Ripped Off

[redrum]

I was just curious as to who's had something stolen from them at one time or another. My things:

A Nikon F camera with a micro lens was stolen from my job.

An old radio was stolen from a friend's car.

A .38 Smith & Wesson was stolen from my jacket.

2 6x9 speakers were stolen from my truck.

A tool pouch with high quality tools was stolen from my motorcycle.

My big worry is to be burglarized and lose my other prized possessions. If it does happen I hope I catch them in the act.

Anybody else?

[lisamarie]

http://forums.ledzeppelin.com/index.php?/topic/17867-led-zepagain-gear-theft/

[kenog]

£200 in cash, and my passport!! This meant I had to pay about £75 for a new passport, get a new photo taken (which I hate), get someone to sign/witness my passport application form. Then I had to wait six weeks for the new one to turn up.

I hope the thief got a case of chronic hemorrhoids.

[2bitnogoodjive]

I was just curious as to who's had something stolen from them at one time or another. My things:

A Nikon F camera with a micro lens was stolen from my job.

An old radio was stolen from a friend's car.

A .38 Smith & Wesson was stolen from my jacket.

2 6x9 speakers were stolen from my truck.

A tool pouch with high quality tools was stolen from my motorcycle.

My big worry is to be burglarized and lose my other prized possessions. If it does happen I hope I catch them in the act.

Anybody else?

Damn. You report that to the cops?

[zepscoda]

Outside CBGB's after a gig, I had a 1980 Les Paul and a 1985 Strat stolen from my car .....that sucked big time.

[Ady]

I've had 2 cars stolen from me. The first from the car park where I used to work. The second from the car park where I used to live. They were both old cars, easier to steal. It was the inconvenience more than anything.

[TypeO]

When my wife had just had our first child, I had already moved to Orlando to work with my brother.

The plan was she would come with our son after his 6-week checkup.

So I moved a trailer full of her stuff down with me, including her stereo.

It was a massive JBL system, with a remote that would actually make the volume knob turn - it was so cool.

She was in her mid-20s, and she had paid it off over the course of 18 months from a rent-to-own place, which means she paid almost double its real value.

But it would literally rattle the windows, and I showed it off to a number of guys who were working construction with me one morning before we went to work.

Well, one of the guys was an admitted thief, and my brother had fired him soon afterward.

But he also knew if my truck wasn't there, I wasn't there.

And the weekend I went back up to see her and my son, the prick broke in and stole the stereo with a couple hundred CDs along with it.

My brother called me to tell me the police were there.

I saw him once flying by in his little white Ford Ranger, but I was unable to get my keys and go after him.

I vowed that if I ever saw his truck parked anywhere, I was going to cut it in half with one of the gas-powered concrete saws we had, or at least cut the roof off.

I felt so bad because my wife had worked so hard to have that for herself.

I hate thieves.

Oh, I also had an Alpine CD player stolen out of my 1994 Ford Ranger.

My Doggystyle CD was still in it at the time.

[Reggie29]

My first car was stolen from a club and thankfully I recovered it almost intact because they ran out of fuel not far from where I lived.

Three guitars at the one time.

1 x early '70's Axiom Electric LP copy recovered, but "lost" later on in a move.

1 x early '70's Ibanez Electric LP copy.

1 x 1974 Ibanez Acoustic Dove copy.

My entire vinyl collection of 400+ albums, many irreplaceable, "lost" while moving house.

It was tragic losing them at the time but I'm over it and have been for many years.

Regardless, the theft of instuments or tools of trade is a low act.

[Mudslider]

A pair of Polk Floor speakers that made 73' Zeppelin Live In Seattle seem like yesterday "went missing" from a moving van from Portland to Seattle. Seven guys and 2 women helped that day. I had a suspicion on the guilty party, filed a Police report and 2 days later they reappeared on my porch. Never found out who......

[greenman]

Mercifully very little, the only significant theft I remember was by bag while at a bar before watching the NYE firework display on the Thames and that just had some clothes and a couple of DVD's in it which I managed to get my travel insurance to pay out on.

[Pagesbow]

1st car was stolen (was more gutted about the sony 25 disc CD changer I had installed)

2nd car stolen and found burnt out.

3 mountain bikes and 1 lawnmower (still can't believe someone stole my trusty lawnmower. Barstards)

I've had 2 cars stolen from me. The first from the car park where I used to work. The second from the car park where I used to live. They were both old cars, easier to steal. It was the inconvenience more than anything.

It's counterintuitve because if your old banger is parked next to a more expensive car one would think a car thief would go for the expensive vehicle. But as you say the old cars are so easy to get into.

[ledzepfvr]

When I was pregnant with my first child, I had to take of all my rings cuz my fingers had swelled. I had put them in my jewelery box and apparently at some point in time someone had riffled through it and taken anything of value. My wedding ring, my birthstone ring, my class ring, a diamond ring, and a small match box that has some loose stones. I swear it was one of my ex's shady friends. He did have one show up a few months later with a new gold tooth. I swear he was wearing my jewelery in his mouth. Or come to think of it maybe it was the ex. I wouldn't put it past him for some weed money back then. HMMMM..

