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General terms and conditions

General terms and conditions for customers of Flaschenpost Services Ltd.

(Version June 2022)

1. General

1.1 Flaschenpost Services Ltd. (hereinafter "Flaschenpost") sells products and provides services, in particular via the website www.flaschenpost.ch. These general terms and conditions (hereinafter "GTC") apply to all legal relationships between Flaschenpost and the Purchaser of products and/or services from Flaschenpost (Purchaser hereinafter "Customer", Flaschenpost and the Customer together hereinafter "Parties"). 

1.2 The customer guarantees that he is at least 18 years old at the time of his order.

1.3 Any general terms and conditions of the customer are hereby waived.

1.4 Deviations from these GTC are valid only if agreed by the parties in writing or by e-mail. 

1.5 If, in addition to these GTC, special contractual conditions of Flaschenpost should be applicable, the special conditions take precedence over these GTC, insofar as they contain provisions that deviate from these GTC.

1.6 In the event of any inaccuracies and/or discrepancies between the various language versions of these general terms and conditions (GTC), the German version shall prevail. The English translation is for information purposes only and has no legal value. By accepting these GTC, the customer automatically accepts the terms and conditions expressed in the original text in the German language.

2. Orders

2.1 All offers of Flaschenpost are non-binding.

2.2 By the particular order, the customer on his part makes an offer to which he is bound for 2 weeks after receipt by Flaschenpost. At the request of the customer, Flaschenpost may voluntarily cancel the order as a gesture of goodwill. 

2.3 Upon receipt of an order, Flaschenpost usually sends a confirmation of receipt to the e-mail address provided by the Customer. This confirmation of receipt serves only for the orientation of the customer about his order and has no legal effects.

2.4 The contract between the parties is concluded as soon as Flaschenpost performs services for the Customer (e.g. shipping or handing over products to the Customer) or sends an order confirmation.

2.5 All services to be provided by Flaschenpost are listed conclusively in the delivery bill and/or the order confirmation of Flaschenpost. 

2.6 The Customer shall check the documents prepared by Flaschenpost, in particular invoices, delivery bills and order confirmations, within 5 calendar days after they have been sent (by mail or digitally) or handed over. The Customer shall notify Flaschenpost of any discrepancies within this period, otherwise the documents will be deemed approved by the Customer.

3. Procurement of products, cancellations, change of vintage

3.1 Flaschenpost is entitled to cancel orders at any time without giving reasons and/or to provide only partial services. In case of partial or full cancellation of the order, the Customer shall pay only for the partial service effectively provided by Flaschenpost.

3.2 Flaschenpost is in no way obligated to procure products or specific vintages of wines.

3.3 If Flaschenpost intends to deliver a different vintage of a wine than ordered, Flaschenpost will inform the Customer by e-mail about the planned replacement vintage prior to shipment, if the Customer has selected the option “Information in case of change of vintage” in the order overview. After this e-mail has been sent, the customer is entitled and obliged to declare within 14 calendar days whether he agrees with the offered replacement vintage or whether he waives the delivery of the wine in question. If no message from the Customer is received by Flaschenpost within this period, this shall be deemed as a waiver of the wine delivery by the Customer. In case of renunciation of the wine delivery, any price already paid by the Customer, including shipping and packaging costs, will be refunded to the Customer as a rule within 30 days (refund to the account details provided by the Customer after contact by Flaschenpost).

3.4 All further claims of the customer arising from the transactions mentioned in this Clause 3 are excluded.

4. Prices , costs and terms of payment and delivery

4.1 All prices are in Swiss francs including VAT.

4.2 Shipping and packaging costs will be charged separately to the customer (except: free deliveries designated as such).

4.3 Flaschenpost is entitled to execute deliveries in several parts. Such partial deliveries do not result in any additional costs for the Customer.

4.4 Decisive for the agreed prices, costs, payment, and delivery terms is the invoice of Flaschenpost or, if such an invoice is missing or incomplete, the order receipt confirmation, or if such an order receipt is also missing or incomplete, the prices, costs and payment terms communicated to the Customer at the conclusion of the order process.

4.5 Regardless of the agreed method of payment, Flaschenpost is entitled to deliver or perform orders only against prepayment.

