Collection agency called after passenger questions BahnCard billing

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Haroldy Woods was taking the train from Frankfurt, Germany, to Passau and a ticket agent offered her a discount if she bought a Deutsche BahnCard.

It wasn’t. The terms on the card weren’t entirely clear, since she didn’t speak German. And after DB charged her $221, it kept billing her.

See, the BahnCard is a subscription service that automatically renews. And the German railway doesn’t take too kindly to people not paying its bills, even if you entered into a contract without fully understanding it.

This April, I received a letter from a collection agency in the Netherlands stating that Deutsche BahnCard has turned my account over to them for failure to pay the automatic renewal fee for the card. I was stunned!

I have excellent credit and always pay my bills. The application I signed at the train station was all in German, by the way, so I had no idea what it said or that I was signing up for a renewal each year. I would have never done that an most travelers wouldn’t either.

I sent the collection agency a letter with copies of my credit card account and explaining I had no knowledge of this and asking for them for an explanation. They sent a letter stating that when I purchased the BahnCard I also signed up for an automatic renewal yearly and those conditions were mentioned on the application (in German) and also on their web page in English.

Why would I ever go to their web page as all I was doing was signing for the card to get the discount for that one trip? I haven’t been back to Germany and would not have used the card or discount again anyhow.

The collection agency is asking me to pay the principal claim of 57 EUR Plus interest until August 27th of 2009 plus, 4 percent interest after that date and their collection fee for a grand total of 97 EUR! This is such an injustice as the agent never mentioned any reoccurring charges or annual renewal fees and I couldn’t read the application in German.

I checked with DB to get its side of the story. Bear with me — the official’s first language is not English:

We regret that Ms. Woods has no further interest in the BahnCard.

BahnCards are generally a subscription to be annually renewed. To cancel the subscription we need the notice of termination 6 weeks before expiration.

When she purchased the BahnCard, she signed up for an automatic yearly renewal service (subscription) according to our terms and conditions.

By ordering the BahnCard she has signed the order form which included the information about the automatic renewal next to the signature. Further the headline “Your BahnCard 25-/BahnCard 50-Abo” clearly indicates the subscription (Abonnement).

We can not accept the cancellation of the BahnCard, as it is not timely 6 weeks prior to the expiration date for the BahnCard existed.

Since we have not received the notice of termination in time we cancelled the BahnCard to the next possible date July 3rd 2009.

The BahnCard valid till July 3rd 2009 has been sent to you on time and does not return. So we have to assume that you received your BahnCard.

As we did not receive a notice of cancellation in time, the BahnCard for the subsequent period of validity was issued.

In the meantime the account was turned over to a collection agency since we received neither a response to our reminders nor the payment due.

This agency is acting on behalf of BahnCard-Service. This company is therefore authorized to use the customer data in order to collect the outstanding amount.

We see no way to cancel the collection procedure. Please contact the agency responsible for sending the encashment letter.

Well, OK. This looks like a cut-and-paste of the form letter they sent Woods, which is fine. And some of the dates are confusing too (did they mean to say 2009 or 2010?). Either way, it’s clear DB isn’t going to call off the dogs on this collection effort.

Woods has two choices: Pay the fine or ignore it. Collection agencies typically drop efforts for small amounts, and it is by no means a certainty that this will lower her credit score. If past experience is a guide, it wouldn’t affect her ability to travel to Europe, either — in other words, they won’t issue an arrest warrant for her and nab her at the airport when she arrives.

One thing I’m sure of: The next time someone offers Woods a “deal” and asks her to sign a contract in a language she doesn’t understand, I bet she won’t. Neither should any self-respecting traveler.

(Photo: nicki alex/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Andrea

    I hate to say it, but if someone was willing to sign a contract in a language she didn’t understand, then she deserves to pay the fees. That is something my 12-year old would know better than to do. Chris, I’m surprised you went to bat for her on this.

  • SirWired

    Definitely both parties are at fault here… she should never have been sold a product clearly unsuitable for her (assuming she does not, in fact, travel in German often.) But also, she NEVER should have signed a contract she could not read nor have a neutral third-party translate. I cannot imagine a single situation anywhere in which this is a good idea.

    In the U.S., such a contract would not be legally enforceable. However, the process of getting it nullified would almost certainly require a lawyer and bench trial.

    I’d pay the 97EUR and be done with it… consider it tuition for a lesson in travel-savvy.

  • cjr

    “We can not accept the cancellation of the BahnCard, as it is not timely 6 weeks prior to the expiration date for the BahnCard existed.”

    This is nice corporate BS for ‘we don’t want to cancel your card, no matter what you want.’

