Help Help Lost Carry On Suitcase In Taxi With Laptop Inside

[angelparadise]

Dear friends:

I lost my carry on suitcase on the front seat of a taxi in front of my house. I forgot to take it out from the front when I get off. Here are the details about it, please help me to find all possible way to get the suitcase back. I am willing to negotiate any price for the return of the suitcase.

It's so important to me, it has all my important documents inside, all my music, photos and memories in the past 7 years attached.. please help me.

When & where :

April 6, Tues, night, I took the taxi around 23:40 in front of the gate 2 of the departure floor of the airport (4th floor), therefore there is no receipt or official record of that taxi’s record. I got home, abac huamark, next to abac condo around 00:20 of April 7th. I forgot to take it out when I get off, then the taxi drove away.

Taxi:

I don't remember the exact of the plate number, seems there are 4 digits start with 98..

The taxi fare is 146 and I paid him extra, 160.

But I m not sure.

It’s a pink taxi, with grey leather interior with pressed flower pattern strip on the back seats

Driver

He is a thin guy, around 170cm. He is a red shirt supporter, he was wearing red Tshirt on top of a long sleeve. I think he was wearing a tattoo sleeve too.

I seriously thought this is a good guy. Because everyone wanted to over charge at the airport, but he didn’t, and he said that’s not nice. We had a fun conversation on the way back home, so I even paid him extra.

My suitcase

It's a dark blue square carry on box. Branded “BINHAO” on the front of the box. I have a hello kitty doll clock attached with the handle.

Inside, I have

1. An Acer Aspire 4920G laptop with pink cartoon sticker on the keyboard, the adaptor and mouse.

2. 5 professional suit pants, two one-piece dresses, a dark purple EPISODE suit coat.

3. A DKNY green apple perfume

4. Some battery and charger

5. 5 books, including my personal scheduler book.

God knows how important all of these to me, so I m willing to negotiate anything for the exchange.

I just want your help in expressing this idea and help me from all channels to get it back.

Now I have several plans.

1. Go through airport’s video to find out the taxi plate number. (Checked with the airport already, I can see myself walking pass, but can’t capture the taxi clearly, it’s too far.)

2. Go through ALL taxi company to find out the record of all pink taxi which went out at that point of the day. Check the driver’s profile, I m sure me or masimba (he picked me up when taxi arrive home) can identify the driver’s face. Or at least scope down to several people.

3. Go through all taxi radio/company to send the message out, say that I will award whoever brings me the luggage back in the original condition with a lot of money. (Or to say a huge award is better?)

Please help me for all these.

I already run around for this of the whole night of the 7th, then I have to fly again for a championship in Indonesia.

Since I m still in Indonesia, and my returning to Thailand is like 19th of April…I m just afraid I am running out of the time to get my laptop back…or the information inside.

I m afraid in order to sell it, they will erase all my data, since I have a password for the computer.

Please give me a reply or text me if you have some ways to help me out.

Thank you so much.

Very very very sad

Cynthia

please message me to contact me if you know any ways to reach the driver....

-----------------------------------------------------------

i waited for almost like an hour in front of my house on the night

but he didn't come back

right now

my only ways is to screen out every single taxi companies with pink taxi

hopefully check the driver profiles

and distribute flyers and posters to let that driver know

no matter what he want, i am willing to give to exchange of my suitcase back.

because all he want, is the material value

that's not going to match my sentimental value of those stuff....

please, help me in a way to find the best channels to reach this driver.

Edited April 22, 2010 by MiG16
Pesonal contact details removed for privacy reasons. Use PM to contact - thaiphoon

[JohnnyFeelIt]

Some taxi driver had a lucky day, 99% sure it will already have been formatted and resold by now.. Nearly 15 days have passed.

[Soutpeel]

Cynthia,

you shouldnt be posting email address and phones number, you will get all kinds of loonies contacting you...

Alas, after 15 days, pretty sure you have lost all your property

[metisdead]

I got home, abac huamark, next to abac condo around 00:20 of April 7th.

IF the driver was even remotely honest, he would likely have returned to your home and tried to return your suitcase. You would have stood a better chance of recovery on April 7th than today.

