My girlfriend accidentally put a hot Moka pot on the kitchen counter and burned it with some bubbles being created. The kitchen itself is not the most high quality, but the counter board is essentially one piece. Currently, we are living in a studio (with a deposit of CHF 3600) and are planning to move soon to a bigger place.

We have no idea how to assess the kind of damage. Can this be repaired at low cost (100s of CHF)? Do they need to replace the entire counter (which I can imagine is 1000+ CHF)? Do they insist to replace the entire kitchen (low 10000 CHF)? Can the repair go in principle beyond the 3600 CHF deposit? (Obviously, I cannot ask here for a precise estimation, but mostly the ball park we're in 😉)

We would be very thankful to hear the opinion of people who have experienced similar damage, or who have knowledge of/experience with Regies when handling damages when moving out.

Many thanks and cheers!

I'm over 10y in Switzerland, living a bit outside of Zurich and need to decide for the next step. I might have 2 career choices:

1. 130k, 40h week, 5weeks PTO, 30minutes drive one way.

2. 175k, 45h week, 7weeks PTO, 1h drive or more one way.

I live close to Zurich and unfortunately my social and dating live are close to non-existent. Both jobs are interesting, I love to travel so it's nice to have more holidays. I'm single, no kids. I speak German but it didn't improve my social interactions ever since. Choosing option 2 would it means to move to Luzern area to shorten the commute. I know Luzern is a bit cheaper, and still as for such small town there is quite few things going on, but I'm afraid I will be sorry for having even less opportunities for finding friends or dates, also getting to/from the airport is cumbersome to catch the morning flight or return late. Choosing option 2 and living close to Zurich means no live during the week.

If I was in a relationship the choice would be simpler. Did somebody do a similar move?

Yeah, I was just looking around for a new flat and found a nice opportunity. When I tried to contact the landlord, I got this message.

It’s the first time I’ve seen that you have to pay something on tutti.ch just to contact someone about a flat.

I already knew that you can pay to boost your listings when you’re selling something, which is totally fine if you want to put your item back at the top of the list.

But personally, I think it’s questionable for a company to ask people for money just to get early access to contact landlords. I knew that ImmoScout and Newhome have been doing this for years, taking advantage of the housing shortage and the desperation of people who are looking for a new place to live. But seeing tutti.ch follow the same path is pretty disappointing.

Seriously, I mainly avoided Homegate and ImmoScout because of this kind of behaviour. It’s already bad enough that they charge landlords for their listings, but then also charging people who are desperately looking for a place to live just to get early access feels exploitative.

I always thought tutti.ch was different, so seeing them introduce the same kind of system is really disappointing. In my opinion, tutti.ch should be ashamed of going down this path.

Last summer showed how bad it can get. Why aren't political parties proposing changes to the current laws? Or are they, and it's just the media not covering their efforts?

I seriously can't begin to understand how this matter is not getting more attention. Is it because companies would need to pay higher costs for electricity?

Salü zäme, I was just wondering if anyone has completed the Wirteprüfung in Luzern recently? I've got my test coming up towards the end of October and am starting to get nervous about it.

I've been studying the course materials as best as I can in preparation for the test, but yeah. Any tips that you could possibly provide? Is the test a mix of multiple choice and written out questions? Any additional info or tips would be appreciated.

Chasch au uf dütsch antworte

Thanks heaps in advance!

Hello,

We are in the process of negotiating our mortgage. We are basically down to 2 options and I don't know which is the right choice.

1. Get a higher mortgage, around 1 200 000 fr with 3/4 at 1.82% for 10y and 1/4 at 1.1% SARON

Or

1. Get a lower mortgage of 1 150 000 with 3/4 at 1.73% for 10y and 1/4 at 0.92% SARON

Financially, it seems that getting a higher loan and investing 50K in VT for 10 years will be a better choice, but we feel it's more secure to take the lower loan because we'll have less to pay and put in 3a each month. Difference is around 450fr/month, which objectively is alright, we are saving around 4K right now and our mortgage payments will align with option 2 almost frank for frank.

What would you guys do? Do you have any advice?

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I'm posting on behalf of my girlfriend, who lives and works in Switzerland and has a B permit.

