My Troubles With Deutsche Bahn

For the longest time no server came through, so I turned on the "attention" light above our seats (first mistake - they don't work) and waited, and waited. Finally after 45 minutes I walked to the dining car and told the guy behind the counter we'd like to orrder breakfast. He wasn't cooking breakfast (it was 7 am) and he said that until we got to Frankfurt airport no crew would be onboard, but as soon as they boarded he's send someone over. That didn't happen either. When the conductor came through to check tickets we told him how long we'd been waiting for "Breakfast at our seat" and he said no breakfast not is being served because they were sold out of eggs and that if I had waited as long as I had I should have gone to the dining car and ordered something to eat. I insisted on being served a roll and some cheese, which was brought.

The next thing which happened was 3 guys: the server, the conductor and the cook came to our seats and asked what the trouble was, and I told him flat out that we had waited over two hours for someone to serve us breakfast at our seat and that we had turned on the "attention" light and sat there waiting. He said, "You could have saved yourself the trouble. Those lights don't work." I replied, "How was I supposed to know that?", and he shrugged. I told him I was very dissatsfied with the service, and he said, "So are we, and we aren't responsible for your trouble." Whereupon I told him, "Everyone who wears the Deutsche Bahn uniform is responsible", and they left.

Shortly thereafter, I went to the restroom, and there they all stood, laughing about "der verückte Amerikaner". At lunch we both went to the dining car and ordered our food, which was served by a very condescending waiter. We tipped him well and hoped he didn't spit in our food. And that's what happened. Thanks for your patience. Bill

I appreciate your story, Bill; is there a question there or do you just want to get it off your chest?

I guess that is why I ride second class so I don't have deal with those preblems.

No, there is no question, but a month and a half ago I spoke a little about this and didn't know exactly where to put it, and several of my friends said I should try posting it here. Thanks B~

That's pretty bad. What about this story: few years ago we were in the Czech Republic visiting Kutna Hora then by bus to nearby Kolin and there I bought train tickets to Olomouc. Suspecting the train will be full I also bought reservation for seats #13 and 14. The train was full. Somebody was sitting on the seat #14. I showed him our reservation and politely asked to vacate that seat. He also had a reservation but for a seat in different carriage so he finally left. But #13 was nonexistent. 12 and then 14, no 13. The train was very full a lot of people were standing (unfortunately including me) and conductor never showed up in about 2 hours it took to get to Olomouc. So after getting there I went to the train station office and asked for return of my money. It didn't help that I speak Czech. They refused because I did not have a proof from conductor. I could have written complaint and all that hassle but I gave up and consider lost amount of money as a donation to Ceske Drahy (Czech Bahn).

This sounds like the level of service I get on every USAir flight. I remember you posting last month that you had a problem with DB, somehow I pictured far worse than you not being able to get breakfast served at your seat. Obviously it bothers you a great deal, so I don't want to minimize, but in the "travel nightmares" category, this probably doesn't even rate a 1 on a 1-10 scale. Here is my checklist: - Were you at any point put in an unsafe situation? No. - Did you lose money or property? No. - Miss a connection or otherwise not get somewhere as scheduled? No. - Subjected to physical or pyschological abuse? No.
- Was your health put at risk? No. If this was that bad, I think some of us could tell you stories that would make you never want to travel again.

The above is exactly the kind of garbage I was expecting when I agreed to tell you all about this. Sometimes I guess it's best to listen to one's inner voice.

Bill,
Interesting experience. How did the rest of your trip go? Did you find people generally friendly or did you run into a lot of those rude Europeans we always hear about?

Thank you for sharing your story Bill. You sadly ran across an often typical German service situation where if something is wrong, they like to try and turn it around and make it be your fault instead of theirs. I have encountered this on way too many occasions for it just to be random bad service. It is part of the way Germany works sometimes. When you have super strict labor laws, where once you have a contract it is almost impossible to fire people, employees feel like they can say just about anything they like without fear of losing their jobs. So, they get away with this, treating people like crap and being rude. The behaviour of the Deutsche Bahn employees was very out of line and I would write them a letter at least.

Everything else went well, people were friendly - even the other service people - and helpful to my wife who was having severe swelling on both her ankles. We thought taking DB would be much easier and cheaper than car rental, but I think we'll rent a car to Rothenburg o d Tauber next time, and use it as "home base" when we go down the Romantic Road by bus (which my wife hasn't experienced yet). Thanks Bill