Edited April 22, 2010 by metisdead

[haveaniceday]

Personally I can't believe you didn't back up several time last 7 years of pics, but, that doesn't help you one little bit right now me saying that.

Doubt it is not sold. Go to the pink Taxi company in case of a freak of nature.

To say a taxi driver is a red shirt is like saying a Thai is a Asian !!!! (Although I have meet many that say they are Thai, not Asian)

Most of the taxis I have been in all listen to the same radio station, ask them, (may need to pay for an add spoke! ...read bribe...) and offer an award, for it's return just in case the driver is working and still has it. Make sure it is broadcast on the same day and time that you were in the cab.

Morel of the sad story, back up. Even if you put your picks onto a DVD and post a second copy to family every 3 months, a $150 external hard drive can be handy, but do fail.

Good luck.

[MiG16]

your best bet would be to contact the taxi radio channels

get the word out.....

but without wanting to be too negative, this usually works better if you got to it early on.

nevertheless still worth a try......

contact the taxi radio, then ask them what police stations taxi drivers are likely to have gone into to submit found items. ive heard lots of such incidences taking place

good luck

[angelparadise]

Personally I can't believe you didn't back up several time last 7 years of pics, but, that doesn't help you one little bit right now me saying that.

Doubt it is not sold. Go to the pink Taxi company in case of a freak of nature.

To say a taxi driver is a red shirt is like saying a Thai is a Asian !!!! (Although I have meet many that say they are Thai, not Asian)

Most of the taxis I have been in all listen to the same radio station, ask them, (may need to pay for an add spoke! ...read bribe...) and offer an award, for it's return just in case the driver is working and still has it. Make sure it is broadcast on the same day and time that you were in the cab.

Morel of the sad story, back up. Even if you put your picks onto a DVD and post a second copy to family every 3 months, a $150 external hard drive can be handy, but do fail.

Good luck.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you....luckily i finally find some of my back up in 2008, so from 2008-2010 is lost for now...

i know the hope is vague....

but i pray, at the same time, try all i can to look for it

i checked with a friend who has some contact of the black market of Taxi drivers, 2 days after this happened..

but he said there is no one seeing an acer yet

[Steele404]

curious, when did you finally realized you lost your case?

and when did you make any actions?

15 days later and its wayy beyond any hope I'm afraid...

sorry for you loss, I know how I'd feel in your shoes.... if not worse...

[ThailandLovr]

I save my important files in the cloud on AOL. I send myself an email with the files attached, then save them in an AOL folder. Accessible by me anytime from anywhere. I recently had a hard drive crash and as I await restoration (hopefully) of unimportant files (photos, videos, etc) I was able to download from AOL the important stuff I need, such as my account names/passwords/etc file.

[Steele404]

dropbox.com <-- 8 million users and growing, it;'s the facebook of file storage...

[angelparadise]

curious, when did you finally realized you lost your case?

and when did you make any actions?

15 days later and its wayy beyond any hope I'm afraid...

sorry for you loss, I know how I'd feel in your shoes.... if not worse...

i realized that 1min after i get off, and the taxi just drove away.

but i was waiting for it to come back to return to me

then my friend called the radio station and the call center for me

but the problem is i am on a transit flight, i need to fly out to indonesia after 10 hours...

so i have to leave

then i leave this to my friends

they were keep calling the airport and radio

but no response...

now i finally come back...

i want a systematic way to screen out the taxi companies and drivers

anyone has any idea how to do that?

[NADTATIDA1]

i want a systematic way to screen out the taxi companies and drivers

anyone has any idea how to do that?

There is a way as they are all numbered and different coloured,but that is where it stops,the main problem being the time lapse if it happened say a couple of days ago then you might have had a chance,the time and effort would be better served in buying a new laptop and securing the data you put into it,sometimes you just have to except that it aint coming back and move on ...sorry!

[hawthorne]

you gave it a good try. Now think back to all those closets and chests you have rumaged through during you life time. You would find items that remind you of your childhood, first date, when you started school, etc. You say to yourself i can not get rid of that item it because it means so much to you. Before going through the box or closet how many times did you ever pull these items out to look at them to remember these events??? never only when cleaning out or moving. SO as nice as they are for memories be thankfull you have your mind to keep all things wonderfull to you. I understand papers you scanned, documents or whatever. But the originals exist some place probably. Just have to work in finding them.

