Someone Stole My Saw!

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

So I was working behind a rowhome in West Philadelphia yesterday with one ground guy removing a catalpa from over top of a garage, phone lines, and part of the associated row home. We had just finished with the lead over the home and were butt hitching the limbs over the garage down one at a time, to ensure no damage to anything, and for handling purposes over the phone lines. Everything was going along smoothly.

Noticed a guy walking up and down the street a few times, watching us work. Then he slipped away, and came back about the same time my ground guy, who had been keeping an eye on the truck the whole time, was using the pole to pull the limb I had just cut toward him so he could handle it.

While this was happening, I took off a few limbs I could handle with the handsaw, and then began blocking some wood on a leader behind me.


Then it happened. I shut the saw off and heard a lady screaming at me that some guy had just run off with one of my saws....my Stihl 064 with 28" bar!

I shouted to her the description of the man who I had watched earlier, and she said "yes that's him". I was shocked. He had to crawl into my I-Box on the truck, from the street side, for me not to see him. Then he had to reach in, and grab the saw BAR FIRST. My boxes were closed, but unlocked because the ground guy was keeping the tools in and un needed ropes the box to minimize cleanup for it was a VERY tight spot.

There were people around but as i turned to get out of the tree, the lady who saw the guy left, she was a passerby in a car who had gotten out when she saw what happened from the corner as she was turning...but she didn't stick around!

The cops did NOTHING. I filed a report on an unknown witnesses description, and they cant speculate on the description of the guy I gave who was hanging around earlier.



I feel like I was kicked in the nuts. I would rather have had 20 dollars picked out of my pocket. What pains me the most is I went looking for the guy and asked around a bit.....people say they have seen that guy around before...at the crack house around the corner.


I was doing this job for a friend, I don't normally go into the city. I even got the proper permits and license to work in Philadelphia, and that is how I am greeted.

Anyone here have any similar stories?

-Michael J. Platt,
Platt & Company, Arborists

In times like these(Economic unrest), the under brained and un hearted are even more pressured by living conditions in America. It is our responsibility to be espescially watchful and vigilant to the wrong doers! People are getting more fed up, sorrier, and braver by the day! A 94 yr old healthy man had his hand removed, was beat, then murdered and left in a field near my home a few months ago only over him not knowing the whereabouts of his sorry ass grandson, who was on crack!!! Now the sobs are taunting the family in court. If i had my way i'd do em Charlie Daniels style and get a big tree, and a short piece of rope and well, you know the rest. Until we blow the living crap out of these sorry ass thugs and set an example we can expect more unrest. :bang: :censored:

 

[Treetom]

Time for lock gas caps, too.

The only saw I've had stolen on a job site was in a "nice" neighborhood. (nearly new 350 Husky) If the saws are ever out of sight, we now keep them under lock and key. Over nite, all saws are chained together and locked, then locked up again under my truck bed cover. (tonneau) And parked under a security lite in my driveway at home. (But don't hurt some dumb bas##rd if you catch him stealing your livelihood. That would be a violation of his rights.)

 

[treemandan]

One of my favorite stories is about my older brother, (tree guy, the one that got me into this) this was down in fort lauderdale, our groundman got his expensive racing 10 speed stolen, we all figured it was gone for good. So the bike was this bright teal color-could'nt miss it, my brother is driving down a1a and sees this black guy driving Stevies bike, pulls up over the curb with his dump truck in front of the dude, gets out grabs the dude by the neck, and gets the bike back, throws it in back of truck. I wish more of these f@#@#$$ got that justice, I wonder what that dude was thinking on his walk home, probably "that was one crazy white boy", lol.

Back like in 86 or so me a some buddies used to ride our road bikes down Lancaster Ave , through West Philly and into Center City sometimes. If we would stop at a wawa we would just undo the front wheel quick release, leave the wheel on and go inside leaving our bikes outside. We would hang out in there drinking slushies and waiting. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. A guy would walk up, grab the bike and run, when he had suffucient speed he would jump on and start to pedal and get more speed which would bring the front end of the bike up enough so the wheel would slip out, like clockwork.

 

[treemandan]

In times like these(Economic unrest), the under brained and un hearted are even more pressured by living conditions in America. It is our responsibility to be espescially watchful and vigilant to the wrong doers! People are getting more fed up, sorrier, and braver by the day! A 94 yr old healthy man had his hand removed, was beat, then murdered and left in a field near my home a few months ago only over him not knowing the whereabouts of his sorry ass grandson, who was on crack!!! Now the sobs are taunting the family in court. If i had my way i'd do em Charlie Daniels style and get a big tree, and a short piece of rope and well, you know the rest. Until we blow the living crap out of these sorry ass thugs and set an example we can expect more unrest. :bang: :censored:

My God!

 

[limbwalker54]

Lookout world,Platt, Pennsy Ranger is in town. I'm not lettin this one go.

