(dear moderators, if this topic does not belong here, please move it accordingly. sorry for the hassle.) hello fellow true believers both autobot and decepticon alike - today is a dark day indeed. i recently repatriated back to the united states (5 days ago to be exact) after living aboard in amsterdam for one year. during this time, i kept the bulk of my belongings locked up in a pulic storage. the majority of my furniture - sofas, desk, dinner table, tv, etc. you name it - i gave to my brother. the only things i kept in there were some exercise equipment, a vacuum machine, a bunch of clothes, my computer, monitor, printer, and my tf collection... i went to the public storage to check on my stuff today, and immediately noticed that something was amiss... the lock looked as though it had been tampered with... i undid the padlock, opened the door, and to my horror realized that my shit had rummaged through... i noticed immediately that my vacuum and pc stuff was gone. my bags and luggage stuff were all unzipped... definitely "signs of a struggle" as they say on tv... and to top it all off... what else did these fuckers take... my boxes of tfs.... wtf.... come on........ really? fucken really? all my masterpieces are gone... all my classics are gone... all my g1 reish are gone.... the various gifts i'd received from friends and family, ebay snipes, my tokens from various conventions, jewels i'd found in yard sales... all gone... just insult to injury.... i didn't know who else to talk to... i've already talked to my family and friends about the theft, and they've all provided sympathy at least on the most basic level, but the loss of a collection isn't something a non tf-fan can relate to... anyways, i just needed to vent. thanks for listening. only consolation to all of this is that i had done a little collecting in holland so i have a ghost starscream masterpiece and a fansproject bruticus headed back to me as we speak. i also did some shopping while living aboard and had everything shipped to the US office, so it's not that i'm completely devoid of TFs... but still... the pain is deep. once again, thanks for listening. cheers, knockoff === update 01-22-11, mirrored also on page 7 === hi everyone, i really really really appreciate the support that everyone has shown. i knew i could count on you guys for support. i really needed it bad yesterday. here's some additional information regarding public storage, the police report, and my insurance claim - 1. the public storage facilities is behind a locked gate that requires a code in and code out. it has fences, gates, and all the base features to keep unwelcome visitors out. 2. my lock was not broken, but the way the door was locked definitely has been tampered with. there are two security features on the door: flap up and flap down. if the lock is engaged while the flap is up, it provides 1 level of lock security. if the flap is down, it provides 2 levels of lock security. i of course always use the flap down method, but when i got to the scene, the lock was in the flap up position. 3. the police came down and took a report. they examined the premises and concluded that the lock had been picked. fyi - i was using a pretty hefty lock. not a standard masterlock or whatever, a thick, spiraling, donut-like lock that i purchased from public storage. but again, the police felt that it was picked. 4. public storage says that because the lock was not broken, insurance will not cover me. i was covered under "their" insurance - which by the way is in the courts at the moment due to the fact that they were seemingly not licensed to sell insurance? i dunno... class action lawsuit at the moment - and they are stating that since no lock is broken, no coverage. the police man, however, came this close to saying, "bullshit!" to the guy's face. after the public storage guy left, the officer told me to file the claim and provide a copy of the police report. 5. tfs that they took - all my masterpieces, all my fansproject, all my rare KO gestalts, all my classics, all my g1 reissues, and a bunch of other tfs i've collected over the years.... 6. what i've done to move on - i immediately went to a local target and bought some new stuff. bought a dirge, terradive, and a sunspot. having read on tfw about the release of wave 2, i was hoping i could perhaps find these at my local target. but as fate would have it, i was SOL. however, a really really nice target employee told me he check the back storage room to see if he could find any of the stuff i was looking. he didn't know a thing about transformers but he was willing to take down the dcpi number i had and do a quick search. it took him about 10 minutes but he came back and was like, "is this what you were looking for?" it wasn't, but i courteously told him it was, and took it with me. he had given me a battle-blade bumblebee based on my description of the newly released classics reissue. bless his heart. his genuine act of kindness and all the support you guys have shown on the forums really helped me get through the day. and for all of you that have offered handouts and donations - thank you very very much, but i will have to pass on the offer. it was never my intention to have such a reaction, so i will receive your gift in spirit, my fellow tf-fans. thanks again, everyone. cheers, KO === update 01-23-11, mirrored also on page 8 === small update --- 1. the classic action lawsuit was initiated by two young women that shared the same fate as me. got a unit, took insurance, shortly after their units were burglarized. i hate to make lofty conclusions, but this has me feeling it it was an inside job... like the employees knew which units were insured, therefore no one was really "losing" anything, except for the insurance company... but again, i shouldn't be jumping to conclusions... i just want to make sense of everything... 2. i did a closer examination of the items the thvs took, and it's really really random... they took all my hardware, but all the other stuff like connector cables, power strips, hdmi cable, etc. - all which can be flipped really quick at an open market - were left behind. and they were right at the front of the door, right within reach... so it's really weird that they took some stuff but left others. 