When I moved into the house I live in now there was robberies going on in the neighborhood and they broke into the house. Stole the VCR and my whole jewelery box. Just slipped the whole thing into a pillow case. It had some of my great grandmothers jewelery in it that can never be replaced.

I never keep my jewelery in one place anymore.

[Ady]

It's counterintuitve because if your old banger is parked next to a more expensive car one would think a car thief would go for the expensive vehicle. But as you say the old cars are so easy to get into.

I saw exactly what happened with the first one on CCTV. The guy was waiting there in another car a long time before I arrived at work. He'd obviously stolen that car too and was running out of petrol. After I left he parked next to me, broke into my car and then moved what must have been stolen goods from one car to the other and then drove off. So, he only wanted to steal a car to get him where he wanted to go and was waiting for an easy one to break into. It was found a few weeks later in another car park about 40 miles away with 7 parking tickets on it. That was a a pain getting that sorted. I didn't want it back! The second car I had stolen was never seen again.

[LedZeppfan77]

My first car was stolen from a club and thankfully I recovered it almost intact because they ran out of fuel not far from where I lived.

Three guitars at the one time.

1 x early '70's Axiom Electric LP copy recovered, but "lost" later on in a move.

1 x early '70's Ibanez Electric LP copy.

1 x 1974 Ibanez Acoustic Dove copy.

My entire vinyl collection of 400+ albums, many irreplaceable, "lost" while moving house.

It was tragic losing them at the time but I'm over it and have been for many years.

Regardless, the theft of instuments or tools of trade is a low act.

Let me guess. You used the insurance money to upgrade to a real Les Paul? I hope. When I was with my ex wife, I was in Canada and she came back early. I got news when I was on Howe Island in the 1000 Islands that our house was robbed and trashed. She recorded it on a video camera for the police.. We got replacement and had to show proof of purchase for all items. it was a piece of shit that worked with me and knew I was going away. He got popped on another job weeks later and we never saw him again. I am sure he is most likely in Attica. Fucking losers they sent with me. I was the boss. They sent scum bags with me because the head guy had a hard on for me. Took him to the union and beat him. The fucking crackhead that ripped me off I had fired days after my return. They spent hours in the house.

[Sagittarius Rising]

in 94' I had an 86' Toyota PU 4x4, loved that little truck. Anyway, I had just moved to Mesa (a real shithole, another long story) into an apartment complex that turned out to have a substantial Section 8 population. One lovely evening I took my girlfriend to the drive-in movie, we lay in the bed of the truck on a very expensive down comforter my mother had given me as a gift watching a terrible movie (I think, was not really paying attention). Later that evening, about 2am after I had left my GF apartment I drove home and parked directly outside my apartment unit, a whole 40' or so from my front door. When I opened my front door and entered the apartment I realized I had left the down comforter in the bed of the PU and forgot to lock the door. Turned around, went back outside to my vehicle and much to my surprise the comforter was gone as well as my Kenwood Stereo / CD player. That's right, even being liberal on the timeframe I was away from the car for all of three minutes max and they lifted the stereo. I looked around and, crickets, nothing, no one anywhere. I was pissed at the time but looking back that was one fast ass thieving bastard.

[Anjin-san]

Do books count? Can't count how many books I 'lent' out for someone to read,never saw them again.Jeez!

[LedZeppfan77]

in 94' I had an 86' Toyota PU 4x4, loved that little truck. Anyway, I had just moved to Mesa (a real shithole, another long story) into an apartment complex that turned out to have a substantial Section 8 population. One lovely evening I took my girlfriend to the drive-in movie, we lay in the bed of the truck on a very expensive down comforter my mother had given me as a gift watching a terrible movie (I think, was not really paying attention). Later that evening, about 2am after I had left my GF apartment I drove home and parked directly outside my apartment unit, a whole 40' or so from my front door. When I opened my front door and entered the apartment I realized I had left the down comforter in the bed of the PU and forgot to lock the door. Turned around, went back outside to my vehicle and much to my surprise the comforter was gone as well as my Kenwood Stereo / CD player. That's right, even being liberal on the timeframe I was away from the car for all of three minutes max and they lifted the stereo. I looked around and, crickets, nothing, no one anywhere. I was pissed at the time but looking back that was one fast ass thieving bastard.

in 94' I had an 86' Toyota PU 4x4, loved that little truck. Anyway, I had just moved to Mesa (a real shithole, another long story) into an apartment complex that turned out to have a substantial Section 8 population. One lovely evening I took my girlfriend to the drive-in movie, we lay in the bed of the truck on a very expensive down comforter my mother had given me as a gift watching a terrible movie (I think, was not really paying attention). Later that evening, about 2am after I had left my GF apartment I drove home and parked directly outside my apartment unit, a whole 40' or so from my front door. When I opened my front door and entered the apartment I realized I had left the down comforter in the bed of the PU and forgot to lock the door. Turned around, went back outside to my vehicle and much to my surprise the comforter was gone as well as my Kenwood Stereo / CD player. That's right, even being liberal on the timeframe I was away from the car for all of three minutes max and they lifted the stereo. I looked around and, crickets, nothing, no one anywhere. I was pissed at the time but looking back that was one fast ass thieving bastard.

