Our store got hit last night....

[DeesKo]

Wifey came in this morning to find the glass in the front door smashed. They somehow got in, took the cash register & about 40 packs of Newports and got out without the alarm ever going off. No fingerprints or any obvious trace left behind to find out who did it. Got some ears on the street keeping an eye out for anyone selling Newports.

Had to go this morning and buy/program a new register and the glass is going to be $475.

I'm beyond pissed off right now but the upside is the new glass we're putting in the door will be virtually shatterproof, we have a new register that should allow me to pull sales data into Quickbooks vs me having to put it in by hand, and there's a good chance ADT will be paying for it all since their alarm set up obviously didn't work.

Happy New Year!

Peace

[DJ Celeste Alexander]

WOW, Sorry to hear that, I hate theives!

Glad you can look at the upside of things.

btw, the burglary is tax deductable, look into it

[HOUSE MIKE FEVA]

there's a good chance ADT will be paying for it all since their alarm set up obviously didn't work.

they SHOULD BE liable if everything was installed be a certified ADT installer...

[MarkK]

So sorry Rob, but I am glad it was not a stickup!

Amazing they could pull that off on King Street!

[DaveR]

Sorry to hear that Rob

[djdub63]

So sorry Rob, but I am glad it was not a stickup!

Amazing they could pull that off on King Street!

I concur with Mark!

[DeesKo]

WOW, Sorry to hear that, I hate theives!

Glad you can look at the upside of things.

btw, the burglary is tax deductable, look into it

You can't ever focus on the negative. If you do, it becomes WAY too easy to give up. Stuff like this is part of the joys of owning a business. You gotta keep going so what else is there to do but look at the positives. Besides, the quote for the glass was MUCH better than I expected so we're cool.

As for the tax deduction, absolutely.

they SHOULD BE liable if everything was installed be a certified ADT installer...

Yeah, it was an ADT installer that put it in, with our sales rep there in the store. We're doing some testing with ADT tonight to figure out what happened and we'll go from there.

So sorry Rob, but I am glad it was not a stickup!

Amazing they could pull that off on King Street!

I hear you on the stickup, this could have been a lot worse. As for King Street, man, I don't know why but the police presence on King Street, particularly late night has been meaningless.

3 of us got broken into back in Feb as well and I called the detective assigned to the case 2 or 3 different times over the next 6 months and he never even bothered to call me back... useless asses. This morning they were there less than an hour and dipped saying "someone will look into it".

Sorry to hear that Rob

The opportunity to employ the multi-quote was worth it.

[Chris Conrad]

are you allowed to mount cameras outside? i ask because you can put up fake cameras. various companies make empty cameras, blinking lights and all, actual hollowed out real ones, cheap. been told its a great deterrent by several business owners. a plant place i deal with had stuff disappear at night, put them up and it stopped. new place i live is across the street from a private school. lots of out of towners go to that school, while the locals are mainly cool, during student pickup at the end of the day you get the minivan mafia from two towns over coming to pick up little austin and they like to park in my driveway. my place has one of the few driveways on the block. we're not home a lot. driveway is very narrow and someone ran over some landscaping i put in. had it out with various people and their entitlement attitudes. they are supposed to drive through the school lot and get exited out by the guard. they are lazy so they block driveways, park in mine etc. so i ordered a fake security camera. a bigger one. looks just like a real night vision type camera, bolted to the side of the house, fake wires and all. so now if anyone tries to pull into the driveway, they see this big ass camera staring at them, red blinking light and put it into reverse really quick.

[Chris Conrad]

where i loved there were some home robberies. quite a few of the houses had adt and other companies. alarms did not go off. with some of these alarms its as simple as clipping a phone line, as i recently demonstrated to a neighbor who was bragging about her alarm. one phone line in the house and fully visible on the side of the house. snip snip. alarm had no other way to communicate something is happening to the alarm company.

[ngeso]

Sorry to hear this. Keep motoring on and all the best to you and yours in 2010. ng.

...

[House]

Make a gain from this experience (I know that you will)

[AK]

Damn, sorry to hear. Glad you and your wife are safe.

[DeesKo]

are you allowed to mount cameras outside? i ask because you can put up fake cameras. various companies make empty cameras, blinking lights and all, actual hollowed out real ones, cheap. been told its a great deterrent by several business owners. a plant place i deal with had stuff disappear at night, put them up and it stopped. new place i live is across the street from a private school. lots of out of towners go to that school, while the locals are mainly cool, during student pickup at the end of the day you get the minivan mafia from two towns over coming to pick up little austin and they like to park in my driveway. my place has one of the few driveways on the block. we're not home a lot. driveway is very narrow and someone ran over some landscaping i put in. had it out with various people and their entitlement attitudes. they are supposed to drive through the school lot and get exited out by the guard. they are lazy so they block driveways, park in mine etc. so i ordered a fake security camera. a bigger one. looks just like a real night vision type camera, bolted to the side of the house, fake wires and all. so now if anyone tries to pull into the driveway, they see this big ass camera staring at them, red blinking light and put it into reverse really quick.

