Thieving B*stards
Discussion
I need to rant....
Been looking forward to a 2 week break in Nerja, Spain for ages. Arrived yesterday at Malaga and after finally getting the hire car went to load it up with our luggage and get myself, the wife and our 2 little ones to the villa. While loading the car up, we turned our back on the luggage for literally a couple of seconds, when I looked back at it, some
had stopped his car, his mate got out, and grabbed some bags. I noticed when he picked the bags up, so shouted at him to stop, and legged it after them. So the thief jumped in the car and they sped off. At this point I was running alongside the s and managed to punch the driver in the face through the open window, but then they got away. This was all in an underground car rental car park in Malaga airport to which there are no barriers to get in/out so they've got a clean getaway route.
So all in all, they got a rucksack which contained: All 4 passports, my wallet, wife's purse, both driving licenses, iPad, iPod, TomTom satnav, digital camera, both of our mobiles, our villa keys and directions, sunglasses etc. And they also took the baby change bag so we had no bottles to feed him with, no nappies, nothing. To say I was fking livid is an understatement.
To restore my faith in humanity an english passer-by who witnessed the whole thing came over and took us to the police station, in which we spent the whole afternoon making statements and reviewing CCTV footage. As we had no money or anything, he lent us some Euros and gave us the use of his mobile to call all the credit card companies, etc. The car was seen on CCTV so the police now have the car reg, but it was probably nicked anyway.
So day 1 of the holiday here we were left in Spain, with no ID, no money, no idea where we were going, a 5 year old and an 8 month old with no food or change facilities, and absolutely no idea what we were going to do. fking s.
So after many frantic phonecalls back to UK we finally managed to get ourselves to the villa which luckily has this laptop / wifi so we can at least check out our banks etc. and now we have to go to the fking consulate to see if we can get passports to get home. I can't fking believe this start to the holiday and it's ruined it for us. My 5 year old daughter who saw everything was physically shaking and is now very subdued and paraniod that they're gonna come back and I think that's actually the worst part for me. Material stuff we can replace, but the affect it has had on her makes me want to murder the bds.
Sorry but needed to vent.....the fking s.
Been looking forward to a 2 week break in Nerja, Spain for ages. Arrived yesterday at Malaga and after finally getting the hire car went to load it up with our luggage and get myself, the wife and our 2 little ones to the villa. While loading the car up, we turned our back on the luggage for literally a couple of seconds, when I looked back at it, some
had stopped his car, his mate got out, and grabbed some bags. I noticed when he picked the bags up, so shouted at him to stop, and legged it after them. So the thief jumped in the car and they sped off. At this point I was running alongside the s and managed to punch the driver in the face through the open window, but then they got away. This was all in an underground car rental car park in Malaga airport to which there are no barriers to get in/out so they've got a clean getaway route. So all in all, they got a rucksack which contained: All 4 passports, my wallet, wife's purse, both driving licenses, iPad, iPod, TomTom satnav, digital camera, both of our mobiles, our villa keys and directions, sunglasses etc. And they also took the baby change bag so we had no bottles to feed him with, no nappies, nothing. To say I was f
king livid is an understatement. To restore my faith in humanity an english passer-by who witnessed the whole thing came over and took us to the police station, in which we spent the whole afternoon making statements and reviewing CCTV footage. As we had no money or anything, he lent us some Euros and gave us the use of his mobile to call all the credit card companies, etc. The car was seen on CCTV so the police now have the car reg, but it was probably nicked anyway.
