Just had my phone stolen

by Suw on December 18, 2006

I think I'm going to give up on mobile phones. My shiny new Nokia E61, which I purchased a mere 19 days ago, just got stolen. I was chatting to a friend on my way to Waitrose, and when I got there I put the phone in my coat pocket and picked up a basket. A few minutes later, I thought 'I had better put my phone in my bag, in case it gets stolen', but too late.
I didn't feel anyone reach into my pocket. I wasn't aware of anyone coming too close, or watching me or bumping into me. Whoever it was was a very, very good pickpocket, and I'm sure they'll enjoy the phone for the next 24 hours until the bar kicks in, and after that I'm sure they'll sell it on Ebay for hundred quid or so.
Meantime, I await with bated breath to find out if the insurance got sorted out in time, otherwise I'm fucked. Plus the Treo is seriously buggered now and I can't even make calls on it, so I'm doubly fucked.
Merry fucking Christmas.
UPDATE, 19 Dec: Rang the police back this morning with my IMEI number. Never heard of an IMEI number? No, me neither. Apparently it's very important if you get your phone nicked, though, so find out what it is now, and make a note somewhere safe – you'll find it on the box that your phone came in, or maybe behind the phone's battery. If you lose or have your phone stolen, they'll need this number.
I also got my case number, and rang up Carphone Warehouse's insurance department. They've opened a claim for me, and I should find out by Friday if I can go and get another phone, or if I am going to remain phoneless.
Emotionally, I feel a bit of a wreck. On the one hand, I feel stupid for putting my phone in my coat pocket and not putting it away immediately like I usually do. I feel frustrated because I am normally so careful with my gadgets, but this one time I slip, this 1% of unawareness, and pooofft, my phone is gone. I feel guilty for feeling upset, because really it's all pretty tame, I wasn't mugged like Kevin was – he ended up with three stitches last year after three little yobs jumped him near Television Centre in White City and tried unsuccessfully to steal his laptop, only to find out that he may be wiry but he's very powerful. I wasn't thrown to the ground like the girl whose mugging I witnessed last year. I just had my personal space violated an an expensive gadget taken.
I feel extremely pissed off that some little fucker who probably hasn't earnt a penny his (or her) whole life is gonna profit from the sale of my phone.
I feel upset because London didn't used to be like this. I lived here for five years in the mid-90s, and in that time I personally knew just two people who'd been mugged. I've been back in London just over a year, and the catalogue of crime that has happened to people I know is:
– Kevin got mugged
– I witnessed a mugging
– I got my phone stolen
– our friend Vicki has had two phones stolen
– Karina, her phone and her purse
– the cleaner at Kevin's old house had her phone stolen
– I've been spat on (not a crime, I suppose, but not very nice)
– Kev and I were threatened with a stabbing (no knife in evidence)
– Kev witness a security guard being harassed by yobs on bikes
I don't like London anymore. I don't want to live here. But unfortunately, for the stuff that Kevin and I do, it's the only place we can be right now.
But, to cap it all, I was just starting to really love that phone. 19 days is just enough to start to get used to the way a new OS and a new phone works. I liked the shortcuts that made using the phone simple, I liked the Symbian OS which allows you to run more than one process at a time (in stark contrast to Palm, which has to fake it), I liked the form of the E61, it's QWERTY keyboard and its nice, bright screen. More than anything, I loved having Google Maps on it, and Google Mail. I adored the web browser which made surfing the net on a phone actually doable. I was totally in love with the wifi.
Does this make me a materialistic, spoilt brat? I hope not. This phone came as close as I have ever been to a decent mobile internet solution which, given how much I travel, actually was threatening to turn into a valuable business tool. I still had to find a good AIM client (the built in chat client doesn't like AIM), and a better way of dealing with RSS, but I was really pleased with the way that I could set it up to sync with my Macbook without too much trouble.
If that evil little swine had swiped my Treo, I would have laughed, barred the account and not been all that bothered. But they took my E61, and I bet they don't even bloody appreciate what they stole.
I am grateful that I wasn't hurt, and that they didn't steal, say, my Macbook (I carry my Macbook in a Crumpler rucksack, so pretty hard to steal, I hope). But still. Bastards.

Anonymous December 19, 2006 at 12:34 pm

Sorry about yr phone Suw, The other way to get the IMEI (for those who still have the phone in their possession) is to key in *#06# and it will show up on your display. then write it down, keep it safe etc.

