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08.06.2020, 17:09
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Zurich
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| | Re: Serafe payment
The bulk of the money goes to SRF but also private radio and TV stations receive money out of the SERAFE collection: https://www.persoenlich.com/medien/s...as-serafe-geld | The following 2 users would like to thank Mica for this useful post: | | 
08.06.2020, 21:22
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| | Re: Bye bye Billag [Welcome our new overlord Serafe]
FYI - Serafe has accidentally sent out about 224,000 accidental duplicate bills. If you've received a bill today (we did) double check that you didn't already pay it (we did, a week ago). https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/doppelt-r...ein-ld.1560227
Deepl Translate of the above article: | Quote: |  | | | Double radio licence fee charged: Serafe admits mistakes
Twice asked to pay for radio and television licence fees - this happened to 224,000 households in Switzerland. According to Billag's successor Serafe, this is a "production error in the billing process".
Immediately after the incident became known, the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom), as the supervisory body, was informed of the incident by Serafe AG, according to a statement issued by the Radio and Television Licensing Office on Monday.
The clarifications had revealed that 224,000 invoices had been printed a second time in one of the two printing service centres, packed and handed over to the post office for dispatch. Since the invoices were issued from correct data, the outstanding amounts were correctly recorded in the systems of the collection agency and were only owed once, the report continues.
The customers concerned can therefore dispose of the invoice received twice. Invoice amounts paid twice will be refunded to the customers of the collection agency. | | | | | | This user would like to thank 3Wishes for this useful post: | | 
08.06.2020, 21:26
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Zurich
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| | Re: Bye bye Billag [Welcome our new overlord Serafe] | Quote: | |  | | | The customers concerned can therefore dispose of the invoice received twice. Invoice amounts paid twice will be refunded to the customers of the collection agency. | | | | | I wonder how that will work, as there is no easy way to refund a payment made by Einzahlungsschein.
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08.06.2020, 21:49
|  | Moderately Amused | | Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bern area
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| | Re: Bye bye Billag [Welcome our new overlord Serafe] | Quote: | |  | | | I wonder how that will work, as there is no easy way to refund a payment made by Einzahlungsschein. | | | | | And many, many elderly just pay whatever bill arrives.
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09.06.2020, 00:46
| Forum Legend | | Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: SG
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| | Re: Serafe payment | Quote: |  | | | I was talking SRF, local news imho can be covered perfectly fine by the already existing local stations. | | | | | SRF *is* local news. | Quote: | |  | | | What I think is more important is that state TV must be obliged to absolue political neutrality, which they clearly are not always. | | | | | While I agree witht the rest, this is impossible. Even if they reported nothing but facts, the sequence and position would influence how something is perceived, and by how many it's seen.
People are biased, and that always shows in how and what they report. What should be done is present both/all relevant sides fairly. "Relevant" excludes, for instance, what's not supported by generally accepted science (considering a scientific topic).
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09.06.2020, 08:23
| Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: CH
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| | Re: Bye bye Billag [Welcome our new overlord Serafe] | Quote: | |  | | | FYI - Serafe has accidentally sent out about 224,000 accidental duplicate bills. If you've received a bill today (we did) double check that you didn't already pay it (we did, a week ago). https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/doppelt-r...ein-ld.1560227
Deepl Translate of the above article: | | | | | Simply amazing that the Swiss voted yes in an " initiative" to paying this dumb Serafe fee! More money than sense
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09.06.2020, 08:40
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Kanton Luzern
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| | Re: Bye bye Billag [Welcome our new overlord Serafe] | Quote: | |  | | | Simply amazing that the Swiss voted yes in an " initiative" to paying this dumb Serafe fee! More money than sense | | | | |
No, they voted Yes so they could pay less and have their viewing habits subsidised by the people who, up to that time, didn't pay, as they neither owned TVs or watched TV programmes.
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09.06.2020, 08:44
| Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: CH
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| | Re: Bye bye Billag [Welcome our new overlord Serafe] | Quote: | |  | | | No, they voted Yes so they could pay less and have their viewing habits subsidised by the people who, up to that time, didn't pay, as they neither owned TVs or watched TV programmes. | | | | | In any case one has to pay this dumb fee for what? For endless SRF rubbish-quiz programs,sport etc ,and the occasional good film ( repeated one hundred times!
