This is why http://twelvesouth.com/products/bookbook]This. is helpful. A thief will come in and be like I don't want an effing book and leave it alone.
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Macbook Pro Stolen
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Really hope you get it back. I guess reading this will make me more aware of theft. If you have to buy a new one, at least you'll install more software to make it easier etc..
Good luck my friend.
Good luck my friend.
That's the plan right now... But for all I know the location find my mac gave me could be wrong... Sometimes it shows my phone in places I'm no where near
I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune dude, luckily this has never happened to me, but if it does the last thing I would do is remotely lock it.
The reason being is the last thing you want someone to do is realise you're tracking it or give them a reason to get rid of it. They probably won't have OS install disks and they probably aren't tech savvy, so they might possibly just make a new user or just rename yours. This gives you a much better chance of tracking it over hours/days/even weeks to get a better idea of where it may be.
The reason being is the last thing you want someone to do is realise you're tracking it or give them a reason to get rid of it. They probably won't have OS install disks and they probably aren't tech savvy, so they might possibly just make a new user or just rename yours. This gives you a much better chance of tracking it over hours/days/even weeks to get a better idea of where it may be.
Really, really bad idea.
Your MBP doesn't have a GPS chipset built into it, so any geolocation that it does will be based on the IP address that the MBP is currently assigned to - and that is just an approximation, nothing more. If you go knocking on strangers' doors, what's going to happen? Whoever answers the door will simply deny having your MBP regardless of the truth, and you are not legally allowed to enter anyone's property and look around. If anyone showed up at my door asking about a stolen MBP, I would sympathize but no way in hell would I let them in my house to search for it. So showing up in the neighborhood where you MBP appears to be is not going to do you any good, and you may get hurt doing it.
All you can and should do is report the theft to your local law enforcement and learn something from the experience.
Incorrect. As a former Apple employee and Genius, I've made notes on machines in the AppleCare database that the machine was reported stolen along with a police report #. It doesn't always end up in recovery, but it has worked.
Stop spreading misinformation and lies, you're not helping anyone.
We're going to see if it's covered under home owners insurance. We're also going to contact the credit card company we used to purchase it to see if they might do anything about theft - one of my friends suggested that so I don't know if that will work.
And for those wondering, yes I learned my lesson. I've gone a while with no issues as everyone in my section is genuinely trustworthy and we rarely locked our doors when we would go to each others rooms. Needless to say everyone locks their doors now.
And for those wondering, yes I learned my lesson. I've gone a while with no issues as everyone in my section is genuinely trustworthy and we rarely locked our doors when we would go to each others rooms. Needless to say everyone locks their doors now.
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im assuming you did not put any password on ur mac thats y u are able to track it down? really the app for finding the mbp is not useful, only useful maybe when u get ur car stolen and ur mac is in the car. its posible to track down the car. sorry to hear that you lost a furtune but the best move is to just buy a new one. and ask for more security in ur room . its terrible that people steal these things i would get pissed too. by the way if you hire a private investigator it will cost you maybe more than ur mac.
Honestly though,
Find My Mac isn't very helpful if the thief is technologically savvy. If upon stealing the Mac he, shuts it down and replaces the hard drive, then it's game over.
The biggest problem with Find My Mac is the absence of an 'always on' monitoring system. If this were a phone it wouldn't be a problem.
Find My Mac isn't very helpful if the thief is technologically savvy. If upon stealing the Mac he, shuts it down and replaces the hard drive, then it's game over.
The biggest problem with Find My Mac is the absence of an 'always on' monitoring system. If this were a phone it wouldn't be a problem.
You don't need to be logged on to the computer before Find my Mac works just the internet.
Seeing as he was on campus, I'm guessing he had the network credentials saved.
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You might have worked at Apple, but I have to agree with him.
Apple is not obligated to help you recover your stolen goods or inform law enforcement about anything, therefore, it is wrong to say Apple will do so.
If they're not obligated to do something, then there's no certainty that they will do it.
