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Laptop stolen and Apple wants no part of it


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Laptop stolen and Apple wants no part of it
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Brave Ulysses
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Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2005-12-23, 00:03

I had an iBook (amongst other things) stolen out of my house a few weeks back. Pretty much stuck, no fingerprints, no leads. But I thought Apple would at least be able to put a note on the serial number and if it ever came into the system be able to notify me. Seems pretty easy.

So I called them and they say they do nothing of the sort and don't want to be any part of it. I was pretty surprised. I thought I had heard of other people doing similar things but maybe I'm wrong. I don't see why they can't do that.

Maybe they don't want to be in the middle of this but it seems somewhat harmless and relatively risk free for them to just put a block on the serial number and if it ever comes into shop or gets registered they forward the contact info to police.

Any opinions?
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Brad
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-12-23, 00:15

Who at Apple did you call about this? Did you ask for supervisors/higher-ranked personnel to assist?
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Brave Ulysses
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2005-12-23, 00:20

I called customer service and they were pretty strong in turning my request down. They said it's too much liability for them and they want no part in it. I was pretty surprised. Normally I would ask for a supervisor but I felt like I wasn't going to get very far and I was busy cancelling credit cards and stuff and didn't feel like getting further upset.
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curiousuburb
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-12-23, 07:39

IIRC, there are some 3rd party technologies that add a GPRS or other bit of hardware to some laptops and then have them 'phone home' if stolen.

Most of these are PC based options, but I seem to remember at least one PowerBook owner claiming he had something similar in software... don't enter your unlock code periodically and it calls home.

Perhaps Apple is leaving the market to these kind of 3rd party companies. Doesn't help you much now, but in future you might investigate such tools.
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SKMDC
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-12-23, 09:42

I think they're worried about the liability of someone selling their laptop, reporting it stolen and causing someone innocent a ton of grief, or pranks, or whatever.

I doubt they care to much about leaving the door open for third-party anti-theft devices, which are a great idea, especially if you are in high risk environment. I'm looking for one for my bicycle, i'd like to see the next person who steals my bike suffer.

"What's a Canadian farm boy to do?"
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Brave Ulysses
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2005-12-23, 10:22

Quote:
Originally Posted by SKMDC
I think they're worried about the liability of someone selling their laptop, reporting it stolen and causing someone innocent a ton of grief, or pranks, or whatever.

I doubt they care to much about leaving the door open for third-party anti-theft devices, which are a great idea, especially if you are in high risk environment. I'm looking for one for my bicycle, i'd like to see the next person who steals my bike suffer.
I wish Apple would step up and make something like that a standard built in feature. Seems much more useful than some other things they decide to build in, at least for a portable.

I really wish they would have helped me out though. It was really the only chance I had.
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Barto
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Canberra, Australia
 
2005-12-23, 10:23

Apple has a database of every Mac and iPod sold, and can flag them as stolen. I've never worked at Apple, but I'm 99% sure the person you spoke with wasn't doing their job right.

The sky was deep black; Jesus still loved me. I started down the alley, wailing in a ragged bass.
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Brave Ulysses
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2005-12-23, 10:50

Quote:
Originally Posted by Barto
Apple has a database of every Mac and iPod sold, and can flag them as stolen. I've never worked at Apple, but I'm 99% sure the person you spoke with wasn't doing their job right.

see that's what I had thought and heard as well.

They mentioned the possible confrontation at stores as a reason they can't.
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Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-12-23, 11:04

Maybe going to your law enforcement agency will do it;

They may be able to require Apple to cooperate in search of the laptop. Just tell them that Apple would be able to track your laptop because of updates or whatever it was etc etc

I'm really sorry to hear about it though.
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intlplby
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
 
2005-12-24, 13:13

if anything they could add some software solution to .Mac.....

i think they could add some software that automatically posts all your laptops IPs to a page on your .Mac account

of course a smart theif would use something like littlesnitch, but i am sure it could be hidden well enough that even with little snitch they may allow the program to communicate past it.
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Legodude522
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2005-12-25, 04:15

Tapwave did what you were you wanted Apple to do. I love a company with great customer support but Apple seems to be mixed of the good and the bad.

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Brave Ulysses
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2005-12-25, 04:19

Quote:
Originally Posted by intlplby
if anything they could add some software solution to .Mac.....

i think they could add some software that automatically posts all your laptops IPs to a page on your .Mac account

of course a smart theif would use something like littlesnitch, but i am sure it could be hidden well enough that even with little snitch they may allow the program to communicate past it.
that would be a good and simple feature. if it were available as an option it would certainly add value to .Mac.

i wonder if there is anyway to check .Mac sync logs. I think I may have had it set to sync automatically.


as far as getting the police involved. a simple theft like this from a house doesn't get much attention, i was surprised they dusted for fingerprints to be honest.
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scratt
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2005-12-25, 07:58

I like lapcop...
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