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Swiss service - good stuff

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We have a day off from climbing and high stuff and just as I swing the Touran out of the tunnel and up to Saas Fee, I sense that the front caliper has seized. And it's 12 noon - so garages closing in Visp. Quick inspection by the roadside - yep, lefthand front wheel red hot and brake binding badly. No chance of driving back to the VW garage in Sierre. So wait for it to cool a bit and nurse it into Visp - stop at the Merc garage and luckily a mechanic just closing up. '…VauVee garage 200metres…' he quickly emphasises, so I leg it down the road and catch the Service manager just as he is shutting everything. No problem he says…we do a job sheet and he says - should be monday 5pm. Excellent. And here's an Audi A4 S-line estate FOC for the weekend - we'll only charge for petrol. Brilliant. So…only a half-hour delay and we have been treated royally, remedy in place, and with luxury transport. No 'we're shut' or 'no way' … just modest, brilliant service and an appreciation of the pickle we are in. Monday's bill is no bigger than I would expect in the UK, and 22chf for three days in the A4. Great stuff.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Awesome!
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Why are garages closing at 12 noon?

Why not Google the number and ring the nearest appropriate garage and ask them to hold on rather than getting stressed and legging it?

What is so remarkable about this versus what you get at home (Ireland for me, assume UK will be similar)?
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Thats normal...

Trains, if there is a delay/outage "for say" between Zurich & Geneva
SBB will pay for a Taxi !!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Thats normal...

Trains, if there is a delay/outage "for say" between Zurich & Geneva
SBB will pay for a Taxi !!
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@peanuthead, everything other than restaurants closes around 12:00 here. You get used to it.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@peanuthead, ...the reason I thought I'd post this is that some British skiers have a downer about service in Switzerland - and I just put this up to show a very positive exeperience.

As for googling .... Sure .... But iPhone O2 contracts have crap 3G coverage once out of the Uk so the phone was sulking....and I like using my legs....
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@peanuthead, why dont u google of why do they close at noon, u r not even in a rush, aren't u? Laughing
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@valais2, I hadn't noticed any downers about Swiss service, just GBP exchanged prices...

Anyway, Switzerland is very rule based (principally the Golden Rule, which I think is a marvellous thing) and it has to be said that you do need to know the rules and that they will often be dogmatically enforced. Like If they close at 12:00, @peanuthead, "ask(ing) them to hold on" will typically only result in you being told (oftimes quite sniffily) what time they re-open...
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I believe these hours make for a better lifestyle, no Sunday opening for example, which means families get out and actually do things together, unlike some people in the the UK whose idea of a family day out is to drag the kids round B & Q, and as @under a new name, said, you get used to it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@Swissie, i totally agree. Much better lifestyle, much happier people.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
There are lots of rules in Switzerland especially pertaining to where you live (Home) but there are also lots of rules in other Countrys.

I remember when I moved to Switzerland I had to visit the Dentist. I asked for an appointment , they said 6 o'clock. Fine i come striaght from Work. They said no, 6 o'clock in the morning Shocked They start work early in Switzerland & yes the transportation (trams, busses, trains) is working perfectly at that time of the day !!
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@stanton, Switzerland has more rules than anywhere else I know. Our commune gives you a little book of them when you arrive...
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@under a new name, ....as an academic, I look at how many rules different nations have. UK has more than many (see Ross Clarke, How to label your goat) - 144,000 pages of legislation passed by executive decision outside the Chamber in 2010 (!!!) - it's just that most of the laws are not respected - ie not enforced. The devolved nature of democracy in CH is interesting - ie only pass laws which you expect to observe, and then observe them.

weird laws around the world:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/rachel-hodin/2013/10/67-ridiculous-laws-from-around-the-world-that-still-actually-exist/

and

http://justsomething.co/the-22-most-ridiculous-us-laws-still-in-effect-today-2/

Note I have not validated all of these - I know some of them are true - such as the maximum length of a concealed weapon in Texas is 6 feet.... (!!)
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
As with all data, it's important to ensure you're comparing like with like.

Switzerland must indeed be a marvellous place though if people brag about how good it is that nothing's ever open. It's all about managing customer expectations, it would seem.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I always liked the Swiss, they do have some weird rules, noise police to stop you waking up the neighbors when you fall out of the bars, no flushing apartment toilets after 10pm etc. but on the other hand I've never met a real Swiss who wasn't polite, there's rarely any rubbish lying in streets (or dog mess) and when a Swiss company quotes you a price that's what you will pay. On the whole they are as a country nicer than many others I've visited
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@valais2, I should have added that qualifier. Good point.

@philwig, it's not that nothing at all is open, but Sunday's are still pretty quiet (and lovely for it) and everyone gets a decent lunch break. For instance. The result is that as almost everything happens as predicted, it can mostly be planned and so all pretty reliable and efficient.

Plus services that would (these days) be unheard of in the Uk, such as a reasonably priced national same day courier, are available, used regularly and thus reasonably priced.

Actually, the whole Swiss postal service rivals the integrated transport network in its amazingness.

