Poor customer service experiences in Munich

I had a really bad experience yesterday at H&M (big suprise) and thought what better way to get over it than rehashing other people's bad experiences??

Here is mine: (warning its a rant)
Being the next person waiting at a counter with 2 cash registers (only 1 open) I handed my 2 items to the girl while the lady before me gathered her stuff and prepared to leave. Before my items had been rung up, the lady before me noticed a discrepency in her total. Annoying enough- but no, wait! An esteemed colleague came up and opened the 2nd register. Perhaps you also should know that I was with my daughter, and had considerately positioned her stroller between the 2 registers as to not impeed other people walking around. Anyway, I'm sure you can all finish the story for me:
-2nd register opens,
-girl says "next"
-stampede of those behind me to open register
-me, fuming while waiting for refund transaction in front of me
-3-4 people helped and gone who were behind me.

I did rather bitchily (sp?) point this out to the girl helping me that I was next, and it would have been really easy for the other girl to simply grab my two things and ring them up. She responds that "the other girl DID ask for the next person" and Im thinking- what, should I FLY over my STROLLER, or maybe just PUSH and SHOVE my way?

This isnt the first time, and unfortunately wont be the last. Why do people here put up with this? Doesnt this sort of fall into the category of common decency? Dont even get me started about Aldi...

Thanks for reading my rant.

Whilst I'd love to add to your rant, I do wonder whether there is really anything more to be said on the subject of customer service in this country. You know it is shit, I know it is shit, the whole country knows it is shit. They even have a word for it (Servicewüste Deutschland).

I've taken to just walking out now and let them worry (hah!) about their lost sales. Latest case was the press outlet at Ostbahnhof. The cashier was more interested in aligning everything on the counter than serving me, so I simply left the stuff there and walked out.

Let me not even start on the miserable b******d working at Max Emanuel last night.

No tables were there with service when we arrived, so we moved into the general garden. We bought a beer each and hten moved to the table with service, planning on Drinking much more beer, and then eating lots of food. Was he a happy camper, was he hell.

I remember him from another visit when we were all stuck inside. There was a large group of us and he refused to serve us half lire beers, only servicing us maß (which in the winter is not nice!)

Bah

I just want to say I had great customer service @ Saturn near Karlsplatz last week...and returned the phone this week, no problems at all, even decent english.

sorry.

Don't get me wrong- I have definitely had some good experiences too- it just seems that the bad so far outweigh the good.

Its really suprising too, considering how polite and helpful people are in other situations, like helping me down the stairs with a stroller and such...

I am also interested to know if anyone here complains about really horrible service- I do when it's exceptional.

I have devised my own set of rules:
First survey all queues and cashiers and choose the queue with either a young or foreign cashier, same applies to queue. If any "old" German ladies from fifties upwards are in the queue avoid them. Similarly if such a creature stands behind me and I am not in a hurry I switch to a different queue before she stands parallel to me, shoves her trolley in my back or takes my place when I'm trying to pay. In the supermarket or drugstore I pack all my things before I give the cashier so much as a cent to avoid her continuing with the next customer before I've finishes. I just keep smiling and packing and saying "Gleich". If the cashier throws my stuff I wait till she has finished and then quickly leave the store - leaving her the problem of clearing it all up and adjusting the till. If the staff are rude and unhelpful generally I complain everytime. However, if they are nice and helpful I always make a point of thanking them for the good service.

Finally I try to only shop at places I know have good service - I only go to the others if I'm under time pressure.

Hmmmm...now we have:

kit, kat, kitkat64, kitty, and kitty-kat...i have a feeling i'm the only dude.

Oh yeah...German service bad..grrrrr..arrrr...grrrrr...

sorry! I didnt realize there were so many "kats" on here when I chose my name. I have been using "kitty-kat" in some way shape or form for as long as I can remember!

Leaving the stuff if its been thrown is such a great idea! I think I'll try that some time!

(sarcasm) you were allowed out in public with a pram ?(/sarcasm)

And you didn't run everyone over?

Then you deserve crappy service...

So it's YOU slowing things down up at the front of the line. Good to know.

I do the same thing, where the packing area is small. I will admit to doing most of my shopping now at MiniMal, as they have bigger packing areas, and the cashiers are friendlier. The couple of cents I save by standing in line at the Penny Markt that I need to take a bus to (not as easy since the MVV changed all the bus routes!) is not worth the aggrevation of being treated rudely and having my groceries thrown around.

