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View Full Version : worst day in business so far



huggytree
09-11-2009, 07:50 PM
I went to work today in the inner city of Milwaukee..thinking by starting early and finishing before noon id avoid any crime problems.

my parking spot in the driveway was blocked (it was in my contract to have that spot).....had to park a bit further away in the alley....i was in and out every 10 minutes...8am my van was broken into....$3500 worth of tools gone..lock on door knocked in....probably $200+ to fix that....they left 3 tools, so i figured they heard me talking to someone by the door and took off before they could finish.....or they were on foot and could only carry so much....builder offered to pay $250 deductable...i took him up on it..

so all i will lose is the repair on the door lock....the only positive thing is i get all brand new tools and get to switch some of them that i didnt like in the end...so i get new and better tools!

the worst part of all is they took my wallet....no cash....3 credit cards (2 of the 3 were used at gas stations within the hour)....drivers license, plumbing licenses, insurance cards...wife spend all afternoon on the phone..

Police were called 4x...never came.....had to go to the police dept to file it...had to wait 1.5 hours because they were busy....had to leave my van w/ no lock sitting out there....they said it is possible to be robbed again at that location....

I had originally put $1,000 onto this job for a security guard....after looking at the neighborhood and seeing the nice driveway parking spot i decided to give the $1,000 back....i could argue with the builder to cover everything, but he's a nice guy and i want to get future business....just glad he's paying the $250.....

getting the lock fixed tomarrow, Getting a security alarm installed next week, may bring a gun w/ and keep it in the house w/ me next time i go back......will always get a security guard from now on....

i rarely work in these neighborhoods, but i have 1 customer who does fire/water resto and has projects once in a while....if i want the good ones i have to take the bad ones....ill be adding the security fee onto their jobs..

I also plan on not taking all my tools w/ me next time...had a $1,100 jack hammer taken that i use 5x a year...it should have been in my garage at home.

I couldnt evey get lunch...had no money....while driving home i remembered $200 in petty cash.....they looked through that bin, but didnt see it...

Patrysha
09-11-2009, 07:59 PM
Ouch! That is a bad day.

Thank goodness for insurance, huh? And at least you weren't harmed...stuff can be replaced.

huggytree
09-11-2009, 08:52 PM
in that neighborhood they would have been armed..100% chance

probably 2 or more of them too.

Blessed
09-12-2009, 12:36 AM
That makes my past few days seem a little better.

Sorry to hear about the trouble you had and this is when you are thankful for insurance!

Business Attorney
09-12-2009, 12:33 PM
... may bring a gun w/ and keep it in the house w/ me next time i go back ....


in that neighborhood they would have been armed..100% chance

probably 2 or more of them too.

That's the best argument for NOT bringing a gun. Losing some tools is bad, losing a gun battle would be much worse. The security guard sounds like a good idea, though.

huggytree
09-12-2009, 04:08 PM
losing a gun battle would definately be worse...but what if they come in the house next time? i prefer to have as many options as i can....my personal safety includes protecting my self.....im not so much worried about my items...losing my wallet is sure the worst part...ugggghhhhh Monday I will go to the DMV for a new drivers license

I signed up for an alarm system install for next week....that will also probably solve the problem in the future....i should have gotten that along time ago and had thought about it many times....just been too lazy or too busy.

KristineS
09-14-2009, 09:13 AM
Wow, that stinks. Sorry to hear that happened, but glad it wasn't worse.

I think a security guard is a great idea and if you're trained to handle a gun safely, carrying one isn't a bad idea either.

cbscreative
09-14-2009, 02:51 PM
if you're trained to handle a gun safely, carrying one isn't a bad idea either.

And remember, Kristine was known as gunslingergirl on the old forum :)

huggytree
09-15-2009, 07:34 AM
WI is 1 of 2 states which doesnt have concealed carry yet...The govenor Veto'd last time and knocked off 1 guy in the senate otherwise they had a 2/3rd majority to pass it...now because the govenor has done such a poor job he is not going to even run again...so there's a good chance we'll get concealed carry in 1 1/2 years..

I found out that my heating contractor friend got his van broken into on the same house...lost 4 tools...never called me....i yelled at him...also the builder knew...

with all that going on i would have hired a security guard....i think of all these people as friends, not just people i work with....when it happened to me i make a point to call everyone and warn them....when it was the other way around they did nothing for me.. i learned not to trust anyone when it comes to my security...even with the alarm im still hiring someone to watch my van when i finish that job up in 2 weeks....i have 3-4 hours left...

im not going to sticker the waterheater on this one...dont call me back

billbenson
09-16-2009, 01:43 AM
If you put an alarm in, make it extremely loud (pain level) on the inside of the van as well. If you don't hear the alarm, nobody walking by the van will report it. When I lived in Puerto Rico, there were alway car alarms going off. PR is very high crime. People completely ignored it.

Put ear splitting speakers on the inside of the car with the alarm. That worked for a friend of mine here who kept getting his car stereo stolen in a remote parking lot while at work.

Blessed
09-17-2009, 03:25 AM
My husband has a friend who simply electrified his vehicle so that the instant someone touched it they got a good jolt - it's illegal, but was very effective.

huggytree
09-19-2009, 06:06 PM
got my alarm installed today...yes i paid for the extra speaker inside the cab...110 decibles...no way anyone can take it for long....

i have a clicker on my keychain which will alarm and show me which door theyre opening. also got the glass breaking alarm....they said the glass breaker would also detect the back door being opened....they said they tested it and it worked...when i tried it nothing....i even stomped on the floor...nothing....now i have to pay $75 more and take another hour out of my time to go back for a magnetic switch....as usual there service and install quality werent so good.. i still dont know how i lose any bids....my service is the best out there...everyone i deal with dissapoints me....

its something i should have gotten 3 years ago when i started....just stupid of me...

Steve B
09-19-2009, 10:04 PM
How much was it?

orion_joel
09-20-2009, 09:32 PM
I to some extent agree, about the level of quality service around. Especially in my current/previous industry of computers. There are so many dodgy operators out there that will tell people anything to get them hooked to there service, and so many i expect disappoint far to often. You would be surprised at the number of places i have been, that have been told so many things that are either totally irrelevant or have little if any bearing on the actual truth. The same places i may be the 4th or 5th or even more technician that they had called, to fix a problem, surprising it was fixed when i left. Unfortunately at that point i was working for someone else, who got to keep all the clients.

The issue comes down to in my belief that there are to many people out there that do not provide the level of service they should and this in turn gives everyone the perception all people in the industry are the same. Which we all know is not the case, however as we are also aware consumers, pay little credence to claims of quality and other such claims in out marketing, as they just often see them as the same false claims of others.

Vivid Color Zack
09-30-2009, 03:22 PM
Man this is sad to hear. Real sorry it happened to you.

If you haven't already gotten your alarm finished up just get a proximity sensor, this way any time anyone gets near it you get notified. It's a good way to drive yourself crazy running out to check it ever time but you can tune sensitivity. Glass break sensors work well, you can also increase/decrease the shock sensitivity on the alarm shock sensor too (impact shock not electric shock) so you can set it up so knocking on the car at all will set it off. Then you risk wind setting it off, cats hopping onto it, etc. but in an area like that it would be worth knowing every little thing I bet.

Glad you weren't hurt. What kinda cool new tools do you get to buy? Anything exciting?

huggytree
10-01-2009, 09:08 PM
alarm was $500

i go back to that job in 2 days to finish it.