Lost something in a BA lounge at LHR - is the missingx service fit for purpose?
Dec 30, 2015, 9:04 am
#1
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Lost something in a BA lounge at LHR - is the missingx service fit for purpose?
So we left a kindle on charge in T5 at the weekend.
Reported it to the crew who passed a message to ground staff, and we were told to file a claim with Missingx.com
The thing is, the website holds such scant detail, it appears to be as good as impossible to make an effective claim against the lost item.
I put a claim in against one, it didn't match so what am I supposed to do - claim against every kindle received at LHR for the next week?
MissingX has no note as to where it was found or the serial number etc.
There were 8 kindles handed in on boxing day alone and another 20+ in the days since.
Anyway, it was 2 years old and the battery was pretty shot. I've reported it as stolen to Amazon so they have blocked the unit from being reregistered and I guess we just pick one up in the current sale for £50. I'm just pleased it wasn't something more valuable!
Has anyone had success (or failure) with these guys?
Reported it to the crew who passed a message to ground staff, and we were told to file a claim with Missingx.com
The thing is, the website holds such scant detail, it appears to be as good as impossible to make an effective claim against the lost item.
I put a claim in against one, it didn't match so what am I supposed to do - claim against every kindle received at LHR for the next week?
MissingX has no note as to where it was found or the serial number etc.
There were 8 kindles handed in on boxing day alone and another 20+ in the days since.
Anyway, it was 2 years old and the battery was pretty shot. I've reported it as stolen to Amazon so they have blocked the unit from being reregistered and I guess we just pick one up in the current sale for £50. I'm just pleased it wasn't something more valuable!
Has anyone had success (or failure) with these guys?
Dec 30, 2015, 9:10 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NCL
Programs: UA 1MM/*G. DL Gold for one more year.
Posts: 5,305
*Sigh*
Contrast that with SQ, when I left an item in their (admittedly much smaller) LHR lounge. Tweeted them from the gate, and when I'd arrived at CPH they'd already secured it for me to collect next time I passed through the lounge.
Contrast that with SQ, when I left an item in their (admittedly much smaller) LHR lounge. Tweeted them from the gate, and when I'd arrived at CPH they'd already secured it for me to collect next time I passed through the lounge.
Dec 30, 2015, 9:11 am
#3
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I have, it does take a while for lost items to get to the main store located near the Underground station in the central area, if possible I would recommend a personal visit.
Dec 30, 2015, 9:23 am
#4
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TBH this is an academic exercise as the residual value of a 2yr old kindle is probably less than their admin fee for recovery, which again they are deeply opaque about.
Dec 30, 2015, 10:11 am
#6
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So we left a kindle on charge in T5 at the weekend.
Reported it to the crew who passed a message to ground staff, and we were told to file a claim with Missingx.com
The thing is, the website holds such scant detail, it appears to be as good as impossible to make an effective claim against the lost item.
I put a claim in against one, it didn't match so what am I supposed to do - claim against every kindle received at LHR for the next week?
MissingX has no note as to where it was found or the serial number etc.
There were 8 kindles handed in on boxing day alone and another 20+ in the days since.
Anyway, it was 2 years old and the battery was pretty shot. I've reported it as stolen to Amazon so they have blocked the unit from being reregistered and I guess we just pick one up in the current sale for £50. I'm just pleased it wasn't something more valuable!
Has anyone had success (or failure) with these guys?
Reported it to the crew who passed a message to ground staff, and we were told to file a claim with Missingx.com
The thing is, the website holds such scant detail, it appears to be as good as impossible to make an effective claim against the lost item.
I put a claim in against one, it didn't match so what am I supposed to do - claim against every kindle received at LHR for the next week?
MissingX has no note as to where it was found or the serial number etc.
There were 8 kindles handed in on boxing day alone and another 20+ in the days since.
Anyway, it was 2 years old and the battery was pretty shot. I've reported it as stolen to Amazon so they have blocked the unit from being reregistered and I guess we just pick one up in the current sale for £50. I'm just pleased it wasn't something more valuable!
Has anyone had success (or failure) with these guys?
Successes:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23767927-post15.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23972844-post60.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25621363-post14.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25621366-post15.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25621524-post19.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24759393-post11.html
There are also failures in those threads.
Last edited by jerry a. laska; Dec 30, 2015 at 10:25 am
Dec 30, 2015, 10:27 am
#7
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Ipswich
Posts: 7,543
I can report a success with missingx, as per one of the threads posted above by Jerry.
I have NO idea how the process works. As you say, the information they request is scant to say the least. I left a Sony ereader on board a flight and reported it immediately. There was nowhere to say where or when (time rather than date) I lost it or give any vaguely useful details.
I found using their 'one word' search close to useless. The device doesn't say ereader on it and I thought it likely the person logging it might call it a kindle or something else.
About a week later I got an email to say they had 'my' device at T3 lost property office. I was highly sceptical, especially since I left it at T5 where they also have an office.
But I swung by T3 on my next visit to LHR. As an aside, it's not an easy place to find. The irony of searching for a lost property office wasn't lost on me. However, I digress. I was astonished to find it was indeed mine. How on earth they linked it to me, I'm not sure. I was thankful it wasn't a standard issue Kindle as I couldn't fathom how they'd match that to the right owner.
