How to cancel a BahnCard

Hi

Can anyone tell me how to cancel my Bahncard. Got stuck with the auto-renewal earlier this year, so I want to give myself plenty of time to cancel the damn thing this time. Is there any information on the DB website on how to do this, or what number to call, who to write to, etc? They seem to have hidden it away where no search can find.

Thanks!

There is an address on your bahncard. Write a letter of resignation quoting your number, and name to that address.

Its something like:

Bahncomfort Service
60645 Frankfurt.

See I have a bahncomfort, which means I can go to the special short queues to ask how to resign

Sie erreichen den BahnCard-Service auch telefonisch unter 01805 340035 (14 ct/Min.). ...

Ad make sure you do it at least 3 months before the end of your contract.

You can also just do it via the contact form on their site. That's how I canceled it. They will then send you a confirmation in the mail a few days later.
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/home/kontakt/bah...d_service.shtml

And there is no need to wait until 3 months before the date of expiry. You can cancel it right away. It is better to send a fax or a letter and reconfirm that they have received it. You can even hand over the letter of canancellation at the local DB office, e.g. in Munich Hbf. Do it now..

I would write a letter now, whilst you remember. Always do this kind of thing in writing, never over the phone. It only needs to be a one-liner "Hiermit kündige ich zum nächstmöglichen Termin meine Bahn Card (Kartennummer xxxxxxxxx)."

Why not do it via the phone or via e-mail if you still got plenty of time.. they will send a confirmation within a few days and if you don't get one, it will be pretty clear that it wasn't processed. When I did it via the contact form (I actually just asked where to send my cancellation form to cancel the BC when it runs out and they canceled it for me and I did not have to send anything else, saved me some work and money), they also sent me a confirmation via e-mail after a day or so. I would only do it via Einschreiben or fax w/ confirmation if I was in a hurry.

I hate this mentality of automatic renewal. It's the same everywhere here - Telephone, ADAC, mobile, insurance, you name it. If you forget (they don't remind you) you're stuck in for another few years.
At the moment Telecom are trying it on with me AGAIN.

Cestrian, then just cancel it right after signing it. You do not have to cancel it three months in advance, that is the latest you can do it, but you can just as well do it two years in advance as far as I know.

is it not possible to cancel after recieving the card ? I got my new bahncard but didnt use it and now they are asking me to pay or else they will send the collection agency.

I've been caught out by the Bahncard subscription swindle, as well. You have to dig far down into the "general terms & conditions" to find out that you're not buying the bloody thing for a year, but subscribing to it. In my opinion, the whole set up is designed to extract at least another year's payment out of people who don't realise what they have let themselves in for. By the time you get sent your new card for the coming year, it's too late to cancel it if you don't want it or need it. Having done some web research it seems that Deutsche Bahn even goes to the extent of charging late-payment fines or getting a (very expensive) debt collector on your case.

You might consider me naive for thinking that's a pretty sh#t way to treat your customers and that I should have been more aware, read the small print and acted accordingly. But, yes I do think that's a sh#t way to treat your customers and this customer is going to avoid the Deutsche Bahn as much as I can: i.e. it's going to end up costing them more than the €55 they think they're cleverly doing me out of.

I agree with Praa but this is a typical thing in germany.

While working for an ISP they told us this was because 'people got annoyed when their contracts ran out and they got cut off'.

We asked why a simple remider mail/letter was sent?

His reply, he changed the subject!

Praa: I was told when I signed up that I have to cancel it so and so early in advance for it not to auto-renew

I'm going to cancel next year's because I'm hardly able to use it any more, despite being a regular train traveller. I always book in advance but there is no Bahncard discount on the cheap tickets (or occasionally a paltry €5). On a handful of other occasions, when there is a special offer, I choose to travel in 1st class, but there's no discount on those tickets either because – bizarrely – they have different Bahncards for first and second class. Finally, there's no discount on the Bayern Ticket, which covers the majority of my journeys anyway.

DB sent me a new Bahncard because my previous one was expiring. I just posted the new card straight back to them before it become valid, writing that "I did not order this and I do not want it". They've not bothered me since.

I did this too. I have not heard from them since.

I did this too. I have not heard from them since.

lol...I'm living in the United States and have no idea when I'm going back to Germany. I just received my automatic renewal card...F THAT paying 55€. I seriously doubt they would try to come after me. However, if I just send it back with a note telling to cancel, would it jeopardise my chances in getting another one in the future?

I originally ordered a BahnCard in February 2007, but they never sent it to me even after all my chasing. When I was finally promised that my long overdue card would be on its way to me I gave them my Irish address since I was about to leave Germany at the time (typical). However, they still never sent the card!

Then in February this year they sent me a new BahnCard (to my Irish address, when I had moved back to Germany again). I figured that they were just being nice, and making up for the mistake from last year. But reading this thread now has me thinking otherwise!

The credit card that I bought the first BahnCard with expired, and I haven't been billed for this new one. Is there any chance of them coming after me? I'll soon be travelling on the new card for the first time, so I'm wondering if the ticket inspector will say anything to me!

I bought a bahn card just the other day. I am leaving the address that I gave them in a few weeks, and Germany before the year is out. Are they going to track me down or give me a bad credit rating or something? You guys have made me paranoid!

If you want to come back to Germany and not run into trouble with your credit rating, just cancel it. You can send off the letter now already.

For anyone interested, nothing was said about my new 'free' BahnCard when I travelled this weekend

I'm glad I read this thread, because I was thinking about getting a Bahncard 50, and I didn't realise it involved subscriptions...

I bought a Fan Bahncard 25 for the sole purpose of getting a good Eurostar train price when all the other price options were booked out for that day. (At least the ticketing staff actually take the trouble to look up better price alternatives now...despite the train delays/overcrowding etc, I will at least concede to that...)

I didn't have all my details with me, so she just sold me the Fan Bahncard without a subscription and without taking down an address or banking details (I think she presumed I was a tourist/not resident in Germany)

I paid for the card in cash and received a temp. paper bahncard on the spot (together with my Eurostar tickets), and agreed that it didn't really matter about getting the real plastic card, since I was only buying the bahncard for "once only" use to get a one-off Eurostar ticket price that didn't cost the earth.

I think I still have the paper bahncard probably crumpled up somewhere...

Ok so I sent them back the balance transfer sheet all filled out from the USA. Then last week, the mf'ers sent me a letter saying "Zur abschliessenden Bearbeitung benoetigen wir noch einen geeigneten Nachweis Ihrer geleisteten Zahlung auf unser Konto, beispielsweise eine Kopie des entsprechenden Kontoaufzuges mit entsprechender Markierung der geleisteten Zahlung. Bitte achten Sie darauf, dass auf Ihrem Zahlungsnachweis die Kontonummer des Empfaengers, das Datum und der vollstaendige Verqendugszweck ersichtlich sind."

What do they need a money order ??? I don't understand how it didn't go through when I followed their instructions before.

Can someone advise me on how to send them the money? I thought just filling out the deposit slip they provided would work?