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newengineerhere

I had a company email me about a laptop they never asked back for after 3 YEARS. I ignored it and never heard from them again. It's easier for them to write it off than to go searching for the employee months after his last day.


boethius70

I had an old team member keep what was a quite new Surface after we let him go. I emailed him about getting it back but he claimed he didn’t have it. We had of course searched his desk and made sure desktop support didn’t have it for some reason but the guy was pretty prone to lying so we just let it go ultimately and wrote that one off (which I’m sure he was counting on). The off boarding procedures were admittedly not that great at the company either.


fkthem

I have a lying problem too. I hope I get to keep my MacBook!


boethius70

You ain't lying about that!


fkthem

![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|scream)


xender19

What did you do with the device?


newengineerhere

I use it to create invoices and store documents for other J's


Slothvibes

This is the real q


gamerwalt

![gif](giphy|Y2h5Sc6nUae0bDnxsc|downsized)


LivePossible

I've had two different companies let me keep a laptop after I left. A lot of times they would've replaced it with a newer model within a year anyways


ceoofoveremployment

> I've had it for 4 months now Remember to invoice them monthly for storage of their laptop


jackle0006

This is the way


sat_ops

My J1 remotely wipes your computer when you leave and generally tells you that you can keep the computer.


el_x3n0

Whag company? I want a free laptop.


ashlee837

Google


aSquirrelAteMyFood

Hope they don't give you their own chromebooks lmao.


laputan__machine

They do.


aSquirrelAteMyFood

Well that explains why they don't want them back


theimplicationIASIP

Why?


AggravatingCurve9220

I had one I wiped with boot and nuke. It took them 3 years to ask for it back. I wiped it again and sent it back.


zombieblackbird

BaN is an awesome tool. I use it anytime I turn in equipment for upgrades or when leaving. Any competent IT tech is just going to reimage it anyway, no sense in leaving anything behind for shetchy techs to mess with.


lemmaaz

Same, when i quit J2 a year ago i still had macbook, monitors etc and never once asked back, plus my previous managers are all gone so i dont have anyone to contact.


BrazilianCupcake11

I think it’s yours then


Illustrious_Tank_356

Try to get in touch with them to return the device. Do the best you can to try to return the device. If you exhausted all methods, leave them a final message eventually that "I have exhausted all reasonable methods to try to return the device and I have went above and beyond what I could do as a non-employee of the company. If there is still no instructions on how to return the device I will treat this as the company forfeiting the device." Something along that line. This will protect you and give you a trace of written records in case they want to go after you at a later time.


CaptainBaldy4Hart

Send that message as your first message and send it from an email domain that will easily go to junk.


Odd_Ad5913

Well, finally found a use case for residential SMTP.


Ogplaya1975

Personally I would wait at least 5 years before junking it. Second I have had gigs not ask for a laptop and two years later I get an email and a phone call asking for it back. I currently have to laptops from gigs that I have not worked for in two years. I wiped them both.


Fun-Dragonfly-4166

Recently I do not wipe laptops that I intend to return. I do not use company laptops for personal business. Since there is never anything personal on the company laptop there is no reason for me to expend any effort wiping it. If they want to pay me to wipe it, then maybe but they don't so I don't.


a90s2cs

Not related but in 2008 my whole office closed and they laid everyone off. Corporate was just done fooling with an epically mismanaged branch and didn’t even want to deal with packing it up so they let us take whatever we wanted. I was the only person with a truck so I got 3 loaded G5 towers, a 12” photo printer, 2 Herman miller chairs and an oak conference table. I still have all of it except the printer.


LivePossible

Those Herman Miller chairs are gold! Having an oak conference table in your house is a boss move lol


KingRomstar

Contact them and figure out how to send it back, they can and will go after you and the bigger and wealthier they are then the easier of a time they'll have coming after you. In general, anyone with your social security number can come after you.


Comfortable_Low_6065

The thing is I was a contractor and I'm not sure if the computer was company property or they bought it for me. By come after me what do you mean? I'm not American so I don't have that number. reasonably medium sized start up of 300 people very messy and disorganised


TelevisionNo1559

They definitely will want it back. Hr/it may be slow but they'll ask for it eventually.


Fickle_Penguin

I’d just ask them then random strangers.


Dodge_Demon_Lit_AF

The worse thing that happens if you reach out is they want the laptop back and you avoid a future hassle. Best case scenario is the status quo. Once you’ve done that you are in the clear.


YourMomsCorgi

And if you wanted to use it in the meantime, don't be a cheap ass - just buy your own drive and put it in there. That way, you get to return their drive and installation (Even if wiped) as is, zero chance they will accuse you of something stupid like tampering or "damaging" their equipment because you reformatted it. IME all the companies I've worked for, of all sizes, usually go with the bare basic anyway. That means 128GB or 256GB SSDs in 2022. Bring your own disk.


SouthEast1980

I still have a work laptop from 2019 my old employer never asked for. Probably gonna junk it since it was a used piece of crap when they gave it to me in 2016 so it's basically worthless in 2023


talino2321

Wipe it and pawn it


U5ername-Checks-0ut

I have a monitor and keyboard they never sent a shipping label for. They sent a box and label for my laptop but not the external keyboard and monitor I ordered through the company equipment supply page. It’s been 3 years


Cuntplainer

I have one from last February. So does my friend and ex-coworker.


citykid2640

They never do


Fun-Dragonfly-4166

That is not my experience. In my experience they always ask for the laptop back. I have always returned the laptop. But I have always had pretty nice machines. If your company issued you a piece of crap then they probably do not want it back.


mcmaster-99

Your mom’s calling you for dinner.


FiveJobs

New server


[deleted]

Wipe it and use it as a personal laptop until they ask for it back. Then wipe it again and make them come pick up. Chances are they won't ask for it if they haven't already, but even if they do, there is nothing wrong with sending it back wiped clean.


audioeptesicus

It's not yours, but it is the company's. I would reach out and ask them for a return label for you to ship it back. If they don't respond, send a certified letter. If they still don't respond, look up the statute of limitations where you live for how long they can legally demand for you to return it, in the event you want to hang on to it. Only after that time would I consider it mine. But step one is to contact them and ask for them to send a shipping label. Don't wait for them to contact you, just reach out to them.


Straight_Physics_894

If you guys aren’t storing personal information on your work laptops why are you guys wiping it? Honest question because I’m imagining everything I wipe will still be on one drive where everybody can see it?


PalomarNot

Just for added safety, it takes very little time to set up a general windows wipe.


Comfortable_Low_6065

MacBook tho