I had a purely hypothetical discussion with some chums afterwards about what we would do if presented with someone else's device. If they've mismatched you to the wrong device, what would be the chances of subsequently finding yours? Would it just make sense to claim the equivalent device and reload your content? Once you refused it, would they just work down the list and keep offering it to others, or is that it? The group had very mixed views on what they would do.
Oh, and I paid £15 to reclaim it. So - for an old device, I'd say that it's not a bad result to replace it for £50.
I have NO idea how the process works. As you say, the information they request is scant to say the least. I left a Sony ereader on board a flight and reported it immediately. There was nowhere to say where or when (time rather than date) I lost it or give any vaguely useful details.
I found using their 'one word' search close to useless. The device doesn't say ereader on it and I thought it likely the person logging it might call it a kindle or something else.
About a week later I got an email to say they had 'my' device at T3 lost property office. I was highly sceptical, especially since I left it at T5 where they also have an office.
But I swung by T3 on my next visit to LHR. As an aside, it's not an easy place to find. The irony of searching for a lost property office wasn't lost on me. However, I digress. I was astonished to find it was indeed mine. How on earth they linked it to me, I'm not sure. I was thankful it wasn't a standard issue Kindle as I couldn't fathom how they'd match that to the right owner.
I had a purely hypothetical discussion with some chums afterwards about what we would do if presented with someone else's device. If they've mismatched you to the wrong device, what would be the chances of subsequently finding yours? Would it just make sense to claim the equivalent device and reload your content? Once you refused it, would they just work down the list and keep offering it to others, or is that it? The group had very mixed views on what they would do.
Oh, and I paid £15 to reclaim it. So - for an old device, I'd say that it's not a bad result to replace it for £50.
Dec 30, 2015, 10:31 am
#8
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: AMS/LON
Programs: BAEC Silver, TK Gold, Eurostar CB, FB Explorer
Posts: 242
I have had success too - laptop left on aircraft. Happily had v. distinctive stickers all along the top. Like you, I thought the search was appalling, and assumed it was lost for good. But, 2 days after I'd filled the form in, they got in touch.
I had the Serial number etc as well but they didn't want it.
I believe I had the fee waived (as a GCH) but may be wrong.
I had the Serial number etc as well but they didn't want it.
I believe I had the fee waived (as a GCH) but may be wrong.
Dec 30, 2015, 11:12 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 86
No luck for me - I left my nice noise-cancelling headphones and iPod in the seat pocket of my BA flight back from MXP in November. Despite me realising as I went through passport control and speaking to the man on the baggage desk in the reclaim hall within 10mins of me leaving the aircraft, he couldn't/wouldn't phone through to the gate to see if they were there. So I was directed to Missingx. As you say their website is worse than useless and after phoning several times with no joy I gave up after a couple of weeks.
Thankfully my work travel insurance company accepted a screenshot of the Missingx website as a report of the loss to the carrier, and I got reimbursed. But I can understand some insurers might be more reticent...
James
Thankfully my work travel insurance company accepted a screenshot of the Missingx website as a report of the loss to the carrier, and I got reimbursed. But I can understand some insurers might be more reticent...
James
Dec 30, 2015, 11:28 am
#11
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Posts: 4,704
Missingx is useful to see if they have your item and looking today, they have eighteen Kindles at LHR.
The actual company that handles lost property is bagport and if you go to their internet page :-
http://www.bagport.co.uk/cms_uk/inde...=Lost-Property
there is an enquiry form you can fill in and this will allow them to check their items for you.
I hope you get it back.
The actual company that handles lost property is bagport and if you go to their internet page :-
http://www.bagport.co.uk/cms_uk/inde...=Lost-Property
there is an enquiry form you can fill in and this will allow them to check their items for you.
I hope you get it back.
Dec 30, 2015, 1:06 pm
#13
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Amazon tell me the item has been disabled, so it has no value to anyone unless I guess they can hack it & recode it. It's also a 2 year old kindle fire that's got a fair few scrapes & scratches on it.
On the basis missingx won't be able to recover any value from it, they will have to pay to dispose of the item.
If it wasn't for the raft of kindles already on there, I would be suggesting they just toss them into the nearest bin they can find, as with a rate card like this they must be onto a loser especially with the cheaper items.
Anyway, rant over - good to know my irritation with the system isn't entirely misplaced!
Dec 30, 2015, 1:22 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2007
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, AA EXP
Posts: 1,140
This thread is timely for me as I left a jacket in the Flounge at the weekend. I was planning to ask if they still had it when I pass through again this coming weekend but from reading this, I guess that's not how it works? I assumed they had their own lost property section but it doesn't look like it.
Dec 30, 2015, 5:01 pm
#15
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold(twice), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 679
On a BA flight i realised I had left my reading specs in Flounge. The crew reported it, and later the flight deck sent back a kind-of telex saying it had been found, and where to collect it on my return. To top this excellent service, one of the crew lent me her specs so that I could work on board, and even apologised that she needed them back at the end if the flight.