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09.06.2020, 09:23
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Zurich
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| | Re: Serafe payment | Quote: | |  | | |
People are biased, and that always shows in how and what they report. What should be done is present both/all relevant sides fairly. "Relevant" excludes, for instance, what's not supported by generally accepted science (considering a scientific topic).
| | | | | I don’t have a TV and haven’t watched Swiss TV in years, with the exception maybe of the odd sporting event down at my local bar.
So maybe this has changed , but from the days I did occasionally watch, I don’t recall ever having seen a science or scientifically slanted documentary. The coverage of the centenary of Einstein’s special relativity theory was absolutely abysmal for example , despite the obvious Swiss angle and interest that the topic could have presented, Even On the news , if something science related had happened, for example something at CERN or a discovery at ETH, it was typically covered far too briefly, not explained properly and then somehow lost at the end between all the gossip items.
As an absolute minimum, SRF needs knowledgeable science contributors.
Last edited by amogles; 09.06.2020 at 11:25.
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26.06.2020, 12:58
| Newbie | | Join Date: Jun 2020 Location: Somewhereinthemiddleburg
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| | Strange bill out of the blue
Hello,
I recently received a bill from an obscure company called Serafe apparently on behalf of "Schweizeriche Erhebungsstelle fur Radio- und Fernsehabgabe".
I have been in the country for a few years now but do not remember receiving any bills like that in the past. The amount is substantial - upwards of CHF 600. My landlord is saying that this is in accordance with some new federal law, but that's all he was able to say. Would anyone know the background? Why do we have to pay this and is there any way to avoid it? I never watch Swiss TV (although there is a TV set in my flat). If I got rid of the TV set, would it help?
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26.06.2020, 14:19
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Lugano
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| | Re: Strange bill out of the blue
Pay it, you cannot avoid it.
Tom
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26.06.2020, 14:21
| Forum Legend | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ticino
Posts: 3,077
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| | Re: Strange bill out of the blue | Quote: | |  | | | Hello,
I recently received a bill from an obscure company called Serafe apparently on behalf of "Schweizeriche Erhebungsstelle fur Radio- und Fernsehabgabe".
I have been in the country for a few years now but do not remember receiving any bills like that in the past. The amount is substantial - upwards of CHF 600. My landlord is saying that this is in accordance with some new federal law, but that's all he was able to say. Would anyone know the background? Why do we have to pay this and is there any way to avoid it? I never watch Swiss TV (although there is a TV set in my flat). If I got rid of the TV set, would it help? | | | | | Does BILLAG sound familiar? It's the replacement.
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26.06.2020, 14:22
| | Re: Strange bill out of the blue | Quote: | |  | | | Hello,
I recently received a bill from an obscure company called Serafe apparently on behalf of "Schweizeriche Erhebungsstelle fur Radio- und Fernsehabgabe".
I have been in the country for a few years now but do not remember receiving any bills like that in the past. The amount is substantial - upwards of CHF 600. My landlord is saying that this is in accordance with some new federal law, but that's all he was able to say. Would anyone know the background? Why do we have to pay this and is there any way to avoid it? I never watch Swiss TV (although there is a TV set in my flat). If I got rid of the TV set, would it help? | | | | | Yes, it's a TV licence, and hardly obscure. This thread (now with this post merged into it) should tell you all you need to know about it, but simply put, if you have any sort of device that can receive any sort of video signal, including your computer, then you have to pay it.
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26.06.2020, 14:49
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Zuerich
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| | Re: Strange bill out of the blue | Quote: | |  | | | I have been in the country for a few years now but do not remember receiving any bills like that in the past. The amount is substantial - upwards of CHF 600. | | | | | This new company started operating one year ago, this should be the second bill you receive from them. Unless you belong to the groups subject to initial errors and delays, thus explaining the high sum - it probably includes 2019 as well.
