Find My Iphone - A Tale of Cellular Angst and Redemption

On Tuesday I decided to go on a quick run to start my day right.  It's important to me to have a basic idea of where I live and since my run the week before went so well I was excited to go.  As I gathered my items - music, headphones, keys, building key fob, I was getting loaded with lots of items.  I thought about leaving my cell phone because I had a lot of stuff to carry, but decided it would be foolish to venture out without some way of communicating.  

About my phone 

My phone was a brand new (1 week old) 64GB Iphone 5s.  It was very expensive to buy - no trade in, no contract.  Before we left the US, Stan decided I should get an unlocked US phone to use here to avoid hassle and the even greater expense of buying one here.  The phone is a lifeline to safety here so you want to do it right. The 64 GB was not our original intention - that's a lot of memory, but there weren't any smaller ones available for pick up before we moved.  We got the phone the day before we left to China.  Because it was new and putting music on there hadn't been my priority, I hadn't moved any there so I was using my old iphone for my music. Thus, when I left on my run I had two Iphones with me.

I left the house with all the listed items and my new phone.  I had a sweatshirt on where I tucked the phones and basically stuffed the rest in my bra.  I got about a half mile from home and did a check seeing everything was with me and intact. By the time I went two more blocks I had a feeling to check again and the new phone was gone! Shock, horror, and panic set in. I immediately started praying vocally as I began retracing my steps.  I was on a wide open sidewalk and had run basically in the middle of the sidewalk the whole way. My phone was in a bright blue case and would be easily spotted.  I knew it had to be within that two blocks because I had just looked at it.  I searched frantically, looking into the faces of those I passed who had been right there in the road, hoping someone would understand what was happening and help - point, gesture, something. I could hear Eddie Murphy in my head...

 

I had to keep it together! I ran up and down my path 4 times - nothing.  I remembered that I had the Find My Iphone feature on. If I could find some public wifi I could use my old phone to find my new phone.  I looked around, but I was in "real" China and not in a heavy tourist area with internet cafes.  About a block away was a Bank of China - maybe they'd have wifi.  Would I be able to convey to them what I needed?  The other direction I could see my apartment in the distance- there was wifi there, but if i ran all the way back and my phone was near - would I miss the chance to grab it because of the time to get there.  I prayed more.  Where I lost the phone was by a subway entrance. I could just imagine watching my phone move on down the "Find My Iphone" map as I sat in my apartment helpless. At this point the tears began to flow.  I decided heading home was my only real option.

What would I do? What would I tell Stan? Would he lecture me? Think I'm an idiot? It was so expensive. How would I replace it? When could I replace it? Could I replace it? To make things worse, Stan wasn't even in town for the next two days. We have no home phone.  How would I manage getting around in China with my boys without a phone - without knowing the language? We only had one phrase book and Stan had it with him. I knew I could reach Stan over wi-fi on messenger. So I'd have to start there.

When I got home I asked Ahwa to take the boys down to the playground so I could gather myself and figure out next steps.  TGFA - Thank God for Ahwa (my sister Gena coined the acronym). They left and I hopped on the computer to Find My Iphone. For some reason all the phone/devices I had could be found, but the best it could do for my new phone was tell me where it had been the night before (not sure why that is).  I felt doomed.  The next best thing was to put on the lost phone lock through the program, leave a message saying "this phone is lost, please call (insert Stan's cell #)" on the phone (assuming whoever took it could speak/read English and would call instead of thinking they just won the lottery?) and lock the phone so that it would automatically erase all the data if/when someone tried to connect i to wifi.

I sent Stan a message about what happened.  He said we needed to immediately deactivate the sim card and that his office would handle that.  I knew he was disappointed/concerned. I took a shower and decided all I could do now was try to move forward. Chances were slim to none that I would get my phone back. I decided to put on my brave face, try to forgive myself - after all it was an accident and I really was trying to be responsible when it happened.

Honestly the next few days had a dark cloud over them.  To make matters worse I had a horrible toothache (details on another blog post), and had to see a dentist soon.  I now couldn't call to make an appointment since I had no phone - boo.  I knew I had to do my best though to keep my emotionally, mentally and physically (jet lag) depleted self together.

One thing that helped in those dark days was Facebook.  What a great place to get advice and some support.  Two of the best pieces of advice were - use Skype through wifi to make calls and check to see if I had some type of purchase protection insurance through my credit card company.  I also checked and found out that I could get a full refund on my Applecare contract and Square Trade warranties I had purchased. A little good news.