Sorry you lost the laptop.

great if you get it back but with each day less hope looms around the corner.

[PoorSucker]

Offer a 5000 Bht award broadcast on the pink taxis.

[ThaiPauly]

What a heartfelt story and I really sympathise with you.

If you had taken a taxi from the arrivals rank you would have had a much greater chance as all journeys are monitored, they give the driver a slip of paper and they have a copy.

By using an departure taxi you have no comeback at all as that is an illegal pick up point, they are not "supposed" to pick up fares there, and many of them refuse to go by the metre as they have to pay a bribe to security for letting them pick up a fare there, and in my experience for some reason many of the drivers seem to be chancers...I had one a few months ago who could not find Sukhumvit from the airport.

I'm afraid I can only offer hindsight and say in future go to the rank and pay the extra 50 baht.

Sorry for your loss.

TP.

[fantuzi]

You have my full sympathy!I am absentminded like hel_l,once I left my laptop in bus - After chasing the bus route for halh an hour - I found it on my seat;

yesterday - I left it in street restaurant having breakfast,waiter chased me 200 mtrs. down the street to hand it back.

You have a chance to get it back:post ads in Thai newspapers,community FM stations,what else?You can hire private eye(they can be very usefull).Promise very high reward,

may be somebody grass the taxidriver.

[angelparadise]

You have my full sympathy!I am absentminded like hel_l,once I left my laptop in bus - After chasing the bus route for halh an hour - I found it on my seat;

yesterday - I left it in street restaurant having breakfast,waiter chased me 200 mtrs. down the street to hand it back.

You have a chance to get it back:post ads in Thai newspapers,community FM stations,what else?You can hire private eye(they can be very usefull).Promise very high reward,

may be somebody grass the taxidriver.

i want the private eye i want them....

where can i hire a private detective????

god....

i want it back i want it back....

[angelparadise]

you gave it a good try. Now think back to all those closets and chests you have rumaged through during you life time. You would find items that remind you of your childhood, first date, when you started school, etc. You say to yourself i can not get rid of that item it because it means so much to you. Before going through the box or closet how many times did you ever pull these items out to look at them to remember these events??? never only when cleaning out or moving. SO as nice as they are for memories be thankfull you have your mind to keep all things wonderfull to you. I understand papers you scanned, documents or whatever. But the originals exist some place probably. Just have to work in finding them.

Sorry you lost the laptop.

great if you get it back but with each day less hope looms around the corner.

thank you for this psychological therapy...

i know...

eventually...

but i still, really need it back

i have so many things that i don't have an extra copy...

i need a way to grass the driver out

[Lancashirelad]

There is some small chance, that a good professional private eye co. would be able to digitally enhance the cctv vid clip enough to get the reg. number. Assuming AOT would co-operate. (bearing in mind you were intentionally cutting them out of their 50bht taxi fee!)

Assume you reported it to the local Police station to get a police report number for your travel or house insurance claim?

I know that doesn't replace the lost content, but it would help replace the clothes & computer.

[Livinginexile]

You have my full sympathy!I am absentminded like hel_l,once I left my laptop in bus - After chasing the bus route for halh an hour - I found it on my seat;

yesterday - I left it in street restaurant having breakfast,waiter chased me 200 mtrs. down the street to hand it back.

You have a chance to get it back:post ads in Thai newspapers,community FM stations,what else?You can hire private eye(they can be very usefull).Promise very high reward,

may be somebody grass the taxidriver.

i want the private eye i want them....

where can i hire a private detective????

god....

i want it back i want it back....

Geez there must be very important files on that computer!

7 years of data and you never backed up?!

Losing a notebook usually is nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Are you worried some files might make their way to the internet

Edited April 24, 2010 by Livinginexile

[Insight]

Small chance but did work for me - report the serial number of the laptop with Acer Thailand if you have it handy. If anybody sends the laptop in for maintenance Acer will (or should) call you to let you know they've found it.

I had a HTC phone stolen two years ago, but the phone was registered with HTC when I first bought it. Six months later my missus got a phone call from HTC saying somebody had handed it in to get it serviced. The guy who handed it in purchased it from somebody online and was looking to get it refurbished. The phone memory was still intact also!

