We all know someone who has had their gear stolen, lost or damaged but it is rare to hear about a large commercial organization hit by thieves. Those headed to work at LensProToGo Monday morning were surprised to see just that as the company’s Concord, Massachusetts office had been robbed.
An early estimated $500,000 worth of mostly Nikon, Canon and Sony equipment was taken out through a hole made in the drywall and smashed windows. The thieves gained access through a storage closet and then cut through an interior wall into the shipping department. LensProToGo’s Facebook page commented this was likely to avoid motion detectors. Thankfully nobody was hurt.
The company mentioned in a press release that their customers remain their top priority. They are currently contacting their customers to inform them of the situation and are working with partners to fulfill all orders.
Staff are currently still assessing the damage and degree of the theft and have asked customers to refrain from contacting them until Tuesday June 16th at 10AM ET when LensProToGo will be resuming normal operations.
Though a sad situation, the company seems to be in good spirits. A very large amount of the total inventory was out of the building on rentals at the time of the robbery.
As a rental company, LensProToGo retains all serial numbers on every single product they own. Currently they are compiling a list of stolen items with that information and will make it available to the public in addition to the police to help track down stolen items. We will update this article with a link to the list once it becomes available.
Update 6/16/2015: LensProToGo has published a list of all items reported missing with serial numbers here.
[Via LensProToGo]
Never heard of them but I sure hope they had a hell of an insurance policy.
Freaking thieving bastards suck.
I hope they find whoever did this. LensProToGo is my goto rental source. Paul (the owner) is always looking for ways to make the customer experience better (they ship each case with a lollipop!)
looks like from the middle photo they left a 12,000 lens behind. Makes me think the robbers didnt know much about photo equipment. Hope they catch the jerks who did this
I hope they find the bastards that did this and get back on their feet quickly.
Looks like an inside job or had insider knowledge of where the alarms were and which windows and wall to break into.
If I were the insurance company I would never provide them such insurance after inspecting the way they are securing the assets. Even with the best alarm system see the walls!!! Too easy for somebody to broken the wall and enter/exit with materials in just few minutes!
Shut up.
awesome of lensrental.com to be stepping in and helping then fulfill orders
I've rented from them many times. Quick turn around, and the gear was always in top-notch shape. Some of our portfolio work was taken by glass rented from them.
This smells like an inside job. A thief wouldn't normally have any clue as to where motion sensors are located on the interior, nor where their respective dead zones are. This was carefully planned and executed.
I'm Very sorry to hear that! LensProToGo is my favorite place for rental.