4.6 Flaschenpost hereby assigns to the Customer any rights to which Flaschenpost is entitled against the carrier of deliveries to the Customer. In return, the Customer bears the transport and delivery risk in connection with his orders with Flaschenpost.

4.7 Invoices from Flaschenpost are to be paid within 30 days (from date of invoice) and without any deduction to the account of Flaschenpost designated on it unless otherwise stated on the invoice. Flaschenpost reserves the right of ownership of the goods until full payment has been made. Upon expiry of the payment term, the customer will be in default without further notice. In this case, Flaschenpost is entitled to stop further deliveries to the Customer until full payment is made. In the event of late payment, the customer will be sent a reminder:

  • 1st reminder/payment reminder (via e-mail): free of charge

  • 2nd reminder (postal): free of charge

4.8 In case of unsuccessful reminders, the invoice amounts can be assigned to a company entrusted with the debt collection. In this case, an additional annual percentage rate of up to 10% may be charged on the invoice amount owed from the due date. The company entrusted with the debt collection will claim the outstanding amounts in its own name and for its own account and may charge additional processing fees.

5. Dates

5.1 All shipping and delivery dates communicated by Flaschenpost are exclusively for the orientation of the customer and are not legally binding.

5.2 If the dispatch of a delivery (or parts of it) is delayed by more than five working days compared to the date communicated by Flaschenpost, the Customer is entitled to waive the delayed part of the delivery. Such waiver is valid only if it is declared immediately and is received by Flaschenpost before the dispatch of the delayed part of the delivery. Otherwise, the Customer shall not be entitled to any rights against Flaschenpost arising from the exceeding of shipping and delivery dates.

5.3 If a successful delivery is not possible or only possible under difficult circumstances for reasons for which Flaschenpost is not responsible (e.g. incorrect delivery address, absence of the recipient, lack of access permit, etc.), the Customer is obliged to place Flaschenpost in the same financial position as if the delivery had been successful (at least payment of the shipping and packaging costs). In all other respects, Clauses 3 and 4.6 above shall apply.

6. Inspection by the customer

6.1 The Customer shall inspect deliveries received from Flaschenpost within 5 calendar days after delivery or collection and shall notify Flaschenpost in writing or by e-mail within this period of any visible defects or incomplete deliveries. After the unused expiry of this period, the deliveries received from Flaschenpost as well as the scope of the delivery are deemed to be approved by the customer.

7. Warranty, especially for cork taint wine, and liability

7.1 The warranty period for hidden defects is two years from handover or delivery of the services to be provided by Flaschenpost.

7.2 If the Customer finds that a wine bottle purchased from Flaschenpost is defective (hereinafter “cork taint wine”), this bottle will be replaced by Flaschenpost under the following conditions (cumulative):

a. The warranty period (para. 7.1 above) has not yet expired;

b. the bottle is brought by the customer to Flaschenpost immediately after discovery of the defect or - after consultation and according to the instructions of Flaschenpost - sent to Flaschenpost;

c. the bottle is at least 2/3 full; and

d. Flaschenpost can also detect the error.

7.3 Flaschenpost shall replace cork taint wines under the conditions of Clause 7.2 above with an electronic voucher card in the value of the cork taint wine. This voucher card entitles the Customer to order another wine from Flaschenpost in the value of the voucher card.

7.4 Except the items listed in Clauses 7.1 and 7.2 the Customer shall not be entitled to any warranty rights against Flaschenpost.

7.5 The liability of Flaschenpost for culpably caused personal injuries is unlimited. The liability for direct damages, which Flaschenpost has culpably caused in the fulfillment of the present Contract is limited to the price of the relevant service of Flaschenpost. Any liability of Flaschenpost or its agents for other or further claims and damages, in particular claims for compensation for indirect or consequential damages, loss of profit, loss of use, non-realized savings, loss of earnings, interruption of business or production - irrespective of their legal basis - is expressly excluded. This limitation of liability applies regardless of the legal basis of the liability. Further mandatory legal liability, e.g. for gross negligence or unlawful intent, remains reserved.

