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19.10.2020, 18:57
| Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Zurich
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| | Re: Burglary
Yes it is actually quite common. Someone told me that the main reason my insurance claim was processed so quickly was because it was for less than Fr.10,000 and with the tens of thousands of burglary claims per year in Switzerland, mine was a quick and easy file to close... he was just speculating
about the insurance, but I did read somewhere that there are indeed 10s of thousands of burglaries in Switzerland every year.
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19.10.2020, 19:07
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Aargau
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| | Re: Burglary
"Police crime statistics 2019
Continued decline in burglaries in Switzerland in 2019 23.03.2020 - In 2019, the police recorded around 36 400 burglaries, representing a decrease of 6.3% compared with the previous year. Since 2012 – a record year with 73 700 burglaries registered by the police – the number of offences has fallen by over 37 000, i.e. to less than half. " https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/news/press-releases.assetdetail.11147508.html | 
19.10.2020, 19:46
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Zurich
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| | Re: Burglary
I wonder if a pro-tell sticker on the door does anything to help...
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19.10.2020, 20:54
| Forum Legend | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: ZH
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| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | | In our last house near Zurich we were burgled twice in 6 month period. | | | | | How annoying!
I read that burglars (or their friends) take note the address and access routes and entrances. They assume that the household will make an insurance claim, so they wait for a few months to give the people time to replace all their electronics, and then break in again, into a self-service store of new goods, as it were.
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19.10.2020, 20:59
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Bern
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| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | | Unless you are lucky, it seems that they have bigger fish to fry, rather than investigate a burglary. | | | | | as the guy telling about the thief sleeping in his car said, these thieves are often bandits from the balkans or eastern europe who come for a few days or weeks and then disappear, targeting either homes or construction sites.
The border guards stop relatively often cars with burglaly tools crossing the border arresting everyone and then assigning crimes to them thanks to data and stolen goods that get identified, but if you don't catch them in that situation, you have no chance of catching them ever again because they go back to squatting camps in neighbouring big cities (in the case of romas) or back to their country, e.g. for "seasonal worker" criminals from impoverished parts of albania, doing either this or slinging drugs for a limited amount of time, usually hosted by a local drug user or small time criminal. I remember once reading about someone from lithuania who was caught sleeping under a bridge as well. Georgia is a good source of these tourists as well. I think the key is impoverishment, rurality, former communist past followed by societal breakdown. Professional criminals from more developed countries prefer stuff like highway robbery of armored trucks.
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19.10.2020, 21:09
| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | | Does this happen often in Switzerland. I have to say I feel very safe here. I wonder if the insurers pay out for computer equipment if stolen or whether they give you a hard time | | | | | Yes, it does happen often. I knew someone who worked security for one of the major store chain here. Romanians come in bus loads. They arrive , go out and steal and then return to the bus for thee ride home. They have fear because if they miss the bus they are stuck here.
It is not just the East Europeans.
There is corporate theft. There is major corruption in the construction industry. Construction companies bring people from to work illegally because they are cheaper.
It will get worse as people are loosing their jobs. So don't be a victim and beware. Lock up.
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20.10.2020, 14:29
| Newbie 1st class | | Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: Tessin
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| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | |
It does happen quite regularly. The police took some hours to come to my place because they had to attend to 2 other break-ins. On the other hand, almost all break-ins in Switzerland are opportunistic i.e., they see a dark apartment with no close neighbours, they try it. The police provided a free consultant afterwards which was helpful. He looked through the offers I had for alarm systems etc., gave me advice about safety aspects of my place and so on. But the main thing he told me is simple - as they are opportunistic, don't advertise that you are not at home. Leaving your apartment dark, blinds down, etc. are sure signs that no one is at home. You want to do some simple things that will encourage them move on to the next building and not attempt anything at your place.
| | | | | I was told that if you go away for a few days (e.g. on holiday) and do not close the blinds then in case of break-in through the windows insurance might not respond due to negligence. Is this a thing?
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20.10.2020, 15:43
| Forum Legend | | Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: SG
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| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | | I was told that if you go away for a few days (e.g. on holiday) and do not close the blinds then in case of break-in through the windows insurance might not respond due to negligence. Is this a thing? | | | | | You might as well place an ad saying "burglars, we're away for a while. Help yourselves" if that was true.
| The following 3 users would like to thank Urs Max for this useful post: | | 
20.10.2020, 15:51
| Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: ZH
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| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | | You might as well place an ad saying "burglars, we're away for a while. Help yourselves" if that was true. | | | | | I live on the ground floor so my shutters are shut most of the time anyway. Less in the summer and more in the winter when you have lights on inside and it's easier to see in.
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20.10.2020, 21:42
| Newbie | | Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Geneva
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| | Re: Burglary | Quote: | |  | | | [*]Speak to your neighbours. Sometimes thieves work their way through a street, so your neighbours should take care, in the next while, about locking up.[/LIST] | | | | | The building I used to live in earlier this year had 2 robberies.
What really spooked me was: how did they found out the entry number for the building?
How did they know that the owners would be gone on vacation?
I just returned from Portugal a few days ago, but during my stay there I had nights when I was really paranoid about my apartment here being broken into.
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20.10.2020, 23:29
| Junior Member | | Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Zürich area
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| | Re: Burglary
Sorry that this had happened to you. In a similar situation, I called the insurance and asked what they require: police report with the list of stolen items, receipt of what I had, that was all. They paid for everything, including computer.
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04.11.2020, 23:51
| Newbie | | Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Schaffhausen
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| | Re: Burglary
Hi all, thanks so much for your advice and emotional support. Phew, I have been busy with work and personal life. Now, I am surveying about the window repair and replacement. Apparently, my wood frame window is also damaged from outside.
The window company came today and told us that if we replaced the damaged window only, the whole house will look a bit odd with unmatched color/ tone/texture wood frame windows of other rooms. I wonder if the insurance will cover the replacement of the damaged window only or the full set of windows, so that all the windows look the same from outside.
I just don't know if this is a reasonable claim. Anyone has any experience? Thanks in advance.
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