 

[capetrees]

When you find the saw, you will probably realize the guy is in the neighborhood. Stake out the area for a while some random days or nights and when you find him, beat the living hell out of him and leave him in a wet gutter like he deserves. Make sure you kick him once in the remaining teeth he has in his crack laden filthy pie hole for me. Do us all a favor and take out all of our rage we have for people like this dirtbag.:angry2: :chainsawguy:

 

[straight6jeff]

It would be nice if you caught the guy and reinacted the bathroom scene from Scarface.........

 

[limbwalker54]

"Say 'ello to my lil' frien'!" Hehehe

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

You need to set up a trap to catch this guy!!! In the same area too! He'll be back there you know he's prolly not far! Take a saw and attach a small cable from the handle to one of those spiral doggy hold down stakes and sta ke her down to the ground. Fix the cable and all where its hard to see(small cable). On a neighboring tree affix a trail cam that takes instant photos of any passing object(at Wal-Mart in hunting dept! Sit in truck and wait. He'll walk up and be like" Gee more quick cash down at the local pawn shop" bam you got him!

 

[new N8]

I had 3 saws stolen from the back of my pickup (before canopy) and never saw them again. Another time one of my employees (now very former, of course) broke into my shop while I was on vacation and took a pile of tools. I visited pawn shops and found everything at one place (brought them a list of missing things, and matched a load perfectly). The bonehead went to a legitimate pawn shop, so he had to show photo ID to sell his (my) stuff. They are required by law (here in Oregon anyhow) to hold stuff they buy for 30 days before putting it out. Definately worth a try for an $800 saw! Good luck.

 

[wdanforth]

Sorry about your loss.

I have had 3 atv stolen makes you feel sick.

limbwalker54 are you related to Jared Platt great former wrestler from Blair and now I guess PSU. I watched him many years at the Ironman. If so where is he heading now?

Don't count on the police to do a thing to help you recover your saw. Grab a 4 foot 4 inch round and do your own walking tall.

 

[boltonranger]

Any luck finding your saw?

Have you trolled any nearby pawn dealers?

-br

 

[limbwalker54]

Not yet, I have scouted the neighborhood once again for a few hours in an inconspicuous vehicle in clothing I dont usually wear. But I haven't seen the guy yet. I have not been able to go to the pawn shops yet. I will be trying that this week for sure.

 

[TaoTreeClimber]

Dude, Sucks to hear that. I have had so much stuff stolen from me in the past it makes me sick. Be thankful that they didnt steal the whole truck. I had every piece of climbing gear I owned on the boss's truck in his drive and while he was at church on a sunday the stole the whole fricken truck. We are pretty sure we know who did it. (a disgrunteled ex climber) Just like you said, the police cant do much about it. The truck was found a week later abandoned in a parking lot but it was stripped clean. They even stole the trailer hitch.

I have had a port a wrap and block and bull rope stolen off the job while I was sharpening a saw around the corner of the house.

Had the locked box on the chip truck broken into and 2 MS 200's stolen.
Fortunately they werent mine but again we think it was another disgruntled employee that did it. Still cant prove any thing.

Then last year some one broke into our yard and stole about $15,000 worth of saws out of our shed. THey broke the locks off the gate and the shed and got away with

5 MS200
1 O66 mag
1 036
1 044
2 MS441 (which were less than a week old)
1 Stihl Power pruner
aircompressor
pressure washer
my saddle and a bunch of other stuff.

Im not the smartest man in the world but all of these seemed to be inside jobs done by other tree guys. Its a shame that we have to be so paranoid about protectiong our gear, but if we dont we are just sitting ducks. Now All our equiptment is tripple locked every night in a steel shipping conex. Even when we break for chow we will park the trucks where we can see them and order lunch to go and eat in the truck instead of sitting down some where. Out of all that was stolen, only one saw was recovered at a pawn shop, but the cops still havent done any thing and that was almost two years ago.

Good luck I hope you get your saw back. In the future make a list of all serial numbers of your gear. That is the only way we got that one MS 200 back and out of the pawn shop.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

Dude, Sucks to hear that. I have had so much stuff stolen from me in the past it makes me sick. Be thankful that they didnt steal the whole truck. I had every piece of climbing gear I owned on the boss's truck in his drive and while he was at church on a sunday the stole the whole fricken truck. We are pretty sure we know who did it. (a disgrunteled ex climber) Just like you said, the police cant do much about it. The truck was found a week later abandoned in a parking lot but it was stripped clean. They even stole the trailer hitch.

I have had a port a wrap and block and bull rope stolen off the job while I was sharpening a saw around the corner of the house.

Had the locked box on the chip truck broken into and 2 MS 200's stolen.
Fortunately they werent mine but again we think it was another disgruntled employee that did it. Still cant prove any thing.

Then last year some one broke into our yard and stole about $15,000 worth of saws out of our shed. THey broke the locks off the gate and the shed and got away with

5 MS200
1 O66 mag
1 036
1 044
2 MS441 (which were less than a week old)
1 Stihl Power pruner
aircompressor
pressure washer
my saddle and a bunch of other stuff.

