's really yours, and you're 100% sure, call the cops.
Basically, you are either dealing with some janitor who stole your laptop and is selling it on the internet, or you are dealing with someone much more dangerous. In any case, don't try to be a hero and find them yourself--call the police. You really can't file any complaints with your school anyway until this is done.
You will also need your laptop's serial number, as this is the 100% only way you can prove it is your machine.
Also, I could go through with the purchase, give them a check, and have my bank cancel the check maybe. If they complain, say fuck you I'll press charges for stealing my laptop.
That'd be a really bad idea.
Aside from the possiblilty of you know, getting killed, the police gennerally require stolen items to be in the possession of the criminal for it to be theft. Also committing bank fraud usually isn't a way to make friends with your bank or the po-po.
Yes, stolen laptop sucks, but not worth all that.
Assuming they wiped the drive your going to need the serial number to prove anything and even if they didn't it would still be a good idea since you need some sort of definitive evidence to prove its yours.