Amazing Zurich Apartment Scams On Craigslist

One thing to certainly be aware of if you are apartment hunting is scam postings on Craigslist. These are highly organised operations and exist purely to relieve you of your money.

You start to picture the situation of your wonderful luxurious apartment, inviting friends over and regaling them with the tale of how you picked up a wonderful bargain on Craigslist. The truth is, unfortunately, that the story you will end up with is one you will never want to tell anyone – of how you were totally scammed out of a deposit by a West African fraudster.

Take this ad for example:

I have two lovely bedrooms flat available for rent at the central heart of Zurich..It is available for rent presently.

DETAILS ABOUT MY APARTMENT……….
Address : Falkenstrasse 10, Zurich 8008, Switzerland.
Size of the Whole Apartment :85 m square
Number of bedrooms:2
Number of bathrooms:2
Floor:Ground floor.
Monthly rental price: 800chf for the whole apartment including all bills
Security Deposit: 1200chf
Pictures available:YES

AMENITIES AVAILABLE IN MY APARTMENT..
Equiped Kitchen,washing Machine,American Kitchen Fridge & Freezer Oven,Microwave Dish Washer Crockery & Utensils,Bath Shower Hair Dryer,Towels
Extra features
Internet Dial Up, Internet Broadband Cable/Satelite
TV,Stereo/Radio System DVD Player,DVD/Music Collection
Central Heating Air Conditioning
Pets Welcome

Amenities:
Appliances:
Dishwasher
Fridge
Washer
Washer/Dryer Hookups
Included in Rent:
Parking
Water/Sewer
Parking:
Covered Parking
Garage
Building:
Laundry Facilities
Interior:
Carpet
Internet Access
Storage Area/Room
Tenant Criteria:
Pets Allowed
Exterior:
Fenced Yard
Near To:
Bus Stop
College/University
Downtown
Hospital
Park
Shopping Center

This may well be the most well-appointed apartment in the world. Look what wonderful pictures!

It is “available” for 800CHF.

Compare it with this list of actual places for rent in Zurich for 800CHF

The premise is simple. if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

Zurich Expat Launches Money Saving iPhone Application

The team behind zurichexpats.com has launched its first application for the iPhone – Cashflake.

Cashflake is the iPhone application that helps you reduce your debt by introducing the concept of snowflaking to the iPhone (very appropriate for Switzerland!).

Every day, you have the opportunity to make tiny savings from making different buying choices. Not buying a coffee on the way to work, packing your own lunch instead of eating out, taking the tram instead of a taxi.

These small savings all seem insignificant but when organised together can make a significant dent in your debt. Many snowflakes eventually cover a mountain!

Cashflake allows you to record, store and report on these savings so that you can keep track of what you have saved and use that amount to make extra payments on credit cards, loans or just sweep into a savings account.

“Every rappen counts!” says Andrew Buonocore, “The cost of living in Switzerland can be very high but there are ways you can save money and if you do take advantage of deals and bargains then why not use the money saved over here to reduce any debt you may have back home?”.

Importantly, the currency symbol is configurable.

Used in conjunction with the Comparis Bargains application, a powerful set of money saving tools is developing.

Cashflake – the iPhone application that helps reduce your debt is available worldwide for the currency equivalents of $0.99. Click here to download it from the Apple AppStore.

24/7 Shopping in Zurich

For expats who come from where 24 hour shopping is the norm, it takes some time to adjust to the limited shopping hours in Zurich. For a long time the particular exception was gas station convenience stores which were open 24/7. No longer.

Zurich officials have long (for 20 years) tolerated these 24/7 gas station convenience stores, but now the federal government has banned them from being open 24 hours a day. Specifically they must be closed between 1-5am.

For expats coming from more laissez-faire economic environments, these rules on shop opening times are usually easy to learn, but challenging to adapt to and difficult to understand.

What used to be easy can now seem daunting. Expats might ask “where should I t go if I urgently need some medication?” or “what if I want to pick up a last-minute missing ingredient for a Sunday meal?”

While all of your local shops are closed on Sunday, there are options  for Sunday shopping besides gas station convenience stores.

24 Hour Pharmacies

There are 2 24 hour pharmacies in Zurich. From experience, both have multilingual pharmacists that speak English well.

Bellevue Apotheke – Theatrestrasse 14

Bahnhof Apotheke – Bahnhofplatz 15

Sunday Shopping

For whatever reason, shops located inside SBB owned property are allowed to be open on Sunday so one can get some Sunday shopping done at both the main train station (Zurich Hauptbahnhof) and Bahnhof Enge.

