Security.

[compage]

From my experience of Plakias, I don't think there is much of a problem with crime, unless you count the taxi drivers driving on the wrong side of the road.
 
We often leave stuff on the beach while we go for lunch, relying on our 'neighbours' to keep an eye on things.
Not that anyone is likely to want to pinch my grotty old towel or put my snorkel in their mouth!
 
I've never heard of anyone having a problem whether it was on the beach, in their room or in a taverna.
Have you had, or heard of, any problems?

Unlike some other resorts, I've never seen safety deposit boxes either in the rooms or as a public service.
Are there any in Plakias?

[Pritch]

Would echo Johns' comments completeley.
We always leave our stuff on the beach when lunching, taking only cameras and money with us, and have never had a problem.
I have always kept my cash in my room when were out for the day, and again never had a poblem.
Having said all that, its always best not to put temptation in anyones way, but most of the people I've met and come across wouldnt dream of lifting anything from you.
I'm sure that if they did and you put the word out, something would get sorted.

Pritch

[Allan Barham]

There was a case a couple of years ago where a fellow had his wallet stolen and put notices in all the shops asking for the return of his personal items but I think that the chances of losing something of value are much less in a village like Plakias than in any of the big resorts.  Having said that don't forget that your insurance company won't pay a claim if they believe that you did not take adequate precautions against the opportunist thief.  So if you really don't want to lose it then don't leave it unattended.

Allan

[hopper]

The greeks are incredibly honest. In 1978, one of the travellers lost his wallet in Rethimnon with a few thousand Drachmas (quite a lot in those days)  in it. The shop owner found the wallet and phoned up all the hotels in Plakias to trace this guy. Joseph at Alianthos knew him and told him about the find. So he got the wallet back, - we could not believe it. I hope these wonderful people haven't been corrupted.
cheers Hopper

[Susan K]

Plakias and it's honesty are something we have always taken for granted. We know that if we were to lose something it wouldn't be a local or one of the holidaymakers that return every year. More likely to be someone who is there for a one off and fancies his chances. Thankfully not something we have encountered and hope we never do.

Susan

[Yvonne]

The only place where I've heard of problems of theft is on Preveli beach.  There are safety deposit boxes at the Alianthos car rental office which we generally use, more in case of loss than theft.
Yvonne

[shinaria]

That´s the place for the old "lost wallet story"...
Years ago we lost our whole money the first night on crete. After a few drinks in Meltemi with some friends of us and a small bottle of tsikoudia we jumped out of our clothes right into the sea. In total darkness I didn´t notice that I forgot to hang the wallet round my neck again when we departed.
It was about high noon the other day when we got up to leave our room in sophia when I noticed what I had lost: All our money for the next two weeks in cash [equivalent to 1200 Euros today] !!!
In panic we ran back to the beach. Giorgos from Sofia came with us to seek...
And you won´t believe: we found it ´tween all the people on the beach, totally wet and the money was still inside!!! It seems the sea took it with the tide and brought it back to the land with the flood. We dried the money in front of the fan in sophia and   .
That´s our little wallet-wonder of plakias. And that´s about security in Plakias

[Allan Barham]

Well here's a little problem for you.  Last Friday evening we used the cash machine  in Plakias and found that the previous user had left his Visa card on the shelf under the machine.  What should we do with it?  There's no police station and the town hall would not be open again until Monday morning.  We stood around for 10 minutes or so in the hope that the card's owner would realise his loss and return to look for it but no such luck.  The card was issued by a German bank so there was no point in trying to offload it onto the First Choice or Olympic rep.  Fran's suggestion was that we should put it back into the machine and punch in the 'wrong' code 3 times so that the machine would retain the card and at least make it safe!  

Happily Alison was walking past and offered to take the card and speak to the German tour company reps to see if the owner was one of their customers.  Hopefully the owner is now reunited with his card but if you see Ali and Dave driving around in a new Rolls-Royce.....!!!

What would YOU have done?

Allan

[compage]

I would have stuck a note on the machine headed with the name on the card and giving my contact details.
The owner could then have got their provider to contact me by phone to give me details of the cardholder which I could check before handing it back.

[John R]

Really the only safe thing to do with a lost card is to destroy it - certainly if no obvious owner made an appearence in a very short space of time. I know it would be very embarrasing if the true owner turned up 3 minutes later but the card company would like to think that a mislaid card is destroyed asap and technically we do not have the security information available to verify the true owner. I once left one in a shop where I was unknown and did not realise for a while. It was destroyed by the shop on the instructions of the card company who issued me quickly with a replacement (difficult while on holiday though)

John R

[Graham_and_Karen]

I agree - destroying the card must be the best option. It safeguards the card owner who, if they have realised the card has been lost will probably have cancelled the card anyway, and also minimises the disruption of your own holiday. I suppose if there is some convenient place to leave a note simply stating that a card was found and has been destroyed, it might save the owner from a prolonged search.