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Meta Support If Device is Stolen is a Joke

Bkline75
Explorer

My Quest 2 was recently stolen along with practically everything I own. I contacted support assuming there was a way to track my stolen device and that they would more than happy to help me recover it. Boy was I wrong! They’re only suggestion was to wipe my device clean remotely and make a police report. Wouldn’t that just give the thieves a brand new Quest 2 headset? Of course it would. But that’s their only advice. I find it absolutely ridiculous that a company of this size and stature doesn’t have a way for customers to track, or at the very least, shut down or blacklist a device if it’s stolen. Google has a way for their customers to locate a customers stolen phone just because they have their google account on that device. Apple also. iPhones, iPads, MacBooks. They can all be located if stolen and will even notify you when the device gets online. Facebook? Or Meta or whatever it’s called today, had absolutely nothing to offer customers in this situation. NOTHING. It should be a simple thing. A no-brainer if you ask me. But there’s no help at all. There’s not even a way to blacklist a stolen device. How is that possible. I can see everything the thieves are doing with MY headset. Recent apps. Time date and even ip addresses for when they get online. I KNOW meta can see a ton more information than I can see. Yet they are no help at all. I see tons of people posting similar interactions with Meta Support. Still no useful response. GET IT TOGETHER MARK, FACEBOOK, META, OCULUS, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU CALL YOURSELVES. It’s frustrating that you’re ABLE to provide this service for your customers, but for whatever reason, you just WON’T. 

13 REPLIES 13

The Quest has no GPS functionality (why would it need it?) so its precise location can't be tracked. Google map out wifi network locations for a rougher idea of physical location but meta have no access to that information and with no GPS functionality can't generate their own. A remote factory reset is the best you can hope for. The thieves will almost certainly do their own factory reset before selling the headset on, and if you have changed all your account passwords (tell me you have changed all your account passwords) you will have stopped the thieves making purchases on your account.

 

I agree that blacklisting would be a useful option but the process to activate it (and deactivate it) would be arduous (quite rightly) and open to abuse. Can you imagine how bad Meta support would be at either of those, given their lamentable performance in all other aspects of their service?

I agree, Meta support is ridiculous. A remote factory reset however, is the last thing I’m going to do. I have removed all my payment options through the mobile app though. You would think that most people would be smart enough to reset the online device that they stole, but nope. Not my thief. So I’ve left everything intact as far as my device goes other than my payment options  and sure enough, every day, they power it up and start playing my games. My mobile app shows My Recent Activity  so I can keep track of what apps they’re using and when. The Meta View My Information tool allows me to see much more. Active sessions. Logins and logouts. IP addresses used for each of those. Time date info on what apps and so on and so on. Facebook also gives me logins and outs along with active sessions and associated IP addresses. So by NOT  doing a remote factory reset I have a lot of information that may, or may not, help me to track down not just my headset, but everything else that was stolen. I get that there’s no gps with the headset but it shouldn’t be so difficult to blacklist a stolen device by serial number. I mean the network can identify it’s my device and what it’s doing and sites it’s visiting so to lock out said device shouldn’t be all that hard. My original post here was more just me venting. Free therapy so to speak. Lol. The only thing that’s more laughable than meta support is my local police departments investigations department. I gave them all the information they’d need to locate my headset and even told them how to do it. Nothing at all so far other than a call asking for the license plate number and make and model of my car. All of which he quickly realized was information he could get, being a police officer, by simply typing my name in their dmv linked computer. The police can contact the isp associated with the ip addresses being used and get customer information and one would assume, location or billing address  for that account. I’ve gone as far as I can in getting that info. I can find the isp and location down to city level but nothing further. I get longer and longer winded the more I think about all this so I’m gonna make myself stop typing but I do have a question maybe somebody knows the answer to…Is there anyway to view the Quest Browsers history remotely? I live in a pretty small town and the circumstances in which all my things were stolen lead me to believe this was done by somebody I know or would recognize. Maybe the browser history would shed some light on their identity. Can I sign into my account on a friends headset without it disrupting my stolen headset or in any way making them think something is going on? If I am able to do that, would it be possible to view the browser history from my headset or would it only show the history from my friends headset? Can I activate the parental controls and monitoring for my account without using my headset? Will Meta help with retrieving my browser history for me to view? NOPE! Even though they absolutely collect that data for their own benefit and/or profit. Could I Buy that info from our good buddy Mark? I doubt it. But I’m sure it’s for sale to someone or some company somehow though. Just not me. I’ve downloaded My Information from Meta but it shows next to nothing useful. And still I know they collect and store all kinds of info about me and my online presence. Okay I’m stopping now. 

 Thanks for your response and if you read this whole rant then I thank you for that also. Lol. Maybe Mark will read all this also. Never know. 

If you have the external IP address of the micreants router (ie not one that starts with 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x, the police, if they were interested enough, should be able to identify the user via their ISP. They'd do it for a child abuse case.

Yes I have that. I’ve given it to them and as of yet no word at all. I literally did their job for them and handed them all the info needed and said Go get ‘em  and they’ve done nothing. I wonder if I were to go to the isp myself armed with the case number, if they’d help me. Or maybe get them to call the police and offer to help? I don’t know. Frustrating. But the good news is the thief is getting better at beat saber. Lol

wuzp
Rising Star

@Bkline75 wrote:

My Quest 2 was recently stolen along with practically everything I own.

 

Do you have a record of the serial number?  Most states require pawn shops to consult a database of stolen items and serial numbers maintained by the police.  That's how they got the chick that stole my tablet a few years ago.  Also, unless your insurance deductible is unreasonably high;  the value of the headset and "all your stuff" should be covered.

I have the serial number. It’s in the app and in the info provided by the View My Information Tool  on the meta site. Now that you mention it though, the police never even asked about it. To be fair, I forgot to give it to them, but it just shows how little effort they’re putting into finding my things. I was so concerned with getting them the ip addresses I forgot about the SN. Thanks for reminding me. I’m planning on going back to the PD in the morning to express my displeasure with the efforts they’re putting forth so I’ll be sure to give it to them then. There’s only one pawnshop in town and I doubt they’d take it because the elite head strap is broken and held together with tape. They’re pretty picky over there. Plus the thief continues to play my games everyday so I know they still have it. 

Prettipetite
Honored Guest

I have to agree with you 100%. My oculus was stolen last week. They broke into my house and I have the serial number and I would think that they would be able to track it or at least shut it down completely but no I paid so much money for this game and for them not to have a tracking device on it just boggles my mind.

Prettipetite
Honored Guest

Another thing that makes me so upset is that I can’t even remove my accounts on my platform because they stole my phone to which means I had to change my Apple ID my email so I have I don’t know it sucks. The whole situation is sucks as much as we pay for this game which is like $400 almost 5 no tracking device. How is that possible? I’m just upset. I bought myself this game for Christmas last year and now it’s like gone with no way to get it back.

Lmao I guess the only thing we can do now is just laugh about it right it’s not gonna get us anywhere to be upset shake my head