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Lost in a Taxi
updated: Oct 29, 2012, 9:03 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

Ugh, I left my wallet and phone in a taxi on Saturday night. Does anyone have any similar experiences that could provide some hope to my situation? Any suggestions of what to do to get my stuff back? I can't remember the cab company, just that it was an older van and was a darker color.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 336632P	2012-10-29 10:17 AM
There can't be that many cab companies in this town. Call around & ask. Hopefully if the driver found it, he'll be honest & get it back to you. On the other hand, if a bunch of tanked college kids were in the cab after you, you may be out of luck. Keep us posted either way.
COMMENT 336639	2012-10-29 10:24 AM
Yea, only hope is to call the cab company and pray.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-29 10:27 AM
No, your other hope is that the cabbie isn't a jerk, and will use your phone or wallet to get in touch with you.
COMMENT 336645	2012-10-29 10:34 AM
There are alot of cab companies in SB sadly because they aren't regulated so they just spring up.
COMMENT 336648	2012-10-29 10:35 AM
I assume you've tried calling your cell & left texts on how to reach you to return the phone (and a reward offered doesn't hurt your chances either), and if you haven't, do that now. If whoever has your phone doesn't get in contact with you, it's gone. Make sure you cancel your credit cards NOW - regardless of whether you get your phone & wallet back, they were out of your control, and who knows who's seen your credit card numbers in the last 2 days. And there are a TON of cab companies in town. But nothing wrong with opening the yellow pages & getting started...
COMMENT 336659	2012-10-29 10:48 AM
I was leaving Santa Claus beach a couple summers ago and saw a wallet in the middle of the road. Picked it up and delivered it to the address in the San Roque area. People were ecstatic but that's about it, no offer of reward or anything... not that I expected one, but man, if someone found my wallet and delivered it to my doorstep I'd at least offer something for their time/effort/etc. That said, we did get the warm fuzzies for doing the right thing and I'm sure we got some karma back... lol.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-29 11:07 AM
645: Cab companies ARE regulated in SB.
COMMENT 336676	2012-10-29 11:09 AM
Yes, I am calling my phone every 15 minutes, but it has yet to ring, goes straight to voicemail. I've texted and offered nearly everything besides my first born child for a safe return. I went downtown to stare at cabs to jog my memory and called a few companies to no avail.I'm going to spend my lunch hour just hitting up all the taxi companies. I understand my chances are slim, but thought if anyone has had any luck with similar situations, I would throw it out on edhat.
COMMENT 336681	2012-10-29 11:19 AM
Left my wallet in an SB cab some years ago. The driver called me the next morning and delivered it to my place of work.
COMMENT 336691	2012-10-29 11:29 AM
Did the same thing in Vegas a few years ago. Never saw either again.
COMMENT 336707	2012-10-29 11:57 AM
My sister has done that before, more than once, I believe. I do remember that a cab drive contacted my parents (info available in her purse) and they told the cab drive where she lived and delivered it to her - hoping for a reward! Good Luck!
COMMENT 336737	2012-10-29 12:42 PM
Left my phone in a cab about a month ago, the cab driver said nothing found and wasn't very nice about it. I'm sure mines on ebay by now. There are good cabs in town and some not so good. I'll stick with using Lucky from now on.
COMMENT 336768	2012-10-29 01:17 PM
If you do find which cab it was in, make sure to tip the driver. Especially if they deliver it to you. It is basically another cab ride for them, and unpaid if you do not tip them. Also if the driver says they did not find it, it is unfair to assume they are thieves and are currently selling your phone on ebay. The more likely scenario is that the next customer, possibly more intoxicated than you were, picked up the phone on accident and woke up the next morning not knowing how they have 2 phones instead of one.
CALI4NIADEE	2012-10-29 02:20 PM
I found a wallet and phone in a cab in Chicago and called the number for "home" and got the owners wife. Turned out the owner was staying at the same hotel I was. I left his phone and wallet with the concierge along with my business card. A week later, I got a huge bouquet of flowers delivered to my office from the very nice owner of the wallet and phone as a thank-you for returning them. There's good people out there, I hope one found your wallet and phone.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-29 02:31 PM
768: OP didn't say they were intoxicated. I guess you assumed that nobody could lose anything unless they're wasted?