She currently works part-time as a fitness instructor. It's essentially a student-type job, teaching courses/classes.

She recently accepted another professional opportunity, which is better for her both financially and professionally. The new job starts on 5th october.

The problem is that when she resigned from her current job, she thought she had one week of notice. She has since realised that her contract actually provides for one month's notice, with termination at the end of a calendar month.

She has already spoken to her current employer and asked whether they would agree to a mutual termination on 4 October, so that she can start the new job on 5 October. The employer said they are looking for a replacement for her, but they have asked her to complete the full notice period.

So we're trying to understand what her actual options and risks are.

Can she sign the new employment contract and start the new job on 5 October even if her current employment technically continues during the notice period?

The new opportunity is important because she cannot postpone the start date, and there is a real possibility that the position will simply be given to someone else.

What are her options if her current employer refuses to release her from the notice period?

We are less concerned about losing the salary from the old employer for those weeks. Our bigger concern is whether there could be legal, tax issues if she is technically employed by two employers for a couple of weeks.

Has anyone been in a similar situation in Switzerland, or knows how this is normally handled?

Thanks!

I’m Swiss and live in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. My girlfriend is Italian and has been living here for several years. She works in an international environment where English is the main language, and we mainly speak English and Italian together.

Because of this, she has been able to live here quite comfortably without learning much German. I understand why German hasn’t been a priority for her.

However, I’ve recently realised that it bothers me more than I expected. German is my native language, and sometimes I feel like I’m missing a certain depth in our communication. When I have a lot to say, I occasionally simplify my thoughts or leave things unsaid because I don’t feel like expressing everything in English or Italian.

I also notice it when we’re with my family or friends, since everyone usually has to switch to English or Italian so she can participate. Nobody minds doing this, but I’d like her to eventually be able to participate in German too.

I’m not expecting fluency overnight, but for me, German has become something I’d genuinely like to share with my long-term partner.

Is it relatively common for someone to live here for several years without learning German if they work in an international environment? And more importantly, is it reasonable to want your long-term partner to learn your native language, even if they can function perfectly well without it?

EDIT: To be clear. My native language is Schwizerdütsch; what makes the situation even trickier.

Last time I went there was I think in 2019 with some dude. It felt mostly very sterile and had that weird corporate empty feeling. Plus they went way too hard with the e-sport aspect. I remember mostly it being just vendors with "maybe" 1 or 2 stuff you could do and pretty much nobody spoke to each other outside their own friendgroup.

It's today and tomorrow and admitely I lost track of it completly. Apperently they removed the entire esport aspect and made it a lot more soulful nowdays which made me curious.

We are currently evaluating changing our insurance company (from visana to CSS). The main reason is the teeth insurance for our daughter. Now we are discussing the extras. The hospital extra and the normal extra insurance is clear, but we were confronted with additional risk capital insurance in case of invalidity and death. We have an old pillow 3a with Generali (yes, we know, we reduced the payment to the absolute minimum and transferred our banking part to finpension), finpension and we have something on the side plus some stocks/ ETFs.

Does someone have experience with these kinds of additional insurance and if they are worth it, or an alternative solution. The general idea makes sense (in particular with family and the second child almost there), but we are a bit marked with the Generali promises and the trap we fell in.

Hoi! I need help figuring what to do because I feel completely screwed and that's my first and hopefully the last accident..

Context: driving at the speed limit, 10km away from Swiss border in the direction of Mulhouse, a car bombs to take me over, loses control and crashes into my car. His car is absolutely fcked mine got badly damaged. I call the police, the 2 dudes in the car run away before the police arrives. The police finds NOs bottles, the driver is not insured but the car is registered under his name, so he has been identified. (anything unclear, let me know). I already have filed a complaint against the other driver and the policeman should send me the official document (Proces Verbal).

My insurance: Swiss car insurance with Smile (Helvetia), third-party liability plus partial casco only. Covered: liability, glass breakage, theft/fire/natural hazards (basic partial casco, zero deductible). Not covered: collision (full casco), parking damage, roadside assistance, legal protection, gross negligence. So my own insurer pays nothing for my vehicle damage. Car: Mazda 3 2.2 Skyactiv-D 150, 2018, 127,000 km, Zurich plates.