@D G Orf, as I am sure you are aware, the loo flushing rule is a bit more specific than that and served well when old apartments had poor sound insulation. The apartment we first lived in there was no problem with flushing toilets but you couldn't run a washing machine on Sunday (or holidays). Which is entirely fair enough when you're looking for a little peace and quiet.

The only rule that I find tricky is not using a powered mower on a Sunday. I mean, when else does one cut the grass?

One immediate result is that Swtzerland has astonishingly high levels of recycling compliance.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@under a new name,
You cut the grass 2 or 3 times a year for hay. there are probably strategically timed bank holidays for the purpose wink
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@musher, I cut the grass because I am hell bent on defying nature and cultivating a beautifully manicured monoculture Twisted Evil
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I can vouch for the lushness of uann's verdant pelouse Confused
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philwig wrote:
As with all data, it's important to ensure you're comparing like with like.

Switzerland must indeed be a marvellous place though if people brag about how good it is that nothing's ever open. It's all about managing customer expectations, it would seem.
Toofy Grin Toofy Grin
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Maybe Switzerland has all these rules and you'd need to live there to understand what it's like, but the fact a mechanic bent the rules and hung around a half hour after he was supposed to close, though maybe remarkable in Switzerland, is not the first thing I would post on essentially a British/Irish forum...in fact at home, if someone wouldn't hang around for a half hour to help you when you're in a pickle, that would be a cause of ire and annoyance.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
You got lucky there
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Why is this in piste btw?
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I'm sure Swiss people would be smart enough to work out how to "have a quiet Sunday" without legal support. That's a crock.

--
The last time I had a car problem in the UK was a flat battery at about 21:00 in Cambridge on a Friday night, right outside the Wrestlers. There is one of those back street garages just there, but it looked like it was closed. I noticed a light on, and banged on the door. There was a mechanic there who came out, juiced it back up, and started up my car. It's the sort of car he could not afford to insure and will probably never be able to buy. I was very grateful and tried to pay him. He wouldn't take any money, just laughed and left me to drive home.

=> I'm happy that the OP's experience was good, but the implication that the same thing doesn't happen in the UK is nonsense.

I've lived in lots of brilliant places but never felt the need to justify it by slagging off Blighty.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@philwig, well, it's a lot more pleasant than in the UK...and quieter. wink
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Quote:

I've lived in lots of brilliant places but never felt the need to justify it by slagging off Blighty.


I don't think anyone is particularly slagging off the UK, I am fortunate to live between the two and love them both for different reasons.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@philwig, …goodness not slagging off UK at all - our VAG agent near Cambridge (ALS Lock in Little Downham) rode to the rescue when we had two broken rear springs and needed the repair done immediately if we were to get to CH - Sarah booked it in at 9.30 and it was done by 12 noon and we were in Dover by 4pm. It's not that at all… I posted since there had been some negative comment - which felt heartfelt and genuine - about instances of poor service in CH (see post on 'helping the small guys'). I just wanted to make sure that positive accounts were available as well as negative.

@Nickski, Oh dear…really? Well…perhaps we need to pull down the post on abandoned funicular railways, bank accounts and routes around the M25….I think the piste has become quite permissive and that's fine in my book, although perhaps not in yours….
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I found out about Sunday closing in Switzerland, being entirely unable to buy a new tyre. Couldn't in France, either, come to that. Yet another reason I would NEVER drive a car without a spare in the Alps.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@pam w, you would probably have found it tricky in Italy as well...
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Not that likely to be able to get a new tyre in the UK on a Sunday where we live either. Kwik Fit might be open I suppose, but very little else around that keeps car tyres would be.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Yes - difficult all round. Which is why I turned down all cars which couldn't be fitted with a full-size spare, when I had to buy a new car.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I think in the UK we are spoiled, In Munich supermarkets close at 8PM and you can only get cake and beer on a Sunday, which covers the essentials, you can go to a tiny island on the west coast of Scotland and be able to buy more things than in one of Europe's premier cities with millions of inhabitants Puzzled
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@geeo, i think that's a good thing. If you can't get yourself together to have something to eat on a Sunday without a 24/7 Tesco, it's pretty poor show.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Last time I was on a tiny island off the West Coast of Scotland you could buy pretty well nothing on a Sunday....... but maybe times have changed. I have no objection to French shop opening hours, though if I worked in a shop I'd resent the long lunch hour and having to work late into the evening.
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@geeo, when I first arrived in Munich, the UK was just embracing 24/7 hour shopping. The shock to the system I received when the shops closed at 5pm or at the latest 6pm Monday to Fridays and punctually at 2pm at the absolute latest on a Saturday, with many shops closing midday as the sirens sounded! Once a month we had a long shopping Saturday, where they were open until 4pm and 4 times a year were had a "shopping Sunday" (Verkaufs Offenen Sonntag). Only the latter remains now. As I was working full-time in at an engineering plant out in the boonies, it was a race to get to the supermarket after work and I could choose to have a lie-in on a Saturday or go shopping! Needless to say, I ate out back then! rolling eyes
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