Dealing with Strange Swedish Logic

As we prepare to pack and get ready to finish up in Sweden, the last thing we need is to have to deal with strange Swedish logic and bureaucracy. 

We'd already had a few run-ins with parking the car.

The first issue we had was when we parked the car to visit a friend. The carpark allowed for 2 hours free parking and then paid parking after that. We used our parking app and set it for about 8 hours so we had plenty of time. It looked like it was going to charge us for the whole time, but so be it. Then, about a week later we found a parking ticket that had become jammed down under the windscreen wiper. It was for that parking time, which was weird since we had fully paid for the parking and we had proof through the parking app. The parking app company said we needed to discuss it with the carparking agency, so we called them. After explaining the situation to the lady on the phone she told us that we had received the fine because we didn't have a parking disc displayed for the 2 hours free parking.  A parking disc is used to indicate the starting time for parking so the company knows if you have exceeded your free time:

So, we explained that we had used the parking app and had paid for the full time, so we shouldn't need the dial as we didn't use the free parking.

Them: "But did you have the dial up?"

Me: "No, we paid for all the parking on the app. We have the full receipt here - we paid for the whole time and didn't use the free time."

Them: "But you need the dial for the free two hours."

Me: "We didn't use the free two hours, we paid for the whole time."

Them: "But you need the dial for free hours."

Me: "Ok, but we were there for 8 hours and the entire 8 hours was paid for in the app."

Them: "But you need the dial for the free hours."

Me: "But we didn't use the free hours...."

Repeat for the next fifteen minutes until we eventually gave up. They said they could escalate it and look into it,  but since we had already delayed for a couple of weeks (because we weren't able to see the ticket as it had been pushed down to the base of the wiper), we ran the risk of getting an overdue fee.  To avoid this, we decided to just pay it, which I think is exactly what they planned.

We had a similar one when we returned from our semester trip this year - we had to purchase a vignette for Switzerland, which essentially counts as a toll to travel on the toll roads:

Showing the size of the Vignette -  its about 1/2 of the size of a playing card

We parked at the shops across from Tomas' school and put up our parking dial for our 2 free hours (we had learned our lesson), and so we were surprised when we came back 10 minutes later to find that we had a parking ticket for not displaying our dial.  We called the company to protest and were sent the photos and details. Apparently the Vignette had obscured the dial.  For comparison this is the size of the dial that sits on the dashboard behind the vignette:

Example of the size of the dial

The picture showed that the parking inspector had managed to line up his photo perfectly so that the vignette was covering the dial.  Had they taken a step or two to either side they would have easily be able to see the dial, but instead they chose to align it up so they couldn't see it.

I called the parking company again and told them this.

Them: "But it is not the inspector's fault if he cannot see the dial."

Me: "But he could see it if he took a step to the left or right."

Them: "Can you see the dial in the photo?"

Me: "No, but if he moved a step he could see it."

Them: "So, the dial was obscured then."

Me: "Ok, but if he lay on the ground and took a photo he wouldn't have seen the dial either, even without the vignette sticker.  Surely there has to be some intelligence in how he takes the photo."

Them: "There is nothing we can do, the inspector did nothing wrong."

So we had to pay this one also.

So, before you think that we just had trouble with the parking company (and don't get me wrong, when we were here the first time, a car was pulled out of the canal and we joked that it was likely covered in parking tickets), PostNord, the Swedish postal company hasn't been terribly helpful to us either.

The first big issue that we found was tax. Since Australia was outside of the EU (and now England was also), anything that we had posted to us could (and usually would) accrue tax. The main purpose of this is to stop unfair trade - if I could get an item cheaper in Australia, I could bring it into Sweden and undercut local suppliers.

We wanted to get a jacket from our rugby club in Australia for our coach here in Sweden (something unique that couldn't be bought in Sweden), so we asked Alana to buy one and post it to us. The jacket was about $80 and postage ended up being around $50. When the jacket arrived it was held by Swedish customs and we needed to pay 200kr tax and processing fee (around $30) to get it released. 

