Such PR always makes me cringe, I wonder whether she managed to keep a straight face. Honest version: ‚We knew from the beginning that our product is half-ar*ed but we were keen to rush it to market at all costs. Surely our faithful client base will put up with it while we scrape together some budget to fix the basics over time.‘
Well, half a year after introduction, there is now headline news from SBB - the halbtax plus renewal process has just taken a giant leap forward!
“Is it seamless now in the mobile app?” you may ask.
Not really. But looks like they managed to accelerate/ partially automate the rotten workaround they put in place earlier 
:
Ab sofort ist es den bedienten Supportstellen möglich die Kündigung direkt im Verkaufssystem vorzunehmen. Ich hoffe, dass so der Refill-/ Umtausch-Prozess für die Supportstellen einfacher ist. Dank dem neuen Refill-/ Umtausch-Prozess bedarf es nur noch 2 Tage zwischen Kündigung und Abschluss von einem neuen Halbtax PLUS. Beispiel:
Heute 03.06.24 = Kündigung Morgen 04.06.24 = (Online-) Kauf neues Halbtax PLUS mit Gültigkeit ab 05.06.24
So it went from very shit to shit? OK. Baby steps.
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The Alliance Swiss Pass is now working on a new offer (beta) that charges by kilometer instead of zone. This may be of interest to some of you.
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Interesting. As I understand this is a more advanced / improved Halbtax? You get (and pay) a halbtax but with a bonus (refund) depending on your usage.
That would mean it makes little to get a regular Halbtax but instead this new offering?
Habltax plus has no relationship with halbtax. I don’t even know why they use this name. They should call it something else in my view.
It’s just a name to offer a lump sum payment discount depending on usage. For example if you buy a package of 800 CHF, you can use up to 1000 CHF during 12 month period. It’s only applicable for ticket purchases. That’s all.
Was refering to this
Actually pricing looks different (km based). But for the few things I checked (long distance travel), it’s indeed cheaper than halbtax (even without counting the bonus)
Just “renewed” my Half fare Plus today. We went to customer service, where they cancelled the current plan, gave me a gift code for the remaining amount (rounded up to the next CHF 5) and told me I could create a new one starting tomorrow, which would then be valid the day after (so the day after tomorrow).
Whoever thought that up should be sentenced to 1000 hours Nordring traffic jam in summer in a car without aircon and a hard to engage clutch.
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Presumably we are supposed to be grateful for benefitting from SBB‘s ‚already greatly improved‘ process.
I love it. Yes, it’s not perfect yet. But it has saved me Fr. 200 in 7 months. Not many other places to make such a profit.
Yes, the commercial side is attractive, dependent on your situation, I’m down to a few cents from CHF 3000. Now, in terms of client service and product management, one would expect a little better from an organization like SBB.
I have chosen the “digital” path. I clicked on a button in the app, something like “renew Halbtax Plus”.
- Halbtax Plus vanished in the app
- after 7 - 10 days, it should be renewed and ready to use
- Should get a voucer for the leftover (CHF 2.90)
- was not able to chose another plan
Will give you an update how many days it really needed and if it was smooth.
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I just paid the CHF 800 for my selected plan.
Would anyone care to guess if I was able to use the gift code I got for the remaining amount of my previous plan? Of course not, it’s a special gift code only valid for ticket purchases 
EDIT: Holy f*ck, still not done! I needed to open Half fare PLUS in the payment options on the app, then confirm that I want to pay the 800.– with the money I have on my account (the previous step only added it to my account, but didn’t apply it to Half fare PLUS), then enter a 6-digit code received by SMS, and now I can use it to buy tickets. Starting tomorrow.
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Now just make sure you select it during payment with EasyRide. Happened to me at the beginning that I thought it automatically takes from this when I get it.
Nope, it continued charging my credit card until I specifically selected it in the payment options.
Like who would possibly buy a Half fare PLUS, activate it and then not wanting to use it by default? 
SBB logic.
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Since you are a pro now, I want to understand what to expect
I have a 800 plan, I don’t think I will consume it. I still have more than 200 days to go though.
So let’s say I end up using 600 CHF , would I get 200 CHF back into my bank account or I would get a 200 CHF voucher to be used for SBB purchases?
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AFAIK you should get it back to your bank account. This voucher thing only applies if you want to get a new Half fare PLUS while you still have one. (in the same year)
Otherwise that would be a huge scam, after all they advertised it that way. (That you would get your money back)
Okay. Let’s hope so.
As far as I understood it, you’ll get the 200.– back in cash or bank transfer.
If you don’t use up your “bonus”, so the difference between 800.– and 1’000.–, that’s gone.
