Hi All

Not posted for a long time but still a very regular watcher.

However thought I would share my recent experience or should I say nightmare with you as it may help others avoid the situation we found ourselves in.

I will build the picture.

It’s been a hard year but we got through it quite well and still managed to get a much needed holiday. We were ten days into it and well relaxed lying on the beach in St Lucia reading a book with a banana daiquiri beside me.

There was a ping and a text arrived from my brother in the UK which read, “Is there any reason why your RRS is missing off your drive this morning?” he wondered if my son had borrowed it or I had arranged it be collected for a service whilst away.

Hell our car (my pride and joy) has been stolen.

I phoned my brother and said no it should be there, he said he couldn’t see any marks on the drive where it may have been lifted onto a truck but in any case that would have set the alarm off. Was the house ok was my next concern as they must have the keys and therefore broken in.

The police soon established it had been driven away as they had a really good shot of the car going through the Dartford crossing into Essex just after 4am.
My next thought was it will be on its way to Harwich and into a container by now.

If it has the key in the ignition the tracker won’t be working so it will need activating, I therefore asked my brother to call tracker and get it turned on. This is where the nightmare really began as he was told yes sir it has a tracker fitted but the subscription has never been paid so it cannot be activated. He asked if he could pay the subscription rather than waste any time but Tracker said sorry sir but that’s not how it works, it needs paying before it’s stolen.

Hell that will mean I won’t see the car again, even worse it may not be covered by the insurer who insisted they saw the tracker certificate before they would insure the car against theft.

I won’t mention the dealer at this stage as I don’t want to give them bad press before I have given them and Tracker the opportunity to look into the situation a little closer.

When I purchased the car almost three year ago I listed my options and was quoted a price for the car which included my option of a Tracker Horizon with Lifetime subscription.
The car was supplied and I was charged a sum on the invoice for Tracker Horizon and issued with a certificate with the Lifetime box ticked and a Tracker membership pack which included a membership card and a document that said “Important! Please complete this card and send back to TRACKER – You have subscribed to a TRACKER Stolen Vehicle Recover system, and it is essential that you provide TRACKER Network with up to 4 contact telephone numbers , so that we can alert you at any time should we receive an unauthorised movement of your vehicle”
After Tracker advising the subscription had not been paid I called the dealer who said I had only been charged for fitting the unit and as with Cobra and Land Rovers own tracking system the subscription is always requested by the tracking company from the vehicle owner directly. (I have to say this was not how it worked on my two previous BMW’s where the dealer delivered the car with a working tracker.

My response to the dealer was, as I had requested the Tracker option and had no idea of the cost other than what I was told by the dealer and as I was not told I needed to pay a separate subscription then I naturally thought ‘Lifetime’ meant Lifetime not only if paid separately. Also if I had a tracker fitted to a £51k car, wouldn’t I want it to work as it’s not even on show to a potential thief as a deterrent? If Tracker was supposed to take the subscription from me wouldn’t they contact me as I am a dead cert to pay up otherwise why would I have had the unit fitted!

The certificate I was issued with by the dealer has several tick boxes completed Including one stating TRACKER Horizon (Box Ticked) and a box stating One off Payment (covers the subscription of the duration of the customers ownership of the vehicle) (Box Ticked). This certificate was also requested by the two insurers over the last two years both of whom insisted the car was not insured for theft until they had seen it and both accepted the certificate as Tracker confirmed and confirmed the policy conditions were fulfilled (in fact the last insurer never returned it suggesting it got lost in the return post) so I have the dealer copy now.

As there seemed to be an ‘issue’ Tracker took a subscription of £342 and activated the Tracker which found the Vehicle parked up in Barking within 2 hours. The car has now been recovered and once I get the police a key which I received from the dealer today, they will do forensics on the car and I can then get it to a dealer for a new set of locks and any damage repairs. I have not been able to see the car yet so not sure if there is any damage but have been assured any is minimal.

I did think to myself not long ago that you pay a lot of money for a Tracker but hopefully you never get to establish it works. It is impressive when working.

I also did see an article on TV where a senior police officer said leave your keys where thieves can find them, that way the scum do not do too much damage to your home. If you are at home do not try to protect the car as the car can be replaced but your life can’t.

The frightening thing is that whilst we were on holiday all signs are that they may have thought we were at home as they had been to the house in daylight and moved PIR sensors so that in darkness they didn’t activate lights that would have woke my wife and I. They accessed the house by snapping a Euro lock on an Anglian double glazed door that was sold to me as having 8 point security bolts, see this and beware if you have a double glazed door

I hope this never happens to you but indications from my local dealer and the insurer is that it is frightengly very common.
Scumbags that just take anything they want that has taken hard honest work to achieve.
The real concern I now have is that my wife sees the RRS as a risk that may attract other scum and would rather have a fiesta that no one is interested to steel

Sorry to hear about this incident i hope you and your family can get throught this stressful time. But to be honest a thief will steal a fiesta, a lada, a ferrari anything. I hope your wife and you dont get too stressed about this and i hope your vehicle is fine. The most important thing you and your wife and family are ok.

Not the best phone call to have whilst on the beach, hope you get everything sorted with the car and not too much damage.

