Bye, $3000 - The Infamous Story of "The Laptop to Mexico" Had a Nightmare Ending Today

Hey everyone, Slothyy here with the Infamous Laptop to Mexico story - with a pretty shitty twist today.

Just wanted to drop a line and let everyone in @GamersUnited, plus others, what was currently going on today/earlier last night.

The famous "Laptop to Mexico" (story most @Minnowsupport group Discord Deepend members know about - i.e. @soundwavesphoton, @discordiant, etc - ) was stolen today while I was at a coffee shop.

I am normally extremely cautious - I always have someone I trust to watch my stuff, or always have it packed up in my backpack, even if it is a pain in the ass to set up everything over and over.

And my laptop is always with me 24/7 - I travel 80% of the year and it's pretty much the only materialistic item of value I have in my possession.

I guard this thing with my life 99% of the time, and trust my close friends 1% of the time with it, because, without it, I can't work - designing for my clients, building Steemit and Gamers United, keeping up with my marketing gigs, etc.

It's literally my lifeline.

And sadly today someone had to steal it.

I had a Razer Blade gaming laptop that I just received only a few weeks ago - it was $1499 + tax + shipping in the US.

Since I'm in Mexico, they wouldn't ship to me here, only to my Mom's address in the US.

2-day express shipping with full insurance set me back I think $486 - but I figured that for work and being able to provide better streams, it was worth it.

I couldn't buy one locally - didn't have the cash on me. I had set aside some funds with my mom back home and a few cards on my person, plus a little bit of sock money (just in case) with enough money for my basic essentials - it helps me stay budgeted (not my first time traveling, and it's easier than you think to lose focus and start blowing money when you're playing the geoarbitrage game).

So I had my mom buy it and have it shipped to her - then ship it to me with a bunch of letters I had received (new debit cards, bank statements, some old medical bills, etc).

Then here comes the fucking kicker - Mexico holds my package in custom for 5-6 days (I have the exact details/shipping info/dates, so I can upload if people want).

Then no response from Customs for days. I'm frantically calling UPS USA and Mexico every single day inquiring what's going on.

Finally, my mom gets a phone call (her number was on the package) saying that Mexican customs was going to "clear it" for delivery - after I paid 6300+ pesos in "import tax". She immediately calls me and tells me the news.

WTF?!? Their website said things like computer and such were exempt from these "tariffs". Bullshit. But fine. I go and pay them a day or so later - having to borrow the money since I had already hocked up everything I had for the laptop and horrible shipping costs.

Then it gets even worse - UPS MX themselves decide to start playing games. Changing delivery dates, locations of the package, etc. I call them, have a friend translate for me (my Spanish was horrendous at the time) and figure out that they need me to email this guy to pay the Tariffs to customs and them. Plus there's a daily "storage fee" (about $4 a day if I remember correctly).

So I email this random person with an official @ups.com email address and begin conversing - desperately asking what needed to happen so I could get this damn laptop to me.

I'm told to go to X bank, pay the 6300+ pesos in cash, and then send a copy of the receipt to them. Along with signing this paperwork stating my address and other info. So fine - I handle it all.

Then these pendejos start delaying their email response times to me - or directing me to other emails/phones to call, where I'd once again be given the runaround.

Then I'm told over the phone a few days in that I needed to pay a "delivery fee" of an extra 2000 pesos, to the delivery driver in cash, or else he would not scan and give me the package.

Obviously, at his point, I'm fucking furious and about to smash everything in sight - my $1500 laptop was quickly turning into a $3000 laptop.

I agree to this bullshit because I was not going to lose all that money for nothing. And I honestly thought that they'd be scumbags and still steal it (i've been told of stories after providing passport copies/info/etc -that they keep this info then use it to "verify" deliveries here then keep the packages for themselves).

Then radio silence for another day or so.

I call them back, email them nonstop, everything - I finally get another male stating that because of an increase in their rates, I now needed to pay $3927 pesos in total upon delivery, or else the driver would return it to the Cancun UPS hub and keep it there (it's 1 hour north of where I'm currently at - Playa del Carmen)!

I mean, if you think I'm kidding or joking, look at this chart and see just how many extortions there were ALONE in MEXICO in 2012. How high is that number today, which I'm now going to be a part of that statistic?

(BTW - this was posted by the Yale journal, the source link can be found here

I'm crushed. Completely extorted by Mexico and feeling completely defeated - I scramble and take out a Neoxian loan. I really didn't have any other options then.

So I agree - I went in balls deep on this one because I refused to lose it.

The driver finally shows up after weeks of having that excited feeling of receiving a new toy to help improve the output and quality of my work and the pace at which I could do so.

I pay him the pesos - he leaves. Yay, a victory - bittersweet as fuck but OK, fine.

All's well for a few weeks...then today comes. And my favorite backpack with my journals/notes/laptop (completely encrypted and nothing locally stored so data-wise it's fine) - along with my sole source of income generation while traveling just vanished.

Some pendejo ran in and jacked my brand new Razer Blade, my gaming headset AND my mouse, along with my backpack (1 of 2 backpacks and half of my possessions I own) - snatch, grab and run. I've frequented this cafe' many times and made friends with the workers - they always were happy to just peek an eye on my stuff while I used the restroom quickly.

I had to borrow $45 today to buy a craptop (some Asus netbook 2nd hand with 2GB RAM and an Intel Celeron processor....it's painful just to even type this out. 1 other browser tab open and SO FREAKING SLOW - and I've been in IT a long time so I know how to optimize a machine.

---

I'm going to figure out a solution to this - because I won't be defeated. This financially just blew me apart - but it didn't kill me and only angered me more, which I'm going to funnel into time and energy focusing on the creation of great content and website designs, and learning to code Javascript, while still growing Steemit - just pretty much text-based posts for a while :/

Yes, I did have the Cafe' review their cameras, and apparently I was sitting near a blind spot next to the front entrance/window, where I could be seen but not my laptop/backpack while sitting at the table. We also did see a skinny, tall, Mexican fellow quickly run in and run out with my shit, in less than 10 seconds - wasn't using my charger at that point so it was so easy to grab and go.

I'm trying to get the Cafe' to release a copy of the video to me, and I did contact the police, so I'm hoping something comes of this.

Dunno what else to say. This fucking sucks. Blah.

---

Either way - that's tonights rant. What a shitty day.

Sad Slothyy out. Not even doing a recruitment footer today.