One-Eyed Richmond Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Bulluss on January 28, 2006, 11:23:29 AM
-
Well yesterday was my wife and my 5th wedding anniversary, to celebrate we organised for my mum to look after our two kids for two nights and go and stay in the city for both of them.
We arrived at out appartment yesterday afternoon and kicked back and relaxed, went for a swim and watched a little bit of tennis. We got changed and went out for dinner around 6pm and had a lovely meal down at Fed Square. Then it was onto the Comedy Club where we spent about 3 hours laughing our arses off to Christine Basil, CJ Fortuna and Dave O'Neil.
The showed finished at around 11.30 and we had a nice leisurely stroll around the city just enjoying our time together. We arrived back to our appartment just after 12 and went up to our floor. Our room was tucked right down the back corner of the floor and as we walked down towards the small corridor it ran off, two strange looking blokes were just coming out of the corridor which went in two directions. One went one way and one went the other. Mt initial thoughts were that they looked out of place and the one who i got a good look at appeared to be very spaced out. As we approached our door, there was a small gate to the right of our door which accessed the balcony. Before i had even opened the door, i knew those two guys had been in there.
Sure enough they had forced the balcony door and stolen our digital camera, sunglasses and my wife's mobile. I ran from the room in a fit of rage wanting to tear these two blokes apart. I was unable to find them, after cooling down i have realised it may have been a good thing as i dont know if they had any weapons. I raced downstairs and alerted the reception and they called police.
All the reports etc have been taken and i have been told this morning that the CIU have found a couple of finger prints on the door so hopefully they have something there. Telstra have also provided us with a mobile number which was called from the stolen phone approx. 20 minutes after it was taken.
So we returned home at about 2.30am this morning, my head was still boiling. I think i fell asleep at about 5am for a couple of hours.
My wife and i both got a real good look at one of the guys so hopefully we may also be able to identify him in the police books if he is there.
I know that i will never forget this anniversary for the rest of my life. I am glad it didnt happen here at home and touch wood it never does. It was such an empty feeling that left me full of rage. i reckon i would have thrown the bastards off the balcony if i caught them.
And just to add salt to the wounds, earlier yesterday afternoon i got a $105 parking fine for being in a clearway around the corner of the hotel. I lost track of time and went to move it but it was too late >:( >:(
Have a great weekend everyone :-\
-
Happy anniversary to you and the missus, Bull - shame some low lives had to spoil it.
Sounds like a bit of a racket - probably done this thing before.
Did the management give you free accommodation - the least they could have done.
-
Moi,
i must say that the management of the place were fantastic, offered to move us to a new room and they wiped all charges but we just wanted to go home.
They told us that the only way out was through the front door, so they appeared to still be in the place.
I actually felt sorry for the duty manager, the poor bugger was shaking like a leaf and trying to write down details.
I have spoken to them this morning a couple of times and they appear to be handling it very well and all staff have been alerted to the appearance of these guys.
Fingers crossed we get out camera back as is wasnt cheap, i still have to check my insurance to see if its covered. Also need to speak to the hotel manager to see if they cover these kind of things.
Anyone have any idea if hotels would be insured for these types of things?
-
Rotten stuff, Bully - hope you get your things back.
Maybe you could reschedule another night (when the memories of this experience are dim)
-
Bloody junkie bastards.
Sorry to hear that Bull.
Unfortunately there'rs not much u can do mate.
Kiss the camera goodbye and just hope u see one of them again so u can cut off one of his cheeks,
Happy Anniversary.
-
That's awful Bull. Hope they catch the mugs.
-
Sorry to read your post Bull, your about to find out how well your insurance company looks after it's customers.
Another way to look at is that if you had caught one or both of these assholes in your room anything could have happened, it might have been worse all round.
Make sure you let the forum know how you get on with any claims, posting the names of the apartments and the insurance company would be fair enough in this case.
-
Best wishes to you and your wife Bully.
What mongruels! Hope these thieving cowards are caught.
-
As you can see, i am still not sleeping the best.
I have had a 1001 scenarios go through my head while laying in bed. I suppose that i just have to look at it from the perspective that we are both ok. Another 10 seconds earlier and we probably would have seen them coming from our room and who knows what would have happened.
I would have tried to rip their heads off and kill the bastards, but 2 on 1 is never the best odds. I am sure i would have shown by Tiger spirit though and kept going until the final siren had gone ;D
-
Sorry to hear about this Bull.
I hope both you and Mrs Bull are feeling a bit better - I know things like this can leave you with every bloody emotion possible.
I hope they find the scum but more importantly I hope they find your camera especially if it had photos on it - the camera can be replaced but any photos (aka memories) cannot
-
Have spoken to about 6 different people from the Victorian Police today, they seem fairly interested in speaking to us about the incident. One member from the Melbourne CIU informed me that is investigating a series of break ins at the place we stayed at.