So day 1 of the holiday here we were left in Spain, with no ID, no money, no idea where we were going, a 5 year old and an 8 month old with no food or change facilities, and absolutely no idea what we were going to do. f
king s.So after many frantic phonecalls back to UK we finally managed to get ourselves to the villa which luckily has this laptop / wifi so we can at least check out our banks etc. and now we have to go to the f
king consulate to see if we can get passports to get home. I can't fking believe this start to the holiday and it's ruined it for us. My 5 year old daughter who saw everything was physically shaking and is now very subdued and paraniod that they're gonna come back and I think that's actually the worst part for me. Material stuff we can replace, but the affect it has had on her makes me want to murder the bds. Sorry but needed to vent.....the f
king s.Thanks for the messages of support everyone, and don't worry about chipping in any money, much as that sounds like a lovely thing to do and I'm amazed sometimes by the level of support people get on this forum, but I've got the money side of it sorted now. We know the owners of the villa and they've wired some money across to the property management company so we're ok on that score.
Just spent the afternoon in Malaga (lovely...not) and spoke to the British Consulate who have given us all the relevant forms etc and we go back in next Wednesday to get passports to get us home...
Am trying now to just put it behind us, hard as it is, but trying to get my daughter to forget about it is the hardest part and the thing that gets to me most. She shouldn't have had to witness that.
As for some of the other points raised on here:
1) A valuable lesson has been learnt by me here, not to keep all valuables in one place. But as many say, until you've experienced something like this, it's something you tend to do. I certainly won't in future.
2) Locks were changed at the villa last night.
3) Locks will be changed at home as soon as we can get someone to do it.
4) No I didn't activate the tracking thing on the iPad - wish I had.
4) @Justayellowbadge, my PH username is Joyrider1 because....ahem....my wife's name is Joy :-)
Just spent the afternoon in Malaga (lovely...not) and spoke to the British Consulate who have given us all the relevant forms etc and we go back in next Wednesday to get passports to get us home...
Am trying now to just put it behind us, hard as it is, but trying to get my daughter to forget about it is the hardest part and the thing that gets to me most. She shouldn't have had to witness that.
As for some of the other points raised on here:
1) A valuable lesson has been learnt by me here, not to keep all valuables in one place. But as many say, until you've experienced something like this, it's something you tend to do. I certainly won't in future.
2) Locks were changed at the villa last night.
3) Locks will be changed at home as soon as we can get someone to do it.
4) No I didn't activate the tracking thing on the iPad - wish I had.
4) @Justayellowbadge, my PH username is Joyrider1 because....ahem....my wife's name is Joy :-)
According to the police yesterday, it happens about 3 times a day in the car rental car park in Malaga. Why they don't just put barriers up I've no idea - that would at least put a stop to the grab and run...
Was good seeing it on the CCTV, especially the bit where I punched him - hey, at least it didn't happen in the UK, I'd have probably been done for assault.
Was good seeing it on the CCTV, especially the bit where I punched him - hey, at least it didn't happen in the UK, I'd have probably been done for assault.
Could've been worse I suppose - when we were in the British Consulate, a couple came in that had been on their way to the hotel with their 84 year old mother, stopped at a Lidl to get a bottle of water, came out and some s had got into their car and took absolutely everything, ie. ALL their luggage, including a load of pills etc for the old mother who'd had a heart attack a while back. Understandably they were completely distraught. So there's another lesson, never park anywhere when you have all your luggage in your car.
Right, gonna get off PH now, but thing is all my books were loaded onto the iPad so got nothing to read now...FFS.
s had got into their car and took absolutely everything, ie. ALL their luggage, including a load of pills etc for the old mother who'd had a heart attack a while back. Understandably they were completely distraught. So there's another lesson, never park anywhere when you have all your luggage in your car. Right, gonna get off PH now, but thing is all my books were loaded onto the iPad so got nothing to read now...FFS.
whatnow said:
Absolute fking scum.
I really feel for you mate, and hope that you can salvage whats left of your holiday.
Not that this will make you feel much better right now, but I own a 5 bed Villa in Orlando...it's yours next year free of charge if you want it for a week or two. Something to hopefully help put the smile on your little ones' faces.
I'm sure PH can help towards the cost of 4 flights too....I don't think I've heard of such a worthwhile cause in a while.
If you're interested, DM me and I'll send you the link to our Website so you can have a gander.