3. the public storage people/police asked if it was possible that someone might have copied my keys. such is not the case. i've kept the keys with me at all times, including when i was in amsterdam. and even IF someone had somehow copied my keys, they wouldn't know which public storage unit i was renting, so that really didn't add up to any leads... in the end this is what i think happened - 1. someone picked my lock. 2. they chose my unit above others due to the type of lock it had. if you have basic things in your storage unit, you probably have a basic lock. if you have a heavy-duty lock, chances are you are hoarding something of decent monetary value. 3. thvs picked my lock thinking they'd find fort knox inside. when they opened the door all they saw were bags, suitcases, computer stuff, and a bunch of boxes. they rummage through all the bags hoping to find things of monetary value, but only found sentimental objects and a bunch of clothes. not wanting to leave empty handed, they took what they felt they could flip on the streets: computer stuff, books, and boxes that were labeled toys. don't know why they didn't take the peripherals and cables, but maybe they just didn't see it. 4. the thvs relocked the unit so it wouldn't alert any tenants or employees. if this was an inside job, they did this on purpose so it wouldn't draw any immediate attention to them... but that kind of stuff is circular logic and i could go on about that for days... in any case, i went to the station and provided my prints as "elimination prints" so if any prints did come up from the gatorade bottle, it would only be of those that didn't match mine. i scored an apt and told the new landlord about my ordeal. this guy is awesome. we didn't even sign any paperwork, and i didn't even put in a deposit yet, but he gave the keys to the place and told me i could/should move my stuff out public storage right away. again, i really wanna say thanks to everybody for being so attentive and sympathetic. a smile, a few kind words, and a virtual hug and a shoulder to cry on goes a long way. thanks, guys. KO === 01-25-11, mirrored also on page 10 === hi guys, once again i can't thank you enough for the overwhelming show of support. all your feedback, stories, well-wishes, cheer-ups, etc. really helped me get through this difficult time. this is probably the last time i update this thread unless something major happens, but the insurance company (which is owned by public storage coincidentally) has denied my claim. they are stating that because there were no signs of forced entry, there is no evidence to support my claim. i told them the evidence supporting my claim were the missing items, but this fell upon deaf ears. at this point i can hound them further or elect to take them to small claims court, but i really don't know what i'm going to do. i will say this though - regardless of all that has happened - i hope my things found a good home. i hope they made some needy family happy. thanks again, guys. KO
Did you have any pieces you'd easily recognize? Any idea how long ago this happened? I'd say keep an eye on Ebay for your "grail" pieces and if you see one call the cops... but if the theft had happened like a long time ago, yeesh... This is why I never store anything of "value". It's all where I can see it and cut up any intruders/thieves.
Ya, that sucks. Is there any security cameras on the property? Although I guess even if the storage company does have cameras, you probably have no idea of when the theft happened so it'd be hard to track down. Hopefully you've got some sort of insurance. Either way, that really sucks and even if you get an insurance claim, it'll be so hard to track down the figures again.
Sorry to hear about your loss...I'll echo the insurance take..You should have no problems if you had the locker properly insured. My collection has been locked up tight in storage for the past 5 years, but I make bi-weekly visits to make sure everything is kosher (not that you had that option)
Hopefully you had insurance on the storage. I had to store a lot of boxes (most of them containing transformers) in a public storage climate unit. I had simply ran out of room at the apartment. I was in and out of that thing often due to paranoia and adding/removing stuff. Even with insurance i was worried about replacing the stuff.
Damn! Sorry to hear about that dude, it must be a pain knowing that all those years you spent collecting have been somewhat taken away from you. And from the sounds of things, you had a really big collection. Again, sorry to hear about it dude.
That sucks! That's like a nightmare come true.I had a dream once that someone stole all my TF's,and that freaked me out.Unfortunately for you it's real.
Oh, that's horrible! You have my sympathy. Words can't describe how sorry I am for you and how mad I am at the people who stole you stuff...
You have my sympathy. I hate hearing stories like this, they make my faith in humanity that much lower.
Thats really, really terrible man, sorry. I sometimes think of what would happen, if say, there were a fire or flood or something that destroyed my posessions and what I would do. Well, I would probably punch a wall or something, but eventually I would try to replace some of my favorite things and keep a minimal collection. I know it doesn't really help, but still, I feel for ya man.
That Is REALLY MESSED UP!!!!! Who would steal a friggin toy collection? Some people........are insane. Those people are heartless! sorry to hear about that man.
aw man that's SUPER shitty man.. Check out the sale threads and stuff and try to get back what you had.. I know I'm going to be getting rid of my animated stuff soon, so if you are interested in any of that, I'll try to cut you a deal man.. I'm really sorry to hear about your loss though, that's gotta be hard as hell to deal with. It's really sad that a persons belongings aren't safe in a storage locker, where you PAY for you things to be taken car of. Maybe you might have a law suite against the storage facility??