No doubt he had you scoped out previously

[Virginia]

Knock on wood, no. But I did lose a few things to my own carelessness.

[redrum]

Damn. You report that to the cops?

With the .38, yes I did. Never recovered it.

[redrum]

I hope the thief got a case of chronic hemorrhoids.

Our sentiments exactly.

I figured practically everyone here has something stolen at one time or another. A beloved guitar has to be the worst.

Another time I remember I had my old '71 Suburban parked a few blocks from our job site in one of the worst parts of Oakland, but it was the closest lot. Bad idea. The corksuckers stole some fishing poles, but the worst part was they had rolled all the windows down out of spite and it was pouring rain that day. May they rot in hell just for that.

[ally]

Our first home was robbed back in 1984 . They stole everything but the bigger pieces of furniture. Outside of what my wife was wearing that evening, we lost all of our jewlery and just about all of my Zeppelin collection which included some fabulous black and white photo's a friend of mine took at the Zep gig in Vancouver on July 18 / 1973 . The thing that really pissed me off though was that they shattered my black pig piggy bank which had my name written in gold leaf on it's side. That was a gift from my grandmother when we left for Canada. It still pisses me off

[kenog]

Ally,

It's items like you grandmother's gift and the LZ photos which are irreplaceable, and that to me is the worst part of theft/burglary. You can't replace the original experience or sentiment. With other items, the problem is the amount of trouble and expense that thieves put you to. You can't have everything insured individually, and a lot of stuff isn't covered under house contents insurance.

A lot of the time after a thief has taken something, they throw the item away or abandon a stolen car because it means nothing to them, They didn't have to work to pay for it.

Our first home was robbed back in 1984 . They stole everything but the bigger pieces of furniture. Outside of what my wife was wearing that evening, we lost all of our jewlery and just about all of my Zeppelin collection which included some fabulous black and white photo's a friend of mine took at the Zep gig in Vancouver on July 18 / 1973 . The thing that really pissed me off though was that they shattered my black pig piggy bank which had my name written in gold leaf on it's side. That was a gift from my grandmother when we left for Canada. It still pisses me off

[ally]

Ally,

It's items like you grandmother's gift and the LZ photos which are irreplaceable, and that to me is the worst part of theft/burglary. You can't replace the original experience or sentiment. With other items, the problem is the amount of trouble and expense that thieves put you to. You can't have everything insured individually, and a lot of stuff isn't covered under house contents insurance.

A lot of the time after a thief has taken something, they throw the item away or abandon a stolen car because it means nothing to them, They didn't have to work to pay for it.

Spot on ! We were pretty naive at the time and discovered we were grossly under insured for the loss of the jewlery. Crappy way to learn but never the less, the lesson was learned. Like my piggy bank, my wife had some sentimental pieces of jewlery that could never be replaced and that's the kind of thing that really irks me about theft. As for my Zep collection, like you say, it probably found the scrap heap which is more of a shame than anything else because I'd loved to have been able to share those photo's with everyone here. They really were of excellent quality and the irony of it all is, the guy who took them, wasn't even a Zeppelin fan .

[kenog]

Ally,

This sounds like they were caught, or you found out who they were?

I really feel bad about your piggy bank because when we had relations leave Scotland to go to Canada, we gave leaving presents to them. It was just the thing you did in those days. Make sure you take photographs of all your valuables and store the photos on a usb stick, or even in the Cloud. It makes it so much easier to deal with the insurance companies if you have to claim. Nowadays, thieves seem to be going for lightweight, but valuable goods like laptops, IPads etc. I think there is a way of tracking these goods electronically if they are stolen, and if necessary, closing them down.

They really were of excellent quality and the irony of it all is, the guy who took them, wasn't even a Zeppelin fan .

[ally]

Sorry, I meant to say the guy who shot the original photo's wasn't a Zep fan. The thieves were never caught.

You're right about the leaving presents and at the time, 1957, the small black piggy banks with gold leaf name on it's side were quite a common gift. Not sure if it was a Brit thing or just a Scots thing but I can remember a few other ex pat's who had them . I actually tried to have it restored but there were just too many missing pieces to make it feasible

Ally,

This sounds like they were caught, or you found out who they were?

I really feel bad about your piggy bank because when we had relations leave Scotland to go to Canada, we gave leaving presents to them. It was just the thing you did in those days. Make sure you take photographs of all your valuables and store the photos on a usb stick, or even in the Cloud. It makes it so much easier to deal with the insurance companies if you have to claim. Nowadays, thieves seem to be going for lightweight, but valuable goods like laptops, IPads etc. I think there is a way of tracking these goods electronically if they are stolen, and if necessary, closing them down.