This may come as a bit of a surprise but I thought it might be useful to write about a very pleasant shopping experience I have just had!

A few years ago I bought some expensive knives. Recently, after a bottle of wine I was cutting some chops with one of the big ones and came to a bone. I gave it a good whack and although it smashed through the bone it broke a piece of metal away from the cutting edge and effectively ruined the knife. Later that week I dropped one of the smaller ones onto the stone tiles and the end of the blade broke off. Both of these incidents could easily be blamed on me.

I tried to take them back to the shop where I bought them but this has since closed down and the only other place that sold the knives was Jelmoli in ZH so I went there. The nice lady on the counter took one look at them and said oh such a thing should definitely not happen and immediately replaced them without a receipt, without discussion and although they clearly were not new. I was so impressed that I bought another one!

Has any one else had a good experience shopping in Switzerland?

Well, I've had to take a few things back to Media Markt and never had any problems with them. Their prices can be pretty good too.

Also, Sunrise have been pretty helpful when I've had issues with my mobile so can't complain there (mind you, others tell less cheerful stories).

Plus, there is a nice car hifi shop around the corner from where I work where the guy running it has given me really good, hassle-free service at decent prices.


Gav

These weren't by any chance Global knives?

They indeed were a 5" Vegetable knife and 3" paring knife...

Why?

You got very good service indeed!

I used to be a professional chef and have a full set of Globals. They are essentially sushi knives and owing to the precision manufacturing cannot withstand being dropped or being used for hacking through bone (especially not a paring or veg knife)

I have snapped, broken and shattered a few Globals performing even the least strenuous of tasks such as cutting cheese (mind you it was a wheel of Parmesan). The only Global that can be used for hacking through bone is the cleaver.

FYI - Globals also need to be sharpened using a porcelain steel, if a regular steel or stone is used you'll only blunt and ruin the edge. The back of a plate also does well if you don't have the porcelain steel (the unvarnished, raised edge on the back of a plate).

If you ever treat yourself to a Global steel, don't drop it otherwise it will shatter into thousands of pieces (I've killed 2 already).

Globals look and feel good, they are the sexiest knives about (and need to be treated much the same way), but believe it or not you can't beat a bog-standard Victorinox.

I bow to your superior knowledge... That said I have a global ceramic water sharpener... This sharpens the knives easily and quickly. I had the complete set of stones but found that my knives were just wearing away and that they were never really as sharp as at the start. That said it is better that way as they cause my wife two weeks of pain from cuts when they are freshly sharp!!

I suspect you have the wee water sharpener with wheels where the knife is guided through a a fixed angle. These are the best unless you are good with sharpening knives.

The most accidents occur with blunt knives because we tend to force the cutting action, thus slipping and ending up with finger salad etc.

Enjoy the knives and remember that it is in fact the kitchen that is the last bastion of male chauvenism (the kitchen is a man's place ;-) )

Absolutely correct and it sharpens well.

As far as most accidents are concerned again quite correct BUT if you don't respect the sharpeness then....

I have had the knives for years and they have been easily the best as they should be! And yes my wife may use the kitchen but only if she does as she is told or is clearing up...(SLAP)

Make no mistake, I'm all for Women's rights. I'd love to have a hugely successful career wife... I can stay home and cook, pick up the kids from school, shop and play bridge with the boys on Wednesdays!

Great idea guys - let it not be said that we just a big bunch of whinging expats. I guess a thread or two where we reward companies who give good service with a bit of a plug isn't a bad idea..

Gav I tend to agree with your comments, though I've found the media markt returns department to be good (I guess it costs more to discuss something than to just replace it). The staff on the floor however are a different story. I've often found them to be downright rude, or stupid, or both. Sunrise hasn't done me any wrong either - I originally switched to them from Swisscom because Swisscom were p***ing me off.

I had a great experience with buying a camera online at www.ch-foto.ch - absolutely brilliant pre and post sales services - I was blown away at someone handling me, well, like a customer!

I also like the restaurant Tobelhof in Gockhausen - they have actually been trained in how to serve in a restaurant. I always take guests there if I don't want any surprises (beware - it isn't cheap though)

Anyway anyone else got anything nice to say about a service experience they've had?

Also wanted to add a vote of confidence for Sportplausch Wider in Dietlikon - with the exception of one moron they've always given me excellent service, as have Ochsner Sport. It's nice to go to a business every once in a while and actually feel good about spending money...

More positive feedback welcomed on this thread...

Mark

This is a great thread. Good idea!!

I was with a friend in Bern who had on a brand new pair of earrings, bought very recently from globus, Zurich. Just out of the Bern Hbf, she realised one had fallen off. She was quite disappointed so I convinced her to just get another pair from Globus Bern and she can always use the one-earring as a spare in case she loses another one (he he!). So off we went to Globus Bern.