Quote:

The frightening thing is that whilst we were on holiday all signs are that they may have thought we were at home as they had been to the house in daylight and moved PIR sensors so that in darkness they didn’t activate lights that would have woke my wife and I. They accessed the house by snapping a Euro lock on an Anglian double glazed door that was sold to me as having 8 point security bolts, see this and beware if you have a double glazed door

I presume the PIR is a security light one Since my recent break in attempt i have placed driveway sensors all around my house that bing bong if they are tripped. I also have a walk round when locking up when it gets dark to make sure they are still active.

As for tracker and the dealer keep us informed on how that turns out

Sorry to hear John.... never ceases to amaze me the pondlife we have to share our country with, although this sort of crime is indeed on the increase, more's the pity. Hope everything sorts itself out... although not sure I could continue living with a car that had been stolen  

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Thanks all for the kind words of support.
The strange thing is my wife and I are still very traumatised by the event but in a strange way are thankful to the scumbags for the way they left our home relatively untouched!
I am also pleased to have the car back (eventually) as otherwise I am sure my wife would rather have a less desirable car. But then I look around at all the nice cars and targets I see every day.
I can’t stand back and think I can’t own a nice watch or car because some terd will see it and just take it from me.
I will keep you updated as if it helps someone avoid our situation then I will have some comfort.
Kind Regards John

It makes me sick. I have never suffered such an offence but the thought of complete scumbags walking round my house helping themselves to things is sickening.

I sincerely hope this resolves itself for the better and you, or anyone else, never have to suffer this. WINNER - 2009 Best Newcomer Award
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Really sorry to hear your terrible story John.
I suppose you must be thankful that your family wasn't
at home during the theft.

I hope you get the whole tracker issue sorted, sounds like
you have a pretty strong case for getting your money back!

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Really nice comments thanks all.
I will keep you posted but she is still with the forensic department in hiding in Upminster at the moment. Cant wait to see that she has no damage but just some scum driving her is hurting me!!

Sorry to hear your story John.

Important thing is you and yours are ok.

Know how you feel about not wanting to own anything that stands out to theiving . But don't let them win, you've worked hard for what you have and should be able to have what you want without some toerag thinking he's entitled to it.

Unfortunatley was burgalled a week after I got the RRS, they got away with just a laptop. Think I distrurbed them without realising, but not sure.
It was week before Christmas a couple of years ago and I was pretty .
Came down in the morning to an open front door, took a while to even realise the laptop was gone.

Next door neighbour was done a year later, same thing but they found his wife's KA keys instead of his BMW's plod found the KA keys down the road, discarded when they realised they had got the wrong ones.

Plod think they're continually at it around here.

Also had a BM nicked about 10 years ago, thankfully that was in the days when the scumbags could still get into them without needing to get into the house. I was on holiday at the time as well.

I'm not far from Upminster - is that where the Met Forensics dept is based then?

The "Euro lock snapper" has been around for years, mainly used by those of us who are trained to open the criminals front door in the early morning for a surprise visit

The kit was never available to the public. But I'm assuming thanks to Youtube and the like, the thieving scumbags have realised how easy it is and what they need.

However the video demo from this thread only shows the pretend thief with one part of the kit to do the job and in that example he would not have got in just by snapping the lock So this particular Youtube demo is not completely accurate and is a bit of a fake.

But the reality is folks if someone really wants to get in to your castle they will. Beleive me I have destroyed several very strong doors....wood, upvc, metal clad etc etc in the last few weeks without breaking into a sweat. TDV6 - gone
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Nice to hear from someone who knows the subject for the right reason.

My experience, and the neighbours, uses a different technique that doesn't damage the door, only applies to the UPVC with the frame lock types if the deadbolts aren't applied. It could be the second part of the technique you mentioned above.
I won't go into details of it on here, but I think it 's a fairly well known technique.

Josh wrote:

The "Euro lock snapper" has been around for years, mainly used by those of us who are trained to open the criminals front door in the early morning for a surprise visit

The kit was never available to the public. But I'm assuming thanks to Youtube and the like, the thieving scumbags have realised how easy it is and what they need.

However the video demo from this thread only shows the pretend thief with one part of the kit to do the job and in that example he would not have got in just by snapping the lock So this particular Youtube demo is not completely accurate and is a bit of a fake.

But the reality is folks if someone really wants to get in to your castle they will. Beleive me I have destroyed several very strong doors....wood, upvc, metal clad etc etc in the last few weeks without breaking into a sweat.

The car has been released by the Police and is on its way to the Dealer for new locks and then I can see if there is any other damage.

The Police told me there is an organised gang working in the South East and many cars have been taken in a similar way. It looks as though they dont care if you are at home or not they still come in for the keys.

With a £500 excess and additional costs (the insurer seemed to think I wouldnt have a claim as it should be within the excess) this is becoming a very expensive event and I have now been without the car for a week with nothing happening until Monday.

First view of the RRS today as it arrived back at the dealer. The scum had ripped the number plates off and trashed the inside trying to find the tracker, ripping all the panels off. Als damaged the rear bumper, big chip in the windscreen and additional dings to the passenger side wheels. I still cant get into the car properly as the key will only open the passenger door. They apear to have taken the sat nav disc! and two umberellas (one Range Rover) and a Pay as you go mobile we had for emergancies. What Scum they are.