The worse table service I have had in recent memory actually was at a 'local' TT establishment. English speaking server, rude, shitty service, didn't ask how the meal was... Really worse than ANY German waiter I have had in the past 3 years. I won't name the place, but hey, there aren't too many to choose from.

BTW, in case you know who you are and you are reading this, the food was very good, thanks.

A well known swedish (crap) furniture store subcontracts it's deliveries. We were scheduled for delivery from 8-12 on a Friday morning. Finally at 5 past noon, we received a call stating that they would be an hour late (typical also in the USA, i must admit). But then at 12:45 my (German) wife, who was 6 months pregnant at the time, received a call from a screaming man who started the conversation with 'where do you live?' rather than 'hello' or 'good afternoon' or even 'I am sorry that you had to wait all morning.' My wife, who lived in the states long enough to appreciate good service, answered calmly 'at the address on your delivery list, of course.' Continuing his tantrum, he continued 'you dont live there.' My wide answered calmly, 'I most certainly do. Perhaps if you tell me where you are, I can help you find the house.' The man screamed in return, 'We are already there.' After looking out the window and not seeing a truck, my wife opened the apartment door to find a very unhappy and unfriendly deliveryman standing near our mailboxes. She put the phone down and greeted him. The man yelled at my wife for 10 minutes saying that our name is needs to be prominently displayed at the doorbells. After letting the man holler for 10 minutes, she calmly asked him to follow her and took him to the front door. She then pointed at our name (in large capital letters) and asked 'did you look here ?' The man didnt say a word the rest of the time and of couse, did not receive a cent as tip.

Nothin ruder than yelling at pregnant women...

3 days, and I am back in the land of friendly servers and cashiers, where its almost annoying to be asked every 10 minutes by the staff at clothing stores, 'Can I help you with anything?' I am going to enjoy every minute of it!

Ha. Reminds me of my experience with said subcontracted delivery folks.

I didn't have a phone when I first moved here, because it wasn't particularly high on the priority list, especially since I didn't know anyone who'd want to call me anyway. I arranged for delivery with above stated subcontracted delivery company and was told they'd call me the evening before the delivery to schedule an exact time.

By 7pm or so, I was really eager to leave work (where my only phone contact was), and I rang them to see if I could find out the delivery time. The guy who answered insisted that the delivery guy would call me. I told him that I wanted to go home. He said, "what's your telephone number?" to which I replied "I don't have one yet." He followed that with "what's your handy number?" to which I replied "I don't have one." To my surprise, his next question was, "What?! Where are you from...Africa?!"

Fuckwit.

Complain to ikea about the subcontractors. Ikea themselves are usually pretty receptive to this kind of thing.

At a pet store on Nordendstrasse (or Bayerstrasse or Belgrad, whichever, it's the same fucking street)

I walked in, grabbed the cat food and waited at the register for the lady who was stocking her shelves. I was the only one in there, and the bell dinged as I walked in, AND she saw me, but still made me wait there for at least 3 minutes.

I was getting bored so I turned around and noticed some dog toys. I squeezed one of them... she finally arrived and asked me, with a cheeky grin,

"Do you have dog?"

What a stupid question, I thought, I've lain cat food on the register

"no, a cat."

"WELL!, why do you have to squeeze the dog toy? I mean, everyone comes in here and squeezes the dog toys, and eventually they're going to lose their squeek! I mean, don't just come in here and squeeze toys!"

I was fuming by now. So I said, "please ring up my food, I'm out of here. If you don't want people squeezing the toys, then put them behind the counter. There's no need to yell at me for something other people do. I'm never coming back here again and I'm telling all my friends with pets never to come here. So good luck lady!"

It felt so good.. and it still feels good that I've never again stepped a foot in that bitch's store.

can't you pack whilst it gets sent down to you?

I too have had many bad customer service experiences...
But i have to say...every good customer service experience I have
means a THOUSAND times more to me than they ever did in the USA.
When you expect the worst and get the best, it makes you feel grand!

But I do agree...complain...ask for the manager...hand-cuff yourself to the counter...do whatever it takes to get the message across...

Here's mine.

We were in Hermer near Karlsplatz (I think--it was a while ago), and we knew we were going back to NY soon. So we decided to do that tax refund thing--also because we made a large purchase. To do so, of course, the "collegues" directed us downstairs to the celler. There, we found a desk that had a sign for tax refunds, but there was no one there. There was, however, a women behind the general customer service desk. We waited in line for our turn and then went to her to ask her for the tax refund receipt stuff, and of course she told us to go the the proper desk. Finally, we go back to the "proper desk", and who comes to help us 4 minutes later? That same woman, who apparently entirely forgot about our inquiry. She, with an angelic smile, courtiously asked us, "So, wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?"

What is she? Crazy?

Confusing post removed

WOT SERVICE!

a lady in Aldi proceeded to scream at me at the register thinking that by raising her vooice it would allow me to understand...

Untill i demanded to speak tot he boss - I almost reduced the bitch totears!

And i speak the sprache...!!

Stupid COW!!!

eXactlywhic hsprach eisthatt.?

Da I SCRAAMM louter dann zou SprachE ?

OK, have to add my experience here - BUT it is an unbelievably good service story.

Air Berlin - had to cancel my flight (which was already bought and paid for) to Mallorca at the end of this month. I called them, they told me how to cancel the flight (by email) and that I would lose 20% of the cost (cost before the taxes). I sent the email on Thursday last week. Got a confirmation yesterday (Monday) that they had cancelled my ticket and were refunding the money. I expected a long wait for them to credit my American credit card for the refund amount. I checked my credit card this morning and the amount has already been credited!

That was damn fast!! Pretty good for any company out there!

Another good service story:
Tchibo now allows you to exchange any of their items at any of their stores as long as you have the receipt.
I exchanged one of their quilts yesterday at a different branch from the one I had orginally used, no quibbles, only required me to sign for it (no address etc.), top service.

Boring. Can we have some more bad service stories please?

I would also like to add that having my beer brough to the table rather than spending ages fighting my way to the bar and then actuallly getting serverd is also a service plus for me.

I know some of the waiters/waitresses are miserable buggers but as long as they keep bringing me beer I'm happy.

Service with a smile - couldn't give a toss
Service with a beer - love it

Well I got my revenge on them the poor sods, ordered one of those flat pack kitchens from hell that they are famous for, and at the time weren't living at the new location so when they ring me at 7:30 am to make the delivery I had to ask a neighbour to let them in, by the time I made it there they had humped 60 boxes up 5 flights to the attic.

Poor sods must have been cursing the day I was born.

Of course they got there revenge it was hell to put together, every tried to sort 60 boxes that all look the same

Went to view an apartment last week, where the owner told me to turn up at his BMW dealership at 8am and get the receptionist to call him on his mobile (he lives a couple of houses away). Turned up at the designated time, told the receptionist the story and she flat refused to call the boss. She said it was very unlikely that the boss would have organised an appointment at 8am considering how he normally only turns up at 9 and that if she were to call him at that time, she may disturb him in bed. All appeals to reason and sanity fell on deaf ears. She was extremely rude and unfriendly, but I kept my cool. She suggested that I take a seat and wait until 9 o clock until the boss arrives: it was 8:05 at this stage. I agree to take a seat but said I would wait until 8:15. If there was still no sign by then that was end of story. Some bitchy comment or other out of her resulted. Did I say I kept my cool the whole time? Anyway, in the meantime, she obviously did decide it would be a good idea to call him, and announces soon after that he would be there in 2 minutes and he was.

But that is not the point of the story. During the viewing I complain to the BMW guy about the scene in the dealership. Just normal conversational complaint, not official or formal or anything. He doesn't look surprised and makes some comment or other about menopausal women (I kid you not). The apartment wasn't great, but I said I would call up anyway to follow up. Guess what: I didn't get the apartment. Reason: my complaint.

I went to a Saturn store in Karlsplatz recently and decided to buy some wireless headphones. I got there at about 7:40 pm, so not too bad. I spoke to a salesperson who tried frantically to sell me a pair of expensive Sennheiser headphones, which i decided to then buy because of the sound quality, but the whole time he was like, "we are closing soon, could you decide faster." I am thinking, dude, if I am going to buy a pair of 200 euro headphones, you will wait. And it was like 7:58 anyway. Then, he gave me a box of what i needed and i went ot pay. Then, it turns out, that the cashier was not so nice. She was the rudest person i have ever met, if we were in the states, she would be fired on the spot. I am sure. Anyway, I get home only to realise that the guy gives me the display model box, missing the damn headphones, which really put a dent in my mood. I had to wait till Monday morning to get back, and then they didnt believe me. It took me more than 30 minutes of explaining to get the headphones, in a new box. The method: I told them to look at the display peice and to match the serial numbers, which did match. Luck huh.

OH the joys of customer service.

My german wife was back with me in a large tescos in Scotland. She was reading all the customer offer signs hanging from the ceiling and laughing at the difference.

Some of the signs were.

If you would like to try any of our cheese or cold meats, just ask.

If there is more than one person in front of you at the till we will open another until all our checkouts are open.

Please ask if you need any help with packing your groceries.

We will be happy to slice your bread for you.

If you have forgotten something at the checkout, one of our staff will get it for you.

By this point she was demanding that we take photos of them and distribute them to the managers of all german supermarkets. I would love to see these signs here but it just isnt going to happen. I dont think the supermarkets here would know customer service if it came up and kicked them.

Hey, I have a GREAT BMW rotten service story for you..

5 years ago:

Just before I moved here from California, I bought a BMW 5 series (in California) and becuase they had already sold their allocation for the year, I set it up on their 'European Delivery' program.. You know, you fly to Munich, pick up the car sooner than if you waited for it in the states, get a $3000 break, and they ship the car to the states for you)..

Anyway..

I picked up the car in Munich (american version), and subsequently I got expatted here (long story short). So, I ended up keeping the car in Munich...

Of course, to license it here, I had to have TÜV (on a brand new BMW!!!).. Well...OK...

I took it to the BMW dealership (Niederlassung München), where I got the worst service I've ever received from even the worst car dealerships I've ever dealt with. Here's the story:

After finally getting a 'termin' at BMW (not easy), I sat for 2 hours waiting for a representative to look at the car. Then, they told me they needed to keep it for 2 days to go over it and check all the TÜV stuff. So, I left it there.. TWO WEEKS later, they still hadn't looked at it. Lots of bitching in between eventually led them to look at it.

When they finally looked at it, they decided that the car would need all the lamps replaced, becuase they are the type for American versions, and not German versions. But after asking a lot of questions about this, the technician finally admitted that the performance was identical anyway, and that there was probably no TÜV issue associated with it. Great.

OK, so I take the car to the TÜV, and voila! the car passes (imagine that..), and I could pick up the car tomorrow

but.. IT GETS MUCH BETTER...

The next morning I get a call from the TÜV, saying oops, sorry, they have just been speaking with BMW, and have decided that all of the lamps need to be replaced. (These are those high-end carbon-mecury lamps and all of that..). So, We take the car back to BMW and they tell me the replacement will cost €3000!!!.

So, we call the TÜV back and ask why, who say, sorry, it's German Law, and they simply cannot pass the car with the lamps it has.

So, I begrudgingly paid the €3000, got the lamps replaced.. TWO WEEKS LATER the replacement is finished, I pick up the car.. I told them I wanted the old lamp assemblies back. They refused, so I refuse to pay them (I paid by EC card so I could get the car, but then I went to the bank and called it back :-).

Well, two days later it's raining, and the lamps quit working. The radio dies, the electrical system becomes intermittent, and the car finally dies.. Towed it back to BMW, who didn't want to service me at all by now..

So I pushed my way into the chief's office, told my story.. He got my car in right away.. and guess what? they forgot to put the sealing gaskets in around the headlight assemblies, and the entire frame was full of water.. The entire electical system needed to be replaced.. They wanted to charge me another €5500 for that.. and of course, you can imagine my response..

OK story shortened.. FOUR weeks later, after lawyers and TÜV and another €2000 in legal fees, I get the car back (and even got the original headlamp assemblies back as I had demanded earlier). OK chapter finished... NOT!

...here's the GRAND KICKER...

...ready for this?

The lamp assemblies they removed from the 'American' version of the car were the IDENTICAL part they replaced it with. Absolutely IDENTICAL in every way.

Need I say 'LAWYER'... again?

I... 'won'... eventually, but only after dishing out €1000's out of my own pocket, and of course, the major inconvenience of not having my new BMW to drive...

So, can anyone top that?

I had a pleasant experience here just yesterday...I bought a Stereo last week and when I got it home realised the CD player was fooked. I put the receipt away for safe keeping as I'd only have time to take it back this week...typical yesterday I couldn't find the effign receipt...I called S&H beforehand they said I should pop by but they can't promise anything as I don't have the receipt...I got there and the matter was solved in about ten minutes, I have a brand spanking new stereo at home now it was no trouble they were really kind and helpful. one gripe I'd have is about the cashier, I found the woman rather grumpy too, but I think I'd be grumpy too...there was a huge queue and she was alone!!! that's so shit! when I bought the stereo last week there was only one cashier on too!

I have to clear up a detail about my previous post regarding insurance. In my previous post I wrote

Apparently some people read the rest of my email and thought that I was criticizing the service of Ms. Marcum.