Anyway, it's a federal tax and you must pay it to this new company.
| 
26.06.2020, 15:03
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: Suhr, Aargau
Posts: 4,234
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| | Re: Strange bill out of the blue | Quote: | |  | | | Hello,
I recently received a bill from an obscure company called Serafe apparently on behalf of "Schweizeriche Erhebungsstelle fur Radio- und Fernsehabgabe".
I have been in the country for a few years now but do not remember receiving any bills like that in the past. The amount is substantial - upwards of CHF 600. My landlord is saying that this is in accordance with some new federal law, but that's all he was able to say. Would anyone know the background? Why do we have to pay this and is there any way to avoid it? I never watch Swiss TV (although there is a TV set in my flat). If I got rid of the TV set, would it help? | | | | | There's enough interest to collect this tax that they even translated the site in English https://www.serafe.ch/
I do listen to Swiss radio stations, it helps to learn the local accent. TV is generally boring except the time they transmitted the MotoGP races without any commentary some years ago. The sound captured in the track arrived to your living room without any dumb person speaking, thanks RSI | 
26.06.2020, 15:41
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Zurich area
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| | Re: Strange bill out of the blue | Quote: | |  | | | I do listen to Swiss radio stations, it helps to learn the local accent. TV is generally boring except the time they transmitted the MotoGP races without any commentary some years ago. The sound captured in the track arrived to your living room without any dumb person speaking, thanks RSI  | | | | | SRF showed once a football match w/o commentary. You really got some kind "I am in the Stadium" feeling. In these days with multiple possible stereo channels this should really always an option. Pure sport w/o the nonsense.
| 
31.07.2020, 12:51
| Newbie | | Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Luzern
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| | Do I really have to pay this?
Background:
I am a consultant, living in Luzern, staying in a serviced apartment (Think long term Hotel with weekly cleaning, etc...). I recieved the Radio/TV licence bill and wasn't sure what to do with this.
Thoughts:
I am only here till the end of December, all television services are provided by the property. Any extra fees, etc... are wrapped in my montly bill/rent (or so I thought). Radio? are you kidding me? I haven't listened to the radio (broadcast) in 5 years. The TV that I do watch at the apartment (flat) is all cable but not even much of that, since I prefer Netflix/Prime/Hulu, etc...
Just curious as to what my obligations are. I could certainly get my company to reimburse me, but I suppose that its kinda the principle of the matter. I.e. I don't think that I owe anyone anything (but I've been wrong before, and will probably be so again)
Thanks for your input..
| 
31.07.2020, 14:15
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Zurich area
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| | Re: Do I really have to pay this? | Quote: | |  | | | Just curious as to what my obligations are. I could certainly get my company to reimburse me, but I suppose that its kinda the principle of the matter. I.e. I don't think that I owe anyone anything (but I've been wrong before, and will probably be so again) | | | | | You are a human being, right? No lizard people, a dog on the internet, or some strange form of ethereal being?
If your are a human your obligation pay the fee comes from the Federal Act on Radio and Television starting at Art. 68 l and the Ordinance on Radio and Television, starting at Art. 57.
See also: https://www.bakom.admin.ch/bakom/en/...ision-fee.html
I you think the fee does not apply to you, you must formally object and bring maters to court.
| 
31.07.2020, 14:46
| | Re: Do I really have to pay this? | Quote: | |  | | | The TV that I do watch at the apartment (flat) is all cable but not even much of that, since I prefer Netflix/Prime/Hulu, etc... | | | | | Just like most countries where licence fees are applied, it's not about whether you watch broadcast, or indeed any, TV or not, but having equipment with which you could receive any sort of TV/Video service.
So yeah, even if you only had a mobile phone and never used it you'd still be liable.
| 
31.07.2020, 14:57
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Zurich area
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| | Re: Do I really have to pay this? | Quote: |  | | | Just like most countries where licence fees are applied, it's not about whether you watch broadcast, or indeed any, TV or not, but having equipment with which you could receive any sort of TV/Video service.
So yeah, even if you only had a mobile phone and never used it you'd still be liable. | | | | | Actually, the needed "equipment" is now a functional a ear or a functional eye. If at least one works you most likely have to pay.
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