Robbed!!

[storminnorman]

Everyone, 

My car was robbed at the convention sometime on Saturday.  The scumbags managed to take my personal luggage and a backpack containing some RPG books.  If anyone happens to find a worn copy of Warhammer Fantasy RPG, a newer copy of Battlestar Galactica, Savage Worlds oversized cards, some dice outside, and some personal items including glasses, an ipod, etc. in the parking area could you let me know.  I would appreciate it. 

Dean

[Sinkuu]

oh, great... did you call the cops?


good luck, bro.

[Des]

Someone else was robbed too. The back window of his car was broke and lots of gaming stuff was missing. He did call the police so there is one report of file.

[storminnorman]

I didn't realize that my car had been broken into until I got home.  I thought that I just lost my bags until I saw that my passenger side door lock had been forced.  I tried to call the police but they would not take a report over the phone and said I had to do it in person.  Unfortunately I live 3-4 hours away, so coming back up would be a monumental pain in the ass and they would do nothing for me anyway.  I am just going to have to call my insurance company and see what they can do for me.  Needless to say that I will not be coming back to any convention that is near that area. 

[Knighthawk]

Yeah, I was the one robbed today: Dave Simpson, here's as best what I can recall I lost:

My Gateway laptop with power cable
Portable Hard Drive
6x8 Intuos2 WACOM tablet with pen
512mb SD card
Black Attache
spare Motorola battery

DOOM Boardgame and expansion

Brown Travel Bag
Clothing (several pairs of jeans, t-shirts) Cybergen T-shirt, I-Con T-shirt
My signed copies of Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk v.3, spare copy of Cyberpunk V.3, Edgerunners Inc.
D&D Players Handbook v3.5, DM's guide, Monster Manual 1
Full Frontal Nerdity

Mandy's Red bag:
Clothing
Cell phone charger

[Knighthawk]

can the hotel be held responsible for these break-ins in any way?  I mean seriously, 2 in 2 days?  But I agree with Dean.  I'm not attending until the convention returns to East Brunswick

[Sinkuu]

I understand where you guys are coming from, and don't blame you in the least.

my simple question is this: IF the Woodbridge Hilton made changes to their lot security, would it change your mind?

[wcshoe]

Pretty much every place with public access parking will not accept responsibility for damages done to vehicles in that parking area. Even in the places that you must pay for parking, 99 times out of 100 they won't either.

Only thing I can think of is to let the hotel know that we won't be coming back until something is done about this situation. However, it is far more likely that they will respond by hiring a rent-a-guard from a security company (read: lowest bidder security) for parking lot details during our events.

[Knighthawk]

I seriously wonder if it isn't worth a shot at least.

[Knighthawk]

a friend of mine sent me this:
Hey Dave,

I know the Woodbridge Hilton area and I'm sure you've reported this to the Woodbridge Police Dept already but if you haven't CERTAINLY DO. There are a TON of robberies in the Iselin Hilton/Woodbridge Sheraton area (10 mins away from each other) and often, they get a couple break ins all at once and can try to narrow it down.

Good luck!

Chrissy

maybe if we're lucky this'll prove to be true.

[Knighthawk]

might it also be worth it to go to the papers?  I've already offered a reward for the return of my property, particularly the laptop and HD for 2000$, no...I'm honestly not expecting anything...but I can hope.  What if we go to the papers and post something like that?

[Salvius]

Dave and Dean,

I'm really really sorry that this happened to you; I guess I'm a stickler for my personal things; no matter which parking lot I go to, I never pack the car with anything valuable until I'm ready to leave. Certainly, my laptop bag travels with me until I get in the car personally.

I am shocked and alarmed that we were actually CASED - someone knew that we were all leaving the hotel at that time and probably decided to strike while there was checking out confusion. I think we all got our answer to "wow, the parking is free!". Sigh.

To you and to everyone else, there isn't going to be any discussion of next year in Woodbridge. This hotel served our purpose this year, but for this and several other reasons, I will not be pursuing it as a viable alternative for DREAMATION.

The Hilton East Brunswick has our standard layout ready for DREAMATION 2009 and we'll be going back there.

>>>Vinny

[Knighthawk]

thank you Vinny, honestly the fact we've ruled it out as a possible repeat performance really makes me feel better, what's our lookout for DexCon?

[storminnorman]

That sucks that someone stole your computer.  It is a shame that we need to worry about what we put in our cars at conventions.  There was nothing obvious in sight in my car and the scumbags still broke in.  The really strange thing is that they didn't take my cd case,  my ipod car attachment, or my sleeping bag which are all worth more than my gaming stuff and my dirty clothes.  Who would have thought that criminals would turn to stealing gaming stuff.  I hope they get run over by a freaking truck on their way to the pawn shop. 

It amazed me that the local police would not take my report over the phone.  Glad to see that they don't give a crap about someone who is not local.  I just hope my insurance company will work with me without an police report, becasue coming back out there will not be fun. 

[Knighthawk]

My insurance isn't any help to me...I didn't have the right coverage.