Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

A couple of weeks ago I cancelled my home internet contract with Salt 2 years into it. Awful customer service with long waits and wrong invoices.

So, according to the contract, I had to return the router. According to the contract I signed, section "appareils": "A l’expiration du Contrat, vous devez restituer les appareils non endommagés à Salt dans les trente (30) jours suivant la fin de la durée. Si vous ne restituez pas les appareils, les câbles et les accessoires ou les restituez endommagés, vous devez payer un dédommagement conformément à l’information produit se trouvant sur fiber.salt.ch."

For non-french speakers: "when the contract expires, you have to return the undamaged devices on the 30 days that follow the contract expiration. If you do not return the devices, the cables, and the accessories, or return them damaged, you have to pay a penalty in accordance with the information on the product found in fibre.salt.ch"

So, here I am, happy to change provider and leave this people behind. I go into the store with the router, the cables, and all accessories. In mint condition. Then the guy produces a sheet with the prices (which I could not find in their website) and starts ticking off the returned items, until he reaches "box".

He wants me to return the original box, or pay 25 francs for the lack of it. A carton box for 25 francs.

I point out that nowhere in the contract does it say that I needed to keep and return the carton box. He doesn't care. I insist and he directs me to salt's customer service number, which I call in his presence and after 30 minutes waiting for someone, finally one of the agents answers. He also ignores me, but again I insist that he needed to check the contract that I signed.

His final answer? "a box is a device" (appareil). WTF. And the store agent? "I cannot accept the returned items unless you pay in full the 25 francs; if you decide to not return any of the items, then Salt may force you to pay additional penalties".

I'm tired of big companies ignoring contracts and law, it only applies to them when it is you who has to pay.

FOR NEW PEOPLE ARRIVING INTO SWITZERLAND: AVOID SALT.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

We usually keep the boxes for everything in our basement storage, but at our last apartment we had UPC and I think they sent a box out to us so we could return the router. We have Salt now, so I hope we kept the box after reading this!

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

I have had three UPC routers.

First one was too old for them so they told me to put it in the recycling.

Second one they told me to use the return label in the original pack, so I packed up the stuff in a shoebox and put it in the post. It came back to me! I checked with UPC and they confirmed my label was out-of-date and had an invalid address on it; they apologised and said they wouldn't bother me any more, I could just recycle that router as well (I guess the model was just about to be replaced anyway).

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

I'm with UPC now. Their customer service is miles away from dreadful Salt, they are so friendly and fast even for after-sales issues!

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

Personally, my entire experience with Salt has been and is great. Since I'm happy with their service I haven't had the need to return their gear, apart from when the router was upgraded to some new system - then I simply walked in with the router and power cord in a paper bag, handed them over, and received the new router. Since Swisscom had a similar "must be in the original box" condition when I returned their gear when I switched to Salt a couple of years back, and I had kept the box, I have kept the Salt box on hand.

Checking my (German) contract, it does have the phrase, "in the original packaging" when mentioning returning the bits and bobs on contract termination. The staff in the store were being nice to me when they took the old router back in a paper bag ... but also having checked, I still have the original box for that one as well (currently in use holding silicon moulds for dice).

Sounds more like a problem with the Röstigraben (split between French-speaking/German-speaking Switzerland) than a Salt issue. My local Salt store staff are always amazingly helpful (to the point of offering me deals I didn't know about which save me money on monthly contracts and provide more compared to the service I have asked for) and customer support, both online and on the phone, has been painless and effective.

I would recommend that people use Salt, and not just because it's cheap and fast - at least in my area of Switzerland!

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

I have a SALT contract for two phones and a home 4G box, 69 CHF per month. I've listened to horror stories from them, but the thing I liked from the contract is that I can cancel it with 1 month notice period if I send them a deregister from CH document. COnsidering all what I've saved over the years compared to my first contract with swisscom.....I'd say 25 CHF is nothing.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

Why not complain on Twitter?
This deserves some name and shame.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

then why, other than 'just cheap and fast'?

(n.b: i wouldn't use them in any case, even though they are 'cheap and fast'; am just curious)

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

One still has to wonder why they are so anal about the packaging box. Do they actually reuse those boxes/devices or are they just find way to slap a charge on the customer? I can't think that a carton box that has been opened (thus stickers removed, potentially torn/scratched/etc) is in any way reusable, or that they are even giving reused devices (routers etc) to new customers - used devices need to be cleaned, dusted, reconfigured, etc to be passed on. Used cables may not pass quality criteria. Pretty much any provider I have had in the past always sent new equipment....

So yeah pretty shitty behaviour even if this is assumed to be a low-cost service (for Switzerland, it's would still be an arm and a leg in other parts of the world).

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

See below for the "why" ...

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

these companies are hit or miss with customer service, it's just how it is. At least they're cheap.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

Their "Home pricing brochure" spells it out, at least the current version does.

It looks like you were missing the packaging, one cable, and the RJ11 adaptor. Which makes the charges far less nonsensical than you present them.

http://www.youscreen.de/kmgzudigw25.jpg

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

OP I am with you. This is nonsensical and they will throw it anyway, it's not like they will give th écouter to someone else.

Have you now returned all or not?

If not, I would put it all in a package, with a copy of the contract and section highlighted and send it to them with a list of what you are sending mentioning that you consider the matter closed.

Might be just a few people at customer service that cannot do their jobs. Unfortunately those are everywhere, Swisscom has them too at times
I have just hanged up and called someone else.

In any case, stay strong, 25 CHF is not worth your sanity.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

I did pay, I rather move on and forget this awful company than letting them stress me for a mere 25 francs. I can tell you what would happen if I did what you advise: they'd reply that I need to pay the full amount. Both people I spoke with had the contract in front of them, that's why eventually the guy on the phone called it a "device". I also wrote a complaint to salt via their website who then replied saying the same thing....

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

It is unfortunate that this happens from time to time, it seems that some service providers test the sanity of customers to the limit.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

Your contract rules that other documents form an integral part of it. Including said brochure, their general T&C and their product-specific T&C.

This is what you signed.

Whether you care doesn't matter, the other party will hold you accountable anyway. As you just learned. Your new provider will do likewise, as will others - looking forward to your next complaint on the same issue.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

Don't you think that it is precisely because I care that I threw away the damn box? I read the contract carefully. Three salt employees had to defend their case by claiming that a cardboard box is a device as this was the only means they had to justify the price tag. But then there's you, who has no clue at what is included or not in my private contract but are happy to offer your unrequested view nonetheless, thank you for that.

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

I agree, for a loss of CHF25 I would just say the 'F'-word once and forget it. ;)

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

Your contract contains what everybody else's does, you wouldn't have been accepted otherwise.

Besides, reading =/= understanding

Re: Salt - a carton box for 25 francs
 

From Wayback machine - in September 2018 the GTC stated this:

"If you fail to return the equipment, cables and accessories or return damaged equipment, cables and accessories you must pay the compensation in accordance with the product information on fiber.salt.ch."

Unfortunately the full product and tariff brochure from that time isn't archived, but the product FAQ is and it says:

Salt Fiber Box:
The Salt Fiber Box (device and accessories) remains the property of Salt during the whole contract duration.
At the end of the contract, you have to return the whole equipment (including the original packaging) undamaged to Salt within 30 days.
If you fail to return the material - or if you return it damaged -, a compensation fee of maximum CHF 199.- will be charged (details ref. Product & tariffs brochure / Return of equipment).

So while you may have a point morally and from a CX viewpoint, contractually you seem to be completely wrong.