Hi everyone,
Have a little bit of a problem & would appreciate any help! I bought a piece of furniture on Ricardo recently and had intended to use RicardoTrans to deliver it. However, they have, apparently, been having a problem with their system for the past few days and still have not processed my request. Meanwhile the guy I bought the thing off has been sending me LOTS of increasingly nasty emails (2-3 /day) & phone calls, demanding that it be picked up, and he has just now sent me an email saying that if it's not picked up by Monday, he's going to get it disposed of and I'll have to pay for it, plus disposal costs of 400CHF, plus debt collection costs (??!) if I don't pay!
I don't have a problem paying for the item; obviously I'd prefer not to have to pay for something that he's disposing of, but I understand that I have nonetheless agreed to buy it, so that's fine. But I'd just like to know what would my position on disposal costs be? Can he actually force me to pay for this? Also this figure seems a little arbitrary, no?!
Any advice is really appreciated, I'm really getting a little stressed over it, as he's constantly on the phone/emailing, and my German is really not good enough to deal with him. Truly a bad first experience with Ricardo!
Thanks in advance

Do you still want the furniture? If so, is it close enough for you to pick it up yourself? You can hire a truck or van from Mobility (your local Ikea will have them available) very reasonably-- probably CHF40-60 for the hire -- and do the job yourself. Can you get someone to help you, if required?

As for your original question -- sorry, no idea. I just thought this might be a viable solution. And presumably you wouldn't have to pay the RicardoTrans cost.

You have several sides to this but to keep it simple and based on the limited information you have provided, you enter a contractual relationship once you "win" an item on Ricardo. You then also fall under Swiss law on the Sale of Goods.

So key to your question is what did the seller say about the sale. If he has said pick up must be within 7 days then he has the right to insist you meet that condition or charge you for inconvenience. If he can prove he is not able to reasonably store, at your cost, the item he can then dispose of it at his convenience and your cost. All the items at your cost are then at your reasonable cost. ie he cannot charge you 5000 for disposing of a tea cup.

If he did not state anything about pick-up then the Ricardo terms insist that you conclude the transaction within 14 days or at least mutually agree otherwise.

Swiss law on the other hand insists that the time frame between order, payment and delivery should be reasonable. The reasonable would then depend on the object being purchased. For example a car might reasonably take 3 months to be delivered whereas that would be unreasonable for a kilo of coffee.

Clearer or still like mud?

Thanks so much for your help; so looks like I will have to pay him CHF400 for disposal then? Does this seem too high for a TV unit, or how would I find out what is a fair price?
Again, thanks a million, you've been very helpful!

Look at what it sais in the Ricardo auction. But seriously, if you're willing to pay 400chf for disposal, why don't you hire someone to get it for you or get it yourself ? If he's sending you nasty/rude e-mails, and the time to pick it up (14 days if not agreed otherwise) is NOT over, send the mails to Ricardo and let them take care of it.

No, disposal costs are at any rate NOT CHF 400.--

He is just trying to intimidate you.

Organise the transfer or explain to him the RicardoTrans problem.

If he is not agreeing, tell him you will pass the information incl. the nasty emails to Ricardo.

Exactly. Don't try to be nice with rude people. Fight back, forward to Ricardo explaining your problem etc.

If you and your TV unit are around Zurich, PM me and perhaps I can help. I have some time today and I own an SUV.
Good luck in any case,
CH-iao

For 200 CHF you could get osmeone off this forum to pick it up and deliver it to you, and yet you would almost unquestioningly pay that for something you haven't even taken into your house? The guy is trying it on. Unless the auction specifically states a 400 CHF disposal fee then he has no leg to stand on.

Have you explained to the guy that RicardoTrans is having a problem, and does he know this?

Intimidating and harassing on a personal level is in Switzerland legally not allowed. So the seller is clearly overstepping a limit here.

I was once in a similar position, and told the person "we can as good as speak with "my" lawyer about that - as the current discussion shows exactly that we are taking this path now".

That cleared the situation in a second.

Send all the mails to Ricardo and get them to deal with him immediately, they will send him an e-mail today informing him that they are processing your request for Ricardo-Trans. You need to involve Ricardo in this now as if his e-mails are as you say, he is way out of order.

It does sound very tempting. Just send the email to ricardo and let them deal with it.

Well ricardo might send him a mail or even ban him, but you are still left having a contract which has not been disolved. The ricardo route is the polite route but it does not remove the contract. He offered to sell, you agreed to buy under the conditions stated in the auction or 14 days which is the ricardo default. As such he can claim for damages or for compensation for costs incurred. If you argue which you can he needs to demonstrate his costs.

Note if you want a correct answer or proper help you will need to provide more details. ie exactly when the deadline is and where the pickup point is. Then maybe we, ie someone, can help.

Also if you want an answer to your "threats" in German then you can post a mail and receive an answer...

Who is Ricardo?

Thanks for your help everyone. He did have a time limit of 5 days in his ad unfortunately, so the time was up on Thursday. He does, however, know about the problem with RicardoTrans (he has been in touch with them too!), but since I did agree to buy it within 5 days, it's technically my problem.
I asked him about how he's come up with the disposal costs, and he's claiming he needs payment for his own time spent disposing of it, plus extra payment for the glass etc., etc. which clearly is pushing it a bit.

Hollister: Thanks a million for your offer, it's not near Zurich unfortunately though, but thanks anyhow, I really appreciate it!

I'm trying to get the Brocki to come and take it away, as I really don't want anything more to do with this guy. Regarding mentioning my lawyer, he's the one threatening to bring in his lawyer, so not sure this approach would work! And again, I did agree to buy it, so not sure I really have a leg to stand on there!
Thanks again..

Just get a company to pick it up and bring it to you, I don't see why this was so complicated. There are taxi companies that pick up larger objects and deliver them to you.

Do you know where I could get the number of a taxi company that would do this?? Or where I could look for a number?

Yellow pages...? http://yellow.local.ch/de

A couple of seasoned EFers groaned at the above post. I think that's somewhat unfair and rude. A few seconds' research would have uncovered the fact that Rosita is new to Switzerland (approx. 2 months only), doesn't speak German and speaks English as a second language only. There is no good reason why she (I assume Rosita is female) would know who/what Ricardo is.

Far too many people on EF are gratuitously rude to other posters. I've seen nothing in Rosita's four posts to justify condescension or disdain, which is the only inference she is likely to draw from receiving two groans for asking an innocent question.

I don't know, maybe it's the sunshine today, but I'd like everyone to be nice to each other for just one day -- you know, Michael Jackson style. (Or not.) You two groaners (you know who you are!), why not do the right thing and remove your groans?

So, Rosita, Ricardo is an online auction site (http://www.ricardo.ch/), similar to eBay in other countries. In Switzerland, eBay seems to be dominated by stores selling new goods; Ricardo is more like what you'd see in Mexico on eBay. But you'll need to get those German (or French) lessons underway.

Hello Rosita and welcome, I've noticed you've just moved to Switzerland, so maybe it's quite understandable that you don't know what Ricardo is.
It's auction website, a little like e-bay ? but a Swiss version.
People put their stuff up for auction and others bid if they are interested.

Hope you enjoy it here.

How did it go cat? Did you get it sorted?