Seeing it hasnt been opened very long, it isnt a good track record. They even want us to sit down with one of those face sketch dudes and put together a face of the guy we seen. Just like in the movies!!!! ;D
We have an appointment on Wednesday evening at the St.Kilda Road station.
So far i have found out today that my insurance doesnt cover me for theft away from the home. The manager has advised me that i can claim against their insurance but when i asked him if he thought i would be successful he wouldnt comment.
Anyway, once i get the police report i will be firing off my claim letter to them straight away. I am not overly confidnet at this stage of them paying for my lost items.
It could get nasty!!
-
Was he wearing a Collingwood beanie and a gold jacket lol?
-
Was he wearing a Collingwood beanie and a gold jacket lol?
:rollin
-
I'd ask if the guys appeared to be ethnic, but that would just be racist! :shh
-
Anyone have any idea if hotels would be insured for these types of things?
Had a similar experience 18 months ago Bull. Although I was in London and had no insurance anyway, but it seems as though the hotel can easily avoid liability.
In my case we got back to the hotel after the pub shut at the ridiculous hour of 11, peeed it up in the bar for 4 hours with some fat scottish chicks, an escort who was escorting some old couple around town (weird). Anyway I've bought a bottle of champers, gone up with the escort to her room at 4 am, failed miserably, thought better of knocking on the fat scots' door and gone back to our room, which had a faulty door and didn't lock and shut properly (also I was ratarssed).
Wake up around an hour later and some chick is standing over me. All three of us in the room woke up and are like "who the stuff are u?".
Chick: I'm the manager, this room has been double booked, you'll have to get out now
Me (dazed): What? Us, lets go guys we gotta get out.
Mate: Jake shut the f*** up. You'll have to get the police if you want us out
Chick: I've called the police, this room has been double booked and you have to get out NOW
Me: Goin' back to sleep. Come back in an hour.
Mate: Jake shut the f*** up. We'll wait for the police
Chick: I work for the police. I'm from CID. Get out now the manager has asked me to evict you
Mate: I thought you were the manager
*Jake looks chick up and down and the penny drops - she's wearing trainers, jeans and a hooded top - obviously mufty day down CID way. Plus, she is standing on my wallett and trying to hide it with he foot and drag it back along the floor*
Chick (backpedalling rapidly): Look we are staying at this hotel and this is our room and you guys are meant to be in another one so can you please get out NOW the manager has asked us to do it for her.
Mate: I'm calling the police. *Picks up phone and dials 999, but doesnt dial external first so it gets through to reception at which point my mate speaks to the real manager and asks him to come up*
Male voice outside room: "Lets go babe I think we've got the wrong room'
Manager comes up and they try to talk their way out of it, but the manager has quite rightly called the police. They do a runner but the cops find them not long later.
We spend about 4 hours the next day helping the police with their reports and all of that. Bear in mind that this is the one day that one of my mates was passing thru London and a good deal of it was spent with the police due to a dodgy hotel door. My two mates needed accomodation and the hotel charged them full price for that night so basically they don't give a stuff.
Funny thing was the trial was scheduled for xmas 2004, and I was coming back to Oz. The cops offered to fly me back to the UK especially for the trial as the two alleged thieves were drug addicts who were thought responsible for a number of petty thefts in the area. So a similar experience, but I was a whole lot luckier. Either way, the police were great and the hotel a bunch of prix.
-
My story is similar to Jake's only a bit different :rollin
I was sleeping at home, when my alarm clock started to make that noise they do when mobile phones get too close (like a static of sorts). I woke in a daze to see a guy standing next to my bed. As he reached for my wallet sitting on the bedside table, he noticed me stir and said "don't worry mate, I'm from the police, and I need to take this for forensics".
I'm like "What the fu..", and he then still had the balls to go to the other side of my bed quickly and grab my mobile before leaving the room. At that time, I'd just bought a new mountain bike, and it was sitting in my room as well. As the guy left the room, he made comment about the bike.
Still groggy and still only able to say "What the fu..", I got out of bed. Being the decent guy I am, I even took time to put some pants on. I walked out and down the hall but there was only silence, I got to the back of the house, but still saw nothing, and started to think it was one trippy dream.
As I came back through the kitchen, I saw another guy backing out of my housemates room. As he turned and saw me, he was startled and jumped backwards, knocking her door off it's hinges. He pulled a 20cm+ screwdriver from his pocket and took a swing/stab at me.
Now I'm a big guy, but I'm not playing hero to an armed man, especially for my housemates trinkets :help :lol
I reached out and pulled the hall door between him and me, and picked up the phone sitting right by my side. He ran for the front door as I dialled 000. Cops were already in the area, as these guys had already knocked over one house in the area and been sprung by the neighbour, and then also been seen looking suspicious in front and back yards in my street and the alley behind us.