Zurich Hauptbahnhof (aka ShopVille) – 9:00 – 20:00 Sunday

ShopVille has a wide variety of shopping from groceries, to clothes and electronics. Most of the shops are quite small so they have a limited selection. A full list of shops and a map is located here (German).

Bahnhof Enge – 10:00 – 20:00 Sunday

Similar to ShopVille, but with much fewer shops. The main shop here is Migros, the large grocery store chain, but there is also a copy store, an electronics store and a bakery. A list of shops and individual opening and closing times is here (German).

Holiday Sunday Shopping

As we are starting to get into the holiday season, it is important to mention that the rules regarding Sunday shopping are relaxed before Christmas for certain shops and shopping centers. The rules here are confusing, but it seems the shops can choose to be open no more than 3 Sundays.  For example, the large shopping mall SihlCity will be open Sunday November 29th, December 6th, skip a Sunday and then be open again Sunday December 20th from 11:00 – 18:00 .

The Best iPhone Apps For Expats In Switzerland

I got my iPhone a couple of months ago and after several years of using Windows Mobile devices, I have to say that the iPhone is a game changing device.

The sheer usability of the iPhone and its apps make it a device to put at the very heart of your life and there are several apps that are especially useful in Switzerland. I use mine with a data-only sim card from Orange.

The most useful iPhone app by far is the SBB Mobile application. You can do pretty much everything you can at a ticket machine, as well as view timetable information. If you set a Home location, you can just press the Take Me Home button and it will calculate a route and timetable to get you home based on your current location and the nearest train, tram or bus stop.

You can even buy a ticket on your iPhone with the ticket image stored locally on the iPhone. You must have the iPhone with you for the ticket inspector, and make sure your screen is set to high brightness. The inspector scans the iPhone screen and it works very well. I have used it six times without fail.

Again in the transport arena, Wemlin gives access to all transport in Zurich, offering great route planning and timetables.

AroundMe has a surprisingly good database of amenities in Switzerland, for a US-focused app.

Again, using the iPhone’s GPS, AroundMe will tell you the nearest Banks, Bars, Coffee Shops, ATM, Petrol station, Hospital, Hotel, whatever! I have found it especially useful for petrol stations and post offices. You can set your favourites if there is a place you use regularly.

The Skype iPhone application works really well and coupled with a Skype Unlimited subscription, you can make all the calls you need to make back home. I use it to make those unavoidable calls to utility companies etc, as well as keeping in touch with family. The Unlimited subscriptions give you unlimited calls to landlines either within Europe or Worldwide and can really save you a good amount of money.

A really useful application is the Bargains application from Comparis which every week is updated with the special offers from the main retailers in Switzerland. You can find the deals by the largest reductions, category or by retailer. It is a real little nugget.

For keeping track of daily savings and then applying them against debt back home, try Cashflake.

Finally, there is a good application called Swiss Events which offers information on what events are coming up soon.

That’s my list, if you have any of your own that you find especially useful in Switzerland, please feel free to add them in the comments.

Lessons Learnt From A First Year In Zurich

We have just come to the end of our first year of living and working in Zurich and I thought it would be useful to note down some of the lessons learnt.

So, in no particular order, here you go…

• Always make sure you have a valid ticket when you use public transport. If you get used to buying a particular type of ticket (eg a 9 O’clock Pass) and you are traveling at a different time than usual, make sure your ticket is valid. If you get this wrong, you might get out of jail with the SBB iPhone application.
• When you are sure you have the right ticket, double check! The SBB inspectors are clinically efficient. In the last 24 hours I saw a penalty fine being given to a blind disabled woman.
• Don’t obsess about buying a car or importing one. With a few minutes planning, the train system and Mobility system can cover any journey.
• You will inevitably go to IKEA. You can rent a van from them for a few hours if you don’t have your own way of getting the packs home, or you can get them delivered. If you have to go on a Saturday, wait until after lunch.
• If you can, explore the local area on foot or by bike. You will see and experience things that you do not pick up in a car or on the bus.
• When you use one of the automated petrol payment systems, make sure that the pump you have selected is the one you are using. Some stations have more than one diesel pump but only one is actually usable. When you have finished, check that the pump resets to zero.
• When using a local company for any service, make sure you know exactly what their charges are. For some reason, it is acceptable for a company to charge you for their time traveling from their base to your home. They will charge in distance and time.
• The benefit of learning the language cannot be overstated. It may be easy enough getting by in English but speaking (or attempting to speak) the language is better for you and sometimes gets you better service.
• Timekeeping is extremely important. The transport system is reliable enough that you can accurately plan how to get around.
• When you have an administrative task to perform, like arranging healthcare or a driving licence, asking five people what to do will give you ten different answers! You can usually get a good idea of what to do at the English Forum.
• You live in a wonderful country. Respect it and respect its people.

