Recently a group of friends and I were having one of the most amazing birding trips in south Florida. We were hitting all the birds- Roseate Terns, Antillean Nighthawks, more Cape May Warblers than we could count, Snail Kites, Limpkins. An unbelieveable time. It was Friday night before we headed home on Saturday and we pulled into a restaurant in Florida City,FL in what I have learned is the outskirts of Miami. That also means it comes with all the same problems as Miami. We had 2 rental vans- one with Florida plates and one with Tennessee plates. The restaurant was near the entrance to Hwy 1. A fact that escaped me until later. The parking lot was fairly full and marked with signs that had pictures of cameras that read 'under surveillance'.
Sometime between dinner and Key Lime pie dessert the Florida plates van and its occupants headed back to the hotel, expecting us to soon follow. About 20 minutes later we headed out to the van looking forward to a rare early evening back at the hotel. I'll forego all the details, but let's just say having your van robbed while at dinner takes a while to sink in for some of us mid-westerners. Being naive doesn't change the facts- that's exactly what happened. Most of our stuff was gone. They missed a few pairs of binoculars and left any tripods not connected to a scope, but scopes, cameras, binoculars and all personal backpacks, complete with bug spray, field guides and lip balm were gone. On the drivers seat they left a white detail rag as a calling card.
We called the police, but it's basically Miami and theft of items from a car on a Friday night doesn't rank very high on their list of things they need to take care of. The restaurant owner or manager came out and said while they didn't really have cameras he did have a security guy, since the parking lot had been hit 10 times in 30 days, and the security guy thought he saw a grey either Impala or Malibu, that was missing a hubcap, speed away from the scene. Eventually the police showed up. A very young, and I mean very young, looking narcotics officer, that had never handled a robbery before, came to the scene. He took everyone's info and lists and that was the end of our time in the parking lot near Hwy 1 in Florida City.
As a note here, I think the fact that our van had Tennessee plates was significant. Maybe it isn't, but next time I'm renting a vehicle in a large city I'm going to be very leery about accepting a rental with out of town plates.
The next day was actually pretty wonderful in the wake of what was a fairly bad night. There were enough binoculars and scopes for everyone to share. I cannot imagine a more giving, concerned and nurturing group of people. We had looks at Swallow-tailed Kites picking insects off leaves 20 feet outside the van. When one of our party said, 'that's something I never thought I'd see'. He was speaking the words going through everyone's mind.
Once everyone headed home, the insurance claims began. There was some sorting out with the police report, as the narcotics officer was less than thorough. We did eventually get a detective assigned to getting the report correct for us, as the impression was she was committed to that more so than ever really solving the crime.
This is where I think those of us that have expensive optics- be it camera equipment, birding gear or both, may want to consider what we are doing and what options are out there.
Basically the insurance claims came in one of these three forms:
1) Those that had riders on their policies that covered their optics. Two of us had this.
One was my policy with State Farm. I'm not promoting them, I just know someone is going to ask, so that is who had my policy. Any item covered had to be on the list. If it wasn't on the list, it wasn't insured. I was lucky because almost all of my items, with the exception of some memory cards were on my policy. There was no deductible. I had to get quotes on replacement price and the policy paid the lesser of the insured value or the replacement cost. This plan also covers me if I drop my lens and break it. I had my check within a week of returning from Florida.
My friend had more general, exclusive plan that covered her items, including tax, with a small deductible. She did not have to have the items individually listed but did have to provide them with receipts and replacement costs. It covered all lost items, not just the optics
Neither of these plans is a claim on your homeowners insurance.
2) Those that turned in their losses on their homeowners policies. These were subject to larger deductibles but covered everything lost that you could remember- including bug spray. For one friend. the insurance company said they would cover the difference in value and replacement cost when the items were replaced, so in essence they would get replacement cost in the end. It does count as a claim against your homeowners policy.
3) Those that did not lose enough to reach the deductible on their homeowners insurance and were just out what was taken. But hang on, in this particular story that is not the end for them.
Here comes the interesting twist. My friend, who also lost her camera, registered the serial number on Stolencamerfinder.com. On May 8 she got a hit on her camera in Ebay. When she looked at the info, her camera and 3 of her lenses were listed on Ebay from a seller in Ohio, all with the serial number clearly visible. Shortly after being posted her camera and all the lenses came down. Later that night all three of her lenses were re-posted and this time, my lens showed up too, by the same Ebay seller. Again with all the serial numbers clearly visible.
We contacted the police and after some jurisdiction shuffling, eventually the police in Ohio made contact with the Ebay seller. He apparently purchased the items from a couple of people in Florida in several different lots. Not only did the the police recover 4 lenses and 2 cameras but 3 of the 4 stolen binoculars and at least some, if not all of the scopes and one of the stolen cans of bug spray. Yes, the bug spray recovery was a relief. We are still waiting to hear back from the police as to what all exactly was recovered and how we will get the items returned. Additionally, for those of us that have received insurance payments, we have some options to consider- so more to come.
The police are not planning on charging the gentlemen in Ohio as they feel he was just caught up in a bad transaction. He's out $16,000 and trying to recover that from the sellers in Florida, who appear to be a graphic t-shirt company. He's let us know he may need our help in trying to recover his losses. I'm not making that up.
Sadly I think our memory cards are lost forever.