If you happen to run into a nice employee who takes his time to do you a favor then that's awesome, but for the most part, recovering stolen goods is the job of the police not the company who sells you the goods.
I never said Apple recovers anything, anything we ever did was make a note on the serial number. After I left Apple, I bought a MacBook Air off Craigslist for my girlfriend. When she changed her mind, I sold it. It went through a total of 5 owners, but turned out to be stolen from a company in Virginia. The cops knocked on my door asking if I knew anything about it. I told them everything I knew. Turns out an IT guy had stolen it from his office. The company had Apple make a note on the serial number. It showed up in CA when the 5th owner brought it in for repair and the authorities were contacted, though I don't know who. So yes, documentation is helpful. Apple doesn't involve itself in recovery (I never said it did), but making a note never hurts as far as keeping tabs.
Well that's great and all, but ...
I really doubt Apple had people checking the serial number of every Macbook Air that was brought in for repairs.
Add in the fact that there is more than one Apple repair center in a country and your story isn't really looking strong.
Furthermore, a company will just replace a stolen laptop and not bother law enforcement about it.
Lastly and most importantly ... Who the hell remembers the serial number of a laptop that just went missing in a company setting? I mean, there has to be several of these Macbooks, so if one of them goes missing how the hell do they know the serial number? You suggesting they keep their receipts and check all Macbooks they own to see who is missing?
Your story is possible but highly unlikely.
I ABSOLUTELY am suggesting they keep receipts, are you kidding me!? You'd be an absolute moron to not keep track of expensive gear you have in your company (come to think of it, you'd be an idiot not to keep track of your OWN serial numbers). You don't understand the repair process when you bring a machine in to an Apple Store, nor do you understand the way companies work when it comes to equipment. EVERYTHING is tagged, logged, catalogued, and put into a database. A machine goes missing, it's noted in a company database and reported. I worked for a news organization that had tags on EVERY piece of equipment. Lights, tripods, cameras, laptops...you name it.
And in this particular case, it was an Apple Store, not a repair center. When a Mac comes in for service, a Genius punches in the serial number to check notes for previous repairs, prior owners, issues, etc. There's a list of notes. On this particular occasion, it was possible the Genius said something along the lines of "where'd you purchase the laptop?" and the conversation went on from there. Believe me or not, there's nothing bad that can come from having a Genius make a note in Apple's database attached to your serial number. Wouldn't you want as many people/agencies/organizations to know when you've lost something? I know I would.
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Well now that makes sense.
The way you told your story (leaving out important details and what not) didn't make sense.
Regardless, if OP goes to an Apple store with his receipt and says his machine was stolen. It's a problem for law enforcement really. Sitting around till someone brings a stolen item to an Apple store (very unlikely) is a waste of everyone's time.
Only advice I can give OP is to keep monitoring the location of your computer and hopefully catch the thief in public.
To be perfectly honest, I've dealt with plenty of "shady" people bringing in laptops who didn't have power adapters and "forgot" their password. And to the credit of our procedure, we never reported nor noted them as suspicious as it's not our responsibility as so vehemently argued in this thread, however, we didn't give them access to that which they didn't themselves have access to when it came to data. If you didn't know your password, you were told you'd need to get your system discs and re-install your OS or something to that effect.
My only point since the beginning, and I apologize if I mis-poke or misrepresented my intent, was that if it's possible, get your serial number and report into as many official hands as possible as it does nothing but help you in the unlikely scenario that you get lucky.
Not that it really needs to be said, but MovieCutter is correct. When I worked at Apple, on two separate occasions laptops that had been flagged as stolen in our system were eventually returned to their owners.
Apple's official policy on it is deliberately hands off, but in practice it's worth documenting with Apple. Bring in your receipts and a copy of the police report. It certainly can't hurt to have every bit of information out there.
Good luck with the insurance claim.
Apple's official policy on it is deliberately hands off, but in practice it's worth documenting with Apple. Bring in your receipts and a copy of the police report. It certainly can't hurt to have every bit of information out there.
Good luck with the insurance claim.
There's a thread around here that describes how this Apple-gestapo scenario actually back fired. (I can't find it though).
