Pay first, get your money back - The SwissCom idea

Switzerland... The name alone is enough to evoke great memories of ski trips, tasty chocolate and great Ricola herb products ...

But Switzerland, together with the Swiss Army knife and the Swatch brand, gifted humanity with another great idea, from the country Telecom operator: SwissCom.

(By the way, this idea is contributed by Stefano from Germany. I love that our readers are now contributing to the blog, this is great! Thanx Stef!)



It's an offer to increase the adoption of ADSL technology for Internet access.

Let's see how the offer works (for our non-Italian speaking readers).

• First, the prospect commits to become an ADSL user signing a contract
• The contract allows for 2 months of "Trial period": in these 2 months, the prospect-now-turned-into-user can rescind the contract in any moment and get the FULL money BACK.
• After 2 months, the automatic condition is for the contract now to be fully valid
• SwissCom encourages the prospect voiding the "Set-up costs" of 149 Swiss Francs (about 125USD)

This is a very clever spin of the "Money-Back Guaranteed + Free Trial" idea: in fact, there is NO free trial... Basically, the Trial Period allows for the contract to be rescinded, but it does not provide for 2 free months... The subscriber pays for the 2 months, with the understanding that the money will be fully reimbursed in case of dissatisfaction. But still, he/she pays !

I love this, very well thought-out: it provides risk reversal but without the necessity to give away free months.

Ok, now I go to eat: we'll probably have some fondue in honor of the great country of Switzerland. And don't forget to yodel !

Till next time,

K in USA