The unluckiest photographer in the country?

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StewartR

StewartR

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In the summer one of our customers didn't get a lens he'd ordered. We dispatched it OK, but when the case was delivered to him, he contacted us immediately with a report that the case was empty. Still padlocked and secured with a cable tie, but empty. The couriers logs show that it was weighed correctly as it was loaded onto the lorry, so it must have "gone missing" en route somehow.

He's very unlucky because that's the ONLY time that's happened to us, out of over 10,000 lenses dispatched. We've had a couple of other incidents where the couriers have lost things, but this was the ONLY one where the lens went missing but the case was delivered.

Pretty unlucky, as I said. But wait! There's more.

A reliable source told me recently that this very same customer hired a lens from another hire company earlier this year, and he didn't get that one either. The case or box was delivered to him, but when he opened it he found two cans of coke rather than a lens.

How amazingly unlucky is that? Talk about lightning striking twice...

The customer in question is a TP member, so if we're lucky he'll say hello here and we can commiserate with him.
 
Interesting....


That reminds me, when I hired from you last year, the case was completely empty apart from some foam rubber, some documentation and a Canon 100-400L.

Shoddy company if ever I used one!
 
41C5S.jpg


this is gonna be good, thought I'd bring enough for everyone to share :D
 
thread bookmarked :D

the advertiser has a right to put this about just as much as we bitch about companies here liek Jessops, for example.
 
Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking ... :agree:

:thinking: I'd hazard a guess the second lens they hired that went missing wasn't the same type as the first one. :schtum:

Or maybe they are just very very very unlucky!!
 
the advertiser has a right to put this about just as much as we bitch about companies here liek Jessops, for example.
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far more so... at worst, jessops is incompetence and ignorance... this is plain theft. Stewart, hope Mr. Unlucky will be getting a knock on the door from Mr. Plod...
 
oh blimey.. what a shame... i hope i'm unlucky enough not to receive that 300mm 2.8 that i want
 
I'd be happy if you pm'd the user name to Marcel. May be an innocent party but at least any dealings on tp can be scrutinized to make sure they aren't up to no good here.
 
woodbutcher said:
I'd be happy if you pm'd the user name to Marcel. May be an innocent party but at least any dealings on tp can be scrutinized to make sure they aren't up to no good here.
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Why would you be happy?
 
Marcel said:
Have you reported it to the police?
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Not myself.

The couriers conducted an internal investigation but I'm not privy to the details. I know their security team do bring in the police when they feel it's justified.

My insurers didn't require me to report it to the police. Maybe they communicated with the couriers. I wouldn't know.
 
Hmmm...actually I have to sympathise with Stewart on this one and I agree: a PM to Matty & Marcel identifying the person in question would make me happier as well...

No names, no pack drill, but if 'that person' ever appears to be selling/buying in the classifieds, an additional PM-alert to interested parties could be forthcoming...?
 
I wonder did he drink the cans of coke as well the greedy so and so. Just shows how stupid some people are. To try it once is a joke, but you have the chance of getting away with it. To try it twice shows they somehow missed out on evolution. People need to realise similar companies may share stories about strange orders/customers and you will be caught out.

Anyway, i have two lens for sale, perfect condition. pm if you are interested.....
 
Tagging high value equipment with rfid tags would be one way of tracing it potentially. I think someone that has had something go missing is more likely to suffer a second time as it usually means there is a localised problem ie one thieving toe rag. Some people have lots of problems with post going missing and certain sorting offices seem to have much higher rates of 'missing' than others.
 
Arkady said:
'that person' ever appears to be selling/buying in the classifieds, an additional PM-alert to interested parties could be forthcoming...?
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Well thanks for alerting him, sherlock. :D
 
srichards said:
Tagging high value equipment with rfid tags would be one way of tracing it potentially. I think someone that has had something go missing is more likely to suffer a second time as it usually means there is a localised problem ie one thieving toe rag. Some people have lots of problems with post going missing and certain sorting offices seem to have much higher rates of 'missing' than others.
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Doesn't sound much like a sorting office issue though, does it.
 
srichards said:
Tagging high value equipment with rfid tags would be one way of tracing it potentially.
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We've thought of that. But RFID is only usable at short range: a few metres at most. It's generally more useful for identifying objects than for locating them.
 
Well done for handling it maturely Stewart, I admire the calm and sensible manner in which you run your business. I think you must have a pretty good relationship with your insurer too by the looks of it :thumbs:
 
We've thought of that. But RFID is only usable at short range: a few metres at most. It's generally more useful for identifying objects than for locating them.
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The massive daily fail hoohah a few years ago about RFID bred a vast amount of misconceptions in most people - namely that a microscopic rfid chip can be used to instantly track any bottle of shampoo to its precise location on earth...
 
Now that is unlucky and for it to happen twice too ......

I guess there are dodgy people in all walks of life but you'd think there was a bit more trust between users of the same forum. I for one would like to know if I was about to walk unknowingly into a transaction with said individual.

Sorry to hear of the inconvienience to you and any subsequent people who booked whatever lens it was, I know it was insured but that's not the point is it.
 
just to play devils advocate. there is even less chance that someone would get hit by lightning twice .... BUT .....

it did happen to a guy in pennslyvania

... just saying, imagine if it really did happen and you were ousted for doing something that you hadn't done. Innocent till proven guilty and all that jazz
 
joescrivens said:
just to play devils advocate. there is even less chance that someone would get hit by lightning twice .... BUT .....

it did happen to a guy in pennslyvania

... just saying, imagine if it really did happen and you were ousted for doing something that you hadn't done. Innocent till proven guilty and all that jazz
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Yes... however, Occam's razor would disagree...
 
Mr G said:
Guilty m'laud ...hang em :gag:
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Absolutely. But whom?

The customer says the case was empty when he received it.

The couriers say there's no way someone in the depot could fine the time, space, and privacy (they have extensive CCTV) to cut the padlock off, cut the security tie off, remove the bag from the case, remove the lens from the bag, replace the bag, close the case, secure it with a fresh tie, and remove the lens to a place of safe keeping.

The delivery driver says he didn't tamper with it, and the trainee who was accompanying him all day says he didn't tamper with it.

Clearly someone is lying. But it's impossible to say who. We could hang them all, I guess, but that might be just a teensy bit excessive.
 
StewartR said:
Absolutely. But whom?

The customer says the case was empty when he received it.

The couriers say there's no way someone in the depot could fine the time, space, and privacy (they have extensive CCTV) to cut the padlock off, cut the security tie off, remove the bag from the case, remove the lens from the bag, replace the bag, close the case, secure it with a fresh tie, and remove the lens to a place of safe keeping.

The delivery driver says he didn't tamper with it, and the trainee who was accompanying him all day says he didn't tamper with it.

Clearly someone is lying. But it's impossible to say who. We could hang them all, I guess, but that might be just a teensy bit excessive.
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My Dad used to work part-time for Parcel-Farce... he said it's almost unheard-of for drivers to deliberately rob stuff from packages. They do occasionally mis-deliver and have things go missing that way, but as you say, the package ended up in the right place.
Delivery drivers know better - it's just not worth risking the loss of a job and gaining a criminal record over something like this - though it has occasionally happened in the past... even if it was a £10k lens, £10k isn't really worth the risk...

On the other hand, how many customers claim stuff gets 'lost' in the post...?
 
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