Supposedly, a customer brought their macbook into an Apple store for repair and the genius wouldn't give it back - said it was stolen. Totally false and the customer was livid. Wrong information in this magical database it seems. Took days to sort out.
The point is... Apple is not in the "police" business and doesn't want to be. (They shouldn't be).
My Apple Store source seems to say that a flag should only be added if a valid police report is faxed from the police department.
Maybe that is the disconnect here, if there is a valid police report (presumably with accompanying information, like receipt, serial, etc) I don't see an issue with Apple putting it in the system.
I don't think any old Genius should be able to put it in on the customer's word.
Sorry, but you are lying. How about you tell us which store you work at so someone can at least verify these claims.
Refusing to repair a product under warranty because it may or may not be stolen is just asking to get sued. If you can't understand this you and your managers need to be fired.
The police won't do ****.
I had a buddy of mine that had some kind of software to locate the exact location of his stolen laptop (wasn't a MB). It was sending out signals at all hours of the day of its exact location. He brought this data to the police who REFUSED to do anything about it for "inconclusive evidence". If you think the police or apple give a **** you're ******** yourself. You know what he had to end up doing? Get a big group of all of his friends to confront the burglar! Do you know how dangerous that was? Thankfully the guy just GAVE IT UP without a fight, but they could have been shot!
I had a buddy of mine that had some kind of software to locate the exact location of his stolen laptop (wasn't a MB). It was sending out signals at all hours of the day of its exact location. He brought this data to the police who REFUSED to do anything about it for "inconclusive evidence". If you think the police or apple give a **** you're ******** yourself. You know what he had to end up doing? Get a big group of all of his friends to confront the burglar! Do you know how dangerous that was? Thankfully the guy just GAVE IT UP without a fight, but they could have been shot!
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PRECISELY. Way too much potential for abuse. What's to stop me from going in to any Apple Store and reporting a bunch of random machines as stolen?
All these supposed "Apple employees" coming out of the woodwork to support this kind of pseudo-legal law enforcement have no idea that this kind of practice is going to bite Apple in the long run.
I have yet to hear of ANY personal account where a law enforcement agency actively contacted an Apple Store to notify them of a stolen machine and/or send a police report. Simply not believable.
Wow, check your attitude. I am not lying. Let me see if I can get you a screenshot of the system showing that the serial reports as stolen. As for getting the verification that Apple told me not to service that machine under warranty, it was a SPS chat and I'm sure I don't have the transcript.
What about this whole situation is making you so rude?
That's a bummer. I'd be livid if my laptop was stolen. I can understand why the police may not be extremely helpful. One, as already mentioned, getting a search warrant can be difficult to obtain even with a decent amount of evidence. Them going off of a dot with a large blue radius around it doesn't do much good.
As for going over to the house and dealing with them...two HUGE problems with that. #1, it could be the wrong house and I'm sure someone is not going to take that well if you bang on their door demanding a computer back they know nothing about. #2, if the person is willing to commit one felony to get the computer, how sure are you that they aren't willing to commit an even worse one if they think you've found them?
As for going over to the house and dealing with them...two HUGE problems with that. #1, it could be the wrong house and I'm sure someone is not going to take that well if you bang on their door demanding a computer back they know nothing about. #2, if the person is willing to commit one felony to get the computer, how sure are you that they aren't willing to commit an even worse one if they think you've found them?
I think the bottom line, with regard to the OP telling Apple, is that he doesn't have anything to lose by reporting it. Yeah, he should take a police report in with him when he reports it.
If they say, "we don't do that." Then at least he explored all avenues.
If they say, "we don't do that." Then at least he explored all avenues.
I wasn't talking about this. It's pretty well established that this happens.
No record == didn't happen.
How about just telling us exactly which Apple Store this is happening at? I'm sure Apple HQ would be interested in knowing why warranty services are being denied by some rogue Apple Store when it goes completely counter to Apple's own official statement that lost/stolen MBPs are NOT tracked. After all, if someone sues, they're going to have to deal with it, not you.