Hi all,
We are having a little trouble with the dishwasher, so I called the hauswart about it. I was told to call Electrolux* directly, which I did.

Trouble is, I was speaking with the hauswart in my very elementary German, and I picked up just the highlights of that conversation. The part I didn't quite catch was, who typically pays for this? I did catch the part that I must pay for the service appointment, but I wasn't able to gather whether or not I will be reimbursed for this cost by the owners of my apartment building.

Perhaps every lease contract is different, but is it typical in Switzerland that the renter pays for the repairs and then submits the receipt for reimbursement by the apartment owner? Or is appliance repair a cost borne by the renter? The dishwasher needs repair either way, but it would be a little less painful to pay for that appointment, knowing I'll be reimbursed!

Thanks for the help!

*For those of you with Electrolux appliances: the customer service line is great - they went out of their way to find me someone who could help me in English, then tried to help me fix the dishwasher by phone, to avoid sending a technician.

When a part on our dishwasher needed replacing we informed the landlord who contacted an engineer who came, made the repair then billed the landlord.

I just had to sign the chit to say the work had been done.

As ever, check your contract, as sometimes some repairs etc. may come under the nebulous term 'Kleinreparatur' (tr. small repairs), where the landlord may insist you pay for wear and tear replacements.

Great, thanks for the replies. I'll have another look at our contract. If all else fails, I will submit the bill for reimbursement and see what happens!

Thanks again -
ejml

our contract (which I'm told is quite standard) defines 'small repairs' as those costing up to 1% of the total annual rent.

This means most small repairs are *OUR* responsibility to pay for.,.... which sucks as we have a 'friday' model dishwasher which is ALWAYS going wrong....