We explained the situation to the ladies at the counter but they didn't have an exact 100% match but there was a similar pair (stone cut in a slightly different way). So what the lady from Globus did, was buy back my friend's earring - used and only one - by halving the original price, and then sold a brand new similar pair.

It was amazing. I never realised, that if you'd lost one of a pair, they'd buy back the odd pair from you. On top of that, she also gave her some stoppers so she could use them straight away without them falling out again. That was incredible service!!

The last time I went looking for ski-boots, I ended up in Ochsner sport. Somehow the guy fitted me with not the best boots (but it could've also been me giving less than perfect feedback in the hours spent trying the many on). So I was on the slopes with this pair that just didn't work. It was annoying because I'd just spent hundreds of francs. So I went back with the used boots, expecting to hopefully find a compromise and much to my big surprise, they took them back and fitted me with a much better boot. So I second Ochsner Sport's service level. Also, when I bought my skis, they called around the other branches to check which one still had the particular model. No other place in Zurich's ever done a call-around for me.

I just had another good service experience. I was looking to buy some stuff, so I checked toppreise.ch and ordered from the store with the lowest price. I ordered on Monday morning, the goods were dispatched that afternoon, and they were delivered the next morning (Tuesday).

Ok, they haven't been delivered yet because the post guy just dropped a slip into my letterbox without ringing the doorbell because he was too lazy to carry my 16kg parcel from the truck (this happens a lot!) but that's the post's issue and nothing with do the store (pc-cooling.ch).

Now the real kicker: Free shipping and free nachnahme (COD) - I was bowled over! And this from the cheapest store on toppreise.ch! (for the stuff I ordered that is). I always order nachnahme these days - I pay the (usually) extra 15 francs in case the shops don't really have the items in stock and I get stitched up paying for something in advance that I have to fight with them about.

Anyway - Just wanted to share a surprisingly pleasant online shopping experience with you all.

Mark - create an account on toppreise.ch and give them your rating - this will help others when they're coming along to choose a supplier (potentially).

I have to rate the folk at the Orange store next to the Dub. I got consecutive numbers from them at no cost - nice ones too, which should've been chargeable in my book. Also free SIMs and they give you pretty much the best deal.

I've ordered some stuff from Sertek too, after finding the best price with toppreise - very quick delivery and with rechnung after the first payment....if only I'd ordered two pairs of Powermids I would've saved myself one lot of postage

Already have an account on toppreise.ch - and have used it to pass judgement on shoddy establishments in the past But I do believe in giving credit where credit is due and will be giving some positive feedback shortly... First I have to go pick the stuff up from those slackers at the post...

Dear all,

I thought I would share a very pleasant shopping experience I recently had. A couple of weeks ago I was rushing around like a lunatic trying to get the last of my Saturday shopping done in preparation for the expat-expo. During this rather manic shopping experience two acts of kindness and helpfulness really stuck in my mind.

I was standing in one shop with a list of things I needed to purchase. As I was unfamiliar with the lay out and pressed for time I asked one of the shop assistants if she would be so kind as to prepare my list of products for me as I had to rush to another shop before they closed. Expecting a rude glare, I was absolutely amazed to be greeted with a smile and "Sure no problem, we close in 1 hour so please just come to collect it before then." With that I was able to rush off to the other shop to buy some desperately needed bits and pieces.

As I arrived at the next shop, I needed to find out exactly what I was supposed to buy. While on the phone, my mobile phone battery died... Again I was at the mercy of the shop assistants. I explained my dilemma and asked if I could use their phone. Again I was amazed when the sympathetic shop assistant kindly offered the use of one of their phones.

So occasionally shopping and customer service can be quite a pleasant experience here in Zurich!

confused... i thought i had posted a response here as well. was it deleted because i said that i normally dont consider switzerland as having good customer service levels?

Can't imagine why because that is the primary reason why I started the thread in the first place and to actually name the places where the service is actually good in the hope that if ever an ignorant Swissie, which is by no means all or even a majority, sees that service is regarded as important that they might think on that and react differently.

maybe i didnt send it in correctly.

it did include some positive feedback as well... pc joy on loewenstrasse in zh gave me great service when i purchased my xbox 360 there. hats off to them!

krlock2

Hey Richard,

I tried the knife thing here in FR at Manor, after reading your good service post. What b*ll*cks!

The "old prune" posing as shop assistant told me that I had dropped my knife and broke it. Truth is, our set of knives was a wedding gift and the tip broke off one day as I was sliding it back into its slot. (pun all you want)

She refused to do anything for me, insisting that I had done something really harsh to make a knife tip break like that - until I was so irate that I stomped off, leaving my husband to deal with her. She didn't speak, he said, she just gave him a single packaged knife closely resembling the one from our set, since they don't carry the original set anymore.

This is the typical Röstigraben crap I get ALL THE TIME.

See my post in the Röstigraben thread.

P.S. I realize this belongs in Complaints Corner, but it's also linked to this thread about the knives.