scooby L

One of my lads was working this morning (in our wonderful Capital,) and a group of low life pond scum pull up in their pikey ford transit, and nick my £24k theodoilte from the side of the road with my chap 20m away..

He sets off in pursuit....but looses them in the traffic.

I love this country....

StickyMicky

do you trust your staff?

harry flatters

Fancy leaving a 24K theodolite unattended in the first place, I assume he managed to get the registration number of the pikey charriot as he was only 20 metres away?

scooby L

It's called a one man kit... thus you leave it unattended!

yes I trust my staff... he's worked for me over 20 years.

scooby L

Just had a phone call... pikey site 2 miles away... van was heading in that direction..so he's taking a sneeky look to see if he can spot the van...

All he got was a W from the plate.... which was a pity

scooby L

NO..it's worthless to them... it does not work without the pole equipment... which my surveyor still had in his hands...so they'll need to purchase one of those...and there is only one supplier in the UK.. (who now know mine's been knicked...) so hopefully they will not just throw it in a skip when they realise..

No insurance either...( because of their valnerability..no insurance will cover it)

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

No insurance? That's a real bummer, do they often get nicked then?

BIG FUD

iTrader: (84)

Plates on a pikey van mean nothing they be changed in minutes and what proof have you got. You cant call police and say u seen a white van with a w on its plate there must be 1000s around, these thieving scum bags do this for a living its a not on and i feel for you mate..............

harry flatters

All seems a bit daft, you can hire them for 220 - 345 a week which negates the huge initial purchase cost and risk of losing 24K when one goes awol.

scooby L

No they don't... but the insurance companies don't like the fact they are unattended and so expensive.

I've had these kinds of theodolites for 15 years now...and this is the 1st theft I've had

scooby L

Because I buy and run my kit for 6 years.

Your way would cost me 2-3 times as much?

harry flatters

Is that factoring in the recent 24K loss, doing away with calibration, maintenance, repair, downtime while idle, etc?

BIG FUD

iTrader: (84)

Lets get down to whats happend its been stolen and not how much they are to hire and this and that,u should buy and leave what u like, You leave your car unattended and you can hire them ????? Its the scum bags they need setting on fire and dont blame your self mate hope you sort something out dont let them stop you stole my car twice now had every device on the market still gone,Needs to be sorted soon before people start taking law into there own hands.....

scooby L

ha ha

so you are saying I shuld have hired my equipement to coever the "just in case one gets nicked"

OK.. lest do the maths

I've had these kits since 1985

that's 23 years, so 1150 weeks (using a 50 week year)

1150x£220 per week hire (yes I use them every day every week)

that's £253,000

My way... I've purchase now (this is per one man team) 4 "one man" kits each retailing at £24k, that gives me £96,000

Are you seeing my point?

please tell me you are not in business...or are you in the hire business lol

harry flatters

The difference being that your car is insured whereas the work equipment being discussed wasn't.

May I suggest that if you've had your car stolen twice you may want to consider hiring a car in future?

StickyMicky

thing is, its terrible that it got stolen, but do the gypos actually know what its worth?

WRX_Dazza

a single 23 yr old theodolite is not worth 24K is it??


they do need there thieving pikey hands cut off though!!!!

scooby L

No it's not..this one is 6 months old, I replace them every 6 years or so...

scooby L

Not a clue... it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

WRX_Dazza

blimey,
i would never have thought that

a weird set of circumstances.....

you need to look up "Cheap Irish Surveyors" on google and see where that points you!!!

hope you get a resolve of some sort..

harry flatters

lol You're maths are shockingly bad, the kit would not have cost 220 a week to hire in 1985 (22 years ago) therefore your figures are already off kilt. The kit you're using also has a shelf life of say 5 - 7 years, when considering technological advances and all that. So you'll actually replace the existing hardware around three times in that same 22 year period. I could also go into the capital outlay of 96K amortised over the seven years (even as a discounted cash flow) opposed to the hire costs for the same period.

And yes I do run a successful business, and no its not hiring equipment, but anyway, I do hope you get it back

andrewdelvard

Nothing like getting the knife in, kicking someone when they are down eh?

harry flatters

Not at all, if you actually read my post I'm offering advice on reducing the risk of things like this happening in the future. I guess you missed that part, well all of it by the sounds of it. I should have just added a "gutted for you mate" like everyone else rather than a constructive response.

PeteBrant

Surely if the equipment costs £345 per week to hire, then buying means you are in the black after 16 months or so - So the 5-7 year replacement period is irrelevant.

Even if you can get it for £220 then you are in the black after 2 years.

Of course I can see the benefits of leasing, but it seems to me if you are in scoobyL's business long term, then buying costs less.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

based on harry flatters recent posts and his posting style, me thinks we have a return visitor

to the OP.... did your staff member have any luck at said pikey camp ??

harry flatters

If it helps tell your man to start with the really level caravans first!

al4x1

so what do the hire company say when you say its been nicked, my thinking is you'll have a very high excess for loss as presumably they can't insure them either!

billythekid

Harry Flatters.... are you BC harry flatters?

sti-04!!

Dont feed the troll.