'Tracker' - (UK- quite long)

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this, or perhaps I'm
barking up the wrong tree?

A couple of weeks ago I was car-jacked and my beloved M3 is now gone.

A couple of 'coincidences' occurred before this happened, and I was curious
as to whether I'm paranoid or not.

About 6 weeks ago I had a soft-top failure. Rather than take the car back to
the original dealership (75 miles away), I was reluctantly persuaded by them
to take it to my local dealer in Stanmore, Middx (Scotthall), as it was
thought to be very minor.

It seemed that the fault was deep within the electrical system and they took
about 4 days to fix it.

After 2 days, the tracker company phoned me twice to tell me that there had
been an activation. I told them it was OK as it was in the workshop. It was
nice to know that it worked though.

The dealer also phoned me on the 3rd morning to tell me that they had 'lost
my key'.
I gave them the spare, and they organised a replacement key which was given
to me when the car was eventually returned.

The new key was not re-programmed to lock my doors once I pulled away.

2 weeks later I was car-jacked. The thief's were extremely professional, and
seemed to be aware that my door would be unlocked. They had no weapons to
threaten me with, but just pulled the doors open and bundled me out. (It was
obvious that this wasn't their 1st time).

They immediately drove off in my car and also the car they had been using (a
Golf gti, also stolen that day).

I immediately called tracker and the police. The police helicopter was up
within 7 or 8 minutes and was doing a tracker scan for my car (20 mile
radius from the air). All local police units had been informed and were
standing by on all major routes with tracker equipment (5 mile ground
radius).

The car was not detected by any unit. 2 weeks later, there is still no sign.

I asked tracker last week why there was no result, and they said that with
the police response at the time, they were very surprised it was not
recovered, They felt that the unit was probably faulty.

Whilst accepting that the car is probably not in the UK any longer, I cannot
help but wonder if an individual at the dealership set me up by disabling
the security locks, and then disabling the tracker system whilst the car was
being worked upon.

I'd love to know if anyone has heard of a similar incident, and if anyone
has any wisdom to share with me on this.

BTW thanks to all of you that responded to my previous post, and to let you
know that I took your unanimous advice and ordered a 911S Cabriolet for
October build. (IOW, I get to enjoy the wife's Ford Focus for another 3-4
months.......sob)


TIA

Harry

"Harry" > wrote

> Whilst accepting that the car is probably not in the UK any longer, I
> cannot help but wonder if an individual at the dealership set me up by
> disabling the security locks, and then disabling the tracker system whilst
> the car was being worked upon.

I'd be suspicious - have you mentioned this to the police and dealership?

Floyd

fbloogyudsr wrote:
> "Harry" > wrote
>
>> Whilst accepting that the car is probably not in the UK any longer, I
>> cannot help but wonder if an individual at the dealership set me up by
>> disabling the security locks, and then disabling the tracker system
>> whilst the car was being worked upon.
>
>
> I'd be suspicious - have you mentioned this to the police and dealership?
>
> Floyd

I'd certainly speak to the police about this but definitely NOT the
dealership. How do you know who is involved at the dealership (if
anyone) and who it is safe to discuss this with?

My understanding of Tracker (and I accept I may be wrong) was that it
"checked in" every day just to let the system know it was working. Is
this not the case? If my thinking is correct then it can't have been
de-activated whilst at the dealers or it would have missed it's next
programmed call hopefully eliciting some response from the control room.


--
Regards

Steve G

"Harry" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this, or perhaps I'm
> barking up the wrong tree?
>
> A couple of weeks ago I was car-jacked and my beloved M3 is now gone.
>
> A couple of 'coincidences' occurred before this happened, and I was
curious
> as to whether I'm paranoid or not.
>
> About 6 weeks ago I had a soft-top failure. Rather than take the car back
to
> the original dealership (75 miles away), I was reluctantly persuaded by
them
> to take it to my local dealer in Stanmore, Middx (Scotthall), as it was
> thought to be very minor.
>
> It seemed that the fault was deep within the electrical system and they
took
> about 4 days to fix it.
>
> After 2 days, the tracker company phoned me twice to tell me that there
had
> been an activation. I told them it was OK as it was in the workshop. It
was
> nice to know that it worked though.
>
> The dealer also phoned me on the 3rd morning to tell me that they had
'lost
> my key'.
> I gave them the spare, and they organised a replacement key which was
given
> to me when the car was eventually returned.
>
> The new key was not re-programmed to lock my doors once I pulled away.
>
> 2 weeks later I was car-jacked. The thief's were extremely professional,
and
> seemed to be aware that my door would be unlocked. They had no weapons to
> threaten me with, but just pulled the doors open and bundled me out. (It
was
> obvious that this wasn't their 1st time).
>
> They immediately drove off in my car and also the car they had been using
(a
> Golf gti, also stolen that day).
>
> I immediately called tracker and the police. The police helicopter was up
> within 7 or 8 minutes and was doing a tracker scan for my car (20 mile
> radius from the air). All local police units had been informed and were
> standing by on all major routes with tracker equipment (5 mile ground
> radius).
>
> The car was not detected by any unit. 2 weeks later, there is still no
sign.
>
> I asked tracker last week why there was no result, and they said that with
> the police response at the time, they were very surprised it was not
> recovered, They felt that the unit was probably faulty.
>
> Whilst accepting that the car is probably not in the UK any longer, I
cannot
> help but wonder if an individual at the dealership set me up by disabling
> the security locks, and then disabling the tracker system whilst the car
was
> being worked upon.
>
> I'd love to know if anyone has heard of a similar incident, and if anyone
> has any wisdom to share with me on this.
>
> BTW thanks to all of you that responded to my previous post, and to let
you
> know that I took your unanimous advice and ordered a 911S Cabriolet for
> October build. (IOW, I get to enjoy the wife's Ford Focus for another 3-4
> months.......sob)
>
>
> TIA
>
> Harry
>
>

First off, sorry to hear about your experience. At least yout weren't
injured or worse. After all it's only metal however much we might love our
cars!

