Ok so my wife lost her wallet today and spoke with UBS to cancel her ATM card, a straight forward thing in Canada, and when the dust settled we are now out of pocket 60 chf????

Seriously, heads up to those who don't know but to replace your maestro card in the first 2 years will set you back 20 chf plus a 40 blocking fee ....

This is completely ridiculous when in Canada it's absolutely free and in the bank's best interest to close a lost/stolen ATM card quickly before they are liable for any fraud.

Anyways just thought I'd vent this out on the greatest forum in Switzerland

We had the same thing, but once I spoke to our bank manager and complained it was credited back to our account...

Welcome to Switzerland.
In Canada, while you get a "free" replacement, in reality the cost is distributed among the customers of the banks (who take better care of their cards (or not)...).
The cost of replacement-cards is clearly written in the contract you signed (the administrative charges may or may not appear so prominently, I admit).

The fee is so high as to make people watch their stuff better.

From the tone of your posting, I can tell that this educational aspect of the contract is already working.
;-)

Same thing happened to my wife, but I also have to agree with rainer_d.

It is expensive, but since then she has been taking extreme care not to loose it again.

This belongs in complaints. Not losing your cards is free!

Completely agree that the costs are excessive. If it was 20chf I could understand it, but Post Finance charge around 80chf in total to replace a lost card, even if it was stolen. Pisses me off.

If you think that's bad, how about a CHF 20 charge if your card develops a fault e.g. magnetic strip becomes corrupted

Mine fails about once a year on average, never have had a charge.

Tom

I think you're what UBS calls a high value customer
I'm just a prole who should by all rights be banking with Post Finance

It must vary by bank. I've had a lost Postcard replaced for 20CHF, which doesn't seem unreasonable.

On the other hand, I lost my Amex and it was replaced and couriered to UK free of charge.

40CHF for the blocking is a bit off, especially as they'd be liable for any cost if the card was used.

I understand you feeling annoyed.

It's impossible not to compare these things with 'back home', but the thing is, human nature registers the negative comparisons much more readily than the positive ones.

So I earn far more than I did in the UK. I pay far less tax. The trains turn up on time, and there are delightful things to see from the windows of those trains. But I always have to stop and remind myself of that. Like you, I am much more likely to remember, and rant about, those things that compare badly.

So in the supermarket, it's: "What? A small piece of beef for £20?"... while forgetting the wine and beer that compare well in price, and the pleasure of seeing apples and other produce labelled as coming from the farm down the road, even in some of the bigger shops.

It's swings and roundabouts.

I also bank with PF (as well as with UBS), failed cards from them are also free!

Tom

I thought that 40 fr per maestro card every year was expensive enough so I cancelled mine. My Postcard is free.

I just need to make sure I go to enough museums with my Raiffeisen one...


Time to go rant about my visit to a Spar store tonight...

Or it cracks right along the line where the chip is, as mine does every year. Crappy construction that helps fill their pockets a bit more.

Dan

So I guess the top layer coming off gradually (from sticking it in and out of things as it was, I guess, designed to be used) will also be 20 CHF then? Yay!

They mentioned that charge when my UBS credit card stopped working. When I threatened to simply stop using their card the charge was waived ;-)

This is not Canada. Deal with it

But don't worry, Switzerland will eventually catch up. In about 30 years, you'll finally get a free ATM card, even if it breaks. Meanwhile Canada will probably have long moved on to some other system that reads your mind and you won't even need a card anymore.

Dan

One useful tip...in some cases your bank will issue you a new card (each year), but the old one may still be used until the end of the year. Put the new one away for the time being and use the old one until the last possible minute.

Dan