I just arrived home from a local electronic shop extremely angry and feeling like I have been scammed.
I broke my phone a couple of weeks ago, it was a low end phone (new value about 250 CHF 2 years ago). I have a CASCO insurance, they told me I need to get a phone reparation quote (kostenvoranschlag) in order for them to cover the reparation or, probably in my case, pay for a new phone. Then I went to a local electronic shop, who made me fill a form (with basic information, name,address, phone/email address) and leave the phone there. I don’t speak much German since I arrived not long ago but we understood each other. At this stage, NO MENTION was made about any costs at all, and I naively assumed that as where I come from this would be free or anyway just a symbolic price (it takes 1 minute to google the price of a phone screen and add 1 hour of labor cost on top). I am almost certain that also on the form there was no mention about costs, otherwise I would have noticed and for sure stopped the whole thing.
I came back today after 2 weeks to check the status since the guy never wrote me back, he says he shipped the phone to a center to estimate the costs of reparation. At this stage I start to get worried and ask about the costs, he gives me a printed paper with a text saying the Kostenvoranschlag is F****** 80 CHF (plus possibly additional shipping costs that probably I will face).
This is INSANE, the guy never told me nor gave me this paper when I left the phone, I feel utterly scammed. How can I deal with this? I honestly would just leave the phone there and never get it back. I am just worried about the debt collector office…
Literally. I have a love and hate relationship with this country: it can offer so much, but if you are not constantly ultra alert, everybody tries to f*** you in every possible way with hidden costs everywhere
There’s the crux of the matter. Labour costs. We all know that labour costs in Switzerland are high - that’s why so many of us foreigners live here, so we can benefit from that. The big, but human mistake is to compare what something would cost in our own countries. This is irrelevant.
If we want a service from somebody, we have to assume that they’ll want to get paid. Always ask 'what the cost for any service will be, and, if at all possible, get the answer in writing. But that also makes sense in any other country.
Divide your Swiss salary by the salary you’d get for the same job in your country in CHF, then use that figure to multiply any service or cost in Switzerland to give you a very rough idea of what you might expect. In my case, that figure is approx. 2.5.
Be aware that pretty much everything needs to be paid for by the end user. Very little is “free”, i.e. paid for by the tax payer. That’s why taxes are fairly low here compared to other countries. If you understand that, you’ll also understand that there aren’t really any “hidden” fees.
I don’t think this has to do at all with labour costs.This is just a distortion resulting from the fact that swiss people are overinsured. They know insurances need these documents and pay for reparations, so they can charge as much as they want even for something as stupid as a quote.
Also, while I agree salaries compared to cost of living is much better than in other countries, I am starting to feel that if one takes into account all these kind of microexpenses which are not there in other places, the net outcome is not that far from some other european country with a better public welfare, e.g. Denmark or Norway.
In fact, I am starting to believe that CH is only good if you’re single, heatlhy and young (<30/35). Otherwise makes zero sense to stay in Switzerland
Also, your partner will probably not find a job if he/she comes together from the home country, so you will need to financially support them (including health insurance)
You don’t speak German, you entered in to a contract without knowing it and you expect business to do work for free… But it is everyone else’s fault! OK. Will be watching out to hear about the next person who is going to screw you over…
These days language challenges should be much less of a problem. Free and paid* apps will do translations in the time it takes to type, or speak, the question. At the dentist the other day I observed a (likely) non-Swiss having a conversation with the frontalier receptionist solely by them speaking their own languages into their phones and then showing the other the translated text.
Apple has recently introduced advanced translation features in the newest iPhone models — including system-wide Live Translation for calls, messages, FaceTime chats, and even visual text through your camera, all powered by Apple Intelligence and available in dozens of languages.
*I prefer DeepL, which is paid, because it handles formal/informal and genders much better than free apps.
Two issues: not speaking the language is going to cost you in many ways and not just in Switzerland. The correct word in English for “Reparatur” is repair, not reparation, so a misunderstanding may well have occurred.
Companies demanding a fee just to make a quote (depending on the time involved) are to be avoided, especially if they want to charge to determine if it is covered by a guarantee or not.
Everyone needs to look carefully at what insurance is worth it, it is easy to be over-insured here. In NZ the problem is generally that people are underinsured.
There’s your first problem. Switzerland is not like where we all come from. The #1 question to ask anyone before you hand over your stuff is “How much will this cost”? Be clear on whether the vendor will repair your items directly or whether they’ll send it out and how much each bit costs. Then make them write it all down on the piece of paper with your name and address and keep a copy.
I’m guessing that your phone was broken to the extent that the shop knew it was a complex fix so they had to send it out for the quote. You say that the quote alone is 80 Fr. How much does the third party want for the repairs?
As you’ve just learned, most quotes here are not for free. Expect that if someone is going to look into something for you, you will pay for their time. Also be aware that many vendors will charge for travel time if they have to physically come to you.
Longtime readers of the old EF may recall the story about my watch, which was supposed to have a simple broken part replacement but was instead sent for a full service. The written quote of 35 Fr. with the details of what should be done ended up being vital. After some nasty back-and-forth I wound up with a brand new watch thanks to the vendor’s incompetence.
Why not? The fun part is that my B permit was linked to my employer for some time, while my wife’s permit is an open B.
Back to the phone, the people staffing the shops are not able to do much. Sounds reasonable that they sent the phone somewhere with skilled people, but that has a price. 1 hour labor would have been 100+ francs. Skilled technicians charge 100+ CHF/hour, so 80 CHF could be 15min diagnostic + 15 min paperwork.
Learning for the future for the OP - take it to a shop that actually does its own repairs, not to a mobile phone seller. There’s plenty of those all over the country, google reviews can usually pick out the good ones.
Most of those also have a simple menu pricing system.
