I am not a happy bunny.

[original_aj]

Having just got my bike forks replaced on Friday, & only ridden them properly once, some swine dismantled my bike locked up in the stair and nicked the forks, plus part of the headset & the brakes on them. About 280 quids worth. Between me going out to work at 8:30 and lunchtime. No-one in the stair saw anything, of course. So now I'm waiting for the police to come round. They are apparently doing a "crackdown" on bike theft in this area so they can't take a report over the phone but have to come round in person to tell me that there's no chance they'll actually do anything about it. So I can't claim on the insurance until they've been. Or find out if the insurance will try to claim it's not covered, even though it was locked (frame & both wheels) in a locked stair well. Still is, for that matter! And we've never had any problems in the six years I've lived here and had bikes locked up outside.
Anyone had any experience of the insurance cover you get when you buy things with a credit card? Since I only had them 3 days they should be within the cover period, but I don't know what the terms & conditions on that would be. Just a fallback if the proper insurers weasel out of it...
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Comments

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Really sorry. :( I don't know about the credit card thing, but if you have some kind of protection it would at least take away the financial sting, so I hope so.

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

Thanks. We'll see what the insurance co say tomorrow. It was 11:30 by the time the Police finally turned up, and they took down great detail of what was stolen but say there's practically no chance of getting them back. As I expected. I don't know if I'll be able to get it sorted for the weekend - depends on what the insurers say, and whether I can find another set of forks in stock! Also I'm frantic at work at the moment so time to deal with things during working hours is going to be very limited for the next couple of weeks.
It probably also means I'll have to start keeping the good bike in the flat, which will be a pain.
It was obviously someone who knew exactly what they were doing. It was all done quite neatly, and there doesn't seem to be any damage (just bits missing...)

Oh, man ...

[chillies.livejournal.com]

sorry to hear about those forks ... it's just so f*kt up. I guess it doesn't have to be someone on the stairwell who has bike tools; more likely they only need to be able to recognise shiny new things and have friends with tools. really sorry ...

When Nuala & I were burgled and my (whole) bike was stolen, I was really miffed: they nicked my panniers too, and must have filled them up with the rest of the loot. I told the insurers that the bike was my only means of transport. They were concerned that we get a crime scene number from the police and as soon as that came through they sent a cheque for the cost of the bike, even before the loss adjuster came round. Took the sting out of it a little.

Re: Oh, man ...

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

The bike co-op faxed them a (generously estimated;)) quote so hopefully that'll be approved tomorrow & I'll be able to get the bike sorted. I don't want to commit to spending until they commit to paying!
Fortunately the guy from the company that has the replacement contract with the insurers was quoting more and didn't actually have the parts in stock anyway, since they usually only replace whole bikes. They were looking at the end of the week before they could collect the bike for repair, and didn't know when they'd get it back to me. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on the road (or off it..) by the weekend.