It’s a fairly arbitrary list but is based on experience.

Feel free to add your own experiences in the comments.

August 1st Is Swiss National Day

No tanks parading through the streets, no marching armies, but August 1st is the National Day in Switzerland. Since 1993 it has been a national holiday.

The national holiday status means that pretty much everything is closed but this year (2009), it falls on a Saturday which means a fairly dead weekend if you are looking at doing any shopping or going out.

We can expect the usual celebratory set up in and around Zurich, particularly in and around Bellevue although with the current roadworks it might be worth wearing some builder’s boots!

There will also be a fireworks display in the evening so despite the “down” day being on a Saturday when you can usually at least do some shopping or go out to dinner, get out and enjoy the city.

Flight Review: Aer Lingus Zurich to Gatwick May 30 2009

Aer Lingus launched their Zurich – London Gatwick route in April 2009 and after some scouring of online fares from all airlines for a trip to London, I settled on using the Irish airline for the first time. My one-way trip cost around 145CHF including taxes.

I love flying from Zurich airport. The Swiss lounge is a nice place to spend an hour or so before a flight, the Duty Free is excellent and usually the queues at Security are short and swiftly dealt with.

Unfortunately, on the last few times I have travelled from Zurich, the Security regime has become more like its more useless and annoying counterparts in Europe, even including a man employed to tell you which queue to join because you cannot be trusted to decide yourself.

So it would seem that at least at the Security queues, Zurich airport is not the pleasure it once was.

Aer Lingus departs from the E gates, which means a short trip on the monorail, which always amuses me with its soundtrack of Swiss sounds and noises including alpine horns, rivers and even mooing cows. After getting to the gate, we had a short 10-minute delay which was announced twice.

The aircraft itself was a new Airbus A320 with leather seats within the cabin. I was allocated a seat on the 6th row. I checked in online but you can also choose a seat for a fee, with seats in the first 6 rows costing more. I should point out that I did not pay to select a seat, checked in bang on the 30-hour limit before departure and was automatically allocated a seat near the front.

We departed around 15 minutes late, but with a nice comfy seat, I had nodded off pretty fast.

The in-flight food and drink was reasonable priced although there were no sandwiches or hot food. I had a Diet Pepsi which set me back 3 CHF.

We landed 5 minutes late and all in all it was an uneventful and very comfortable flight. It was a bit of a trek from the plane to passport Control, which was being refurbished and I am glad I was one of the first to get there. The BAA airports are really shambolic and unappealing in parts.

I would recommend the Aer Lingus service between London Gatwick and Zurich with no hesitation.

Train Travel From Zurich To Milan

We had cause to travel to Naples recently and decided to take a train journey via Milan instead of go by plane, especially since no airline flies from Zurich to Naples anymore.

Planning the trip was easy enough. You can get train times from the Swiss Railways website but you will need to wait a couple of days for a human to calculate a total price and contact by email so this is not ideal if you need to travel within the next couple of days.

The best way is to visit any SBB ticket office. I used the travel office at Zurich Main Station (HB), where the whole process was done and dusted within 10 minutes. Again, this was because we needed to book the whole journey down to Naples. For the Zurich to Milan leg, you can buy the ticket from any ticket office and also online.

Focusing on the Zurich to Milan leg of the journey, this really was a breeze. In a touch over 3 hours, you are whisked from city to city on the Cisalpino train. The Cisalpino allows you to do the journey without a change but there are only a few trains per day. if you are OK with one or two changes then the journey can be done in a variety of other ways.

The Cisalpino Train From Zurich To Milan

The Cisalpino itself is an Italian service, run by the Italian railway so there are a few things that you usually do not find on a Swiss train. For example, the electric blind was jammed and could not be moved up without applying some brute force.

We went for first class seats, reasonable priced at 100CHF thanks to the Half Card and it was all very comfortable with a decent trolley service. You can also book seats for dinner in the restaurant car.

Our table had electrical sockets, ideal for charging the laptop en route.

The scenery at times was breathtaking. Lake Lugano is especially impressive with a dramatic Alpine backdrop. It is interesting whilst travelling through Switzerland to witness the change in town styles as you pass from German regions through to towns closer to Italy. At some points you really feel like you are in Italy although you are still some way from the border.

By the way, now that Switzerland has joined Schengen, no passport check is necessary either way.

On arrival at Milano Centrale, we stopped at the Excelsior Hotel for a coffee before boarding our overnight sleeper to Naples but I have to say, it is worth keeping your wits about you in and around the station.

It’s one of the great things about Switzerland, that you are in the heart of Europe. Within a few hours you are in another major European city and you can make the journey in comfort and at reasonable cost.