I can't believe what I'm reading.

Chris "Firewall" Conrad petitioning for MORE surveillance of our collective lives.

On a serious note, the camera angle is something we're looking into now, because like you said, it can act as a deterrant. We also have an occassional issue with someone urinating in our breezeway so I'm going to try to put a real camera out there. I just need to find a cost-effective wireless option.

If I catch em pissing in my breezeway I'm going to take screenshots and post them in the front window for everyone to see.

As for the ADT thing, yeah, I checked the phone lines & everything is good. The only thing I can see is if they crawled through the front door on the ground and used the shelves in the store to block the motion detector. Either that or they didn't set the motion detector sensitive enough to catch something right at the front door. We'll find out tonight hopefully.

[OneMasterMixer]

You can't ever focus on the negative. If you do, it becomes WAY too easy to give up. Stuff like this is part of the joys of owning a business. You gotta keep going so what else is there to do but look at the positives.

Well Said bro!!!!

Sorry that happened and looks like you made out great in the long run.

Hope they catch the thief just the same.

[MarkK]

I can't believe what I'm reading.

Chris "Firewall" Conrad petitioning for MORE surveillance of our collective lives.

On a serious note, the camera angle is something we're looking into now, because like you said, it can act as a deterrant. We also have an occassional issue with someone urinating in our breezeway so I'm going to try to put a real camera out there. I just need to find a cost-effective wireless option.

If I catch em pissing in my breezeway I'm going to take screenshots and post them in the front window for everyone to see.

As for the ADT thing, yeah, I checked the phone lines & everything is good. The only thing I can see is if they crawled through the front door on the ground and used the shelves in the store to block the motion detector. Either that or they didn't set the motion detector sensitive enough to catch something right at the front door. We'll find out tonight hopefully.

Rob, I wonder if the strict zoning laws in Old Town would allow for such cameras?

[DeesKo]

Rob, I wonder if the strict zoning laws in Old Town would allow for such cameras?

Yeah I know.... and how I dread dealing with the city.

Remember the high-end sporting goods/gun store down by the waterfront?

Did you ever see/read the story about when they left, what took over the space & why? It's a hilarious read if you've ever dealt with City Hall.

[DeesKo]

Hope they catch the thief just the same.

Oh absolutely. I might come out ahead in the long run, but don't get it twisted.

I would LOVE to find out who did it.

[MarkK]

Yeah I know.... and how I dread dealing with the city.

Remember the high-end sporting goods/gun store down by the waterfront?

Did you ever see/read the story about when they left, what took over the space & why? It's a hilarious read if you've ever dealt with City Hall.

No but I almost bought a gun from those guys....they were not very nice...lol.

Old Town zoning is legendary. BUT, they have preserved the character of the city quite well.

[Chris Conrad]

No but I almost bought a gun from those guys....they were not very nice...lol.

Old Town zoning is legendary. BUT, they have preserved the character of the city quite well.

yeah, you absulutely have to look into what you can and cannot put up. the grief with dealing with just doing it then having them fine you/come after you is not worth it.

[Chris Conrad]

I can't believe what I'm reading.

Chris "Firewall" Conrad petitioning for MORE surveillance of our collective lives.

On a serious note, the camera angle is something we're looking into now, because like you said, it can act as a deterrant. We also have an occassional issue with someone urinating in our breezeway so I'm going to try to put a real camera out there. I just need to find a cost-effective wireless option.

If I catch em pissing in my breezeway I'm going to take screenshots and post them in the front window for everyone to see.

As for the ADT thing, yeah, I checked the phone lines & everything is good. The only thing I can see is if they crawled through the front door on the ground and used the shelves in the store to block the motion detector. Either that or they didn't set the motion detector sensitive enough to catch something right at the front door. We'll find out tonight hopefully.

a few people i know that use them for their businesses or homes said the fake ones have been a great deterrent and basically stopped whatever problem they had. its worked great in my case. for the money i paid for it i was expecting some piece of crap to arrive. it looks exactly like the real deal, cables, blinking light, night vision led's and all...only way to tell its fake is if you climb up and mess with it/rip it off the wall. its a lot lighter than the real thing because its hollow, just has the battery assembly in it for the blinking led. first day i had it, i put my car around the block and watched for people to pull the same crap. the main person who was doing it pulled in, saw the cam, stopped and got the hell out of there. hasn't happened since. older neighbor down the block wants me to get her one because they constantly leave cars blocking her driveway and she can't get out to go to doctor's appointments etc. i hate being a dick, but the street is a narrow, one way street with limited parking and its my damn driveway. i don't care if someone stops for a minute and blocks it as their kid comes out of school and gets in and they go. these people leave their cars and disappear to go talk to the other soccer moms. if i'm coming home, i then have to go two blocks away, pay a meter and walk around like micahel douglass in 'falling down' tracking down who it is. then move my car back again. and i always have gear or tools to load or unload. then wheni stand there waiting for them to come move their car i get the attitude, oh its only for a minute...meanwhile i've been standing there for 15 minutes waiting for them.

