OK, I need help, really.

What happened.

I moved out of my original apartment, and used MOVU.ch to find a cleaning company to do the cleaning with a "handover guarantee", and paid 800 CHF-.

They came and clean the apartment (but not very professional even in my eyes) and the housing admin came to check -- they were not satisfied and refused to accept the apartment.

After communicating with the cleaning company, the admin agrees on another check later in the same day while giving the cleaning team time to do additional cleaning. And the second check failed again...

The cleaning company asked for another clean on the second day, but the admin refused as they need to hand the apartment to the next tenant and guarantee cleanness, so the admin hired a different company to do the cleaning, and the bill is... of course... on me. Another 800 CHF.-

What I've tried
I tried to communicate with the admin, and since the bill is not decided on them, they only agreed to help write an email stating what happened.

I tried to negotiate with the cleaning company, and their excuse is "we have the right to do another cleaning on the second day, but you didn't allow it, so the handover guarantee is not guaranteed and we can only compensate 150 CHF-".

What should I do now
As a PhD student, I have to say the number is not neglected, and now I've paid 1600 CHF.- for cleaning...
Is there any legal authority that I can use for this without costing much effort?
I don't want to pay too much of my time and effort because my work is quite busy...
So if there really isn't any means to easily resolve this and I have to take the lost, I will do.

Well, what do the cleaning company's terms and conditions say about the 'handover guarantee'? Do you have a link to their website?

The document I received only stated "handover guarantee" and no "second day". That is the arguing point... I think the admin already gave them another chance, while they claim they deserve another cleaning on the second day.

The company address is:

https://helvetia-umzug.com

It sounds like they failed to deliver. How did you pay them, by credit card?

Yes.

Then you could write a letter informing them that they have failed to delivers on their promised handover guarantee on the day of handover, and that you will be calling your bank to issue a chargeback on your credit card until this dispute is resolved.

However, if you think that this is a "no effort" situation then you may be fooling yourself, because it may lead to some lengthy correspondence, and dealing with threats of Betreibungs etc from their side, while you find a solution.

it all depends how much the principle, and the money, are worth to you. Effort costs nothing more than some of your free time.

Thank you for the info. Yes, that effort is not a big issue. I'm just afraid of additional effort to go to the court or sth similar.

I just checked my credit card invoice, and I actually paid MOVU the money, and I think there's some kind of agreement between MOVU and the cleaning company.
May I ask in this case, is the solution you suggested the same?

Thank you.

From the the MOVU website-

"The handover guarantee is included with all move out cleanings and is part of the contract you have with the booked company. The cleaning staff will be on site on the day of the apartment handover. If there should be any cleaning shortcomings, they will be rectified immediately and free of charge by the company. We promise you that your home will be accepted by the landlord after the move out cleaning.

Important: Please note that this service is only valid if the cleaning and handover date is at most 3 days apart and the cleaning company has been informed about the date of the handover date at least 7 days in advance."

https://www.movu.ch/ratgeber/en/faq/#move-out-cleaning

Do you have legal insurance?

See below, it looks like you should contact MOVU asap to discuss this.

If this is true then it would seem like the moving company failed in their criteria and that the OP should contact MOVU asap to escalate this.

I contacted MOVU, and MOVU contacted the company.
The company claimed that they were refused a "re-cleaning", and MOVU said the handover guarantee expires...

So it went back to the arguing point mentioned above (either a re-cleaning on the same day counts).

I don't think I have...

It sounds like you have not explained the situation well enough to MOVU. You need to tell them that there was no further opportunity for a re-clean on another day due to the new tenants moving in, that is completely standard practise in Switzerland. The handover guarantee needs to be for the allocated day of the handover and the cleaning should have been done in preparation for that day and any required re-cleaning done on the same day the problems were identified. That is why someone from the cleaners who performed the cleaning should always be present on the handover day.

That should be the only explanation you need to give because it is completely normal. Contact them again and clarify this.

In case you dont, its a good idea.
You should also check with your CC provider, insurances are often included.

Another avenue would be to call the Mieterverband for advice.

Did you give them information about the handover date 7 days in advance?

As you have gone through MV, I think it will be challenging.
I used them during my last move and have sworn off them. I was hoping they would help me in a dispute with the movers but they simply refused to help. Very poor customer experience.

In my experience, a good cleaning by a professional company passes inspection the first time, even for the strictest of property managers. Yes, there may be small items to touch up, but this should take very little time. Most cleaning companies know their work has to pass the inspection and they don't calculate recleaning into their prices or schedule. Time is money and they need to get the job done right in the time they have allocated.

The timing of the cleaning and handover is often quite tight. If the cleaning was so inadequate even after the reclean that they requested a second day, they simply just don't know how to clean. They should have known this would be a near impossible request to grant.

__________________

Yes, that's what I get from the last communication.
I'll try again and see what will happen.

Yes.

Every year about 2.3 millions people in this country are registered at Betreibungs... There is no restriction to Betreibungs, and anyone can approach them to say XXX owed me XXX CHF, even this is not true. If the amount of money is below 30,000 CHF, you will go to court of your Gemeinde, and if you lose the case you only need to pay for the money + maximal 150 court fee... Betreibungs is only a threat.

That is NOT the only downside to getting a Betreibung. It can seriously affect your applications for housing, jobs, credit cards etc - please don't spread such potentially harmful misinformation.

If you go to court and win, then your record can be deleted. If you think you have little chance to win, you can pay the money to Betreibungs and then let them to delete your record. I think people should know this procedure, to protect themselves from threats. I recently came to this unpleasant case, and finally it turned out to be a happy ending ..