Anonymous December 19, 2006 at 2:00 pm

Sad to hear about your stolen phone. I've seen phone-jackings happen in broad daylight–from cafe tables and while people walk outside government buildings in Dublin. Now I know how many of the boot sales have inexpensive phones on offer.

Anonymous December 19, 2006 at 4:46 pm

Sorry about your 'phone, I understand how you feel, I'd be very upset if I lost my recently purchased orangespv m600. Like you say , the thief is unlikely to get any benefit from it at all. You are not spoilt! It is a personal attack and it makes you feel vulnerable as well as pissed off.
A friend of a friend once got to the checkout in a supermarket and realised that she had had her handbag stolen. Do you know what the girl on the till said? “Are you going to pay for this shopping?”

Anonymous December 19, 2006 at 9:12 pm

I feel so sorry for you. seriously, there's nothing worse than having things stolen from you. I really hope that the insurance works out. I would like to say though, that my experience is, at these times that insurance don't kick in.. there's always a but somewhere and you are stuck..
Thomas' ( my boyfriend) scooter was stolen this may, and it was just incredible, it was stolen from a locked garage outside our house -and our own insurance wouldn't cover it because it was stolen inside a locked garage.. and the complex would cover it because they didn't have a “housing insurance” – meaning that it covers all the stuff that is not in the actual appartment ( but inside the complex though) hence should also cover his scooter.
anyway his scooter was found, but I got more and more enraged by being thrown around like a ball than being mugged…
I hope your story is different… however I have completely lost faith in insurance cases …
as far as London goes, yes it has changed a lot, even though I miss living there sometime, I feel more safe and sound in surburbian Denmark

Anonymous December 20, 2006 at 12:12 am

Sorry to hear about the phone. It sounds like you've been unlucky crime-wise. In 15 years in London I only personally knew one person who was mugged – though I suppose I witnessed and was aware of other nasty stuff, including my partner having her bag stolen in a pub.
I sympathise with you for being 'stuck' in London. Work reasons (working in the voluntary sector/peace/anti-nuclear) meant it was hard to go anywhere else easily – and that kept me there longer than I'd have chosen. It was having kids that provided the final impetus to go – moving to Dorset, to join the police ironically enough.
Still, I miss the galleries, the shops, the 'culture' and the ability to cycle anywhere I wanted relatively quickly and safely – which I certainly can't do in Dorset. So enjoy the benefits while you stay.
Oh – by the way, being spat at is definitely an offence. It is an assault, usually classified as 'assault by beating', although I know that doesn't sound right. Also, it can yield good DNA evidence for obvious reasons – so can be quite detectable!

Anonymous December 21, 2006 at 11:07 am

Sorry to hear about the 'phone. I went back to using an old, old Nokia brick, partly to make it unattractive to steal.
And, its not just London, its right across the UK. My nephew has been mugged twice, son's shop held up etc etc

Anonymous January 28, 2007 at 1:23 am

ikno how you feel i hav had walkman fones stole inside a year! i am very pissed!

Anonymous February 20, 2007 at 1:22 pm

just had my fucking mobile pick pocketed in LONDON of flipping places i'm from the country this does'nt happen hwere i live i feel proper vialated and the police seem don't seem to care they said that if i couldn't prove that it had been pick pocketed that i would not be able to claim so if anyone out there can prove they've been pick pocketed without actually catching the thief it would be much appreciated.

Anonymous February 20, 2007 at 9:17 pm

Sorry to hear that. Just get a crime reference number and talk to your insurers. I claimed without having to prove I'd been pickpocketed.

Anonymous March 17, 2007 at 7:23 am

hi im 11 years old my motorola raza got nicked it was exspensive and it was a present from my mum could i get a replacement for it i got my imei number and when i try to ring it it puts me throught to the tmobile awnser phone so plzz help:(

Anonymous March 17, 2007 at 11:57 am

Get your mum to ring Tmobile and ask for the phone to be blocked, then ring the police and get a case number, and ask your mum to check if you have insurance. Tmobile will tell you what you need to do.

Denise October 19, 2008 at 3:56 pm

I had my phone stolen last year and it was a terrifying experience , A man wrestled it out of my hands while walking down Wiclow street .Also just as disturbing is that a Dublin company encourages this sort of behavour by buying phones off these thieves

a href=”findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20030720/ai_n12870822″ title=”gsmsolutions.ie”>

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: