Again Deutsche Bahn

So, as some of you know, I decided to spend New Year’s Eve with my cousin and my aunt. And how did I get from the warmish north to the coldish south ?

By train as usual, that means Deutsche Bahn … I already had my gooood experiences with German Rails back in May when I headed to LinuxTag 2006.

This time it was a bit different. At first the train from Stralsund to Hamburg was a replacement train, which had no reservations and only first class wagons. One pro and one con. The contra being that my reservation was nullified (meaning I had ordered one but didn’t get one).

Next thing was, once I was in the ICE to Stuttgart they checked my ticket. The first conductor noted that my Weltmeister BahnCard (which I bought back in May) isn’t valid anymore. But I told her that I got a letter from the Deutsche Bahn, telling me that the Card’s validity cycle has been extended till 31. December 2006. She told me that she had no knowledge of that but let me be with that.

The next conductor that came along, told me that the BahnCard was invalid and I had to pay the difference I bought with the invalid card. So he demanded 31,50 € from me, which I paid. Also he told me that the BahnCard is still accepted by his ticket machine. Afterwards he gave me a receipt for the payment and went along.

The next conductor (seems like they took turns) asked me for my ticket, which I handed to her together with the receipt I got from the previous conductor and my BahnCard. So she checked all three, told me that my BahnCard was invalid and seized my BahnCard and went away.

That was pretty much of my adventure with German Rails on this sunny Thursday.

Once I’m back home, I’m going to write a formal complaint together with a demand for compensation directed at the appropriate office.