quote:

Originally posted by LMLarsen:

Well that didn’t work. Tried to post a ‘praying’ emoji for your lost Omega and the forum gods didn’t like it. Hope they find it soon.

Thank you

SC: I LOVE the dial on your new Orient! Congrats and wear it in good health!!!

h2oys: I hope you get your watch! Did you file a police report in addition to moving forward with the internal (UPS) investigation? I know that when our people collaborated with UPS, FedEx, etc..., they were pretty successful on identifying the thief(s), making arrests and recovering the stolen property.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
This FINALLY came in today!

So here is the summary email I sent to the company that serviced my Omega Speedmaster that will also provide all of you with an update and perhaps learning experience:

"Hi Brian,

I’ve been busy…

I met with a City of Chesterfield police officer yesterday. Of all things he used to work at the UPS depot in Earth City for 4 years. He said he personally fired at least 200 employee’s (ee’s) for theft, they process 1million packages every 24 hours, and if the box had been marked and I assume paid for as a “high value” item, it would have had extra protection. Basically it goes into a red cage and no ee can access the cage without a supervisor in tow. He also said if a box had a “lithium battery warning on it”, odds were a rogue ee would steal it thinking it was a phone to resell. He also said St Louis County police would come out to arrest rogue ee’s on the floor at UPS.

He offered to take a police report, but, it would do nothing as they did not have jurisdiction over the depot located in Earth City. Hence I would be best going to the St. Louis County police to file a report.

I went to St Louis County police this morning. He was also very friendly and in essence told me since we could not prove theft at this point, he could not take a report. He added UPS will call them when the result of their internal investigation proves a theft. As such they do get calls from UPS and they will go to Earth City to arrest the rogue ee. I asked for suggestions and he recommended contacting UPS again. I asked if there was a way to put out an alert to pawn shops, etc. He said there is but that never helps because the crooks go to crooked pawn shops.

Per the UPS app, it was still marked as “search in progress” and when I’ve called I end up talking to someone who does not care in I’m guessing India. Consequently I drove to the huge UPS complex in Earth City. Unfortunately their customer service center had permanently closed in Oct 2024. So I drove to the monstrous shipping building and a security guard gave me Don X’s name and phone number. I called him while sitting in their parking lot. He did a quick check and called me back 20 minutes later. He has 30+ years of experience with UPS. He said it was now a “cold case” and it had to be either the “loader” or the “driver”. Both were out right now so he can’t talk to them until tomorrow morning and he will call me then after he talks to them.

I told him I talked to the driver last Thursday. Their app said the Omega was out for delivery on Thursday and required a signature. My neighbor was on standby and the UPS truck dropped off an unrelated package, left, but did not go to my neighbor’s house. Hence I wrapped up things at work and tracked down the truck in another part of our subdivision. The driver told me he did not load his truck, saw my note to deliver to my neighbor both online and on my front door, and the box was not in the slot for my home.

I described what I thought would be the size of the box you would have used, he went back into his truck, and came back to say it was not on his truck. However, he has to empty the truck before returning to the Earth City depo and if it surfaced, he would bring it back by. On Friday it said it was out again but never showed. After I told Don all this, he is thinking it was the loader.

Don also told me:

• It would be rare to have a rogue driver because they have a lot more to lose than a loader.
o Loaders are part time, don’t get paid much, and will keep stealing until they are caught if they are indeed a rogue ee.
• Apparently your shipping label showed the sender was Sangamon Watches
o He said that is bad because a rogue ee might take a chance to steal it since he/she thinks there might be a watch in the box,
• He is not holding out a lot of hope for me

From a personal perspective, Don felt very bad for me and I believe he will do all he can to help.

Now from a corporate perspective, when I got back to the office I checked the UPS app again and it now shows “investigation closed”. It wants more information. I tried to upload photos but it would not accept them. Perhaps you as the shipper have to upload whatever they want.

All I can say is not only am I out the irreplaceable watch, but I will probably lose the estimated $3k difference in the insurance versus actual value, and I serviced a watch but don’t get the benefit thereof.

My hope is Don gets it back for me.

I am still sick to my stomach…"

Photos of my Omega: