"Our clients and members think it’s really cool"

Interview with Thomas Frei. Photos: GhostHunters Switzerland

What’s your reason for being; what’s your organization’s mission?

The idea for GhostHunters Switzerland came to me a few years ago when I was filming with a TV company that had contacted me as a medium. I’ve had a sixth sense since I was born. That means I can do things like communicate with animals and the dead, or read a person’s aura. While preparing to film the show, I noticed that there are lots of people in Switzerland who are interested in ghosts and unexplained circumstances, but also lots of people who are afraid of them. Afraid, because they themselves have experienced things, but they don’t want to talk about them on camera. So I had the idea to put both sides together, and that was the beginning of GhostHunters Switzerland.

Today we are an association with nearly 50 members and our main goal is to help people. Ninety-nine percent of the time we are at clients’ homes and not out looking for an adrenaline rush like in Lost Places or something. We’re here to listen to people who experience things they can’t explain and that they’re afraid of. That doesn’t always mean that the spiritual realm is really involved, but that’s exactly why we’re there: to support, to explain, to take away fear and to make sure that our clients feel comfortable in their homes once more. 

What challenges led you to RaiseNow?

We are an association of volunteers. When we perform a PI – a paranormal investigation – at a client’s premises, it doesn’t cost them anything. But often people wanted to give us something anyway. We originally used payment slips, but that turned out to be complicated. Sometimes we didn’t have them with us, sometimes they were crumpled, it was very fiddly. When TWINT came on the market I got it very early on and thought it was very cool how the product developed. Now with RaiseNow we’ve found a way to use it in our association, too, and we mostly use the open amount option. If a client wants to give us something to support the association, they can simply choose an amount and transfer it via TWINT. 

Do you also use RaiseNow TWINT in other areas?

We also use the RaiseNow TWINT solution when we hold training sessions and sell merchandise. Sweaters with our logo on, for instance. The process is unbelievably simple: you hand over the sweater, the buyer transfers the amount using TWINT, and you can see everything clearly in the accounts. We also use RaiseNow TWINT to collect our membership fees.

How have your supporters and members reacted to the QR codes?

Well our members find them really cool, because they make things much, much easier. Payment processing is so much simpler, and our clients are also happy that we can offer TWINT QR codes. 

What do you like about RaiseNow?

What I really love is that the interface is so straightforward. I’m really drawn to how intuitive TWINT is. Instead of needing a set of instructions to help you wade through the tech, you immediately understand what you need to do and can get started. The transfers are fast, too. With some banks you have to wait for a day before you see anything. It’s not like that with RaiseNow. You can get a good overview in real time. 

Read more after the photos ↓

Do you have any tips for other organizations?

I can only advise every club and association to get RaiseNow TWINT. My son’s club, for instance, didn’t have TWINT for a long time. I explained to them how easy it is to process payments using the RaiseNow QR codes – and now they use them too! I’m always promoting RaiseNow without even thinking about it. It comes naturally because I’m a big fan myself. 

What are you planning for your next big project, activity or campaign?

We’re starting up our meetings again after lockdown. Many of them are free for members, but we also have some where we ask for a small contribution to cover costs. Of course we’ll be using RaiseNow TWINT for that. We do that because we want to offer our members something good, but we don’t charge clients for our work or have sponsors like a football club. We always make sure that we provide refreshments at reasonable prices that still allow the association to make a bit of profit. And for that we’ll definitely use TWINT.

Thomas, we thank you very much for your success story and wish you and your club continued success!