as for ADT, i think i read at some point there was a class action suit alleging burglars actually targeted places with ADT signs because they are easy to break into. storied of glass sensors not working, radio backup not working when phone lines are cut etc. friend of mine had a non ADT system at her house. always problems with it. i demonstrated and actually broke into it one day while it was armed by messing with a window sensor.

[mjoseph]

I can't believe what I'm reading.

Chris "Firewall" Conrad petitioning for MORE surveillance of our collective lives.

On a serious note, the camera angle is something we're looking into now, because like you said, it can act as a deterrant. We also have an occassional issue with someone urinating in our breezeway so I'm going to try to put a real camera out there. I just need to find a cost-effective wireless option.

If I catch em pissing in my breezeway I'm going to take screenshots and post them in the front window for everyone to see.

As for the ADT thing, yeah, I checked the phone lines & everything is good. The only thing I can see is if they crawled through the front door on the ground and used the shelves in the store to block the motion detector. Either that or they didn't set the motion detector sensitive enough to catch something right at the front door. We'll find out tonight hopefully.

you need a glass break detector near the front. this is similar to a motion detector, but instead checks for the sound of breaking glass - not heat.



if you are with adt this would be quite easy to add to your existing setup, and also cost effective.


also i would advise against any empty camera casings. in school we were taught that this could backfire if an actual crime occurs and evidence is needed. i don't recall the actual location of that incident but apparently the rape victim was able to sue the proprietor for liability.

sorry to hear about this

[DeesKo]

No but I almost bought a gun from those guys....they were not very nice...lol.

Old Town zoning is legendary. BUT, they have preserved the character of the city quite well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us...q=tache&st=cse


The article brushes on his troubles with zoning, but doesn't paint the complete picture. He went in circles with them for something like 2 years with them tentatively approving something, then rejecting it. Every time you go to the city you have to have new architectural drawings, plans etc which very expensive in itself, especially when you're doing it over and over and over again.

[Mike Barnes]

Deesko, Your decription of the events that took place at your store, Sounds like the cats who stung your spot, Are alot closer to you, Then you may think, My man(Getting around motion detactor alarms,Etc), Deesko, I remember a thread from a few weeks ago, That you put on the board, In regards to a young cat, Who had great potential in regards to business etiquette, Deesko, You spoke very highly of this young man, To the point, Where i felt money would be another Warren Buffet(Or, Ivan Bosky/LOL), Deesko, I'm not drawing any assumptions that this young cat, Could have been down with stinging your spot, But, I'm Very

Sure, You will make certain, Not to take anyone, Who comes through the door of your spot, For granted, My man, Deesko, You can try to attain the background checks for the cat(Or cats), Who installed your alarm system, My man(Money could have been upnorth, Or Have cats close to him or her, Who have been upnorth on burglary charges), Because, Cats most definitely, Knew the layout of your spot, My man.

Much Respect
Mike Barnes

[mjoseph]

Deesko, Your decription of the events that took place at your store, Sounds like the cats who stung your spot, Are alot closer to you, Then you may think, My man(Getting around motion detactor alarms,Etc), Deesko, I remember a thread from a few weeks ago, That you put on the board, In regards to a young cat, Who had great potential in regards to

Business etiquette, Deesko, You spoke very highly of this young man, To the point, Where i felt money would be another Warren Buffet(Or, Ivan Bosky/LOL), Deesko, I'm drawing any assumptions that this young cat, Could have been down with stinging your spot, But, I'm

Very sure, You will make certain, Not to take anyone, Who comes through the door of your spot, For granted, My man, Deesko, You can try to attain the background checks for the cat(Or cats), Who installed your alarm system, My man(Money could have been upnorth, Or Have cats close to him or her, Who have been upnorth on burglary charges), Because, Cats most definitely, Knew the layout of your spot, My man.

Much Respect
Mike Barnes

it really looks like some homeless idiots just tried a quick smash and grab for some cigarettes to use or resell. there's a liquor store near my house that had a 4x4 driven into it last year so they could clear out the wine supply.

luckily that didn't happen in this scenario

[geo]

Is there a possibility it was an inside job with the damage to the door etc. done purely for effect- to make it look like a smash and grab?

I think you had mentioned you'd had problems with employees before.

Anyway- sorry to hear this.