Imagine that you live on the west coast and you travel to a large east coast city - let’s
say Boston, Massachusetts. After arriving in Boston you’re traveling between the airport and
your hotel when you’re mugged and your luggage and wallet are taken. Of course you call the
police but after the police have come, interviewed you and left, then what? You look in
your pockets and find only thirty seven cents and a paper clip. Your nearest relative
or friend you can call on is over a thousand miles away in Omaha, Nebraska. What do
you do?
Fortunately, I don’t need an answer fast but I’m thinking of taking a long trip one of
these days and wondered what one would do in this sort of situation.
The police would most likely at least lend you a phone for a quick call to your relatives so they can wire you some money.
Also, armed with an internet connection there’s very little I can’t do. I think the police would let me access a terminal, and I think my hotel would also. I could pay my hotel by paypal if they’ll take it. I could find my c/c details and pay for a room that way. I can email relatives, friends etc.
Also, I would go to my bank and explain the situation. They can identify me through my bank account number and I can prove my indentity by entering my PIN. They would advance me funds I think.
You could try to contact the American Red Cross for help, or perhaps a faith based charity. The Red Cross has programs to help stranded people, but depending how switched on the local chapter is, the help might not be all that helpful. I imagine that local police departments have resources to help people in that situation, but again it will depend on how motivated they are to care.
As mentioned, your best bet is to get on the phone and find someone who cares about you enough to try to help. Your biggest problem is going to be that you’ve lost your ID, so even if your bank has a branch in the city, it’s going to be tough to access your accounts.
Over here in the UK, you go to a local bank, explain the situation, ring your bank from there, they will confirm your identity - you likely have a PIN and direct debits they can check - and you can then withdraw some money. You’ll need to ring them anyway because your cards have been stolen.
In 1982, traveling from Houston to the North Sea oil fields, I arrived in Aberdeen but none of my luggage did. Back then there were no cellphones, and I had no credit card due to the horrific interest rates and credit crackdown (US recession). I had to fund my entire 6 month stay each season by secreting traveler’s checks (TCs) among my luggage. All I had was a few packs of cigs and about a hundred USD in traveler’s checks. I did have the receipt for the TCs in my wallet though.
I had a limited time to catch a bus to Peterhead (real name) and thence a boat. In my case I exchanged some of the traveler’s checks for UK currency at an airport kiosk and called the company office from a pay phone. I ended up buying a bus ticket to Peterhead and arriving late on a February night. I went to a bar near the harbor and ended up drinking with the bartender after close. He agreed to put me up for the night, as he also managed the adjacent hotel. The company contacted him the next morning (before I had to pay) and arranged compensation.
Still with nothing other than my clothes, I boarded the boat for a 3 day trip to the vessel. The company provided cold-weather gear for me since we were near the Arctic circle (some of mine was in my bag). About 3 days on board, a helicopter arrived, dropped my bag on the helideck and zoomed off. All my stuff, including the money (TCs) was intact. The company had continued the search thru the airline, and flew it out when found.
Sorry for long and atypical story, but that’s how it played out for me.
Atypical? I’d say. The moral of the story being that things will work out just fine as long as you have a multinational petroleum company on your side.
It’s also an interesting question what a bank’s security verification procedures are for depositors in emergencies. Asking for money to be withdrawn in a strange city, particularly without identification or through some non-standard use of a PIN, is going to set off fraud alarms. Bear in mind too that the thief may already be using your cards to run up charges flagged as suspicious.
I arrive in Madrid, at the start of a three-week vacation. My luggage didn’t make it, but I was assured it would be sent to my hotel. I went through customs, and stopped at an ATM to get some cash. I put it in my wallet, and put the wallet into a fromt pocket of my shorts, and closed it with a zipper. I then went downstairs to the subway station. I stood near the subway map, trying to figure out which train to take. Then I put my hand into the unzipped and empty pocket. My wallet was gone.
I went to the police station in the airport and filled out a report. Other than that, the police were no help at all. Not even a free phone call. I had exactly 14 cents in my pocket.
But I did have my passport and a printout of my itinerary. So I went to the American Airlines window, and explained my situation to the lady working there. She said the only help she could give me was to get me back home. I agreed, and she gave me my tickets.
I had to sleep in the Madrid airport overnight, then fly to Casablance, where I had to sleep another night, then fly to Caracas, and then to JFK. Then my luggage caught up with me, but my flight from JFK was canceled. So they put me up for the night, which meant I could finally eat a meal and sleep in a bed and change into fresh clothing. The following day I flew home.
Did you contact your credit card companies? They can often do much more to help. They say that they can get you a replacement card expedited as well as cash advance. It may add some to the vacation, but it would be better than writing the whole thing off.
How was I to contact them? I was in a totally new situation, and I thought the only alternative was to go back home. I didn’t even have my luggage and everything I needed for the trip.
This is one of the reasons I’ve continued to carry an American Express Card.
When I lost my wallet en route to Ohio, a phone call and the answer to some security questions meant a new card was at my uncle’s farm the next morning. Had I been overseas, I could have visited one of their local offices to get the process started and get a cash advance in local currency. A hotline called Global Assist supposedly can help me, in various languages, with travel emergencies.
I’m sure various bank cards offer similar customer care. On the other hand, my clueless credit union denied my attempts at ATM withdrawals in Dublin and then called my land line in Chicago to ask if I was in Ireland.
Being mugged would be traumatic, but the financial inconvenience provided you have accounts with banks and credit card companies would enable you to function pretty quickly. My first phone call would be to my broker who has a lot of resources. I wouldn’t surprised at all if they could help me verify who I am to the hotel so I could get a key to my room.
this brings back the worst xmas ive ever had … my grandparents had custody of me but mom would get us for the holidays… and since things were tense over the arrangement we decided ot have xmas at my aunts house in texas
And expensive presents were bought (I spent 50 bucks at the present sale that would go to the schools every year )
And we went on our merry way until we stopped at Nashville after about 12 hours of driving and found a motel 6 next to a gas station we filled the gas tanks and then got an hotel room … we didn’t bring the stuff in except for purse and wallet … grandpa deciding to rest for a bit … about an hour later they went out to get the presents and every thing was gone
turns out we were possibly hit by a theft ring that had people scope out cars at the gas stations around Nashville …luckily grandpa bought the traveler cheques at the credit union and they had them replaced in a few hours… so we just turned around and went home in a rented car …if it wasn’t for my uncle and his gf we wouldn’t of even had dinner on xmas or the checker set we got for a present … moms present came about a week after … but we had to buy new clothes and everything …insurance got us a new car and they found the car stripped in an alley months later …
I don’t like it much when Dopers post a YouTube link as an answer to a OP. Too often they just throw up the link with no explanation. But, the above link is to a 30 second American Express ad with Karl Malden and is quite à propos to the OP.
