Ok, now I can't stand it anymore. My neighbor is always complaining about the noise. If we just walk, at any time, he bumps on the ceiling. My son is scared.
We wrote a letter to our location agency, they checked with our other neighbors, and everybody agreed that the complaining neighbor is a pain in the *** for everybody. Washing machine, cellar, parking: he's mobbing everybody for a reason or another.
Now, ten minutes ago, I was simply doing breakfast with my son. We were sitting. My son just stood up and went to the kitchen, and my neighbor bumped. AT 9,45 in the morning, when I am allowed to at least walk in my house. I bumped back. And now "Heros" by David Bowie (just the first cd I had at hand) is playing loud in my stereo.
Maybe I'm passing to the wrong side. But I would like to let him know what "loud noise" is. I have some Rammstein cds also.

play that rammstein!!!!!!!

I am also facing the same problem,but not as serious as yours,i mean my neighbours never bang on my door or like this but yes one oldie living near by and one below my floor,whenever they are having problem they talk to me directly.I bought rugs and carpets so that it makes less noise but its not much helpful because my daughter is 2 year old and its really hard to control her every time,and when you say ''no,don't do this,stop'' kids love to do again n again :-)
I thing ask him or her directly what is the exact problem,it will be good you n you child otherwise he feel scared in his own house.
gud luck.

Agreed.

This message is too short

we bot 3-4 packs of those smooth plastic carpets? (i do not know how they r called but they have either numbers/letters/animal picutres printed on them) and put them in our little daughter's room.. they r really soft and even when i walk on them hardly any noise is made...

the problem is she hardly spends time at her room but always in the living room or kitchen.. dropping cutlery/remote controls/ hard toys on floor

Yes, but the droning noise In Heroes (even though I love it personally) could drive anyone crazy after a while!

Leave it on repeat play when you go out?

buy a dozen of these and hide them around his apartment.

http://chris.pirillo.com/the-worlds-...noying-gadget/

Rammstein, or any form of industrial, hard rock or metal, is far too rythmic. Your neighbour will simply hear the beat which is not that annoying. If you want to really terrorize him, you need to go something more in the line of for example Schönberg. As you cannot predict the next beat, it is far more annoying.

We bought carpets too: no use.
We and other neighbors tried to talk with him: no use.
And moreover, if I have to tell the truth, I am fed up with everything, now!
I'm here in Switzerland by myself, I left a wonderful job and not finding another one here, so from a pretty nice carrier I am now a desperate housewife, my husband is always abroad, I have no friends here, outside there's only iced snow, my three years old wants to play. And this old grumpy lunatic is banging the ceiling everytime I walk. To tell the truth, today I'm feeling like Michael Douglas in "Falling down".

And the beauty of classical music is that no matter how annoyed people get they can't quite bring themselves to complain that it is "noise."

I totally understand what you are going though!!

Problem 1 - friends: why don't you try to join up with some of the other mothers here on the forum? Forget about trying to "integrate". It is fine if it happens but most important is that you have some friends. Who cares if they are expats. How about putting your child in daycare for 2-3 days a week if you can afford it? It will give you the opportunity to sign up for some courses or go to the gym or simply go shopping without a child in tow.

Problem 2 - grumpy neighbour. To be honest, in my experience you will always find people like that in Switzerland, no matter where you are. So to survive here you need to learn to ignore them. I know it is very, very difficult but it really is the only way because it won't go away. This guy may but then there will be others to take his place, rest assured!

Good luck!

Serious question time.
I have the reverse problem with the people that live upstairs. Their children run back and forth in their apartment banging and crashing all day and evening long. Yet when I had to install lights in the ceiling using a hammer drill they would bang on the floor. Funny how people can't stand what they do to others.

Do you wear heels when you are in the house? If so I can promise you that they are loud like the "clackers" in the downstairs apartment.

Are your children running around chasing each other continuously or is it random. Think honestly. I have a child and I know that what she does that annoys me me takes much more than it does to annoy others.

If the person reacts to any sharp noise transient by banging, during the day, I would try one more time to explain to them that they do not have the right to expect that their be "no noise" in a flat over head and that you are trying to be reasonable. If this fails then you have done your duty according to social convention and the law.

Next thing to do is to make sure that you know when the "No Noise" times are according to your rental agreement and stick hard to them.

Finally, if the guy is a complete prick I would make it a game.
When he bangs inappropriately I have my kids bang back at him. This way it lessens the trauma to them and might teach the guy down stairs a lesson. Negative reinforcement is a strong and powerful conditioner and motivator.

Who knows, he may come and talk to you. Then you could point out that while it may be possible to be a bit noisy, by accident, walking on the floor, it is quite impossible to, accidentally, be noisy whist walking on the ceiling.

Seriously, what kind of building do you live in...???
And have you contacted your landlord/rental agency?
Brian.

__________________
Many men, of course, became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural, and nothing to be ashamed of, because no one was really poor -- at least no one worth speaking of. - Douglas Adams

Another thought: have you spoken with him directly about the issue? I've often found that people here oftentimes are opinionated as long as no direct confrontation is involved, but will back down if you address the situation directly (always with a smile, of course )

Seriously, do you have a home theatre system? With a subwoofer?
Just play movies with the subwoofer on only.

The ELF track will really annoy alot of people. But this is willful meanness.
As easy as it is to come up with these ideas, I always think it is less rude in reality to just go and have face to face confrontation with people. Unless of course they are just wackos.

Assuming that its just footsteps and your son isnt stomping around all day long, this is another miserable sad git who doesnt have anything to do all day long but police the neighbours.

I would simply march upstairs and ask him/her (politely): "Why all the thumping on my floors? You are scaring my son".

If the response is that you are being too noisy, invite him to keep track of all the incidents that you are being overly noisy and send it to the rental agency / landlord, but to PLEASE stop the thumping. Let the landlord handle it. Keep it civil.

At the same time, do a pre-emptive strike by speaking to your agency/landlord about this problem, adding that your other neighbours are finding him a pain as well.

What he's doing is bordering on harrassment. You need to put a stop to this. Tit for tat isnt going to solve anything. Good luck.

__________________
Remember when someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles to frown, BUT it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and b****-slap the mother-f***er upside the head.

Wagner, full blast or maybe Guns n Roses ...

Whilst on the subject of difficult neighbours (not behaving in a particularly British way), my husband and I had a similar experience here. When we moved here two months' ago the previous tenant showed us where the communal bins are but failed to inform us that we had to use prepaid rubbish bags. Needless to say, we deposited four bags of rubbish, all neatly tied up in black bin bags, in the wheelie bin. Yesterday, TWO MONTHS LATER, those black bags turned up right outside our front door with a nasty note attached saying, not very politely, that we had breached the rules. To say that we were rendered almost speechless at the petty, small-mindedness of it all, is an understatement.

How about complaining about the noise he makes banging on the cieling?

If you do go postal on him don't forget to video it, stick it on youtube and post the link here

I've been through exactly the same situation as you, or better said my wife with our 2 year old son. The whole situation gets you down and you see everything else black as well. We now have 3 kids who make noise all the time. Living in an apartment would be unimaginable. Luckily we bought a semi-detached house in Winterthur, life suddenly got a whole lot better and I started to see Switzerland in a completely different light. It was the turning point for me. My wife who comes from Zürich still misses the place although I can't understand why.