Stacey Tappan claims Lufthansa stole her laptop computer, and she wants me to help her get it back.
Before I get to her story, let me acknowledge that terms like “stealing” and “theft” can mean different things to people. We’ve seen that in several recent stories, and sometimes, we have to agree to disagree.
But Tappan stretches the definition of stealing, even for me.
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Theft happens. Even at a hotel with a sterling reputation, like Marriott.
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Here’s a question I get all the time: Why won’t an airline cover a lost or damaged computer in my checked luggage?
My answer is always the same: because!
Well, it’s been that way since the Wright Brothers flew a kite at Kitty Hawk. Every airline contract specifically says it doesn’t cover lost or stolen electronics, among other things.
Philip Bramson’s iPod vanished from his checked luggage on a recent flight to Mexico, and recovering it seemed impossible.
“It was hidden in my luggage, so it could only have been seen through the X-ray or a pretty thorough search,” he says. “The only place this could have happened is during the luggage handling in JFK. There was not enough time in Mexico between when we landed and I was given my luggage.”
It’s an awful feeling when you open your suitcase after a long flight and notice that something’s missing. But it doesn’t have to happen to you.
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Ah, red tape! There’s no worse time to run into it — bunches and bunches of it, in this case — than when your property is stolen and you’re just trying to do the right thing.
Such is Bruce Scotton’s dilemma. After his T-Mobile cell phone was swiped from his checked luggage on a flight from Panama City to Los Angeles, he immediately reported it to the company — but not before the thief ran up $103 in charges. T-Mobile agreed to spilt the difference with him, but Scotton believes he shouldn’t be liable for any of it, since he reported the theft as soon as it happened.
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Outraged? No, those of us who fly suspect this kind of thing is happening at every major airport in the country. It’s the only explanation.
The Unclaimed Baggage Center would have to be ten times its size if every piece of lost luggage ended up there.
And so we see this when we pick up the morning paper: News of nearly 1,000 pieces of stolen luggage being found while police served a search warrant at a home near Phoenix.
Here are details from the Phoenix police department.
What the heck?
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Lynne Lenhart’s daughter had her $140 iPod taken from her on a recent visit to New York. The thief was a taxi driver who remains at large, with the apparent blessing of the government and the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.
This sad — and apparently unsolvable — case raises some important questions about the use of credit cards. I’ll get to those in a moment. But first, let me hand the mic over to Lenhart.
My 20 year-old-daughter recently visited New York City by herself, and had a bad taxi experience that I am still furious about.
After the driver took her to JFK airport to catch her flight home, she tried to pay using her credit card. She had been using her credit card to pay for all her taxi cab rides.
This time the card was not approved. She knew that she had enough money on the card to pay for the ride, so she called up the bank to find out what was wrong. They agreed that she had enough to pay for it but the driver’s machine used for the credit cards was not working. All the numbers were not going over either due to an equipment malfunction or a bad signal near the airport.
The driver got mad and called the Port Authority. When they got involved, they told her that if she couldn’t pay, then they would have to “book” her.
She was humiliated and scared that she was going to be arrested. They told her that she would have to give him something and she was forced to give the driver her $140 iPod to pay for a $50 cab ride. It feels, to me, like she was the victim of a shakedown. She got the taxi driver’s number.
I have shared this experience with friends and family and they are all disgusted and not planning on vacationing in New York any time soon. Is there anyone that I can contact about this situation or is this the way things are done in New York?
I recommended that Lenhart write a brief, polite letter to the Port Authority and the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, requesting the return of her daughter’s iPod. Here’s what happened:
I heard from the Port Authority by phone and e-mail. They apologized and asked for more information. I sent them what my daughter remembered. Since my daughter did not get the names of the officers, they are unable to pursue it further and consider the case closed.
I heard from the Taxi Commission. They brought the driver in to interview and after discussing the case with the driver and their legal department, it was decided that I would have to deal with the driver on my own. They said that since he was forced to accept the iPod as payment, by the Port Authority, they were under no obligation to force him to return it. They gave me his phone number. However, after repeated attempts, I have been unable to contact him.
I called the Taxi Commission a few days ago, to see if they could help me and have received no response. Then I contacted the Port Authority and found out what they had decided. All they could do was give me the name of the taxi cab company.
Is Lenhart out of options? I think small claims court might be her daughter’s next stop, although it might not be worth the effort.
The bigger question here is: What happens when a travel company can’t accept your credit card because of equipment problems? The cab driver in Lenhart’s case should have been able to accept an imprint and a signature. Confiscating her iPod was unnecessary.
The taxi driver should free the iPod and accept her $50 as soon as possible.
Update (Jan. 21, 2009): The NY Post has published a story about this incident.