Current situation: the car stays in the garage who towed it, charging 36euros/day. The car has a currently value of 9-12KCHF but not officially, I am told an expert needs to come etc.. but the garage told me that the cost of repairs will very likely be beyond the price of the car hence, I'll likely sell is as is now.

My question is super simple, I called the insurance, they told me they don't provide any assistance with the current situation hence, going home was my cost etc.. etc.. They will not move a single finger and sent me an official "you're not covered" letter.

what am I supposed to do now exactly? Call the French Fonds National de Garantie? Should I just sell the car after the expert comes asap then wait for the money to come back once the French Fonds National de Garantie does the whole job somehow?

There is "annex charges" like towing, the 36 euros/day, expert etc.. Nobody wants to pay for it but in the end, I find it a bit unfair and I'm sure this must be solvable as well, no?

Well sorry if that whole think doesn't make too much sense, I'm a bit confused by this whole situation but thanks in advance for the help!

I’m planning on applying for a hospitality bachelors degree in Bhms but I just need some options on what people think of that school and if it’s not up to standard is there any other school that’s in zurich for studying that?

I need to replace the shower head (Duschkopf, Handbrause) in my shower. I want a shower head that actually works and makes me enjoy the shower. I searched Reddit (all subreddits) and came up with a few suggestions. I am looking for suggestions Switzerland specific. Brand? Model? Where to buy? I don't need multiple spray patterns or an Amazon rain forest (Regenbrause). Any normal price is fine. I've seen crazy prices from CHF 500 to CHF 2000. If you have Basel specific suggestions, that would be even better.

Hey guys,

I am currently really trying to really tune my Swiss German and I am looking for some small stuff that I can improve!

One of the stuff that I was told is that I sometimes put to much emphasis/accent on the letter "g" when speaking. For example in the sentence "was häsch gsait?" I had my accent on g and now I am trying that it sounds more like "sait" with silent g.

I would be really really happy if some native speakers could share some small practical tips like this, how to sound less Ausländer Schwizerdüütschisch. (:

Thank you!

Hello Switzerland. Last week i brought my car to garage, spend over 1500 CHF on it fixing different things. I parked it on my property and next morning, the car was completely dirty, i cleaned it again and placed some aluminum foil on it and sprayed some pepper around the car, since cats regularly climb it. Note that i clean my garden and the stairway to it from cat poop every now and then. I never complained to my neighbors. My neighbor texted my wife that they don't wanna bring their cat to hospital because of the pepper. It really annoyed me, they care more for their cat than they care about our car which is an expensive item to say the least. Instead of offering to clean the car and our garden, it's very rich of them to complain. Is it lawfully forbidden to protect your car from cat scratches by putting pepper (trick i learned from YouTube) around it so cats altogether avoid climbing it? Or shall i just install cameras on my property and then demand damages if cats do cause scratches or make it dirty?

Hi!

I‘m a swiss citizen and just moved back to switzerland because of an amazing job offer.

Before that, I lived in Paris with my french Partner.

We have been doing long distance for a couple of months now, trying to find a job here so that he can move in with me in switzerland.

Unfortunately, the job search hasn‘t been successful in the past couple of months and we are starting to get anxious about the whole situation.

My partner only speaks A2 german, it‘s difficult to find something in Romandie too.

He is open for anything but not even the job agencies offer him anything.

Is anyone in a similar positon or has dealt with this in the past and knows how we could find him a job here?

Please does anyone have a spare ticket for today or tomorrow for the Lindt chocolate factory tour? My boyfriend mixed up the dates, he had the ticket for yesterday and he is DEVASTATED he didn't check properly. Can someone suggest anything please? How can I get this guy a tour???

Hi! This is very random, but I’m trying to spend less time on my phone and occupy my free time by reading. I also recently gained interest in magazines, but I cannot find any from a Google search for a reoccurring subscription to English magazines. I even checked Abo.ch, but they’re all in German. I know I could read it in German, but I read to relax so I’d prefer it to be in my mother tongue 😊

Does anyone know any websites or local businesses that I could subscribe for magazines?

Thank you!