AMARA	2012-10-29 03:31 PM
My sympathies, OP. I recently left my Filofax behind at Smart & Final and didn't realize it for several hours. When I called in a panic later, they said it was in their safe. The (wonderful) woman threw in a small lecture, which I didn't mind, telling me that I should have a phone number in there so they could have called. I plan to pick it up tomorrow. One good hint that was given to me years ago was to photocopy everything (copy the front and back of your debit, credit, and other cards as well) in your wallet and keep that at home. If you really do lose it you have all the information at hand to allow you to quickly notify every company. Good luck. I do hope you get it back.
COMMENT 336842P	2012-10-29 03:40 PM
I've experienced both sides of the loser, finder, but not in cabs. I had someone find my wallet & call me, and when I found a DL in front of an ATM I looked up the phone # & returned it. It should be routine. SBPD denies taxi permits constantly, based on moving violations, mechanical issues, etc. See SB Fire & Police Commission agendas.
COMMENT 336843P	2012-10-29 03:50 PM
Some phones have GPS tracking devices in them. Is this a possibility? I have had friends who have traced and found theirs that way. Good luck!
NATURE BOY	2012-10-29 04:08 PM
I found a wallet in the middle of the street on Saturday night. Returned it to the owner on Sunday afternoon. Today I found a $140 scuba fin on the beach. Put ads on Craig's List and here on EdHat to see if i can find its owner and go two-for-two in the Karma Department.
COMMENT 336882	2012-10-29 05:35 PM
There are about 75 cab companies in Santa Barbara. Sadly, they are NOT regulated very well. Your best bet is too call the Santa Barbara Police Department and ask for a list of all the cab company phone numbers. (Most of the cab companies in town are not listed in the phone book or on the Internet.)
COMMENT 336896P	2012-10-29 06:52 PM
Get an iPhone as it comes with the awesome "Find my Phone" app that allows you to log onto any computer anywhere on the planet & see where your phone is. Now, this is all assuming it has some life left in it. So, pro tip here, if you're going to be out & about and there's an outside chance you could lose it, e.g. not in your own vehicle or a friend's, make sure it's fully charged before you leave home.
COMMENT 336919	2012-10-29 07:52 PM
You're out of luck. An honest "finder" would have contacted you. Go into damage control mode.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-29 09:05 PM
The "Find my iPhone" app can be disabled by a thief. There are so many possibilities for a thief to still be able to use a stolen iPhone. Not assuming the the OP's phone was an iPhone, but i didn't want iPhone users here to feel complacent. Password-unlock protection is the best way to protect a phone from being used by a thief, but then they'd probably just get frustrated and throw it into a dumpster. So, sadly, if a phone gets deliberately stolen, the owner is usually out of luck.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-29 09:13 PM
And to the OP, if you haven't heard from someone trying to return your wallet & phone to you yet, then it's likely that whoever jumped into that cab after you jumped out, found them and pocketed them. Took the cash out of your wallet, ditched the rest in a dumpster; investigated your cell phone to see if they could crack it, dumped it if they couldn't, cracked it if they could, or maybe hung on to it to keep trying. Contact your cell provider and ask them if they are able to track whether someone else is applying for service on your phone hardware. They have the serial number, they should be able to tell; seems in this day & age that would be easy. If not, what the hell do we pay those "providers" for?
COMMENT 336995	2012-10-30 07:49 AM
336691 - what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas
GOODLAND MOMMA	2012-10-30 12:14 PM
I left my wallet in a cab in NYC one year. We called the cab company afterwards and they hadn't found it, so we filed a police report so that I would be able to get on the plane back home without ID and canceled my credit cards and debit card. The real bummer was that it was the beginning of our trip - the cab ride was from the airport into the city - and I had $200 cash in there "just in case". We had new credit cards fed-exed to us and the rest of the trip went well - although I couldn't shake the sinking feeling in my stomach that someone would have just taken my wallet. Then, when we got home two weeks later, there was a fed-ex package on our doorstep from NY and it was my wallet! Including all of the cash! I couldn't believe it!! I wanted to send the person a nice gift certificate to a restaurant in NY , but the envelope had weathered sitting outside for so long and I couldn't make out the name or address of the sender. I called Fed Ex and they wouldn't release it to me. She said they had a phone number so she would call the sender and let them know I wanted to get a hold of them - but I never heard back. I hope that person got lots of good karma for that!

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