Good day everyone. I'd just like to share an experience my wife had a few days ago when she "lost" her iPhone 5. My wife called me using her Sun line (back up phone) asking me to use Find My iPhone on my phone since she can't seem to find her Globe iPhone and must've misplaced it. She was in Robinson's Galleria and had just ordered tea at Gongcha a few minutes prior. Using Find My iPhone on my phone, I could see that her phone is still in Galleria. We tried calling it a number of times but no answer and she cannot hear her phone ringing. She goes up to the staff of Gongcha asking if she had left her phone by the counter while she was ordering just a few minutes ago and the staff asks "ano pong phone", to which she replies a white iPhone 5 with a black cover and the staff answered "wala pong naiwan na phone dito mam, and madami na din pong ibang customer na dumaan dito". Implying they have no idea what she was talking about and that other customers may have gotten her phone. My wife searches around all the places she's been but she still couldn't find it. We realize that she had really lost her phone and not simply misplaced it. I put her iPhone on LOST MODE wherein it will flash the message "THIS IS A LOST PHONE, PLS CALL xxxxxxxxx)". We tried calling it again, but now it's OFF. I did another search but now it can't be located. She goes to the security office of Galleria to file a report to facilitate claim with Gadget Care since the phone is covered. Security personnel then assisted her promptly. They also accompanied her to Gongcha to get the side of the staff there. The security personnel told the staff that no one will be able to leave and that they should all write a report on what happened. Apparently, this scared the staff and voila, the phone magically emerges from the hands of the same staff she had inquired to! She asked if they already had the phone when she inquired and they answer YES. So now my wife asks "bakit sabi nyo wala naman nakaiwan ng phone dito?" They answer, and this is where things get interesting, "Ang sabi nyo po BLACK NA MYPHONE ang nawala nyo". My wife replies, "meron ba MYPHONE 5? and ang sabi ko meron lang black cover. At bakit naka off na and naka silent pa phone ko ngayon?". The staff tells her that it was given to them by a customer in that state (turned off and on silent). At this point it's obvious that the staff nicked her phone. Probably when she placed it on the counter and getting money to pay her drink. Whether they got it when she wasn't looking or if she had really left it there by accident and the staff just kept it is immaterial because they already admitted having the phone when she inquired and yet they said that no one left a phone at their establishment. They could have done a number of things to assess if she really owned the phone but instead they just played dumb. It's just very disturbing that staff from a respected food chain will do this! I've left things like gadgets, wallets and all sorts of other things at restos, bars and other establishments before and the staff have always returned them when I inquire. They also are usually very helpful and facilitate locating my lost stuff and never answer a blunt "wala po dito" and even try to blame other customers. Maybe I've been lucky, I'm not sure, but my point is that I've always come back to those establishments because the staff and the establishment itself have gained my trust and I even tell friends about it and they too tend to frequent those places more. I have always assumed that owners of such places train their staff very well on this because word of mouth gets around and if their place is known to have trustworthy and credible staff then it would be very good for business. Just be careful with your phones guys. Apparently not everyone can be trusted. Taught me a lesson. Have a nice day and thanks for reading
For sure, some people would post here to never trust your things to anyone beside yourself thus to always be alert and careful, even at the popular establishments. But for me, I'm just glad you were able to recover your phone. Find my iPhone is really a gadget saver.
"Ang sabi nyo po BLACK NA MYPHONE ang nawala nyo" Lol. Maybe when your wife left the phone after getting her drink, that's when they get the phone or maybe a customer got the phone, put it on silent mode, turned it off then gave it to the staff. Who knows?
i dont think the quality or the name of a business establishment would have anything to do with the decision making of its staff. to say that would be unfair to the business proprietors. its really hard to screen for dishonesty. BUT, it would reflect heavily on the name of the business establishment if they condone such acts of dishonesty after it has been established. i for one would feel bad for any person loosing their job, but i draw the line against blatant dishonesty such as this. and kudos to your wife for persevering. this is one of the few times that a lost iPhone has actually been found.
You should have pressed charges for theft against the staff who obviously lied to you. Furthermore I would inquire if there was no CCTV recording in the vicinity of the mall or area where the phone went missing. I would recall Robinson's Galleria beefed up security because it had been robbed just last year.
Glad she recovered it. I agree that we cannot blame the establishment. There is only so much that business owners can do to screen their employees. However, I would suggest that you let the owners know what their employee did. She lied and almost got away with it. Don't let her off the hook that easy.
good thing you got your phone back. its very obvious that the presence of security and the thought that they would get caught made the staff return it, if it was me, i'd go after them, i'm sure you'll get a clearer picture who really was behind it. If someone finds a phone and has intentions of returning it, why put it in silent mode or turn it off right? someone calling the phone is the finder's best bet of returning it... instead they did the opposite. such actions are made by those who really want to keep the phone. i'm sure yung mga nabiktima na dito would know that the moment your phone gets pick pocket or gets snatched, expect to get "subscriber cannot be reached" after a few minutes. Good thing security at the mall acted accordingly.
from Gong Cha Philippines: Please give us the details at [email protected]. We have not heard from any authorities regarding this incident. Thank you.
hey bro, good thing you got your wife's iphone back. agree w/ the others, let the owners know of what their employee did.
they got the phone turned off and switched to silent mode. From there you can already deduce that something fishy is going on. And that statement is an obvious plot to get out of the situation. If i were the good-samaritan-customer who surrendered the phone to the staff for safe keep, why would i wanna modify the phone's settings or state? That would just make things more complicated and difficult for the owner to detect the device. the establishment, in my humble opinion, reserves the right to know at least the incident for proper intervention to be carried out within their staffs.
@antsky We've already prepared a draft for Galleria and Gongcha. It's really unfortunate that this incident happened at such a busy time for both my wife and I. Thankfully the phone was returned. It sure beats having to file a claim with the insurance and all the waiting and other hassles that come with it.
glad you got your phone back. I agree too with the earlier post that shop owners cannot really predict how an employee will react given such circumstances.
I, for one would have probably just let it be... a lost phone. But my wife thought otherwise. While I was talking to her and trying to calm her down and convince her to let it go... all of a sudden the line went dead. That's when she decided to go up to security to not only file a complaint but also to attempt to get her phone back. Next call I got was from her Globe, I thought the thief was calling me and I was surprised to hear my wife's voice on the other end saying that she got her phone back. She is quite feisty about these things.
I agree as well. No one really can predict these things. What they do after knowing about such an incident is another story altogether. Things are just things. We lose them all the time and we can replace them easily. Trust and the feeling of security is another matter.
