Dealing with a loss
Two days after I bought my first Treo (read: a Treo-NOOB who didn’t even know what the term “HotSync” meant), I had to send out a mass email informing people that I had my new smartphone stolen from me playing basketball in Astoria, Queens, and asked for everyone to email their updated contact information.
A lot of people did respond to the email and were extremely sympathetic. Although, a handful of them felt they could “help” me by trumping my unfortunate loss with their own recent tragedies. I guess they thought it would help put things in perspective.
Examples:
“If it makes you feel any better, I had to buy a new pair of glasses for $350 because my little niece broke them.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I missed a $1,200 gig because of the weather and still had to pay for the cost of the airline tickets. ”
“If you it makes you feel any better, I had to replace my entire muffler system today at Midas.”
As a born and raised consuming, self-serving American, I didn’t tell them because I wanted to be a sounding board for their problems. I told them because I just needed them to give me their contact information, to be a good listener and feel bad for me.
One friend had the audacity to say, “If it makes you feel any better, my dog just got hit by a car.”
Who cares? I lost my brand new Treo.
You can always adopt another dog from the pound. How convenient. It would be nice if I could waltz down to the Verizon store, fill out some papers and an adopt a Treo. But I can’t, I have to fork over $375 for a new one. That’s devastating.
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About the Author
Dan Allen is a comedian and writer based in NYC. He has received long form improvisational training from Upright Citizen Brigade’s theatre and performs regularly at The World Famous Comic Strip. He is currently writing a biography about Kevin Bacon in the sixth person. Tao of Dan.
Filed under: Editorials
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well, that’s interesting…
i guess verizon didn’t offer an insurance type plan for these types of incidents?
You are not alone in this logic. My friends said the same thing. I should have mentioned that I have a very low IQ. Before I invested in a Treo, I always felt the $60 a year wasn’t cost effective so I opted out of the insurance. However when I went to Verizon and was told I would have to pay full retail price. That $60 seemed microscopic. I’m enrolled now but I’m researching State Farm’s What Now Program. My buddy had his Treo and iBook stolen from his car and it was covered under his renter’s insurance. Obviously, the deductible will be higher than the standard $50 phone replacement charge. We’ll see.
Hey guys,
Verizon does offer Insurance for 5 bucks a month and a 50 dollar deductible.
And guess what. I claimed my treo650 as being damaged, which it totally was and “Asurian” the insurance company for Verizon told me that the 650 wasn’t being made anymore and asked me this, “Sir, would you like to recieve a brand new Blackjack or a brand new Treo 700p”
I’m sure you can guess what i picked.
WooHoo!~!~! Free upgrade…..
Just to add to my comment above,
Asurian, the insurance company provided excellent customer service and I highly recommend them!!!!!
Go Asurian!
There is a simple way of making lost or stolen mobiles useless to Theives that I and only a few people knows that I want to share with you all.
Dial STAR HASH ZERO 6 HASH on your mobile and a fifteen digit code will appear on the screen. This is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it safe. Should your mobile phone get stolen, you can call and inform your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset, so even if the theif changes the sim card, your mobile phone will be totally useless.Theives and Phone Companies knows about this, but are keeping it quiet.
You probably won’t get your mobile phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use or sell it either. If everybody did this, there would be no point stealing mobile phones.
If you’re on Verizon or Sprint (ie, a CDMA system, which doesn’t use a SIM card), you don’t need any special code, nor do you need to know your HSN (handset serial number) at all. Instead of using a SIM card, CDMA systems identify your phone by that HSN, so as soon as you report it stolen to your cell provider, it’s flagged in the system, and can’t be activated.
Again, as the previous poster noted, this probably won’t help you get it back, but at least it helps the karma wheel come around to the theif that much sooner.
Wow. You are a great comedian…this is a joke right?
Replace a dog?
Maybe next time you should be more careful with your belongings.
Accidents happen…
Wow, another feature of Treos about which I did not know… it seems that Treos can play basketball, (at least in Astoria, Queens, they can) according to the author’s grammar:
“…I had my new smartphone stolen from me playing basketball in Astoria, Queens…”
Can they dunk?
This is a helpful reminder why I am paying Sprint $7 a month for the insurance…
If/when I need a new Treo, I hope they upgrade me like they did ry94080!
What I do is password protect my handset with something simple, 2 or 3 digits so its useless if someone finds it and they cant get into my contacts or email. Plus I ALSO put in the security message field
THIS PHONE IS PROPERTY OF
__ ____
REWARD FOR SAFE RETURN. CONTACT __
It is worth money to me to get my phone back safely.
I had to send a similar plea-mail to friends and family after wiping out all contacts during an upgrade from the Treo 600 to 650. So I’m curious: since you’d had the Treo for two days and had presumably imported or loaded all your friends’ contact info, are you not using the Palm desktop, which would at least preserve the last hotsynced copy of your contacts? Since my own snafu and the ensuing hours spent calling/e-mailing people for info, I use Backup Buddy to back up the phone (also useful for fixing looping problems on the go), and I back up my card to my laptop. No consolation, I know, but you’re not alone and I hope you’re able to rebuild your data.
I dont feel sorry for you because you should have thought ahead. Also, you shouldnt be as careless with your expensive equipment. Keep it in a locked bag or leave it at home. Your stuff will only take care of you as long as you take care of it, simple as that. I lose things and make mistakes too, but i dont expect people to feel sorry for me or make other people pay for my mistakes either. Go cry about it. Haha, i cant believe you wasted your time writing this on here….and I cant believe I just wasted all that time writing this response.
Sounds more like Long Island City than Astoria. Are you sure you were in Astoria?
i lost my mind once, but i’ve been doing fine without it
” dnheller says:
according to the author’s grammar:
‘…I had my new smartphone stolen from me playing basketball in Astoria, Queens…’
Can they dunk?”
Ouch! Thanks for catching that.
Alas, Treos cannot dunk but I (standing 6′6″) can. Unfortunately, I throw it down with the authority of Patrick Ewing’s little sister when I do.
Don’t waste our time with this puff piece.
“Who cares? I lost my brand new Treo.
You can always adopt another dog from the pound. How convenient. It would be nice if I could waltz down to the Verizon store, fill out some papers and an adopt a Treo. But I can’t, I have to fork over $375 for a new one. That’s devastating. ”
What kind of insensitive bullcrap is this? How do you live with yourself with this kind of spoiled, self-righteous attitude? Do you think that just because it’s a pet (not that I’m a pet or animal lover), that it is just dispensible? Do you think that it’s easier to replace an animal or person, than it is your stupid Treo? It’s just a f’n phone. Get over yourself.
You really shouldn’t have let your Treo play basketball alone!
munkwitza says:
This is a helpful reminder why I am paying Sprint $7 a month for the insurance…
If/when I need a new Treo, I hope they upgrade me like they did ry94080!
Unfortunantly, Sprint uses refurb phones so usually they will have it in stock. Especially with their buy back program and many people upgrading to the 700.
And LOL at all the people taking the original post seriously.