Personally I'd recount your story to the police who are/were investigating.
It does sound a little too much of a coincidence but its very easy to read
too much into a situation. Certainly worth telling them though.

"SteveG <"s.goodfellow"@blueyonder" <"dot> wrote in message
. uk...
> fbloogyudsr wrote:
>> "Harry" > wrote
>>
>>> Whilst accepting that the car is probably not in the UK any longer, I
>>> cannot help but wonder if an individual at the dealership set me up by
>>> disabling the security locks, and then disabling the tracker system
>>> whilst the car was being worked upon.
>>
>>
>> I'd be suspicious - have you mentioned this to the police and
>> dealership?
>>
>> Floyd
>
> I'd certainly speak to the police about this but definitely NOT the
> dealership. How do you know who is involved at the dealership (if anyone)
> and who it is safe to discuss this with?

Totally agree. If there is any element of an inside job, then the police
are more likely to be able to deal with it than anyone. If you start
stomping around you will probably just alert the criminals and may get
threatened or set up.

The other key item in this story is literally that - did you get the spare
key(s) back? If not where are they now? If the dealer did not or can not
return them then this would be more grounds for suspicion.

OTOH the police will also doubtless be considering that you are implicated -
so be prepared for some heat!

>
> My understanding of Tracker (and I accept I may be wrong) was that it
> "checked in" every day just to let the system know it was working. Is this
> not the case? If my thinking is correct then it can't have been
> de-activated whilst at the dealers or it would have missed it's next
> programmed call hopefully eliciting some response from the control room.
>
>
> --
> Regards
>
> Steve G

"Harry" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this, or perhaps I'm
> barking up the wrong tree?
>
> A couple of weeks ago I was car-jacked and my beloved M3 is now gone.

Out of curiosity, who pays what in this instance -- where Tracker failed to
track your car? Obviously insurance pays the bulk of it... do your rates go
up? Does tracker pay your deductible? What sort of replacement do you get?
etc.

-Russ.

"Harry" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this, or perhaps I'm
> barking up the wrong tree?
>
> A couple of weeks ago I was car-jacked and my beloved M3 is now gone.
>
> A couple of 'coincidences' occurred before this happened, and I was
curious
> as to whether I'm paranoid or not.
>
> About 6 weeks ago I had a soft-top failure. Rather than take the car back
to
> the original dealership (75 miles away), I was reluctantly persuaded by
them
> to take it to my local dealer in Stanmore, Middx (Scotthall), as it was
> thought to be very minor.
>
> It seemed that the fault was deep within the electrical system and they
took
> about 4 days to fix it.
>
> After 2 days, the tracker company phoned me twice to tell me that there
had
> been an activation. I told them it was OK as it was in the workshop. It
was
> nice to know that it worked though.
>
> The dealer also phoned me on the 3rd morning to tell me that they had
'lost
> my key'.
> I gave them the spare, and they organised a replacement key which was
given
> to me when the car was eventually returned.
>
> The new key was not re-programmed to lock my doors once I pulled away.
>
> 2 weeks later I was car-jacked. The thief's were extremely professional,
and
> seemed to be aware that my door would be unlocked. They had no weapons to
> threaten me with, but just pulled the doors open and bundled me out. (It
was
> obvious that this wasn't their 1st time).
>
> They immediately drove off in my car and also the car they had been using
(a
> Golf gti, also stolen that day).
>
> I immediately called tracker and the police. The police helicopter was up
> within 7 or 8 minutes and was doing a tracker scan for my car (20 mile
> radius from the air). All local police units had been informed and were
> standing by on all major routes with tracker equipment (5 mile ground
> radius).
>
> The car was not detected by any unit. 2 weeks later, there is still no
sign.
>
> I asked tracker last week why there was no result, and they said that with
> the police response at the time, they were very surprised it was not
> recovered, They felt that the unit was probably faulty.
>
> Whilst accepting that the car is probably not in the UK any longer, I
cannot
> help but wonder if an individual at the dealership set me up by disabling
> the security locks, and then disabling the tracker system whilst the car
was
> being worked upon.
>
> I'd love to know if anyone has heard of a similar incident, and if anyone
> has any wisdom to share with me on this.
>
> BTW thanks to all of you that responded to my previous post, and to let
you
> know that I took your unanimous advice and ordered a 911S Cabriolet for
> October build. (IOW, I get to enjoy the wife's Ford Focus for another 3-4
> months.......sob)
>
>
> TIA
>
> Harry
>
>

Just for the record I install tracking systems for a living, mainly for
commercial fleet services rather than security. However tracker should be
able to put a trace on the last time the unit sent a Poll and GPS location
data, obviously if it shows entering the BMW workshop and nothing
thereafter, together with someone in that organisation loosing the key, id
be VERY suspicious and speak with the police.

As already mentioned, I wouldn't speak to the dealer just yet........

Ash