Long shot, but still worth a try.

[wintermute]

You have my full sympathy!I am absentminded like hel_l,once I left my laptop in bus - After chasing the bus route for halh an hour - I found it on my seat;

yesterday - I left it in street restaurant having breakfast,waiter chased me 200 mtrs. down the street to hand it back.

You have a chance to get it back:post ads in Thai newspapers,community FM stations,what else?You can hire private eye(they can be very usefull).Promise very high reward,

may be somebody grass the taxidriver.

i want the private eye i want them....

where can i hire a private detective????

god....

i want it back i want it back....

Geez there must be very important files on that computer!

7 years of data and you never backed up?!

Losing a notebook usually is nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Are you worried some files might make their way to the internet

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Maybe someone has a "colorful" history they don't want revealed. Then again if she's unattractive I don't see any of the contents ever making their way to the internet.

[hawthorne]

For Sale: Slightly Used Acer Aspire

Some good (Priceless ) photos like you see on fwd emails

only taking serious offers only

Call me 555 3434

[angelparadise]

You have my full sympathy!I am absentminded like hel_l,once I left my laptop in bus - After chasing the bus route for halh an hour - I found it on my seat;

yesterday - I left it in street restaurant having breakfast,waiter chased me 200 mtrs. down the street to hand it back.

You have a chance to get it back:post ads in Thai newspapers,community FM stations,what else?You can hire private eye(they can be very usefull).Promise very high reward,

may be somebody grass the taxidriver.

i want the private eye i want them....

where can i hire a private detective????

god....

i want it back i want it back....

Geez there must be very important files on that computer!

7 years of data and you never backed up?!

Losing a notebook usually is nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Are you worried some files might make their way to the internet

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Maybe someone has a "colorful" history they don't want revealed. Then again if she's unattractive I don't see any of the contents ever making their way to the internet.

Thanks for making me laugh at midnight,

well,

you know what

i sincerely wish i have the scandalous pics for them to blackmail me

at least they will contact me

i do have a lot of hot pictures there, that's why i wanted it back

but nothing scandalous enough to be on internet i assume...

[angelparadise]

Small chance but did work for me - report the serial number of the laptop with Acer Thailand if you have it handy. If anybody sends the laptop in for maintenance Acer will (or should) call you to let you know they've found it.

I had a HTC phone stolen two years ago, but the phone was registered with HTC when I first bought it. Six months later my missus got a phone call from HTC saying somebody had handed it in to get it serviced. The guy who handed it in purchased it from somebody online and was looking to get it refurbished. The phone memory was still intact also!

Long shot, but still worth a try.

wow....this is good, i m going to call Acer center tomorrow.

I thought about there must be a way to track the lost computer through serial number....

[angelparadise]

There is some small chance, that a good professional private eye co. would be able to digitally enhance the cctv vid clip enough to get the reg. number. Assuming AOT would co-operate. (bearing in mind you were intentionally cutting them out of their 50bht taxi fee!)

Assume you reported it to the local Police station to get a police report number for your travel or house insurance claim?

I know that doesn't replace the lost content, but it would help replace the clothes & computer.

i checked the video myself...with some friends...

it's really far and dark

since it's at night

we felt frustrated then we didn't ask AOT to keep the record

I am afraid it erased the files already...

i want the professional detective to grass out the driver and the car for me though

i m sure within that limited cars

i can find out the car i sit in

but i need someone to screen them out and contact the taxi companies

[angelparadise]

does anyone think,

pay the policeman will work?

i m just thinking with their capacity

can they actually think of something better to help me?

or are they able to screen the taxi out for me?

[Patsycat]

Have you ever considered that it is not the driver who has the bag? Perhaps the next fare he picked up took it.

[angelparadise]

Have you ever considered that it is not the driver who has the bag? Perhaps the next fare he picked up took it.

it's not very possible,

cos the entire carry on was on the front seat...

no passenger can sit on the front seat nor can anyone took it without the driver's notice

[samuibeachcomber]

Persistence is the key and you seem to have plenty so good luck.Must be some serious shit on your PC,according to the daily mail in london, civil servants,MP'S etc keep leaving laptops and govt. papers on trains and in taxis as well.So you are not alone.