Try and enjoy the rest of your hols....
all the best
Whatnow
What can I say? I am truly humbled by that....amazing. Your generosity (and that of others on here that have offered help) has really left me completely gobsmacked that people I don't even know are willing to help someone out that has had a bit of a crap time - While it has been a sking scum.I really feel for you mate, and hope that you can salvage whats left of your holiday.
Not that this will make you feel much better right now, but I own a 5 bed Villa in Orlando...it's yours next year free of charge if you want it for a week or two. Something to hopefully help put the smile on your little ones' faces.
I'm sure PH can help towards the cost of 4 flights too....I don't think I've heard of such a worthwhile cause in a while.
If you're interested, DM me and I'll send you the link to our Website so you can have a gander.
Try and enjoy the rest of your hols....
all the best
Whatnow
t few days (and an expensive few days), I really couldn't take any of you up on your kind offers. There are many more people that are much worse off than I and it would be wrong for me to accept, after all this is just money (albeit with a bit of time to re-boost the confidence of my daughter). Please don't see this as me rejecting your offers, just your messages have been more than I expected from a rant. (How did I score out of 10 on that rant anyway? No-one scored it.)WhatNow, I might actually message you anyway as I quite fancy Orlando next year (but I'll pay for it!)
icetea said:
Are you going to be able to get new passports before you're due to leave the villa? If not you can use one of my properties if you like... they're all in Portugal (Vilamoura) but only 2-3 hours from Malaga by car.
Yeah, we should be okay - apparently they will issue us with emergency passports on the day we go in to get them, and they will be valid until we get home (at 124 euros each!! FFS it seems the British Consulate are getting in on the robbing act too)...But hey, thankyou so much for the offer! My earlier sentiments remain, I really can't believe the response my rant has had from everyone on PH, you have all reminded me that there are nice people in the world after all...
At last we've been able to have a more chilled out day, just me, the wife and the kids, trying to put all of this st behind us. Thankyou everyone for your messages of support, my wife has been reading this thread with me and it's made us both feel so much better (even if I did have some explaining to do with regards to my username :-) LOL)
t behind us. Thankyou everyone for your messages of support, my wife has been reading this thread with me and it's made us both feel so much better (even if I did have some explaining to do with regards to my username :-) LOL)We're just waiting for a friend of ours to get onto our PC at home to retrieve our flight details after which we'll call BMI to ask them if there's any way of doing the same - If it can save us 500 Euros then that's got to be worth a shot - We spoke to someone in Malaga airport who said that around 3 months ago that would've been possible just to fly based on the police report, but she seemed to think they'd got tighter on this recently. Will try anyway, thanks for the advice.
Well, quite frankly I am fking disgusted.
Having waited since early August for settlement on our travel insurance claim to try and recoup some of the loss we suffered, I got a cheque in the post this morning from the travel insurance company for £126. !! 126 fking quid!!
They've come to some decision that we'd left our bags unattended (my wife was stood with them FFS), so have said they won't pay out. However, they have paid out for one of the actual bags, our sunglasses, and my wife's normal glasses (with 90% depreciation!), which were all inside said bag. So how can they say that one hand we're not covered, yet then still pay us for the actual bag and a couple of the cheaper items inside?s. Surely they should either pay out or not!? What about my wallet/wife's purse/ipod/ipad/camera/tomtom etc?! Have scoured the T&Cs and can't find any other relevant get out clauses. As for the 496 Euros spent getting emergency passports, they won't pay out on those either. Not to mention the £72.50 each to replace them when we got home.
We were 100% honest in our claim and got fk all - Maybe I should have lied and said we were sitting on top of the bags when they get stolen.
