Swiss consumers matter. Rightly. Because they pay a lot of money for goods and services. It gets even more annoying when something goes wrong. And things are not going the way they should. This can be found on the Association of Consumer Protection Organizations’ 2022 issues list. Statistics on all complaints, questions and notifications received by organizations via telephone, mail, e-mail and online notification forms in 2022.
1. Disclaimer of warranty and delivery delays
Warranty services are often denied on the grounds that the defect occurred on its own. This saves manufacturers costs. It is up to the consumer to prove the contrary, for example, by having the expert do it. Of course, manufacturers feel that this will not be done for cost reasons.
Another big annoyance: delivery delays when shopping online. Especially stupid if you paid for the goods in advance. At the short end of the rod. Especially with providers from abroad. It is not unusual for the consumer to linger for long periods of time. And in the worst case, write down the amount of money.
2. Unfair Commercial Practices
Aggressive and illegal business methods can take many forms: spam ads in the mailbox, disregarding the star entry in the phone book, spam emails, and false promises of rewards. In 2022, consumers were particularly bothered by the subscription traps via SMS. One reckless click – and you have an expensive subscription on your hands. Nothing has been free for SMS for a long time.
3. Insurance and Health
A perennial favorite is health insurance and insurance premiums, which cost more from year to year. Phones are ringing feverishly for consumer rights defenders! Not least because politicians have remained passive – but also because of the health sector’s strong lobbying presence in Parliament. A particularly big nuisance are the systematically excessive bills for voluntary supplementary hospital insurance.
4. Telecom
Be it landline, cell phone, internet or TV. The telecom industry has a bad reputation with consumer advocates. And pissing off the Swiss! Internet speeds that do not correspond to what was promised and paid for, complicated termination conditions or movie theaters with TV boxes bother many.
5. Aggressive collection agents
Debt collection is being outsourced by more and more companies. In case of delay in payment, the debt collection companies in charge will demand immediate and unauthorized default compensation in addition to the default interest. In this money. Debt collection companies are playing with the fear of consumers who choose to pay exorbitant fees rather than later register with the debt enforcement registry.