TV report (German):
[https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/kassensturz/swisscom-directories-unterschriften-in-neue-vertraege-kopiert](https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/kassensturz/swisscom-directories-unterschriften-in-neue-vertraege-kopiert)
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Swisscom’s daughter company “localsearch” has been engaged in shady business practices for a long time.
In 2019 [they sent out letters titled with “Payment reminder”](https://www.beobachter.ch/konsum/konsumentenschutz/swiss-list-localsearch-andert-ungefragt-den-vertrag) for contracts that didn’t exist. They then said that those letters where just meant to be “offers” and that that they didn’t intend to deceive anybody – despite those letters where phrased as payment reminders from the first to the last word. (“Apparently you have missed that your below mentioned invoice is due for payment” … yeah, that’s how we always phrase our “offers”… by mentioning inexistant invoices for inexistant contracts ;-))
This week the “Kassensturz” made a report about various recent victims of “localsearchs” continued shady way of doing business (casually known as fraud).
Nowadays they even seem to fake contracts by using scanned signatures from old contracts and “photoshopping” them under new contracts that the customers never agreed to. (In the report there is a funreal parlor from whom they wanted to collect almost 100’000 .- for faked contracts he never signed…)
Also systematical lies about the scope of the offer and the duration and terms of the contracts seem to be standard for “localsearch” (formerly called “Swisscom Directories”).
The thing with the lies I can even confirm out of first-hand experience: The last time a localsearch salesperson called me (they call every now and then) they told me that having an entry in their products is important to be found on Google. A blatant lie of course. But many business owners probably believe it. When I inquired how this statement is to be understood, she suddenly didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
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Just posting this here because the majority of the people in this country still seem to believe that Swisscom is a trustworthy company despite all the evidence against it 😉
By the way: the Swiss governement owns 51% of the company…
by b00nish