I ran to the front while talking with the cops, but couldn't see either guy. As I waited for the cops, I quickly cancelled cards and put a bar on my phone, then walked to the back of the house, where I noticed a window paine had been removed. I moved back to the kitchen to assess the damage to the housemates door, when I noticed the third bedroom was still shut. I knocked, and to my surprise noticed my other housemate was still fast asleep. :sleep
Shudder to think what might have happened to her if I wasn't there to wake up and scare of the burgs.
Anyway, to end the long story, the burgs were caught around the corner at the local 7eleven going through my wallet. When the cops came round, we looked in the backyard and found a laptop and other items belonging to the previous house they burgled. I was asked to go give a statement, and identify stolen property (luckily, being stingy, I knew exactly how much money I had on me, right down to correct denomination :clapping). I saw my housemates spare car keys in the box, and was told it was part of their MO to steal keys, and then come back a few days later anf steal the car.
I was also shown the screwdriver that was swiped at me...lets just say big and rusty :pray. I was informed they were known junkies, and had only just been released form their last stint. I was told open and shut case, and unlikely I would be required to appear in court as they would be stupid to contest it. I never got the call.
Lucky it was one of the rare nights I didn't have a hot chick in bed with me. :whistle :scream
-
LMAO @ me re-reading that and sounding like a 5 year old telling a story..."and then, and then..." :lol
Gotta love living in the mean streets of Hawthorn :cheers
-
We had the cops come around a couple of years ago with a guy they had got admitting to breaking into several houses, including ours. The worse thing was that I was in the backyard with the kids and this guy slipped in through a kitchen window, didn't take anything and let himself out the front door.
-
I've lived in 3 different houses growing up and not once have we had a burglar of any sorts!
The closest we've had was about 4 years ago when someguy jumped the fence and was sneaking around the backyard, my old dog a saint bernard/blue heeler (RIP :'( :'() wasn't entirely happy about this and him being a big stuffing dog the guy quickly took notice and proceeded to do a runner, jump over the fence and pee bolt down the road!
LOL Boofie only took a few steps to him and when he ran off he just layed down and went back to sleep! ::) ;D
He was the dog i grew up with though, i miss him! :'( :'(
-
A girlfriend of mine - thick as two planks lol - was washing the dishes and looking out the window as this guy runs across her yard. She smiles and waves at him to say hi lol. He had just burgled the house next door :rollin
-
A girlfriend of mine - thick as two planks lol - was washing the dishes and looking out the window as this guy runs across her yard. She smiles and waves at him to say hi lol. He had just burgled the house next door :rollin
Doh!
Touch wood I have never been burgled, or if I have they haven't taken anything.... no pretty sure I haven't been.
-
We had the cops come around a couple of years ago with a guy they had got admitting to breaking into several houses, including ours. The worse thing was that I was in the backyard with the kids and this guy slipped in through a kitchen window, didn't take anything and let himself out the front door.
We once had a bloke get into our place in Brisbane. He didn't touch any cash, jewellery or chequebooks etc, but he had stashed a heap of clothes in his bag, including all my little bro's underpants. Well the cops got him, but my bro wasn't too happy that forensics needed to keep the underwear for a week.....
-
When I was a kid in the early-mid 80s, I lived in Yarraville in a typical single-fronted house of that area with a sideway down to the backyard. One night while we were inside, we heard the noise of a car suddenly pull up sharply out the front then, along with voices, the sound of our squeaky front iron gate being opened. Next thing we knew we heard the rattling of our side wooden gate.
We looked out the window that faced the sideway and saw a bunch of blokes trying to climb over the side gate. My mum instantly rang the police to tell them to come quickly but over the phone the policewoman who answered was more interested in us giving a description of what they looked like than rushing on over. My mum fed up said "you can speak to them yourself in a minute" ;D.
Anyway unknown to the gang, we were about the only house in the neighbourhood with an alarm (it was one of those small door alarms on our front door). So I set it off and these blokes just fled in fright back to the car and drove off except for one who had made it over the sidegate and was left behind by his "mates".
He ran into our backyard and totally freaked out not knowing what to do. One of our next door neighbours who kept to himself had a Doberman (to protect not only this guy's property but also his marijuana plants we found out later in years to come lol) so it became interesting which fence this guy would choose to jump over lol.
Anyway by this time we had run down to the back of our house, turned on the outside backyard light and was watching this bunny caught in the headlights. It was then that fear turned to into laughter. This was in the 80s so the guy had bleached long blonde hair, a bright white t-shirt on, white runners and was wearing the tightest of bright blue jeans. Not the kind of gear a smart crook would wear at night-time with lots of climbing involved :lol. He was also bow legged so when he moved around he looked like he was riding a horse without the horse which just made it all more surreal and hilarious. Anyway he took a chance and luckily for him jumped the fence that didn't have the dog on the other side and got away.
