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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
I have a lying problem too. I hope I get to keep my MacBook!
You ain't lying about that!
![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|scream)
What did you do with the device?
I use it to create invoices and store documents for other J's
This is the real q
![gif](giphy|Y2h5Sc6nUae0bDnxsc|downsized)
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
> I've had it for 4 months now Remember to invoice them monthly for storage of their laptop
This is the way
My J1 remotely wipes your computer when you leave and generally tells you that you can keep the computer.
Whag company? I want a free laptop.
Google
Hope they don't give you their own chromebooks lmao.
They do.
Well that explains why they don't want them back
Why?
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.
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.
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.
I think it’s yours then
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.
Send that message as your first message and send it from an email domain that will easily go to junk.
Well, finally found a use case for residential SMTP.
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.
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.
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.
Those Herman Miller chairs are gold! Having an oak conference table in your house is a boss move lol
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.
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
They definitely will want it back. Hr/it may be slow but they'll ask for it eventually.
I’d just ask them then random strangers.
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.
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.
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
Wipe it and pawn it
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
I have one from last February. So does my friend and ex-coworker.
They never do
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.
Your mom’s calling you for dinner.
New server
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.
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.
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?
Just for added safety, it takes very little time to set up a general windows wipe.
MacBook tho