So all in all, what a fking st end to a fking st holiday.
king disgusted. Having waited since early August for settlement on our travel insurance claim to try and recoup some of the loss we suffered, I got a cheque in the post this morning from the travel insurance company for £126. !! 126 f
king quid!!They've come to some decision that we'd left our bags unattended (my wife was stood with them FFS), so have said they won't pay out. However, they have paid out for one of the actual bags, our sunglasses, and my wife's normal glasses (with 90% depreciation!), which were all inside said bag. So how can they say that one hand we're not covered, yet then still pay us for the actual bag and a couple of the cheaper items inside?
s. Surely they should either pay out or not!? What about my wallet/wife's purse/ipod/ipad/camera/tomtom etc?! Have scoured the T&Cs and can't find any other relevant get out clauses. As for the 496 Euros spent getting emergency passports, they won't pay out on those either. Not to mention the £72.50 each to replace them when we got home. We were 100% honest in our claim and got f
k all - Maybe I should have lied and said we were sitting on top of the bags when they get stolen. So all in all, what a f
king st end to a fking st holiday. Edited by Joyrider1 on Saturday 6th October 15:13
Lunablack said:
Spain is the absolute pits.... And I can say hand on heart, me and none of my family will ever go back again...
Me neither. In fact I've been put off travelling anywhere to be perfectly honest (having also once been mugged in Marseille by a little prick pretending he wanted a cigarette ). What's worse is my daughter still brings up the subject and absolutely sts herself whenever we have to go in underground car parks. The s that did this should come to a painful fking demise. Evilmunkey that is awesome. I know there are some s in the world that make it all seem bad, but on the whole most people are good and don't stand for it. Must've felt great knowing he got his come-uppance
Lunablack/LeftMuffin, cheers, I won't be letting this one go - I'm fking furious that someone can just make a decision on what happened and if they don't change their mind will take it thought the relevant authorities,
s in the world that make it all seem bad, but on the whole most people are good and don't stand for it. Must've felt great knowing he got his come-uppanceLunablack/LeftMuffin, cheers, I won't be letting this one go - I'm f
king furious that someone can just make a decision on what happened and if they don't change their mind will take it thought the relevant authorities,Edited by Joyrider1 on Saturday 6th October 22:06
Well, I sent a stty email to the insurance company yesterday, copying in all the directors that I could find email addresses for, and got an email back from one of them at midnight last night telling me that they will do a full re-assessment. So fingers crossed eh? At least they answered...
tty email to the insurance company yesterday, copying in all the directors that I could find email addresses for, and got an email back from one of them at midnight last night telling me that they will do a full re-assessment. So fingers crossed eh? At least they answered...It was ok, to be honest after what happened and the stories we were hearing we didn't really venture out of the villa much...plus with 2 little ones we had everything we needed there.
If I was to be asked to go there again? Me personally, I wouldn't. Not really my cup of tea anyway, I prefer places that are a bit more picturesque and 'green' like Tuscany. Everywhere around Nerja just seemed barren, under-developed, and typical of a 'resort' kind of place. We only went there for a chill-out holiday and knew it wasnt really our ideal destination, but we know the owners of the villa so it was an easy option....if only we knew eh?
If I was to be asked to go there again? Me personally, I wouldn't. Not really my cup of tea anyway, I prefer places that are a bit more picturesque and 'green' like Tuscany. Everywhere around Nerja just seemed barren, under-developed, and typical of a 'resort' kind of place. We only went there for a chill-out holiday and knew it wasnt really our ideal destination, but we know the owners of the villa so it was an easy option....if only we knew eh?
We managed to get a bit more but took a long time and lots of phone calls/arguing over policy terms - all in all I think we got about £1k back from a £2.5k claim. We had 'gadget' cover but because I just said on the form that everything belonged to 'us' they said we were only covered for up to £300. They freely admitted that had I said the iPad was mine, the sat-nav belonged to my 8 month old, phones belonged to my 5 year old they'd have paid up to £300 per person!!!! Couldn't believe it, kind of encourages people to lie on their insurance form doesn't it....wish I knew that before
jeff666 said:
JohnStitch said:
Don't worry, this was 4 years ago 
I see you changed the username ? missus not happy eh ?Edited by JohnStitch on Tuesday 26th July 22:10
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