Four questions from someone returning to Germany

Hi TT'ers,

Have lived in Germany before (North and South) and this time am returning to the Bremen area. Just wondered if you can help with information on a few things as its been a while and I think I'm out of date with the info.

Firstly I was wondering about Internet shopping for groceries- anybody use any good sites?
Secondly, Store Loyalty Programmes - again any good ones- pros/ cons.
Thirdly, any useful places/things to do to maximise my Lufthansa Miles and More Mileage (in addition to their own website).
Lastly, Any recommendation for mobile phone contracts (text more than call), Landline phone and internet providers (had problem with Deutsche Tel every time hence question).

Cheers and thanks,

Wys.

Ok. Have found some old threads re: Alice internet, Payback loyalty card and Aldi Talk mobile phone contracts. Just wondered if there was anything else available or any new providers etc to consider? What are your experiences.

Cheers,

Wys...

Come on guys! 163 views and no one can supply any info? Any I thought you were all such a helpful lot.

1. Don't shop for groceries online.. .well I tried to get Vienna Beef hot dogs from Chicago but they won't ship to Germany
2. I'm loyal to noone, cheapest price gets my business
3. I Never fly Lufthansa
4. Just got rid of my mobile phone cause I find them too expensive over here. Oh, and I have a work phone

Hope this helped

How could you do internet shopping for groceries in Germany?

It takes considerable time and skill to avoid the worm-ridden rotten fruit in a german supermarket, so I don't think they have computers that could perform that operation yet?

And obviously you could not risk just having someone pick a random selection from the display. God only knows what would get delivered.

Plus in the Bremen area there's loads of great supermarkets and farmers markets... as with most places in Germany. I wouldn't like to buy online here.

Store loyalty cards- never had one although am always being asked if I have one in Rewe (didn't see that chain in Bremen when I was there) and in Real. And Real's are massive and have everything for sale.

Phones... I've only had experience with T-com and T-mobile in Germany and although they have benn OK for me, with all the recent strike actions I know not everyone has had the same experiences. O2 seemed to be quite popular in the Bremen area- not sure if thats the best reception there?

Hi

There is no 'real' shopping online though some US and UK companies will ship to Germany for non food stuffs.
The Galleria chain of department stores have a pretty good loyalty card, save your points for discounts and travel.
I fly within the Star Alliance, Lufthansa is a member, as is United Airways and US Airways, they all accept one another's miles and you can still accrue miles with them.
T-Online is a good and fairly inexpensive provider, I pay a set amount each month for wireless at home and free calls in Germany, as for cell phones, have had no real problem with O2, fairly cheap...
Hope this has helped, I am back in Germany for the second time and loving it :-)

Thanks for the replies guys,

That kind of confirms what I was thinking, which helps. Sorry for my late reply but in the middle of packing up a house!

Wys

Try www.britishcornershop.co.uk for online shopping. Obviously no fresh foods, but good for your fix of Shredded Wheat or Hula Hoops or whatever. Also som German cities have dedicated British shops, and things like Marmite or HP Sauce can often be found in Karstadt or Kaufhof.

1. Ditto what everyone else says - no internet shopping. For specialty stuff check out Food from Home. If you are a bagel guy, do a search on the upper right hand corner, someones tracked down a decent supplier that will overnight them to you. Also if you *must* have British Bacon then give a shout to TTer Mik Dickison, youd have to arrange a pickup in Munich though.

2/3. Never used store loyalty cards but check out the LH credit cards (info on their site) which gives you points for euros spent.

4. I used TMobile for my cell, albeit provided by work, and Simyo, a cheap and cheerful pay as you go provider, for my extra cell phone for family visitors. No complaints on either...I didnt have any problems with DT at home - whatever you use, check into the dial out numbers (hell i forget what they're officially called), or get skype. Both work a treat for making out of country calls.

Just thought I would add that you can convert Payback points into Lufthansa miles.

Here's a list of shops which do online ordering and deliver to you, amongst them Tengelmann supermarket, and the Ökokiste scheme (local produce delivered to you either just once or on a regular basis of organic fruit/veg/produce - you pick). I think the link there is for the Munich scheme, but it's German-wide too.

It's called the search function. These subjects have been covered extensively.

Where excatly in Bremen are you?

There are plenty of "real" hypermarkets in Bremen (Rolandcenter/Weserpark-the best one I think/Duckwitzstraße/Habenhausen/Vahr...). Their loyalty program is called Payback, which can also be used in a lot of other stores (DM-drugstores/Aral-petrol stations/Linda- pharmacies...- check out www.payback.de for details. "real" has an online shop (www.real.de) but only for nonfood-items. It is the same with Marktkauf -another hypermarket chain with 2 stores in Bremen. They only sell nonfood stuff online- www.marktkauf.de. Rewe and extra are popular smaller superstores/supermarkes you'll find in many areas of Bremen. One of the best places to do grocery shopping in Bremen is Perfetto. It belongs to Karstadt (www.karstadt.de) a nationwide department store chain. You find the store in Karstadts basement in the city centre. Karstadt has a loyalty program called Happy Digits- also with a lot of other partners, Telekom for example. As far as I know they have a home delivery service for their Perfetto supermarket.

Other loyalty cards for Bremen:

Ikea- Family card
Edeka (superstores)-Edecard
Douglas (perfumeries) Douglas card
Görtz (shoes)- VIP-card
Butlers (decoration, household, gifts and furniture)-Friends card
Galeria Kaufhof (department store)- Payback
Max Bahr (DIY)- Max Bahr card
Cinemaxx (cinemas): forgot the name

you'll get asked in every second shop if you have a clubcard or if you're collecting points-just find out whats the right one for you.

If you want further info on Bremen /areas around Bremen let me know- live closely by.

A lot of wrong answers straight out of asses here. Tengelmann and Kaisers do online grocery shopping for a €5.- delivery fee, and more expensive than Aldi, but I find it worth it when ordering a ton of heavy stuff to my 4th floor walk up apartment. They're better at picking fruit and veggies, too, as I've never gotten anything even slightly bruised from them. You'll have to check if they deliver in your area though.

There are no Kaisers/Tengelmann stores in or around Bremen. They focus on Berlin and NRW (Kaisers) and Southern Germany (Tengelmann).

On www.extra.de or www.rewe.de youll get many adresses of superstores for Bremen.

this might sound mean, but why not do your own grocery shopping?
that lazy you can't get it yourself and carry it yourself?
do you have a butler to answer your door too?

if i had a butler i'd call him Jeeves. Hopefully he could tap dance while wearing a top hat and carrying a cane- entertain the visitors when they come to the door.

And on the subject of Payback you can also convert your points into Lufthansa miles. The same goes for some contracts with T Mobile - you get bonus miles