Let me assure you that THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Kim has been great to deal with since day one. She follows up on things, has a good office staff and provides all round great service. It is not her fault that a company she represents took it upon itself to exhibit less-than-perfect service and I apologize to her if my original post came across with some other message.

Let me reiterate, Kim Marcum continues to deal with all my insurance in Munich and has been nothing but helpful since the first day I spoke with her!

Just purchased a house in Haag. Went to Segmuller to plan and order a kitchen. Took house plans and architects diagrams etc. Waited for an hour to see someone who talked to us for half an hour about the differences between the kitchens. He refused to tell my wife how long the guarantee was (just that they were "flexible".) We asked to sit down to plan the kitchen and he refused to do this as, despite it being a Saturday and 32 deg outside, he said that we were only there for "fun" and that we didnt want to buy a kitchen!!!??

Monday, went to Biller Mobel, ordered a complete kitchen which will be installed beginning of Sept.

Everyone one we told said that this was typical and that they werent suprised!!!

Segmuller is crap, Biller Mobel near Moosburg is a lot better!!!

Go back to Segmuller with your reciept and show the "serviceman" your purchase and repeat to him what he said to you: Das war kein Spiel!

When the kitchen is finished and I have the whole bill, we will return to Segmuller show the chap how much we paid (substantial) and then show him the letter of complaint that my German wife has written to his boss.

Ich denke das das man will finde mich lustig nicht!!!

or maybe - ich denke, dass man mich dann nicht so lustig finden wird?

That sounds better!!! He will find it even less funny when I show him quotes for the garden pool !!!(my neighbour said he may have thought as he did because I wear jeans and a rugby shirt (a very clean and new one!!!) and maybe should have worn a suit with shirt and tie. I think she may be correct there but I dont see why I should wear a suit to buy a kitchen???!!!

I wouldnt mind, my wife is German so it is not a language problem communicating with these people.

Still, the chap at Biller was superb so my faith is restored

@canaryman

Definately keep us informed on the results of that engagement! You may have to make another thread: "Foreigners take revenge on bad German service."

Hmm, could have been that you were wearing an English rugby shirt? Try an All Blacks next time, you'll look more like a stormtrooper...

@bumpy. I have a Hakenkreuz armband from the Krieg but not being Prince Harry I wont get away with wearing that!!!

It's not so much the bad customer service for me. I sometimes have the feeling that they are pretending not to understand my German. That drives me up the wall! I have to explain myself again and again, meanwhile a whole queue of impatient people gathers behind me.

What I also hate is having to pack your groceries so quickly at the till. You never have enough time to take out the correct amount of money needed to pay, to return your change to your wallet, to pack your groceries! The casher gets impatient with you if you take more than three milliseconds, the other customers get impatient with you.. it's terrible.

That is the most stressful part of shopping for me. If you do decide to buy a lot of stuff...there is danger of there being no room for it. Their cash areas are tiny. You have to be a genius to work out how many bags you actually need...I am never good at estimating. And then you have to stop packing so that you can pay...and bam...they are on to the next person...jamming their stuff in with yours. I take a deep breath and count to 10 when I get in line hehe.

As (I think) Showem already posted, pack your bags first and then pay - that way they can't start throwing the next persons' groceries through before you're done.

Fuck everyone else waiting in the queue, they'd not think twice about doing exactly the same to you. And ignore the glaring from the till person, if they had half a brain they wouldn't have to sit there and do such a shitty job.

And if they are giving you the sour glare just say "Ich gib ihnen ein Rat, los lassen. Zurückgehalten Blähnungen sind eine die 10 häufigste Ursache für Haemorriden und Sie sehen aus als ob Sie bereits genug haben."

Used this once when someone was giving my kids the evil eye in a restuarant queue. You have to look sincere while you're doing it though. One of the few times where I actually thought of something to say at the time rather than 5 minutes later, usually I'm too busy being polite.

Rough translation "A piece of advice, let it go. Holding back gas is one of the 10 most common causes of piles, and you look like you already have enough".

Yeah, I've started doing the "pack first, pay after" at Aldi too. I have to say, it makes the whole occasion so much easier!

Something that really shocked me when I first came here was the fact that all of these cashiers sit on chairs! Boy do they have it easy compared to the US! not only do our cashiers stand, they also pack your things if there isnt a bag boy/girl there to do it! AND usually always good or at least satisfactory customer service!!!

I always put my stuff back in the shopping cart, then hide in a quiet corner and then put it in my bags without a hurry. But that is annoying...

@Marty - me, too.