Well, where do I even start…
This morning, I received an email with a nice offer to visit the Fort de Chillon Museum. I mentioned it to my wife and we thought, why not make a family day out of it with our son? We also invited my sister and my niece, who is one year older than our son.
After a little over an hour’s drive, we arrived and found the area already packed with people, with almost no parking spaces available. We turned around towards Villeneuve and eventually found a spot at the far end of the parking area near the castle.
We got the children out of their car seats, grabbed our bags, I locked the car, and we headed to the fort.
About 1.5 hours later, we came back to the car. As we approached it, I immediately noticed something strange: the passenger door wasn’t completely closed.
My wife panicked and asked me to check the pocket behind the driver’s seat because she had left her wallet there.
I checked. The wallet was gone.
We emptied our backpacks, hoping that maybe she had taken it with her without remembering. Nothing.
That was when we realized that someone had entered our car and stolen the wallet.
Inside was a significant amount of cash, both my wife’s Swiss and German ID documents, her bank cards, her and our son’s insurance cards, as well as photos and other personal belongings.
I immediately called the police. They explained that because there were apparently no visible signs of forced entry, nobody would come to the scene and that we would need to go to the nearest police station to file a report.
I have to admit that I was quite surprised that nobody would come to check for possible cameras or other evidence. I understand that identifying the people responsible for this kind of theft may be difficult, but when you have just lost all of those documents and belongings, it is still extremely frustrating.
So we went to the police station in Villeneuve and filed a report.
Fortunately, after checking our household insurance policy, I found that we have coverage for theft outside the home, with a CHF 200 deductible. I still need to check exactly what is covered and up to what limits.
Beyond the money and all the administrative hassle that now awaits us, the whole experience was simply awful. When we got home, our 2½-year-old son, who probably didn’t really understand what had happened but clearly felt our stress, wouldn’t leave my side. He finally fell asleep around 9:45 pm after crying several times.
I’m not really looking for anything specific with this post. First of all, I just needed to get the frustration off my chest. But more importantly, if this post can prevent the same thing from happening to someone else, then at least something useful will come out of it.
The police told us that thefts from vehicles are relatively common in this area. They also mentioned that thieves may use methods or devices that can interfere with remote vehicle locking.
So if you park around Chillon — or really anywhere busy and touristy — don’t just press the button on your key and walk away. Physically check that your doors are actually locked, and don’t leave valuables inside the car.
And just in case:
If anyone happened to find a pink/beige Calvin Klein women’s wallet somewhere around Chillon/Villeneuve, or saw anything suspicious today, Sunday 4 October 2026, between approximately 12:50 pm and 2:30 pm, I would be extremely grateful for any information.
A police report has been filed.
And most importantly: please be careful with your cars and belongings if you’re visiting the area.
