Anyone travelling from London to US anytime soon?

[Kevin]

We just returned from a two-week vacation in Europe. Our daughter lost her Galaxy Tab 2 on the British Airways jet while en-route to London. We got a message from Heathrow airport a few days later that they found her tablet and a few other things but between scheduled tours and leaving for Paris in a few days we figured we'd try to pick it up during a layover on the way back (Munich -> Heathrow -> Chicago).

Unfortunately we didn't have time during the short layover at Heathrow so I looked into having it mailed to us here in the States but all said and done it would cost us just under $200 U.S. which is more than it is worth.

I was wondering if by any chance anyone is planning on travelling from the London area to the U.S. anytime soon? I can have it mailed to any address in the U.K. - that doesn't cost too much, but it is the shipping to the States that is crazy high. My thought was that if I could get it to anywhere in the continental U.S. then it shouldn't cost too much to then ship it to our house in Indiana.

I would pay any shipping costs, obviously.

Just putting this out there in a last attempt at trying to get it back. I tried to remotely wipe it but can't because it needs to be set up to allow this before it gets lost. Too late for that.

 

[sorex]

Does it really cost that much to ship or did they add $100+ administrative costs or something?

There are several UK members here, that's not the issue I guess.

 

[Kevin]

There is an administrative fee of £20.00 and the rest is shipping. They only use DHL. I looked into shipping it to a UK address (such as the B&B where we stayed) then shipping to the States using various different carriers but it was all pretty much in the $150-$200 range. This would include the admin fee, shipping to UK address, then shipping to the States.

 

[barx]

This is something I always struggle to understand. postage from UK to US = $100 +. Yet I can buy something from china / HK off ebay for a little over $2 and in that they have money for the product, profit AND shipping to UK. How on earth does that work??????

 

[charlesg]

Not going to US but may be able to help. Currently, I have to take someone to Heathrow on Tuesday so may be able to collect. Royal Mail do an international Tracked and signed small parcel service (l+w+h < 90cm and 2kg max) for £25.75. Cheapest courier is £55 including tax but allows bigger volume and weight. As a matter of interest I have just paid USD66 for similar size from Hong Kong to UK by courier.

 

[sorex]

indeed Kevin , DHL is fast but does it matter if it takes 3+ weeks? It will be way cheaper with good old fashioned tracked snail mail as Charles proposed.

 

[sorex]

@barx : I love it to buy a led bulb for 0.70 euros with p&p and everything included from China/Japan and still a lot cheaper than what it costs overhere

I guess they just have a monthly fee agreement with the post. 200 packages/month = $100 or so.

that's what they have in europe aswell, sometimes you buy 3 things and it compes as 2 or 3 parcels. When it arrived broken (DOA) they pick it up gro free and send another one for free.

 

[KMatle]

Stranger -> Item -> Plane -> USA ->

 

[Kevin]

I hadn't thought about Royal Mail. With that option I suppose it is looking more like $50-$60 US plus a bit more to pay the person for their troubles. Definitely more tempting, but I can't quite decide. My wife ended up ordering a Tab 4 from Amazon the other day for $150 - I guess they had a one-day deal on a bunch of items.

I guess what it comes down to is whether or not it is worth $50-$75 to me, and I'm just not sure. Honestly I had finally reached the point of being okay with having to abandon it after looking at the original cost to get it back. My only real concern is that of privacy. It belongs to my 10 year old daughter and I would really like to have it wiped. I don't know what the airport does with unclaimed items - perhaps auctions them off or employees take them home?

How about this: Does anyone living in the London area want a great deal on a 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab 2?

1. Only if you are serious and willing to go to Heathrow lost & found and pay the £20.00 fee to claim it.
2. I will provide Heathrow with your name and info so that you can pick it up "on my behalf" (they have already told me I can do this).
3. I will forward to you all of my correspondence with Heathrow as proof that this is all legit. I will also forward their acknowledgement that someone else will be picking it up on my behalf to ensure that you will not have problems claiming it.
4. Once retrieved, I would ask that you get it connected to WiFi so I can complete the wiping process so that I can know that it has been wiped clean of any personal information.
5. For this, the tablet is yours. Note that you would need to supply a charging cable for it. They are relatively cheap, but unfortunately are not a standard micro USB like many phones and tablets use. It is a special Samsung cable used by the Tab 2 (and possibly other Samsung tablet models).

Anyone interested?

 

[Beja]

Keven,
For how long will they hold it.. I have a great deal for you.
This October I have one stop at Heathrow en route to China.. then another month in China before coming back to US.
How about that?

 

[Kevin]

They hold it for 3 months which would be around September 28th.

 

[fixit30]

Hi Kevin.

I live only 1/2hr away from Heathrow and can go and pick it up for you if you decide to go down that route.

 

[Kevin]

Let me think about how badly I want it back. I think at this time I might want to see if anyone would be interested in obtaining an extra test device for £20.00 and a little spare time. If it weren't for the fact that I don't know what they do with the lost property when unclaimed, I would probably just do nothing. They say that they "dispose of it", but if it may end up in the hands of a stranger, I'd rather it be a stranger that I somewhat (but not really) know through an Android programming forum.

 

[charlesg]

I don't really need a tablet but am happy to do as you request for £20 as I will be at terminal 3 Tuesday p.m. There are 2 lost property offices: one at terminal 3 and one at terminal 5. I assume as you flew BA that you are dealing with terminal 5. Ask them if there is any chance of transferring the tablet from 5 to 3 by tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Kevin]

fixit30 has offered to do this in a PM yesterday, so it looks like I have found a new owner for it.