1) I had purchased a year contract from sunrise (and paid for device upfront) when I moved here. Never really used it to be honest so it sat in a cupboard.
2) I moved address (I let Sunrise know) and set up direct debit..
3) fast forward to now apparently they never charged me and thus sold my debit off to a lovely agency).
4) The debt was around 150, but its got "additional claims", effort compensation and information costs bringing it up to just under 400 chf.
5) they said I didn't respond when I rang up so now its around 500 chf. I asked if this is fair as i had just been made aware of all this......and she said she was sending it off to the Betreibungsamt.......which upon googling is not a good thing at all!
So where do I sit on all of this? It's utterly bizarre, I've never missed a bill in my life and now it feels like its spiralled pretty quickly.
Any advice? Should I just pay the 500 chf and ask to remove the Betreibungsamt? Or is it too late for that?
P.s I spoke to Sunrise who told me to go away as they no longer considered me to have a contract with them. Incredibly rude, refused to investigate issue and just hung up on me.
If I had literally had "one" indication it would have all have been sorted. Not a single call or email.
If you search for forum for “debt collection” and “intrum justitia” there are numerous threads about this. You do not have to pay the crazy inflated additions, just the original amount and any reasonable surcharges https://www.englishforum.ch/finance-…collector.html
I assume that athrough you didnt provide any useful detail like how long this has all been going on that you are not yet on the debt register you are still in the process of the debt collection agency trying to claim it.
As posted above, just pay the original claim. Then inform the debt collector. If they still send it to the betreibungsampt then make opposition and show it has been paid. It will then be cancelled.
I think, but I may be wrong, you only need to pay the statutory interest on the delayed amount in addition and possibly the reminder fee, but check other threads first.
It was a mobile 5G device not phone. I did it online not in shop. I rang them about the address as I was also complaining about the speed of the device. I then stopped using the device.
Direct debit form was posted to Sunrise. And yes I didn't notice 20 CHF not being debited from my account, it wouldn't even cross my mind that it hadn't worked.
And yes, no phone calls to my number (separate phone which I still have). And no emails.
So the end result is that I paid 300+ for the device (I paid this upfront when I purchased the service) and now have debt collection after me!
Just kidding, but then again I have no doubt you will.
The easiest base to advise on would be if you uploaded (or linked to) a readable anonymised foto of the bill.
Call the mobile number this problematic contract is about, if it no longer exists the contract has ended. If the monthlies on the bill match some recent date you probably should assume you owe those monthlies indeed, it's not that much anyway. The point here is to make sure there's not more to come because the contract is still running.
Your contract probably comes with the clause that the debt can be handed over to a debt collector. If that applies, pay to them rather than Sunrise. If their bill includes interest rate on that, pay that as well, IIRC 5% p.a. is the legal maximum. Let's say you owe them 7x 20CHF, the interest accrued will be something trivial like less than 5 CHF, pay that as well.
Did that already happen, did you receive a "ZahlungsBefehl"? That will come by registered mail. If nobody answers the postman's ringing s/he'll leave a yellow-orange-ish note in the mailbox, which you're to take to the named postoffice in not more than 7 days to pick up said letter. You're to sign a form to confirm the receipt, you want to sign that on the back as well; that way you force the "creditor" to prove their claim, otherwise you accept it as is.