<p>I would be much more upset about a stranger coming in to the room than about the laptop being stolen!</p>
<p>But please check with your parents…many homeowner’s insurance policies cover theft from dorm rooms. However, whether it will be useful to you may depend on the deductible, if one applies.</p>
<p>Yeah, we are pretty sure it was an “African American male about 20 years of age” who came in because my roommate said that same night while in the lounge she saw this guy walking around “looking” for some girl named Constance, probably a cover up for his lurking. Could I bring up the point that even though my roommate noticed this suspicious man and knew our door was unlocked she failed to notify or check up on me which led to the theft?</p>
<p>Our deductible is way too high and would not cover the laptop.</p>
<p>meghanmcgraw…There are lots of points you can bring up when discussing potentially changing roommates, but none of them have any bearing on responsibility for replacing the laptop.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the only question that matters when it comes to the liability issue is this: Who left the door to your room unlocked?</p>
<p>Regardless of what the reason is, you chose to leave your door unlocked. If might be different if you were gone somewhere and your roommate left the door unlocked, but that’s not the case. I’m sorry your laptop got stolen, but you made a poor choice and unfortunately you’re going to have to live with it and learn from it.</p>
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<p>This. Exactly this. </p>
<p>It’s what I said, but much nicer :)</p>
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<p>Seriously? THAT’S your proof?</p>
<p>That is all that any of my floor mates and roommate thought that could have been the case. There were several girls out in the lounge that night and none of them knew him and he was with no one.</p>
<p>And I’m transferring next semester anyway so the switching of roomates isn’t a big deal. I asked for people’s opinions on the subject, which is what I got from some people. I did not ask for harsh judgement, just wanted to know if my thoughts were at all justifiable.</p>
<p>^ Alright, then saying this completely without judgement: No, you thoughts are not at all justifiable. Your roommate does not owe you anything because you are the one who left the door unlocked, and the fact that you did this for her convenience effectively means nothing.</p>
<p>Pretty alarming that so many people saw a strange guy acting suspicious and no one notified the RA or security. But that doesn’t mean that all the women involved should help pick up the tab. Expensive lesson learned: always lock your door if you are out or asleep. I would be thoroughly p’d off at the roommate- how much effort does it take to pocket a key, but not expecting her to pay for the lap top.</p>
<p>For the next laptop, invest in Lojack or some other laptop theft recovery. Prey is another good one that I have on both my laptop and phone, and it’s free. It connects to the internet and tells you where your laptop is and can take a picture of the person using it after you sent out an alarm. A lot of stolen laptops have been recovered that way. Just make sure you have your BIOS pass-protected and not set to boot from USB or disk so it’s harder for the thief to reformat it. Also, have a dummy guest account that’s unlocked for him to log into.</p>
<p>You left the door unlocked. This action allowed an unknown person to enter your room and steal your laptop. Thus, it’s your problem. Be thankful the only thing this guy did was steal a laptop. You put yourself in a position where you easily could have been assaulted. </p>
<p>Example: You leave your car doors unlocked. Someone unknown to you opens the car door and steals your ipod which was left in the center console. Would you ask your roommate to give you money towards buying a new one? The answer is, NO.</p>
<p>Next time, lock your door. If your roommate has issues with her key, tough. It’s her problem. Keep your darned door locked when you’re sleeping and when you leave the room.</p>
<p>From a parents POV whose son’s rm lost/forgot/never carried keys so their first year dorm room was left unlocked unless it was a holiday and they were gone…</p>
<p>Despite a strong single sanction honor code and a very low incidence of theft it never sat well with me. We loved his rm, but this was just a lot of risk in our opinion. We made it clear to our son that it was between he and his rm but if anything was taken, specifically his very expensive laptop for e’school it was squarely on his shoulders. We would never hold his rm responsible and ask him to help pay! They are adults and worked it out themselves. If our son wanted a different arrangement he was capable of working that out. </p>
<p>Ironically the apartment they share this year has a door that automatically shuts and locks behind them, although the bedroom door is never locked. His rm lost his keys by mid Sept. He simply has to wait for someone else to let him in. Oddly, he’s exceptionally successful in his studies, campus activities, etc. he just can’t hang onto a key. </p>
<p>I agree with those that are trying to say this is a learning lesson. It’s not your rm’s responsibility. You made the choice to continue to accommodate her. You were perfectly able to tell her you would be keeping the door locked and she’d need her key. It’s always good to have a roommate agreement and have expectations like this in writing from the start.</p>
<p>How do you know it was a “man” if you were asleep? Was he seen by others? Did you file a report?</p>
<p>I explain how I knew it was a man in an earlier post. Seen by others. Yes, I filed a report and campus safety over here as done nothing to catch the thief. We have to scan in to even get in the building and onto each floor, so to me it could be simple to see who scanned in or was checked in as a guest. But the other case could be that somehow he got past the front desk and got someone to scan him on to our floor.</p>
<p>Was it your roommate’s fault? Yes, she is partly to blame. But that doesn’t mean she’s responsible for replacing it, since you made the decision to keep the door unlocked. Just keep it locked in the future and tell her to put up or shut up.</p>
<p>I know she should not replace the whole thing, just maybe throw in a little contribution. I am thinking I could get a cheaper used Macbook or Macbook Pro from craigslist (there are ones going for $500-600) and have her pay for at least half. Is this fair? Also, last night when she came in the room to go to bed, she still failed to lock the fricken door, so I had to get out of bed and lock it myself.</p>
<p>Also, I am going to recommened to my RA they put something about stolen items in the roommate contract. With that, I could be focusing on school work right now rather than worrying about asking her to pay a bit.</p>
<p>Don’t ask her to contribute anything. </p>
<p>As I said before, it’s your fault because you are the one who failed to lock the door. Yes, you did it to be nice to her, but, as you are an adult, you need to take responsibility for your actions. And in this case, the action you decide to take was to go to bed, with the door unlocked which led to a man being able to get into your room while you were sleeping. If you had locked the door, this would not have happened, therefore, the responsibility of paying for your loss fall on you.</p>
<p>It would be different if you were out, and your roommate failed to lock the door because that’s something you have no control over. But you consciously chose to leave the door unlocked, so I’m sorry, it sucks that your laptop was stolen, but it’s your fault, and your problem, not your roommate’s.</p>
<p>Also, as I said before, if I were your roommate and you asked me to help you pay for a new laptop, I would be offended. And if you asked me to pay for half, I would be appalled.</p>
<p>I assume you reported this theft to the local police… if you haven’t, you should do so. Not just campus police. It won’t get your money back, but it does create a record of the criminal activity so if they ever catch the person who did it, they have a better chance of prosecuting them. Also provides a trail of crime on campus that could be useful to other potential students to see…</p>
<p>SDRL, you have stated your opinion several times… repeating yourself does not add to helping the OP think this through.</p>