Another time, one of my magazines, I received as part of a subscription, failed to arrive so, I emailed the company and they sent a replacement. The magazine cost about 70kr ($10) from the shop, but when my copy arrived it was held awaiting a 120kr (almost $20) tax payment.  I was telling someone at the game shop about it and he mentioned that he won a Warhammer model from the US that he stocked in his own shop. The model in Sweden was about 900kr, but the same item sold in the US for about 1400kr. He won the model in a competition for free and when it arrived from the US he was charged 300kr tax to import the item as it had a 'high value', costing him almost $50 to receive an item he had won, and could have bought for about $150 in Sweden.

But tax is unavoidable, logic fails are not...

I have been collecting Pirate Lego and Lego released a new gift set, a mini pirate ship, that you could purchase with Lego points. Unfortunately we had used up all of the points last time we had shopped, but it was easy, Tomas wanted to get a Lego set for his friend and we wanted to order a set for me for Christmas so it worked well. I would place one order for my set (and we added a Christmas wreath for Kristine) and get the points then immediately order the set that Tomas wanted to gift his friend and use the points to add the pirate ship.  That was our first mistake - it turns out that the points aren't added until the sets are dispatched, but that was a minor issue. I just waited a couple of days and could place the order. We had 3 weeks until the birthday, so plenty of time.

My set arrived about a week later. PostNord dropped it off on our doorstep in pouring rain at about 10pm at night without knocking or ringing the doorbell. Tomas found it in the morning when he left for school and the box had almost dissolved into a puddle of wet carboard. Luckily my set was inside a second box and was protected, but the box for Kristine's wreath was completely destroyed.

So Tomas' set shouldn't be too far behind.  We checked the Lego page and there was a tracking number and it said the parcel was with the transport company. I logged onto their page and it said that the package was at the dispatch center in Malmo and ready to be sent out.

We waited another week - checking constantly to make sure it wasn't left out in the rain, but it never arrived.  We were getting dangerously close to the birthday, so Kris bought another copy of the set, figuring that we would just keep the other one for us when it arrived. But a week later it still hadn't arrived and the transport company still had it listed as at a dispatch center in Malmo. The chat line for the company didn't help - it just said that it was awaiting a delivery date. In the end, Kristine walked to the nearby Post Office and asked if they might have received it. They suggested we call PostNord. That seemed a bit strange, as the shipping company was something like PostNL from the Netherlands. But we didn't have much to lose, so I called PostNord.

The date of the call was the 11th of December and we'd expected the package somewhere around the first week in December. This is a rough transcript of the call.

Me: "Hi, I am just chasing up an order XXXXXX, which I believe was posted to me."

Them: "Ah, yes I can see that in our system, the sender was Lego?"

Me: "Yes, that's the one."

Them: "What seems to be the problem?"

Me: "It has been sitting at ready to deliver for two weeks, but doesn't seem to have moved."

Them: " Oh yeah, it's at our warehouse at the moment, ready to be returned to sender. So, you do want it?"

Me: "Yes, that's why I ordered it. Do you know why it wasn't delivered?"

Them: "We had it scheduled to be delivered to you on the 2nd of December, but we only received it from PostNL on the 3rd of December, so it couldn't be delivered on the 2nd."

Me: "Ok, makes sense. So did you try to reschedule a later delivery?"

Them: "No. It was scheduled to go out on the 2nd, but we couldn't deliver it then as we didn't have it."

Me: "But you have it now?"

Them: "Yes, it is about to be returned to sender as it has been in our warehouse for two weeks."

Me: "So if you have it, and you know it wasn't able to be delivered on the 2nd, why wasn't it delivered on a later date?"

Them: "Because it was scheduled to be delivered on the 2nd."

Me: "Ok, but you couldn't do the 2nd, as it didn't arrive until the 3rd, could you not have delivered on the 4th?"

Them: "No, because it was scheduled for the 2nd."

Me: "Ok, never mind. Can I get it now?"

Them: "It's scheduled to return to sender. Did you want me to stop that happening."

Me: "Yes, please."

Eventually we managed to organize Kristine to drive and pick it up from their warehouse. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it seems that they tried to deliver it before they had it and then went into some error state and just ignored it completely.

I love Sweden, but it can be fun sometimes...