Got a towbar put on the car for the boat,1500chf ..

It wasn't a Smart Coupe was it??? Whole front end strip down to replace sidelight bulb

Thank you for the referrals, much appreciated!

Wow! Reading 12 pages of posts about how expensive things are in CH has made me quite convinced to live across the border from Basel! At first, we thought it was the exorbitant and crazy insurance scheme (scam?) that has put us off but now...And I'm a bargain hunter! ;-)

I've just posted a question about what to bring from here, under Daily Life and now I know more. Thanks guys! Keep complaining so I know what else to bring from here and what to expect!

I need to replace a window, a small skylight type. Called the company that made the windows in 1989:


CH sales rep: Mein Gott! - 20+ years old? Impossible, it cannot be done! These are no longer made, we cannot help you.

Me: What would you do if this was your house?

CH sales rep: I suppose there is the possibility of a custom piece.

Me: Could you tell me how much such a piece would cost? And how long would it take to have made?

CH sales rep: No, we cannot order one custom piece. It is not worth our time for such a little order. You must replace all the windows in the house. Cost: ca. 50,000.

Me: Is there any alternative?

CH sales rep: The only other possiblitity is to put in new style windows. But you will need to replace the whole roof.



So I called the company's office in Germany.


DE sales rep: Schwingfenster model number xxx? No problem. About 500 Euros. We can have it delivered and installed within a week.

Me: Thank you very much, see you next Friday. Nice doing business with you.



And you wonder why so many CH companies are moaning about losing business to EU competitors...

While we are all having a winge,my dishwasher broke, in the last week i have had three sets of repair people come,first one stripped it down , rebuilt it and said,"you have a power problem you need an electrician",two days later another joker turns up , i asked him if he was an electrician,...answer: "no"

He told him that it was a power issue, he then stated the former repair guy was an idiot and he would fix it, he continued to strip down the geshirr, rebuilt it, and then told me,you have a power problem.

Third set of people arrive, electricians, they fix it in 10 minutes, I wonder how much that all cost? good thing im renting.

Point is there are a lot of dodgy service people here, and the swiss will listen religiously to their every word, and believe everything they say.

...only to find they have been screwed royally in the jacksy when they recieve the bill.

PS: On that point never send your wife to the mechanic with the car, a broken headlight could turn into a major electrical problem.

That's where my brother came from.

We call him "Spanner".

Yep.
Time to wise up to a new reality. Because the next generation of Swiss are going to be more savy than you're wildest nightmare & sure as hell won't give a toss about your "Swiss Quality" or your "Swiss Editions" or your "Swiss guarantees" because they are already streets ahead of you in knowing what stuff really costs, unlike your current older customer base, who generally may not have had the pleasure of such easy travel etc, & the world at a mouse click.
It's going to be genuinely interesting what happens over the next 10 yrs or so, from prices to shop rents to wages, because of this.

We had a BBQ at work a few weeks ago, and one of my Swiss colleagues tole me (or almost whispered in confidence) that it acutally does happen that he travels over to DE to buy meat because it is so much cheaper. And to redeem himself swiftly proceeded on to declaring that "then again there is a difference in the quality as well".

I had to bite my tounge not to tell him that I think he is absolutely right, and that in my oppinion the DE meat out of a normal store actually is of a better quality than the CH..

You mean those kids you see every morning with a Red Bull and a cigarette..the ones who can't differentiate China from Japan? The DSDS crowd? Puuh-leeze!

..I tell you what is going to happen. This lethargic country and its inhabitants will have a rude awakening.

And of course, they are representative of an entire generation, right?

Well, certainly...prove me wrong.

Um... You're saying that the majority of 18-30 Swiss don't know how to trawl the Internet for a bargain? Seriously?

Make that 16-25 year olds...of course they know how to trawl the internet..but certainly won't trawl it for a bargain as they traditionally won't leave the nest until they're around 22 and therefore, don't necessarily care for a bargain (because they don't have to pay the bill) and are not in possesion of a credit card.

True.

My daughter just borrows mine!

Tom

Legally all food in Switzerland has to have a component for service charge incorporated into the price. So an element of both will be for staff costs. that would explain part of the small delta. You don't need to tip In Switzerland, many Swiss just round up to the nearest 5CHF (unless you get tremendous service above and beyond).
Waiters/waitresses never in my expeience look displeased if you pay the exact amount, though I'm sure there will be some EF members who can recall exceptions.

one important thing that is possibly cheaper in switzerland than elsewhere: income tax.

Err, I beg to differ, There are many cultures where leaving the nest is often late, much later than 22. yet the kids have their sense of responsibilities and are hard working.

"You mean those kids you see every morning with a Red Bull and a cigarette..the ones who can't differentiate China from Japan"


I think it is wrong to generalize looking at some of the spoiled brats.
Also the age group that you mention 16-25 year old is often very tricky to deal with, no matter which part of the world you are in.
Lot of us (adults) do not know lot of things,
people keep using SWISS instead of switzerland and so on . Not all of us have been in swiss err switzerland but we do silly mistakes !

The swiss kids I know are doing fairly or brilliantly well.
if someone wants to steal away their credit to the overprotected environment, I don't think that is right.

Now back on topic of rip offs,

I think there is a nice deal at the migros for this week.

TOMTOM XL at migros is at 159 instead of 229CHF
http://www.melectronics.ch/

...and your point is?

My point is that I don't buy your point