I don't recall my agreeing that "2" was a number - I think you're being a bit previous there

Sorry.

Q1 - how do you know if it is a bill if it is not addressed to you and not to your address. Isn't it illegal to open other people's post?

But it is her name.... with the wrong name...

Are you guys sure that the OP didnt make the most successful Aprils fool joke today?

Just saying...

perhaps, but you had some fun reading it, right ?

I am not going to answer that.... nope!

i shouldn't have posted this day, forgot about this april fools day.

EVita,
this has happened to my boss too. she received a letter stating she was travelling witout a ticket and the bills were sent to her work place. she then called them up and said it as a fraud asked for proof etc and ou have to really be hard with them and even say you will complain to the police against the false issue.

I have heard several similar stories which after taking a severe action was dismissed. they randomly try to squeeze out money esp if you have a foreign name, thinking foreigners are helpless.

all the best to you in this fight.

Hi, Evita

It is really bad that someone abused your name and you now suffer from it. The company will now check whether they can prove it was you, which they will not be able to.

I once got a call from someone asking me to settle a doctor's invoice after my dog had attacked someone in Berlin. I do not have a dog, I live in Switzerland, and I had not visited Berlin, that day, and neither did the description of the person match me. The dog's owner had given them my business card. It turned out it was my previous neighbor - I had written a note on my business card which I remembered.

Hang in there
Idgie

At the risk of restating the obvious, why would you even care if a bill is sent to a person with the same family name as you and your mother? And why would you assume that if it arrived at your mother's place of work that it is supposed to be for you? Was there a note that said, "We are contacting you with regards to an issue we have with your daughter?

So far, it just seems that you have received a random bill meant for someone who is not you but has the same family name. I would not even respond. If they send this bill to betreibungs/poursuite, they cannot give it to you or your Mother as they are not the person named.

Forget about it and don't contact them again. There is NOTHING they can do to you.

fduvall

I was in the bus the other day, when the ticket-inspectors popped-in, and someone was travelling without ticket and without ID. He claimed he had a monthly ticket, but forgot it at home. In fact, he said that he even forgot his whole wallet with monthly ticket and IDs. Well, that could happen to any of us, right? Especially early in the morning.

So what happened next ?

- The ticket-inspectors did not check the pockets or bag of the guy, for finding some ID: they are not the police, the "crime" of the guy was mild, if any. The guy could have been just an honest person talking the truth, having done nothing more wrong than having rushed too hastily from his place at 7:20 or earlier.

- Neither did they throw out the guy from the bus. It was 07:40, time for going to work.

- So, they ask for his name, firstname. They ask for his address, and ask him if he lives there by his name, or by his parents name.

- Then, they call some registration office, to know if someone called so and so live at the address this and that.

- Mind: the controllers told the to the guy that if would have given a name/address not matching, they would call the police and get him picked up. It's one thing to lose or forget your wallet, it's another to travel consciously without a valid ticket, to lie and to put potentially someone else in trouble.

- So, the name/address were matching (it was the names of the parents, by the way, the guy was a young one), and they told the guy that he has 10 days (or 1 week, I am not sure) for bringing his monthly ticket to the office in order to clear off the fine at his name. Otherwise, the fine will be sent by mail to the name/address he gave.

Note: it was in Lausanne, not in Morges, so it was a different guy than the b**** who put the OP in trouble.

It may be an other story that lead to the troubles of the OP. However, the point is that the OP has to prove she was not in a bus in Morges at the time the fine was given, and she'd better have some colleagues/people who could testify for it.

Sometimes, it's so easy to have your identity stolen. At least here, it is "only" a matter of a few hundreds. It can be sometimes much more dramatic. Yet, it feels always so unfair, and it is awfully unfair All my sympathy.

And frankly, the young guy who was caught, he had some attitudes and reactions that would really suggest that he did not have a ticket (but maybe having some ID), and that he was trying his best for not having a fine to pay. He was reluctant to give name/address, he was saying to the ticket-controllers that they were not entitled to do this or that (like asking his name), or to check where he lives, and so on... although he was riding the bus without ticket and ID. And btw, he looked totally Swiss

/Paul

Yes. Clearly the young jedi in your story had an attitude that the ticket controllers didn't like. I have done this, forgotten my wallet with monthly pass in Lausanne. No one called to check on me. I had x amount of days to go to the office and show my pass and pay the fine. I remember it was quite small fine though.

(And BTW it's completely irrelevant that he "looked completely Swiss". I on the other hand do not "look completely Swiss"." )


As to the OP, I agree you should not be bothering yourself with this issue. Who cares if it ended up at your mom's work with the ambassador? Does the Ambassador open the mail or have time to worry about this kind of BS? It's the bus companies mistake and I think you are worrying for nothing. It's nice of you to inform them they have the wrong person. And that's the end of that. However, I now worry that you gave them your name and address and they will not go after you directly creating an even bigger mess. Let's hope that's not the case.

Let us know how it works out.

__________________

Yes, I guess you're right.

I read the full discussion quickly before writing my message, and I spotted at least one post mentioning that having possibly a foreign name could explain this or that. I found that especially unfair, considering that the bus I was taking was (as every day) full of people of obviously foreign origins, and none of them was they guy making a mess, being ticketless and provocative.

I admit in addition that I can't never help thinking of the irony of someone who wrote on that forum that, as everyone know, there is only two kinds of people in Switzerland: the Swiss white people and the criminals (<-- irony, related to the propaganda of SVP/UDC). I hate the propaganda of the SVP/UDC so much...

/Paul

The question is simple:

Did you commit the offence?

If "Yes" -- pay the bill, and get on with your life.

If "No" -- tell them so, and get on with your life.

I simply refuse to accept there are any other options here.

Yes. You are right.

Sorry, I shouldn't just point to you. TBH, this type of attitude gets really tiring on this site. The fact that people are foreign is not the only or even most likely reason these things happen in CH.

Anyway, the fact she has a foreign name could mean that it's uncommon and thus why the bill ended up with her and/or her mother.

You forgot the option 3: Go to EF, argue for many pages about options 1 and 2, with possible side rants about the Swiss, Swiss police, discrimination, etc.

aaarrrgghhh!
just wasted 10mins of my life reading this thread.
will someone come round and wipe my nose for me?