Your data. Your choice.

If you select «Essential cookies only», we’ll use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your device and how you use our website. We need this information to allow you to log in securely and use basic functions such as the shopping cart.

By accepting all cookies, you’re allowing us to use this data to show you personalised offers, improve our website, and display targeted adverts on our website and on other websites or apps. Some data may also be shared with third parties and advertising partners as part of this process.

Background information

Andi Be Free: of returns, reviews and plagiarism

Livia Gamper
12.5.2023
Translation: Veronica Bielawski

Our shop sells headphones, power banks and chargers from the Swiss brand Andi Be Free. This has proved cause for disagreement in the Digitec Community. I spoke to the CEO of the startup.

1st topic: returns

In my article, I recommended the Concert 1 headphones for limited use cases only, noting I’d tested them only briefly myself. It’s come to light that the Concert 1 are returned to us very often – at a rate of nearly 25 per cent. The return rate and warranty score have been visible for all products on our website since the beginning of this year.

A 25 per cent return rate is very high. Mind you, this is currently only a preliminary, internal figure; the return rate is only displayed on the product page once we have a larger set of data. Among the headphones in our shop, only Nokia has an even higher return rate of 28.8 per cent.

It’s important to keep in mind that the return rate and warranty score are two different things. In other words, it’s not the case that the Concert 1 broke for many customers; it’s that they didn’t like them and therefore sent them back. The warranty score – that is, how many headphones are defective – is only two per cent for the Concert 1. This figure is solidly average compared to other ANC headphones.

The returned devices are available for purchase on our resale platform. The price varies greatly, as the headphones were initially more expensive to buy.

2nd topic: reviews

The reviews in our shop are a testament to the fact that the Concert 1 aren’t very well received. What’s interesting here is that there aren’t many reviews in the two to four star range.

As for the far more negative reviews on Digitec, Wohler suspects they’re the result of the «negative dynamic» that arose in the comments of my background article on the Concert 1.

User c.andy writes something similar: « I also almost fell for the initially very good product reviews ... but then suddenly became suspicious: all of these reviews were written about 2 months ago 🤔 Then I randomly decided to google one of these reviewers, namely ‘Remostaubli’:

  • Former professional football player... cool!
  • HSG graduate ... well done!
  • Investor at Tecflower AG ... aha.»

Your search for the review by «Remostaubli» will be in vain now. Our Community Management Team deleted it some time ago. Since the review was posted by an investor in the company, it’s clearly biased – and therefore dishonest.

I confronted Jonas Wohler with the above points. His answer: «There are a number of Andi Be Free fans among our approximately 20,000 customers, and I can’t rule out that a few of them have left a review. However, we haven’t encouraged anyone to provide positive reviews in our own interest. I think it’s easier for you to evaluate who’s behind each review than it is for us.»

That leaves two users: SmaAP and DamRaphael. They both gave the Concert 1 a five-star rating. And based on their full names, both are clearly connected to Andi Be Free and Tecflower. One of them works in management, the other in marketing in the two sub-companies.

We’ve removed the two reviews that are clearly assignable to Andi Be Free. Like the review by «Remostaubli», these are clearly biased and not written from a neutral point of view.

What a lawyer has to say about fake reviews

I ask Martin Steiger, lawyer and entrepreneur for law in the digital space what the legal situation is regarding companies that rate their own products, like Andi Be Free. He writes to me, «I presume that undeclared positive reviews on your own behalf may constitute unfair competition.»

Steiger cites Art. 3 (1)(b) of the Federal Act on Unfair Competition:

«A person acts unfairly if they [...] provide incorrect or misleading information about themselves, their business, [...] their goods, works or services [...] or about their business relationships or benefit third parties in competition through such conduct»
Art. 3 (1)(b) UCA

3rd topic: plagiarism

I pointed this out to Jonas Wohler of Andi Be Free. He wrote:
«I can assure you that we don’t sell white-label products from Alibaba. Our products are designed and developed by us in Switzerland, and we work closely with our suppliers to ensure that the products we offer meet our high quality standards.»

While researching this article, I also noticed that a product very similar to the MagPowerbank from Andi Be Free can be found on AliExpress, among other places.

Wohler explains to me: «None of the products you mentioned correspond to the Andi Be Free MagPowerbank, unless it’s being sold illegally there. Our MagPowerbank has been further developed together with our manufacturer, so there’s no identical magnetic power bank on the Swiss market. These are contractual agreements with our manufacturer.»

Wohler concludes with, «There are several similar power banks around the world that are different from ours, not from those offered by, say, Anker. All our products are strictly certified. I highly doubt that the power banks you mentioned have these certifications.»

Conclusion: we remain vigilant

As is so often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, the company Andi Be Free hasn’t done itself any favours with the fake reviews uncovered by the Community. At the same time, the Community did make accusations that couldn’t be substantiated. With the patent, Wohler has shown that at least the charging products aren’t simply cheap, white-label products from other manufacturers.

Our Community Manager Fabian Zaugg explains, «We see when the same accounts post an unnatural number of similar ratings. We follow up on these and remove them. And our buyers are also informed about offending manufacturers.»

Header image: Livia Gamper

231 people like this article


User Avatar
User Avatar

Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.


Background information

Interesting facts about products, behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturers and deep-dives on interesting people.

Show all

These articles might also interest you

  • Background information

    Apple NeuralHash vs. privacy – Pandora’s box is opened

    by Dominik Bärlocher

  • Background information

    Trump vs. TikTok: 10 questions and 10 answers on the TikTok ban

    by Dominik Bärlocher

  • Background information

    Andi Be Free Concert 1 – the first no-nonsense pair of headphones from a Swiss startup

    by Livia Gamper