A Swiss buyer, forwarder or carrier has stopped paying an invoice or a freight bill, and the file needs someone who can act in Switzerland without maintaining a local office there. SOLUTIO handles trade and freight debt recovery in Switzerland from the first assessment of the claim through to a workable route toward payment.
A claim against a Swiss counterparty usually opens with a formal demand that restates the contract, the delivery or carriage documents and the sum outstanding. If the debtor does not respond, or disputes the amount without real substance, the file moves toward a payment order procedure or a direct civil claim, chosen according to the size and the clarity of the debt. Freight and forwarding claims carry additional documents – waybills, delivery receipts, demurrage correspondence – and these shape which procedure fits best. This is the stage where trade and freight debt recovery is planned, before any filing is made.
If the debtor objects, the claim is redirected either to conciliation or to the competent court, depending on the canton and the value in dispute. A court order does not collect itself; it still needs to be enforced against assets that exist and can actually be reached. Each branch carries its own timing and its own cost profile, and the choice between them is made once the paperwork has been reviewed, not before.
The contract terms, the invoice trail and proof that goods or services were delivered or carried as agreed carry more weight than the size of the claim. Correspondence in which the debtor acknowledges the debt, even informally, narrows the dispute considerably. Freight files add a layer of their own: the condition of the cargo on arrival, who signed for it, and whether a reservation was noted at delivery.
The debtor's own position matters as much as the paperwork. A company still trading and holding identifiable assets in Switzerland is a different proposition from one already in liquidation or with no remaining local presence. A genuine dispute over quality, quantity or delay changes the route from straightforward collection to a contested claim that takes longer and costs more to run.
Pre-legal contact, court filings and enforcement steps in Switzerland follow procedural rules that a firm without Swiss admission cannot perform directly. SOLUTIO does not appear before Swiss courts and does not act as a collection body under its own name; that work sits with admitted lawyers and licensed providers in the jurisdiction concerned. Our part is the assessment, the strategy and the coordination that keeps the file moving without duplicating steps or missing a procedural window.
The fee basis for this work is agreed before instruction and set out in writing, whether it runs on a fixed scope or on time spent. A fee built solely on a share of what is recovered is not something we offer for this work.
We review the file, confirm whether it is worth pursuing, and set the strategy: which procedure, which forum, and what evidence still needs to be gathered before anything is filed. The correspondent handles what only a Swiss-admitted lawyer or licensed provider can do – filing, court appearances, formal service and enforcement steps once a decision exists. This split keeps costs visible at each stage and avoids paying twice for the same work. The same model runs across the wider creditor position in Switzerland, including cases where the debtor also trades in a neighbouring jurisdiction.
Filing, court appearances and enforcement steps must be carried out by someone admitted in Switzerland. SOLUTIO assesses the claim, sets the strategy and coordinates that work rather than performing it directly.
Recognition and enforcement follow the applicable procedural rules and depend on where the judgment was obtained and how the debtor is positioned. We confirm the realistic route once the judgment and the debtor's asset position are known.
Timing depends on whether the debtor contests the claim, which procedure applies, and where any enforcement step must run. A straightforward, undisputed file moves faster than one where the debtor raises a genuine defence.
Every week a Swiss debtor keeps trading while an invoice sits unpaid is a week in which another creditor can move first and reach the same assets. Cargo already released, a contract already performed and a file left unassessed do not become easier to recover later. The question worth answering now is whether this specific claim, against this specific debtor, is one worth pursuing at all.