As I checked more into the Visa insurance - sure enough if I filed the right paperwork they would reimburse up to $500 - not the full cost of the phone, but still $500.  The right paperwork included a police report saying the phone was lost/stolen within 48 hours.  By the time I got to this information about 30 hours had passed. 

Next challenge - how do I get a police report?  I called Visa and explained to them that I was in China and didn't know how to get the report, wasn't sure if they'd understand what I was talking about and had not actually seen anyone pick up my phone to give a description.  They said a police report was  mandatory for them to do the work.  I told them the report may not even be in English if I did get it. They said as long as I had a case number and way for them to investigate it should be ok.  I talked to Stan and he said he'd have his office manager find out what I had to do - she speaks some English. 

The plan was set - in the morning when Ahwa got in, the office manager would call her and explain what happened (since I couldn't explain to her).  Ahwa would then take the boys and I to the police station to file the report in a taxi (again Stan and the office vans were out of the area).  Again TGFA. We had to walk a little ways to find a taxi and weren't having success.  There are cars outside our apartment with guys offering to take you places, but you just don't know if they are legit.  I trusted that she could figure out who to trust and get us there. We arrived at the police station and she began explaining the situation to them.  The two officers talked back and forth shaking their heads. Ahwa then called the office manager, then handed the phone to me.  The officers had told Ahwa it had been a long long time (1 day) since the incident so they didn't know that they could believe me - did I really lose a phone or was I just making it up? Unbelievable (no pun intended). I was frustrated and told the office manager to tell them I lost it today if that was the case. She said they had security cams in the area and would know it wasn't true.  Boo.  

Kenney and Ahwa waiting outside the police station

 Waiting for a taxi that was never to come

 The "long" walk home after a police station fail

To add insult to injury when we got this news and tried to head home there were no taxis to be found.  We walked the two miles home - carrying the tired boys much of the way. TGFA.

I had resigned that it was over.  I just needed to let it go.  I messaged Stan and he said he was coming back into town at lunch time and we should meet at the pub downstairs for lunch. When he got there he said that the office manager had some connection in the police station that said they would let me file a report if we went back that afternoon.  She would accompany me to get it filed. I was cautiously optimistic, but completely spent.  I didn't think it would be that simple. 

 In the afternoon we met at the same police station. Sure enough she was able to get them to file the report.  I signed a few papers and had a document in hand. The document was completely in Chinese mind you so I wasn't sure what Visa would do with it, but it had a case number and a phone number.

The phone was lost Tuesday and it was now Friday afternoon. I planned to file the claim over the weekend.  It wasn't completely over yet since my police report was technically not within Visa's 48 hour window, but I hoped due to the extenuating circumstances they would work with me. 

Fast forward to Sunday night.  I was on the computer in the dining room when Stan's charging phone next to me started ringing. I ran the phone back to Stan to answer as it looked like he had missed a few calls. I then went to help the boys go to sleep. I could hear Stan vaguely talking about meeting someone...

The call was from a Chinese girl named Kiki.  She lives about a mile from our place.  She said on Tuesday she was walking in front of the subway station and saw what she thought was a toy phone on the ground.  She picked it up and was shocked that it was a real phone.  She held on to the phone thinking someone would call it and she could let them know she had it.  When 5 days with no calls had passed, she decided to see if she could unlock the password protected phone.  At the shop when they went to do the unlock,  the message from Find My Iphone saying the phone was lost with Stan's number came up.  She had our phone number now and called Stan to tell us.  A miracle!  The phone was in perfect condition and she refused any reward we offered. 

So now I have my phone back. God bless Kiki and her honesty.  What a whirlwind.  I've been trying to see the positives I could take from this.  This is what I came up with:

• A reminder that God does hear and answer prayers - not always in the time or way we think, but he doesn't leave us - don't lose faith
• Renewed faith that there are good honest people in the world - we would have been none the wiser if Kiki had kept the phone and it was something many people here couldn't afford.
•  More gratitude for Ahwa and her willingness to fully invest in helping this crazy non-chinese speaking American lady and her kids
• Reminder that I have good smart friends around the world who can support me from afar and are a resource
• New knowledge of Skype and what Purchase Protection with Visa is  - before I thought it was just to cancel fraudulent charges
• Appreciation for a husband who worked with me through this although it wasn't convenient for him either.  His main concern was our safety and less about the cost
• Gratitude for the resourcefulness of the office manager to try to find a way despite the somewhat unpredictable red tape of the country
• Thankful for the Find My Iphone App - without it this would not have been possible and for the ICloud - even though my phone was gone, I still had all my information