Consumer watchdog for German postal services

Hi People,
I am looking forward to any sort of advice for this matter. My story goes like this: I sent a Post Express Packet with D.Post , who is tied up with DHL to London. The contents being Airline Tickets .
The Parcel was not delivered on time n therfore i ask DHL to return it back to me.Now this took another 2 weeks before i got the tickets back n in the meanwhile I had to get new tickets issued by the Airlines , based on the promise by DHL to reimburse for the same.
Its been about 6 weeks now, in the while i have telephoned over 10 times asking for the Reklamation Formulare which i was told i would be send eventually. Finally last Saturday i recieve a Letter stating that i have lost my right to reimbursement because i should have sent them a written complaint with 21 days of recieving my delivery.

Now firstly these bastards refuse to speak anything but german...and after all my calls (an expensive 0180 number) they fool me till their so called 21 days period is over...

I am totally angry cos the whole episode has costed me about 150 euros!!!
Do we have something like Consumer Court in germany??? Who do i approach in this matter??
Any n every help is welcome!!

Do you have names, dates & times of the people you spoke to and the promises they made? I would have thought that as long as you can prove what incompetant arses they have been you should still be able to claim??

Infact i do have the names of a few operators i spoke to...just the other day i was at the Post office (from where i sent off my parcel) n asked them for an adress of DHL where i could send my Documents for the claim...but they said they have no adress for me.

If you find the logic how DHL works, then you'll get there eventually. You're not the only one who suffers to get something of 'em which is worth quite a lot...


Then you probably had someone on the phone as well who reads everything from the screen which is probably the most suitable answer to your questions, but he/she has actually no idea what the real problem is.

You can try the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture. That is a link to their English webpage, which has an email contact form. Katrina can probably suggest a better link though.

Personally, I would get a German friend to help me write some serious letters to the companies involved. Write down exactly what happened, what you want done and then tell them you want to hear back from them by a certain date and if nothing is done, you will be taking it to the next level.

Hi
Showem is right to advise you to ask a native speaker for help because

, well that's a shocker, seeing as they are in Germany and are German.
PostExpress doesn't have a guaranteed delivery date, it isn't like using DHL Day Definite which guarantees the delivery on a specific day.
Did you fill out a "Wert International" form? This is the specific insurance document for flight tickets. see their terms and conditions (PDF!) Or did you send it uninsured?
Another thing, due to a decision by the Bundesgerichtshof (I ZR 234/02) if you don't fully complete the packet content documentation, then you are unlikely to get any money back.
The Verbraucherzentrale in Bayern may be able to advise more but I don't know if they speak any English, you'd have to try just and call them or go and visit.
The Post Regulatory Body (Regulierungsbehörde) has a hotline: 01805/10 10 00 I don't know if they speak English.
As for the Deutsche Post "really expensive" 0180 number, well it isn't. All calls to 01802/33 33 cost 6c regardless of duration. Hardly expensive.
Katrina

Well i thought that DHL is an international organisation...so one would expect them to speak atleast. Anyways i did converse with them in Deutsch but the problem came only when they used too much technical language which my basic german vocabulary didnt understand!! So one does expect as an non german to be explained in a lucid , understandable words...n so my anger on these guys not showing any readiness to step down to my level!!! anyways u dont expect these guys to readily accept their faults and pay up for the Compensations!!!

Secondly when i approached the D. Post counter i was told that the package WILL reach London the next day (bis 12 uhr in die nacht!!)

Thanks Showem : I just wrote to the Verbraucheschutz ministerium asking for advice /help...and also wrote DHL explaining my situation n how they misguided me throughout.

And Katrina the DHL 01805 number does costs 12cents /minute...and it always makes u wait or go thru connections atleast for 5 minutes till u get thru an operator...if the operators are not at the moment Besetz.

So am not giving up and will keep the fight on...cos its about time .

Deutsche Post sucks!!! Every time I've had a package go missing and run the tracking number, they've told me it doesn't exist.

Don't ever order their Lager Service, or whatever they call it. I went away for six weeks awhile back and paid to have my mail collected at the post office to be delivered once I returned. When I got back, there was a charge on my credit card for the service and an overflowing mailbox. I tried to get my money back, calling and going into the post office several times, and they just lied and said that my mail was held.

It sucks to be a consumer in Germany. They have no rights, as far as I can tell.

well, i'm very glad to read that i am not the only one waiting for reimbursement from dhl. it's been 1.5 years, 500+ us dollars and only expensive phone calls and letters. unfortunately i can't seem to find an address other than that customer service one in hamburg.
has anyone out there had any luck with getting through to someone at dhl at all? or another address, maybe of second-level support like customer service management or something= ok, so this is servicewüste deutschlnad but hey: what's up with that?

DHL Pissed-Off Consumers..Teil 1
..Teil 2 and many more on the web. One approach you could take is writing direct to the chairman of DHL, after you've got a horrible story to tell him.

Don't know about Consumer Level groups, but there sure is one at the Govt. level that you can call. Goto Bundesnetzagentur Formerly known as the "Regulierungsbehörde Fur Telekommunications und post". These are the guys that tell DTAG/DPAG and the likes what they can charge, for what services, they basically have these companies by the balls.. They love hearing these stories and use them to pressure DTAG/DPAG and the likes, esp. during contract/rule renewals.. With The New Org./name Change they also picked up the Rail, Electrical, and Gas Markets.

The Site even has info in English (Upper Right Corner Icon)