The police eventually turned up with their sniffer dogs and we gave them the description of this guy. The told us to go back inside and they'd lock up when they were done. Next morning we went outside and found the police had forgotten to shut the sidegate after they had left...doh!
We later found out that this gang had no intention of breaking into our house but were after drugs planted in the backyard a few doors down. They would enter other places nearby then climb along the fences to this house to pick up the drugs. The guy who owned this house use to deliver the stuff in a Electrician's van so no one became suspicious. Eventually they were caught out.
-
Growing up my parents owned a Post Office and our house was at the back of it.
One night we got robbed they didn't find the keys to the post office so went through our house instead. We found clothes across the back yard with all the pockets turned inside out - they were looking for money.
The B-Astards stole my Skippy money box off the mantle (didn't steal my brothers but nicked mine :banghead) - I don't think I've ever really recovered
When the coppers turned up they were standing at the side gates and asked MA Powell how do they get in? Front door, through the gates? Ma Powell said to them "you come in the same way the Burglars did -over the bloody back fence" :bow ;D :lol :thumbsup
-
I recieved a reply letter from the hotel today and they are claiming no liability at all and have said they will not be held responsible for any goods for a guest.
I am currently chasing up some legal advice and will try and see if i can also take this public.
In my opinion i think they have negligent by not having their security cameras turned on, by allowing anyone to access the hotel.
They told me that the place was secure, obviously not if they couldnt stop these guys getting in. They have also had a number of break in in the previous months and should have had increased security for the hotel.
The room we stayed in was also very vulnerable with access readliy available to our balcony.
I am so peeed that i want grab this bloke(hotel manager) and rip his head off. i have had to restrain myself from ringing him today and abusing the crap out of him.
If anyone knows anyone who does deal in Civil law i would appreciate any contact details you may have.
Cheers,
Bull
-
I recieved a reply letter from the hotel today and they are claiming no liability at all and have said they will not be held responsible for any goods for a guest.
What mongruels! No wonder you're peeed off Bully.
-
Just got off the phone with the Victorian Legal Aid. They have referred my to a local Legal Community Centre and they have told me that they will draft up a letter of demand for the goods that were stolen.
I told them the unique situation to our room in which it was the only one for the whole floor that had internal access from the building to our balcony. When i told her that it was forced entry from the balcony through which they just walked onto she believes that they should be responsible and should cough up!! ;D
I hope that this is the case and that we get some money back.
This hotel company is fairly big and i am only asking for just under $2000 which to them would be nothing. But to me it isnt easy to just pull that out of my pocket and spend it like that.
Fingers crossed.
I want to screw these bastards ;)
-
I'm no lawyer but if the amount you're after Bully is "just" $2000 then there's the small claims tribunal if it still exists. Basically it's held in a room with you, the guy you are seeking damages from (the hotellier in your case) and a tribunal chairperson. Something to keep in mind.
-
Yeah thanks MT,
the lady i spoke to before told me that first get this letter of "demand" drawn up and send it off.
if they still dont make any change in their stance well we could then go to mediation and then we could try civil action if we wanted to.
Like i said to my wife, even if it got to a point of haing to take them to court i would do to just shaft them. I know some of those no win, no pay guys will take most of the money if we did win. It would just be sweet delight knowing that i shafted them and they had to pay out ;D
I would feel better anyway!!
-
Good luck, Bully - go get 'em.
As you said, $2000 would be nothing to these guys.
-
I recieved a reply letter from the hotel today and they are claiming no liability at all and have said they will not be held responsible for any goods for a guest.
"no liability at all" " will not be held responsible"
These high-handed pricks. Get up 'em Bully.
-
Hey guys,
Went to my local Community Legal centre tonight and went through things with them. They believe that i have a very strong case and should win. :thumbsup
They are going to draft up a letter of demand to the hotel and basically come from the point of view that they were negligent in providing the service that they should. Negligent in the fact that there was not appropriate barricades to stop anyone from accessing our "private" balcony.
I am probably looking at 2-3 weeks before i hear anything from this as it will take the centre upto a week to send the letter for me(its a free service so i cant complain) and then it will take anywhere upto 2 weeks before they hear back from the hotel.
Hopefully when that does happen, it will be with a cheque for the money i asking for.
I also have to follow up with Consumer affairs tomorrow as the guy i spoke with tonight thinks there may also be something i can follow up there in relation to them not providing the service they should have and now wanting to take no responsibility.
Hopefully i have them by the balls ;D
-
Go Bully :thumbsup
-
Good luck Bully :thumbsup