Hello forum experts,

I am planning on leaving the country soon and wonder if anyone has recently prematurely cancelled their cablecom account. Right now, I have cablecom internet which I purchased 4 months ago. I would like ot terminate within 1 month.

Did anyone recently deal with this? How do I 'prove' I am leaving the country permanently?

Good luck with that! I have only had Swisscom's Bluewin since I arrived in Switzerland and it took months for Cablecom to stop billing me. They were insisting I was using their signal, which I wasn't.

I hope you have better luck with them in your quest!

Lol, I have a Cablecom account too, only pay for what you have used, they only seem to correct the bill if you give them stress about it.
If they bill you for something you haven't used don't pay it and tell them it won't be paid, they have left me alone with things like this in the past.
Communication between departments doesn't seem to be one of their strong points.....

I've moved your thread to the Leaving Switzerland section of the forum. If you do a search here (or just browse the threads), the answer your question is here

http://www.englishforum.ch/leaving-switzerland/

OH MY GOSH - don't get me started on Cablecom.

We are leaving at the end of Sept and I was initially told they needed 3 months notice - then someone else said only 1 month was necessary.

I wrote them a registered letter asking them to please write and acknowledge they have recieved it about 2 months in advance eventually, which was fine. They replied in writing and noted our departure date. All good.

Having heard several horror stories about friends trying to leave Cablecom, I was surprised at how easy it had seemed.......

I then recieved a letter from a company called Interim Justitia (a debt collection agency) telling me that I owed Cablecom about 300chf!!!! I called Cablecom and having been on hold for about 20 minutes and been passed to 4 different staff members, they came to the conclusion that they could not tell me what this was for - and that I should write them another letter exlpaining the issue. I did that and heard nothing back. I then recieve another letter from the debt collection agency threatening legal action!!!! (At this point I am also trying to deregister from Zurich and can not with outstanding debt from what I understand.....)

Having wasted far too much time on letter writing and phone calls during my working day, they have now told me that the outstanding amount is from my old address where they failed to close my account properly as I did not write them a letter about it, I only did it on the phone (their staff member told me over the phone that my account was closed and I needn't write a letter)....although funnily enough they had no problems opening the new account at my new address. Apparently the error I made was not sending my Cablecom reciever box back to them as this would have triggered something in their system about me closing the account. However at the time I was specifically told by a staff member on the phone that I did not HAVE to return the box, but I could if I wanted to. I never got around to it and it is still sitting in my cupboard. This is still not resolved and a colleague has told me the only way he managed to solve a similar situation was by going into the Cablecom office next to Zurich HB and demand to see a manager and not leave until you are happy with the outcome.

So the tips I would give are:
1. Write a letter, send it registered post (Einschreiben) and ask for acknowledgment in writing that they have reiceved it
2. When you hear back from them, return you Cablecom box too them asap (they should send you a sticker to label it with)
3. Make sure you tell everyone you know never to use Cablecom! If there is one thing the Swiss can't stand it is bad PR.
4. If they keep sending you bills, leave the country anyway and there is little they can do.

Sorry for my biterness.....but I have never been so frustrated or angry at a service providing company in my life.

Hope that helps.

It is not what people tell you, it is what is in the contact you signed with them.

All too often I hear things like "somone told me my notice period on my lease is to the end of any month." It turns out that someone has never even read the contract.

Notice periods are stated in writing. Cablecom receiver is not owned equipment and should be returned. The last box I returned to Cablecom I was provided with a special label in order to send it back.

Fair point, but when the contract is in german and you can't understand it, you would hope that what a Cablecom customer service representative tells you on the phone would be accurate information.....as opposed to a complete load of rubbish which is what seems to have been the case with me. I am now being forced to pay for their incompetance and with no way to prove it as it was all discussed on the phone.

There are incompetent customer service staff everywhere, not just Cablecom. It can happen at Swisscom too. I had a recent experience where Swisscom insisted my clients needed to arrange an electrician to get their phone line to work. I spoke to Swisscom directly, told them just to activate the line, and we'll see. I took a spare phone over the next day, and it worked, no electrician needed. If the client had taken what Swisscom said they would have wasted their money.

But as it has been said over and over here, not understanding German is not an excuse in the eyes of the law. Whether it is rental contract, or a service contract for internet, mobile, TV, if you sign it even though you don't understand it, it is still binding.

My advice is always set up a mail re-direction service when you change address and inform your old and new providers of your new/old addresses. Returned post will get you sent to debt collection for sure (after not paying the bill or the reminder). They use the debt collection company to find your new address.

It is people with this attitude that force companies to send us foreigners to debt collection just that little bit faster. Next time you enter Switzerland through an airport your debts will have you flagged up on their system and you could be asked to pay up.

I resently cancelled my cablecom account and for me it was only one calendar month notice.

The conditions changed some time ago. We had a one month cancellation on our internet because we had signed our contract before a specific date. They then extended the notice period for contracts signed after that date. So, it really is necessary to take a look at what one has signed. The terms and conditions could be quite different to someone else who has the same product.

If you rent, your Cablecom connection will probably be the responsibility of you house owner.... ask them to have the connection "plombiert", this means cablecom will send someone to put a "non-removeable" sticker over the connection plug.
This is accepted as proof that you are not using the connection....
The house owner will have to apply to Cablecom to have this done.
I am not sure what the cancellation notice required is in your case but having the connection plombiert will mean it will be the minimum legal time.

A few months ago we were planning to leave the country (we changed our mind) but Cablecom said one months notice and we needed a letter from our employers and also some evidence of de-registration (when we did that with Stadt Zurich). O and to return the box - they said we could post it back to them (some stickers could be provided) or there was a drop point in Zurich HB. (I have no idea where that it or if it even exists).

Actually, the Cablecom that comes with your rent isn't an issue. It is when you sign up for their packages, or internet or phone, that you need to cancel.

I have heard from several that had trouble with Cablecom billing them for both internet and TV after they had left the address, myself included after my last move. Having the connection plombiert would have prevented it...

Not really. You have to cancel in good time, with or without the service being blocked. If you don't cancel in good time and move out of the country, they'll make you pay for a service in a country you no longer reside in, so why would they not make you pay just because you want the connection prevented?

Hi,

I have a question on this. I am leaving the country next month. And I had sent a letter to Cablecom informing them about it. They have sent me an acknowledgement letter confirming the date and provided some stickers. But nowhere did they mention precisely what accessories do I have to return.

So my question is do I have return the cable modem box, cables, power adapter etc? I only had Internet subscription.

Also, I thought they'd send me a final bill along with the acknowledgement letter but they did not. How do I settle the final ammount?

I thought that if you left the country, and you provide the company with proof of this, then there is no obligation legally to pay, even if the notice provided is less than the notice period.