Im not the smartest man in the world but all of these seemed to be inside jobs done by other tree guys. Its a shame that we have to be so paranoid about protectiong our gear, but if we dont we are just sitting ducks. Now All our equiptment is tripple locked every night in a steel shipping conex. Even when we break for chow we will park the trucks where we can see them and order lunch to go and eat in the truck instead of sitting down some where. Out of all that was stolen, only one saw was recovered at a pawn shop, but the cops still havent done any thing and that was almost two years ago.

Good luck I hope you get your saw back. In the future make a list of all serial numbers of your gear. That is the only way we got that one MS 200 back and out of the pawn shop.

Call up your local competitors to look at some work, one at a time. When they show just ask em what kinda equip. they use. They may whip some of your stuff out right off the bat. Good luck, sorry to hear bout your stuff. We work damn hard in this kinda biz and it's a shame that people are losing those values!:monkey:

 

[TaoTreeClimber]

All this has happened over the course of like 5 years, and Im pretty sure that the perpitrators are more than likely the hack crack heads that work out of a truck or were ticked off employes that got fired because they were worthless. As soon as each incident happened I called up all the reputable tree companies in town and let them know what happened and if anyone was trying to sell them any gear to let us know. Unfortuantely there are a lot of hacks in this town. I mean seriously. Who is gonna steal a port a wrap? Its not like you can pawn that hunk of steel. I hate to say it, but I think most of it was done by these crack heads or tweekers because they can use my good gear and not have to buy it them selves. I mean seriously. What the heck? I spend good money on buying the best gear that I can get only to have some dope head steal it to use it to do hack jobs to support his drug habit. None of the saws that were stolen were mine, but I have lost like 3 grand in climbing gear, ropes and rigging equiptment in the last few years. Its a shame, there are alot of good arborists out there but for every one there are two foul ups out there. I dont know what it is about this business that attracts so many losers. We go through at least a dozen of these poor excuses for human beings a year. Does any one else have this problem?

Kenn

 

[318firebug49]

Heads up

sorry man,, that sucks... if you have home owners , or renters insurance, claim it as theft of peronal property...

Thats called insurance fraud if your using it in a business and try to list it as personal property- not business personal property. Best case scenario- they deny your claim- worst case scenario, a little jail time and your policy cancelled. I worked claims for 12 years as a staff adjsuter for Farm Bureau and Farmers, its easy to catch- especially when your running a business that utilizes chainsaws. There is coverage on some homeowner policies for business personal property, might try that route, the coverage can range from 250.00 to 2500.00 depending on your policy. Look in your policy under extensions of coverage- or talk to your agent.

 

[TaoTreeClimber]

Plus you gotta think about depreciation on an old saw like that and your deductable, and how your rates will go up if you claim it. Best thing to do is troll the pawn shops and try and find it your self. If nothing else chalk it up to a learning experience and secure your gear in the future.

Kenn

 

[treemandan]

I actually like those jobs where you are 'out of bounds' and if your truck won't start when your done .... you have problems.
I like to go in guns blazing and I speak from experience, a good bit. Let them think for a second you are some sucker and its all over. They are like heyeneas and follow the strategy to lurk at the perimeter until its safe to strike. You are lucky if they aren't in a pack.
All over that city I have worked and you can get in deep. Let them know your nuts from 'go' and they will beg to help or just leave cause its work.
To be honest: to let that happen was a mistake made by an underestimate whether before or during the course of the job. Somebody should have prioritized that saw and realized what a war zone looks like.If you ever have to go there again take me( I bring my own) and I am dead serious. I miss the old days. Somewhere round fiddy fourf and Market? Not far from where The Fresh Prince grew up. Naw, you won't find me there anymore, that's to risky.
Hang in there, sorry bout the saw.

 

[juststumps]

Thats called insurance fraud if your using it in a business and try to list it as personal property- not business personal property. Best case scenario- they deny your claim- worst case scenario, a little jail time and your policy cancelled. I worked claims for 12 years as a staff adjsuter for Farm Bureau and Farmers, its easy to catch- especially when your running a business that utilizes chainsaws. There is coverage on some homeowner policies for business personal property, might try that route, the coverage can range from 250.00 to 2500.00 depending on your policy. Look in your policy under extensions of coverage- or talk to your agent.

i don't know... just scanned my policy,,, nothing in there about commercial use exclusions... but i am a LLC,, i am the company, and i own every thing.... so basicly,, it would be personal property...

i could see if you were incorporated,, and the corporation owned the equipment,, that might be a little different...

best case,, it's covered,, worst case it's denied....

it's not fraud !!! you file a claim,, it's either covered , or it's not !!!!

fraud is when you back over your saw and crush it,,, throw it in a dumpster , and claim it was stolen,,,or your radar detector gets stolen, and you report your $1,000 golf clubs , stolen, also....or, your saw gets stolen,, and you claim 5 were stolen.....JMHO