daughter's iphone stolen at school

Makeandsave

Sorry you daughters phone got stolen, Perhaps once gthis is all sorted you can come to some sory of agreement that perhaps she takes a cheap phone in school hours? Some kids get jealous easy when they see other kids with the latest gadgets. I hope you get this all sorted asap.

hazelwoods

mark88man wrote: »

my daughter had her phone stolen from her bag at school today. she needs to take it because we need her to be flexible with picking up our other kids. she had to leave the bag unattended because the teacher ordered them to leave the bags outside the classroom

we are covered by an insurance policy but it has the following clause in it


"Theft or loss of the phone and accessories where they have been left negligently or deliberately in a public place or place to which other people have access"

what's the verdict - can i claim from the policy or am I scr€wed. the school will vigorously deny liability and i am not sure i want to start that - although its always a last resort I suppose

It's a risk you take when you allow children to take expensive electronic equipment to school. If she really desperately needs to have a phone so that you can contact her re collecting siblings, then buy her a CHEAP payg that won't matter if it gets lost. She could perhaps leave it in the school office during the day, but again at her own risk.

Nobody needs to take an iphone into a school where they know they will not be allowed to keep it safely about their person. You took the risk of her losing her phone when you deemed it acceptable for her to take it to school. The liability is certainly not the school's.

On a more positive note, I assume you have contacted your network provider and had the phone and sim blocked. If the insurance is a dedicated phone insurance then I'd be very surprised if they pay up. If it is part of a Home Insurance policy you may have more luck.

mark55man

thanks all - sorry just been having a long chat with her to make sure the story stacks up.

in reply (no particular order) i will have a bit of a go at the school for forcing her into the situation - its easy for them to say they are not responsible but i am not sure they have done enough here - not going to sue, but certainly hope to make them get a tighter grip - pta not really very strong

a. i have contacted the provider - no problem there
b. i will contact the police but as i say i wanted to have a chat with her and she had to go out babysitting (its her money that pays for most of the phone)
c. i will contact the insurer - she is an authorised user on my policy
d. i meant the school hve the cctv but they can't act as its not quite conclusive, but the police can - if i make a complaint - investigate further than the school can - at least someone's shoulder will get felt

ps sorry elantan for your ds's troubles

hazelwoods

mark88man wrote: »

the school policy says no devices. the reality is every single pupil has one and the school knows that.

why she didn't put it into her pocket - her school uniform doesn't have any!!, also it was an not a usual request so may have felt awkward taking it out of her bag

If I had £1 for every time I've heard the statement that everyone else has one I'd be very rich indeed. School policy says no devices, so anyone ignoring that instruction does so at their own risk. The school rules are there for a reason and parents who encourage their children to ignore the rules shouldn't be surprised when they get caught out. It's a hard lesson to learn but a very valuable one.

If the school know who stole it, have they recovered the phone? I assume not or you wouldn't be wondering if you could claim on your insurance. How old are the 2 students involved? (your daughter and the thief) How long after the theft did she discover it, and how long after that was the school informed? How long till the network were notified? All of those things could make a difference to your insurance claim.

mark55man

haelwoods - if i had a £1 every time a school did something for their convenience rather than adjust to what is the modern reality. the school rules do not necessarily reflect the legal position - may even not be legal - just like shops always try and limit your rights

generally we are very supportive and active members of the school, so we are on the sameside, but there is a point at which they often fail to provide adequate cover and blame society but not themselves

hazelwoods

mark88man wrote: »

thanks all - sorry just been having a long chat with her to make sure the story stacks up.

in reply (no particular order) i will have a bit of a go at the school for forcing her into the situation - its easy for them to say they are not responsible but i am not sure they have done enough here - not going to sue, but certainly hope to make them get a tighter grip - pta not really very strong

I'm sorry to keep going on about this but... the school have a rule stating such devices should not be in school. When your daughter was asked to put her bag out of the classroom did she explain to the teacher that she had her phone in her bag? If she had done then the teacher would have been very foolish to not take it for safe keeping. If the teacher had refused to ensure the phone's safety then the school would indeed be partly to blame. But if the teacher/school didn't know there was an iphone in the bag they should not be blamed for what happened. Schools have a difficult enough problem with security, without iphones adding to the security problem.

d.m_3

DaveLy wrote: »

how is what I said abuse? I'm comparing a £500 iphone to leaving £500 cash in a bag, you just wouldn't do it? maybe it's just my common sense

Would you leave £15,000 sitting outside your door? NO, probably not. Do you park your car outside your house at night. Probably.

Rubbish comparison and has no relevance to the thread if you ask me...

bubblesmoney

ask your network provider to get a detailed call log. see which phones were called.

similarly ask for a detailed log of websites and social networking accounbts accessed. this might reveal who stole the phone if they accessed their social networking websites and logged into their accounts or sent SMSs to friend or made call etc. will be easier to track down the culprit. did you have any tracking software on the phone (i assume not).

make a formal police complaint. theft is theft. but i doubt how much resources the police will expend in this direction, but they might be interested if they can solve it quickly by using cctv footage and get better statistics for their department solved crime figures!!!

announce a reward!!! for information in the school. that might get you some information that might help retrieve the phone.

even if the child is below prosecution age, a civil small claims can be made against the parents / legal gaurdians for your losses. so get the cctv footage.

last but not the least, i too feel giving an iphone to a kid is just asking for trouble. but may be i am too old fashioned! any cheap phone will serve the purpose and most likely wont be stolen and will serve the purpose of needing a phone for emergency purposes / car pool pick ups etc. might be worth considering this for the future even if you get the iphone back. was there any remote access software on the phone to erase the memory and render the phone un usable or to track the phone.

hazelwoods

mark88man wrote: »

haelwoods - if i had a £1 every time a school did something for their convenience rather than adjust to what is the modern reality. the school rules do not necessarily reflect the legal position - may even not be legal - just like shops always try and limit your rights

generally we are very supportive and active members of the school, so we are on the sameside, but there is a point at which they often fail to provide adequate cover and blame society but not themselves

Modern reality is that iphones are a prime target for would be thieves, as I learned to my distress at the weekend.

The school is responsible for the safety of pupils, not their phones. If pupils choose to take their phones to school they take the risk of them being stolen.

It wasn't the school who took the risk of the iphone being stolen. Would you prefer that the school staff spent a large part of their day looking after items they have asked to be kept from school, or would you prefer them to actually try to teach the students in their charge?

As for the school doing things for their convenience... was it not the case that your daughter had her phone for YOUR convenience so that she could be notified if she needed to collect her siblings? Her iphone is NOT the school's responsibility. It is hers and yours. Perhaps others on this thread would have a bit more sympathy if you accepted responsibility instead of trying to pass the blame onto the school.

custardy

d.m wrote: »

Would you leave £15,000 sitting outside your door? NO, probably not. Do you park your car outside your house at night. Probably.

Rubbish comparison and has no relevance to the thread if you ask me...

and if you left that car unlocked and the keys inside,then your insurance wouldnt pay out