Sounds like a  "This is serious, please forward to all of your friends" .

I suppose I'm just the suspicious type. If i didn't order a plumber I wouldn't let her in. 

John, in many apartment blocks the régie arranges regular checks on the plumbing system.  However, all reputable régies (or their concièrges) giie tenants advance notice of the date and time that this will take place and even sometimes ask tenants to leave a door key with the concièrge.

So one has to be rather naïve to let a “plumber” in the door if you haven’t heard that he will be coming. 

R.

I am super suspicious too. There have been a few obviously 'fakes' turn up and I have just said no thanks, and one time the electricity people came around sent by the Regie and I had him wait while I called the Regie to verify. He had to go.

Not really so naive, so many people dont speak the language very well or can think their other half forgot to tell them, if your caught of guard you can do stupid things you regret later!

Ask for the order form from the regie, normally no swiss company would even fart without a written job order. If they can't send them off to get one. If it's ligit they will call and get something. Just don't let them in

Thankfully I have a friendly regie :)  I gave her a key but she always calls to say if anything is planned, do i want her to deal with it or will we be home etc.

In this day and age you simply do not let strangers into your house, not even the police, unless you want to become another headline in the local newspaper. Enough media attention has and still is being spend on this topic. Older people should be protected by their family to prevent this from happening.

Cause you dont speak the language, are you kidding me? You call your other half and if they dont know or you dont have one, you ask the guy to leave a card and send him away. Specially when being in another country where things are different and you dont always understand what people say, you would expect one to behave extra careful and not just put the door wide open to any stranger in a uniform.

Obviously its happening so we have to be careful! Are you kidding me, you seriously think all older people are taken care of by their family as they are too busy so they are alone most of the time and vulnerable.

I posted this as its always easier to be cocky about these things not happening  to us as we have read the newspaper or had time to go on line. A lot of people don’t have time so don’t know what’s happening around them.

Also I know a lot of people that are not allowed to answer their phones while at work as they are in meetings etc so good luck to whoever is trying to ring them to see if they sent a plumber and the regies usually take a day to ring back.

The best is to send them away until we are 100% sure who they are.

I have knocked the doors in from of the guy from Billag saying to send me an official,  written invitation if he want to get in. Well, Billag are sort of thevies too. :-)

So everyone that has a job has no time to check the news? I’d say they probably have a bigger preference to use facebook or twitter instead. However, it comes down to common sense most of all. I know older people aren’t always taken care off and I would understand that there is a much bigger chance it happens to them. Not to someone in your age group (below 60), you should know better. It`s not possible to be cocky about this, as you state, a lot of people have no time to keep track of the news and therefore have no clue what’s happening out there.

Btw, wouldnt it be an amazing coincidence that some random guy shows up to do your plumbing , while at the same time your regie is doing repairs?

There are many old people living on their own in Geneva who don’t have family nearby or even at all and there are also plenty of younger people in a similar situation.

So it’s often easier said than done to telephone a friend for information or help about “visiting” workmen.

Régies, the police,  everyone, we’re all so busy these days.

Have you tried calling the local cop shop on a Saturday evening, for instance?  You can wait almost half an hour before you hear a human voice and even then you’ve usually landed in the wrong department.  “Stay on the line, I’ll just transfer you” and you’re in for another half hour at least only to be told if you want to report, say, that your cellar’s been burgled “Is it urgent?  Can you wait till Monday?”.

Let’s face it, the Genevan authorities have been too lax in matters of security and only a huge investment in funds and trained personnel will put the situation on the right track.

Meantime, let’s try to be vigilant and good neighbours.

Best of luck everyone!

It's quite sad to think so many so-called "educated" people with various degrees in business studies, etc are too f--king stupid to let someone in to their place without a jobsheet or order form as Martin says. Anyway, many thanks to the orginal poster for highlighting this.

It's even sadder that we live in a place where we have to automatically suspect that the person in front of us is trying to scam us, steal from us, or make fools of us. And when someone is polite or - god forbid, friendly - they must 'want something'

The police in Geneva are appallingly 'non-responsive' and 'dismissive'. Those are euphemisms.

The police can also be appalling rude.

I once had to report that a family member had gone missing and I was treated like an outcast from the gutter.

I had to enlist outside private help before they would even record the disappearance, but what if I hadn’t had the means for that possibility?

It was a nightmare experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

I don’t understand how you can be surprised with Geneve police behaviour. In Naziland everything is possible

Non responsive and dismissive can be translated as “they don’t give a shit”