8. Rules of conduct and publication for customers and license to customer contributions

8.1 Parts of the website may allow posting of comments, product reviews and other textual or pictorial content (hereinafter “Customer Contributions”). The customer declares to agree with these provisions of clause 8 on customer contributions and undertakes, in particular, to comply with the rules of conduct and publication.

8.2 The customer acknowledges that he is responsible for his own activities and customer contributions and is liable for them. He assures that he is entitled to the posted customer contribution and that no rights of third parties (copyrights, personal rights, trademark rights, etc.) are violated. In the event of any claims by third parties in connection with the publication or use of the customer contributions, the customer shall indemnify and hold Flaschenpost harmless from all claims.

8.3 The customer contributions on the website of Flaschenpost should be characterized by qualities such as creativity, culinary and level as well as the required seriousness. Therefore, the following rules apply to the publication of customer contributions:

8.4 Customer contributions, such as comments or product reviews should be written factually and refer to the features, quality, etc. of the product. In case of problems with the delivery time or quality deficits of any kind, the customer service of Flaschenpost is to be contacted. Statements in customer contributions are to be written with the deserved respect through appropriate choice of words, correct spelling as far as possible as well as due politeness. Personal hostility, disparagement, or contributions that contain hatred, violence, sexual content and threats, that are obscene, that violate the privacy of others, that discriminate against other groups of people, minorities, etc., that mislead, violate morality or any existing laws, as well as amusement at the expense of others, are prohibited and will not be tolerated. The publication of advertising content of any kind, spam or links of other providers as well as the naming of their offers is not permitted.

8.5 The publication of contact information of any kind (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, etc.) should be avoided at all costs.

8.6 Flaschenpost has the right to check the compliance with the rules of conduct and publication, not to publish or delete customer contributions without giving a reason. Furthermore, Flaschenpost reserves the right to change customer contributions linguistically or orthographically.

8.7 In case of gross or repeated violations of the rules of conduct and publication for customers, Flaschenpost reserves the right to block the customer without giving reasons or to delete his customer account and, if necessary, to take legal action, to involve authorities or to file a complaint.

8.8 License of the customer to Flaschenpost for customer contributions

When a Customer publishes Customer Contributions, the Customer thereby grants Flaschenpost a license as follows:

The Customer grants to Flaschenpost a non-exclusive, perpetual, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use all Content published by the Customer on or in connection with the Website, including, without limitation, the Customer Contributions, including any images of persons or concepts or ideas contained therein that may appear in the respective Customer Contributions, for any purpose whatsoever, including commercial use, which includes the right to translate, display, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, analyze, sublicense, distribute and assign such rights.

9. Final provisions

9.1 Involvement of third parties

Flaschenpost is entitled to involve third parties for the provision of services, in particular other wine merchants. 

9.2 Communication by e-mail

Flaschenpost is entitled to communicate with the Customer by e-mail. The Customer is aware that e-mails can be read by third parties. The Customer bears all risks in connection with the transmission and delivery of e-mails. In particular, the Customer is responsible for regularly checking his inbox and spam folder. An e-mail from Flaschenpost is considered delivered to the Customer at the moment it is sent by the servers used by Flaschenpost to the e-mail address designated by the Customer.

9.3 Benefit and danger

The benefit and risk of the services to be provided by Flaschenpost are transferred to the Customer when the services leave the premises of Flaschenpost or when the Customer is notified that the services are ready for collection (whichever is earlier). 

9.4 Place of performance

The place of performance for all obligations (of the Customer, of Flaschenpost and third parties) is the registered office of Flaschenpost.

9.5 Severability clause

Should any provision of these GTC be or become invalid or void, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. In the event of the invalidity or nullity of a contractual provision, this shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes as close as possible to the economic purpose of the invalid provision.

9.6 Applicable law, place of performance and jurisdiction

AThese GTC shall be governed exclusively by Swiss substantive law. The applicability of the CISG is excluded.

All disputes arising out of or in connection with the contract between the parties, including those concerning its valid conclusion, validity, amendment or dissolution, will be settled by the competent courts at the registered office of Flaschenpost. In addition, the court of the Customer’s domicile, registered office or domicile shall have jurisdiction over actions brought by Flaschenpost and in the cases provided for by mandatory law.