Last Thursday we received in the mail from the canton that we had to immediately pay a missed monthly premium for our health insurance from all the way back from Summer 2018, otherwise it would be reported to the police. We have had the same health insurance since we moved to CH & have also never received a warning. I checked our payment history and we actually didn’t miss the payment.
My husband called them on Friday morning only for them to be closed. We paid the bill out of fear of further repercussions. He sent them an email anyway showing the proof of payment. Very frustrating to be given only one day to pay without even the ability to discuss...none of it makes sense.
Now we want to go back to the insurance company to clarify things - what are our rights? They should have to refund us since it was their error? This all really surprises me. We have always paid our bills, been good customers, never had a collection agency after us & then suddenly the canton authorities are threatening us with legal action.
We have legal insurance if it’s needed, but hope it can be settled easily. Thanks for your advice!
9 years ago, I once had a doctor charge me for treatment I didn’t receive, I disputed it and it eventually went to the betreibungsamt & it was actually quite easy to settle (different canton, but still).
Gosh ... I hope we weren’t scammed. I will report back with the outcome. Thanks all!
Betriebungsamt also does not send letters with "Pay tomorrow or we go to the police" They inform you that somebody started a Betreibung and that you have a certain to protest this, you would have shown them that you already paid and never hear of it again.
You been here 9 years and still can0t work out this is a scam ?
No way in hell would any insurance company or similar ask you to pay immediately.
What are the police going to do, this is purely a civil matter, they really don't care about the insurance company.
You've never missed a payment and can prove it, so what do you think the police would do in the totally unlikely scenario they came to visit you and you showed them irrefutable prove of payment ?
The insurance company was "shut" on Friday.....guess they must have gone away for a long weekend on their ill gotten gains
When expecting serious answers and maybe advice, one should have the courtesy to use the proper names and words.
So, for a start: What is Katonal Collection?
Then: The Betreibungsam (as you have cleared now) sent you a mail ? Are you sure? Or maybe it was a snail-mail-letter? Most likely registered mail? In that letter it should have said who started the Betreibung against you (that would most likely be the health-insurance then.) BUT: The health insurance should have at least sent you reminders before turning to the Betreibungsamt - so you should know very well, what it is about. A Betreibung costs money, and endless time so companies try to avoid them too. It probably said you have 10 days to raise Rechtsvorschlag (claiming it is all not true). So when in doubt - and to be honest simply always would - raise Rechtsvorschlag. Why would the health-insurance send your monthly rates to the commune? They need your money to pay other members bills - as long as you're healthy, or they use other people's to pay your's. You know how an insurance works?
What you might have received is a Zahlungsbefehl . 20 days to pay or 10 days to raise Rechtsvorschlag. These things don't come out of the blue without warnings, as mentioned above.
I checked two "Kreise" in Zürich for opening times of their Betreibungsamt, neither was closed on Friday mornings. (Kreis 8 is even open Friday afternoon).
If you checked all payments to the insurance and never missed a payment, why exactly did you panic and payed?
So either it was a scam - my first thought. (would need to be reported to the police - but please don't run and do that now before checking everything )
Or someone has hacked Susie-Q's account on EF, feeding us nonsense.
Or Susie-Q needs to calm down and rewrite the initial post, with correct names of sender/type of communication etc., happenings. If you really expect support and help on EF, you could add a pdf of that letter/mail what ever it was (remember to cover all names/addresses/case-numbers etc.)
It was not a scam and I am not writing nonsense, it just seems to be a case of bad timing and luck. I'm sorry I forgot the name of the bill collection piece of the canton...I am not used to this.
About four weeks ago, we missed picking up post on time due to being out of town. Simultaneously, I had some concert tickets being delivered...I assumed it was that and just wrote to the company for them to be re-sent. I am now guessing it was the registered letter that we missed.
I don't have the second (non-registered) letter from the betreibungsamt with me now, otherwise I would be happy to share it with you to show their insistence that it was paid immediately. My husband is dealing with it...will let you know how it works out and whether or not we can be refunded once proof of payment is shown.
Assuming it was not a scam, and assuming you can show all the payments have been made, and it was an error from the insurance company side, there is no reason why they would not refund you.