Switzerland and the silent resistance to Youtube home repair

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
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One of the advantages of Switzerland is that store-bought home tech is relatively cheap. Washers, dryers, coffee machines are generally cheaper than neighbouring countries.

But when they break down, it is a different story. Take something to a repair shop and you pay through the nose for time and parts. Even worse for a house call, as then there is the flat call-out fee, travel costs per km and the time and parts. This is how it has always been, especially because many devices had no clear instruction on how to repair at home.

Enter Youtube.

There are very few mass-produced devices on Youtube that don’t have a corresponding how-to-repair video. Naturally they come with usual all-care, no-responsibility , warranty voiding caveats, but you can save hundered of francs if you feel confident and have the necessary tools.

The problem is Switzerland, is finding the parts. Two of my examples:

Lelit Bianca coffee machine: This a 2000chf double boiler Italian masterpiece, and has been giving us perfect coffees for 4 years now. Only twice has it had a problem: 1 year ago the vacuum release valve failed, and just now the “brain unit” has broken. Both parts aren’t difficult to replace if you are handy with a screw-driver.
When I went to a Lelit dealer for the vacuum valve, I got told “we don’t sell those parts for self-repair”. In the end, I could only source the part in the EU. Same for the brain unit just now.

Kärcher K4 High pressure cleaner: Over Winter I made the newbie error of storing the cleaner in an outside cupboard. Residual water froze inside and cracked the plastic outlet elbow tube, a common issue with this device. Again, it can be repaired with the help of YT, but once again, not so easy to acquire the part online. Ended up finding it the UK for 8 pounds, so ordered 2.

The cleaner cost me I think 450chf…sending it for repair here may have ended up costing me more than 50% of the unit cost, making it probably worth replacing than repairing…which would be a waste.

Anyone else feel the same here?

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we are having the same experience with a Miele induction stove after 26 months (surprise, surprise, guarantee expired 2 months ago).
Impossible to find the circuit part here, and the quote for the repair is exactly 50% of the original price. I saw a brand new-packed version of it in Ricardo…and I was very, very tempted, but my swiss OH is…well…swiss. :smiley:

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After 30 years here I never even try to buy spare parts locally

I usually first look at Aliexpress they have many parts for well known brands

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Sorry, can’t wait a month or more for a coffee machine part, I am an addict…

Still, shops in Germany and the UK will usually ship here in 2 working days. Hoping the “brain unit” will arrive by tomorrow, as otherwise my real brain will fail from the lack of caffeine.

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I understand

Actually delivery is much improved, usually 8 to ten days

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Ali takes about a week to deliver.

For some things, you even get a refund if delivery takes >x days (and get to keep the items once they are delivered).

Usually, it’s faster to order on Ali, than on galaxus when galaxus says “in stock at the supplier” and gives a date 2 weeks in the future.

EDIT: Forgot to say: my washing machine door recently died… it’s an old V ZUG tank… the door is totally corroded, so I called VZUG for a new door - 600CHF.

Result? I’m now trying to figure out how to take apart the washing machine so I can lug it out of the cellar, and have a LG washing machine arriving in a few days… Larger capacity, more energy efficient, and costs less than replacing a door.

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Can you not arrange for them to take it away when they deliver the new one?
That’s what we did. There’s a fee attached of course but it wasn’t much and was far easier than trying to get the old one out from the cellar.

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This.

The absolute arse of having to find a way to dispose of our old oven was absolutely worth the 60 or whatever francs for the chap just to load it into his van and off it went.

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We did this when our Siemens washing machine broke and bought a new Miele from Fust. Delivery, mounting, removal and disposal by the techs.

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Absolutely.

UK has some good spares shops.
I’ve also bought coffee machine O-rings and solenoids from Ebay.
Ali Express has a good range too:

As an example, I’ve got a Sage machine (Australian designed Breville) which makes a bit of a mess with ground coffee from the grinder so they introduced a funnel which clips on when grinding.
I bought one from Ali Express and I swear it is an original in different packaging which makes me think they came from the same factory.

As for repairing other things, I’ve repaired PS5 joysticks (the potentiometers wear out) and someone’s even written a calibration program - there’s so much out there.

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Good machine, we had one before the Lelit…but we literally “drove it into the ground”. Needed (read: wanted) a dual boiler machine.

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Not really. I have repaired phones and parts are delivered within 24-48 hours. Apart from that, the parts for the robot vacuum cleaner are always available (brushes, filters, battery). Car or bicycle parts are also easy to find.

But, 1 accessory for the kitchen mixer broke and they don’t sell it as spare part. We bought a new mixer with all accessories. It’s not about the price (50 francs), but the waste. Anyway, I don’t think I can single out Switzerland for something like this. Or, is it better somewhere around the world?

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That would be the sensible approach… but I clearly don’t have any sense :smiley: I think it was 185chf on galaxus from what I recall.

So far, the top plate and door are gone (my village has a recycling center that takes old appliances and pretty much anything… metal and glass are free too, so will end up there once I get it out)

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In our Karcher this part broke last weekend during the spring cleaning. We always stored the device inside and only used it once a year for 7 years or so. The replacement part is made of metal, so hopefully it will not break that easy like the plastic one.

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I had a similar experience with Geberit toilet with shower. My husband was able to disassemble it and locale the broken part, but Geberit didn’t want to sell it, only to replace it professionally. We agreed that they will send their technician. To my suprise it was not extremely expensive and was definitely worth it considering the price of the new models of these toilets and installation costs.

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Almost everything is made in China today so you are likely correct

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I think the trick is to research upfront to buy only stuff where parts/spares are available or whole thing is cheap enough to replace if it breaks.

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In that case, an incomplete list:

Siemens/Bosch/Gaggenau/NEFF for fridges/freezers/cookers etc.
Xiaomi for robot vacuum cleaners.
Philips or Bosch for small kitchen appliances.

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They seem to be quite high priced?

Two years ago I bought a no-name for CHF40 in Aliexpress that works fine.
It has a pressure switch so when it hits anything it changes direction and has a remote so one can drive it.

It nerved my wife banging into furniture so she bought one for CHF99 in Landi that has a five year guarantee.

That has a remote sensor so changes direction before it actually hits anything.
It also has bigger wheels with big treads and doesn’t get stuck in places like between some of my floor tiles that the old one used to.

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How does the robot vacuum work out with your doggos? I’ve never risked one because I fear there wouldn’t be a YouTube tutorial in existence that would help me deal with aftermath of our doggo taking it to task… :thinking:

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