i think this should be made a sticky............

i've successfully kicked a few big corporation @r$€$ in my time.

I'm no lawyer or anything, but in my opinion, the above link points to a case where no verbal agreement has been given, the prospective renter received the contract without being informed or giving them the OK to send the contract. So good on you for standing up to them, but I do not really believe that you had anything to fight with - they just couldn't be bothered with the hassle...

I'm the guy who opened the thread linked to in the first reply, who was fortunate enough to receive a similar letter.
After sending a letter back to that landlord stating what he tried was illegal and that I refused to pay up (I included a copy of what's written about it on the Mieterverband web site), I never heard back from him. Please note however that I've never signed a contract. I just gave him a verbal yes after he called to tell me I could get the apartment.

my direction has always been straight ahead. i've been f@cked over plenty in my swiss incarnation and unfortunately there are always gonna be people who simply accept and pay without question.

nils carborundum etc.

celebration drinks are offered to anyone who cares to be in the area when i'm partying.

some of the members who replied negatively are quite definately NOT invited unless they bring a boattle of single malt ( scotch,irish,, swiss or whatever) and leave immediately after parking their contribution on the bar............

you obviously continue to live in dreamland where anyone who sends you a bill must automatically be paid without question.

do you seriously believe that a huge corporation is going to simply write off any income because they " can't be bothered" with the aggro?

if you pm me your name and address i'll send you a few bills which you're welcome to pay instead of stopping to consider what they are actually about.

i signed an APPLICATION FORM for a contract , i knew that the paragraph about paying 250 if i didn't sign the contract was without any legal significance whatsoever but i didn't have the letter of the law filed. thanks to helpful infos from here i had access to the legal jargon a few hours quicker than i would have had through other sources and have resolved my personal case in record time.

i don't doubt that this particular company and many others of their ilk will continue to attempt the same fraudulent practices with probably great success since there are so many gullible scaredy cats just begging to be relieved of their hard earned cash.