By Reza Ganjavi, MBA
A friend asked me for help in a case against a seller on on a Swiss online auction. The seller had misrepresented a product's condition and when the friend sent it back, he said the returned product was smashed in post and the pictures he sent were very suspicious.
The seller had advertised the product as "little used" but in reality it was used a lot. It had a tremendous amount of dirt and residue. When we escalated and got the auction company involved, the dishonest seller said, it was "little used in the last 12 months". That still makes it false advertising. If you used something extensively for 5 years, and didn't use it for the last year, you can't advertise it as "little used"!!
So once it became obvious that he had lied and engaged in false advertising, he did what I unfortunately have seen multiple times in Switzerland: a person engaged in wrongdoing, once challenged about that wrongdoing, turns the table around and tries to blame you!!
He also engaged in insulting my friend, trying to blame her for the fact that the unit was obviously heavily used but he had advertised it as "little used"!
The auction company saw right through his lies, and proposed various options for resolving the matter to my friend's favor. I advised the friend to report the matter to Swiss Post as an insurance claim, since Swiss Post, being the world-class organization it is, insures the packages sent, and the guy is claiming the returned packet was damaged. Swiss Post could have investigated it but they played hard-ball saying the product was not packaged properly according to Swiss Post guidelines, but she had pictures that showed it was packaged properly. I had her ask for the guidelines. It turned out she had packed it according to the guidelines, so she pushed back. She ended up getting compensated by meeting them half-way plus the shipping cost.
I have had excellent experience with Swiss Post before. I used their insurance once before on a guitar I received in post which was broken - they took full responsibility. In this case, I can understand why they didn't want to investigate it (to save time) but if they wanted to, they could have investigated why this box was smashed the way it seemed and asked the driver if it was really so. I think it's likely that the seller had smashed it so he doesn't have to refund the money. The postman would have remembered if he ever delivered a package in such a dramatically torn condition. The smashed up box was very suspiciously destroyed.
Anyway, the case was resolved to my friend's favor, so my efforts paid off. The big lesson is: be very careful with online sellers, yes, even Swiss online sellers.
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Dear Mr. Züllig
I appreciate the quick response you have provided, and am all for quick resolutions. I'm certainly too busy to spend a lot of time on this subject, but I feel strongly enough about it that I will spend as much time and resource as necessary, because I have absolutely complied with the guidelines provided in:
https://www.post.ch/de/pakete-versenden/verpacken-und-adressieren/pakete-verpacken#schutz-des-inhalts
as well as:
https://www.post.ch/-/media/portal-opp/pl/dokumente/paketversand.pdf?vs=20&sc_lang=de&hash=10993169F975E750CF5AD3A1F5FBE08B
Your guidelines say: "Stellen Sie sicher, dass Sie Ihre Ware gut polstern, damit sich diese nicht bewegt oder bei einem Sturz beschädigt wird. Am besten verwenden Sie für jeden Artikel eine separate Polsterung. Die Polsterung sollte den Inhalt auf allen Seiten etwa 3 cm breit schützen."
The padding was absolutely adequate and very dense to make sure the item did not move, and it absolutely would not be damaged in case of a fall. The padding was plenty, packed, and firm, and the item was absolutely unmovable as a result. What happened to the box was not a normal fall. It was punctured and who knows what other God awful thing happened to it. The padding would have absolutely protected the product in the case of a fall. A fall does not put a punctured hole into the box !! What happened was not a normal fall. It was a destructive puncturing and blow. But I'm not a psychic to tell exactly what happened.
Again, I packed the items properly. There was plenty of dense padding on all sides of the item. And the item was not loose. It was well enclosed with proper dense padding on all sides including the top which you cannot see in the picture because I did not anticipate that the box would get damaged by getting punctured, etc. - as evidenced by the large hole in the box that you can see on the picture. Therefore, there are no pictures of the package after the top, and of course the sides, were also full of dense, tight padding. This item was properly packed and was not loose in the box. It was protected on every side and could withstand a normal fall. I have done everything right.
Regarding the cost: The form on your website asked for the value of the item. The website of the company lists the item as 159 Francs, which is the cost for buying a replacement. I also provided a link to the listing that confirms that value. The value is less because the item is not new. However, to obtain a replacement, it would cost that much.
Priority is for me is a quick resolution. So if we can resolve this case quickly and amicably, I would be willing to take a lower amount. Should we go half way? How about 79.50 + the amount of the postage?
Best Regards
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And they agreed :-)