If you are planning on living in Switzerland, or if you already live in Switzerland, but your German isn’t perfected yet, here are some tips you should know before you get yourself in trouble.
After living and working in 6 countries for many years, we were used to the system that when one orders online you must pay first before you receive the merchandise, just as it is custom with companies such as Amazon, eBay, and Ricardo, based here in Switzerland.
However, here in Switzerland, there are three ways of paying for your online purchase; one is by debit od credit card, by “Rechnung”, which means you will receive the product, and the bill will either come with the product together or a few days later in the mail, payable with 30 days, or there is the third option called “Vorkasse”, which means “advanced payment”.
On March 19, 2020, my wife asked me to search for a retrievable sunshade for our balcony, I found what she wanted from a Swiss online company called GOMM AG, (Racondo.ch Marktplatz-und Shop) based in Sarnen, Switzerland.
I called the wife to come to the PC screen to verify I had found the right item, she approved, I told her to go ahead and finalize the purchase. She then asked me “how should I pay for it?” I responded “do it by Rechnung”, this way we assure ourselves that the right product arrives, and pay for it thereafter.
On March 26th, 2020 we received the bill for the product in the amount of CHF 163.50, but still no product, at one point during the months April I decided to discard the bill since we never received the item.
On June 25th, 2020, over 3 months later we receive a collection letter from a company called eCollect, based in Baar, Canton Zug, demanding CHF 352.02 for an item purchased in March.
from the day of the online purchase, until the day of receiving the collection letter, we never heard, received an email, a phone call nor a “Mahnung” (Notice) in the mail from GOMM AG.
After writing a letter to the collection agency, asking them why I have never heard back from the company, and also to explain to them the reason why we didn’t pay the bill, we were told that we selected “Vorkasse” payment! As my wife doesn’t speak German yet, she didn’t understand the 3 versions of payment methods and choose the wrong one. That is why we never received the product.
The point of the matter is, it would have been very simple for GOMM AG to send us an email, call us or write to us, telling us that we choose a prepayment method and therefore needed to pay this bill.
However, the company found it easier to hand over the matter to a collection agency, which in turn are adding all there senseless, exaggerated, and inflated charges on top of the product cost.
When I asked the collection agency agent, why I haven’t received any notices within the three months, I was told that the seller is not obligated to send out notices, that the 30-day notice on the bill was sufficient!?
I asked her, then why do you charge me CHF 80 for three Mahnungen (Notices) which I never received! I have now two choices to settle this unnecessary situation, either pay the CHF 352.02, and then maybe get the product after all, or pay for “Stornierungskosten” (Canceling Costs), which I have not been told yet how much, but then I won’t receive the product as I officially canceled it by paying the Cancelin costs.
The conclusion is, be aware of where and how you order products online, especially if you don’t speak the language! It was our mistake not to choose the right payment method, but the way the company handled the transaction is, in our opinion very poor.
The only assumption I came up with, why GOMM AG didn’t make the call to us, send an email or, normally by post mailed Mahnungen, is that someone at GOMM AG has a financial interest at eCollect, the collection agency, this is certainly an easy way to add revenue to that firm. Why wouldn’t GOMM AG notify us before initiating a collection process, which adds unnecessary costs to the customer, and, at the same time, the company loses a customer because we certainly shall never order from them again!
Have a blessed, stress-free, and scam-free day! and stay healthy!
Should you have occurred any unpleasant situations here in Switzerland, send us a note, so we may notify and warn other folks.
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