    Seeing I’ll be in Germany in a few weeks and using the Bahn, I’ll have to remember this story to see if they’re still trying to pull this stunt on people.

  • Phil

    Signing a contract which is worded in a foreign language that she did not understand, how stupid can this woman be? Answer, very stupid.

  • Thalassa

    Oh my. I cannot imagine, not in my wildest dreams, that I would sign a contract for something in a language I don’t understand. You can’t just trust that everyone on the planet is doing things for your own good. Was the discount worth it? I think not.

  • Carver

    It seems to me that there is enough blame to go around.

    On one hand, we have the perfect travelers, ( you know who you are) that correctly point out that signing something in a foreign language is a recipe for disaster. Those are the folks who never make mistakes and would never need help out of a situation and have adequately planned for any contigency, foreseable or not. Unlike those, I don’t begrudge anyone getting assistance for an honest error

    But on the other hand, given the reality of English as the lingua franca of international communication, business, and diplomacy since 1919, I have to question the integrity of a company not offering an English translation of its contract, particularly at a place like Frankfurt, which hosts inumerrable international guests, most of whom probably don’t speak German.

    So, I think the OP shouldn’t have to pay the charge beause I think she was scammed by the ticket agent.

  • Joe Farrell

    Carver – the use of the word scam in this sense only works if the clerk got something of value for selling the Bahm card. Otherwise, its just stupidity on the part of the traveler. Consider the following:

    Welcome to Nigeria, you can reduce the cost of your exit fee and receive a full refund on taxi cab charges by joining our Nigerian Visitors Travel Club – since we are based in France for very nice tax reasons all of our documents are required to be in French. Please fill out the form completely or your membership will be rejected and no money will be paid to you. [And the form asks for credit card information [for the refund of course] and for your SSN and billing address. And you know what, stupid people will fill out as well to get their free discounts]

  • MarkieA

    @Andrea

    There seems to be a lot of Chris-bashing going on recently for him taking up for travelers that don’t deserve his help. Well, I’m confused by your remark. Exactly where did Chris “go to bat” for this traveler? By simply asking for DB’s side of the story? It doesn’t appear that Chris asked for any special treatment, or even that DB “take a second look” at the situation. He has to do a bit of investigation in order to write a column; and; given the situation, that was all he did.

  • MVFlyer

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I have enough trouble understanding the contract in English, let alone a language I don’t speak!

  • Liz

    This “hidden surprise” feature of BahnCard has gotten a bit of discussion on another travel board I frequent. While it’s distasteful that a) the card automatically renews when it is being marketed to tourists who likely will only use it once and b) there was no English translation provided, I generally have to agree with those who say Ms. Woods made a poor decision (I hesitate to go so far as to call her stupid–we’ve all been there.) She did something she didn’t understand in order to get a discount, a common but unwise decision. In this instance, I think she should have to accept the consequence that comes of making said decision, pay the fee, and consider it one of life’s more expensive lessons. I doubt she will ever again sign a contract in a language she doesn’t understand.

  • http://www.cutcat.com ChelseaGirl

    I agree she shouldn’t have signed anything she couldn’t read. However, she was duped by the ticket agent. Since this debt is in another country, it is not going to affect her credit rating here and therefore she should ignore it. There is nothing they can do legally.

  • sue

    wow, the BahnCard is marketed to tourists? I thought this was a case of a ticket agent selling an inappropriate local based discount card to a tourist, which would seem to be a mistake on the part of the ticket agent. It sounds like the Bahncard is a bit of a scam – if it is complicated enough that there is a automatically renewed subscription fee, it probably shouldn’t be marketed at ticket counters.

    Of course no one should sign a contract in a foreign language, and if it were me, I’d pay the money and chalk it up to experience (though I’d probably blast the BahnCard on a few internet boards – maybe the Bahncard people should think of that when considering whether to refund people who clearly didn’t understand what they were signing). I do agree with Carver though, that at least some of us are not perfect travelers and its a good thing to look further into situations where you’re not sure whether you’ve been scammed. And as someone else mentioned, Chris didn’t do anything here but bring the situation to light. I learned something…thanks, Chris!

  • Jason

    If you planning on visiting a foreign country don’t expect anything to be in English except if it is one of the languages of that country. What if someone from Germany is visiting The US? Do you see many contracts available in German, or French, or Russian? No. Everything here is in English and maybe Spanish. So, here we expect the visitors to speak and understand English, but we also expect to be understood in English when we go abroad. Is it fare? I don’t think anyone should sign anything without understanding regardless in what language it’s written. And believe me; back in school with international students I have witnessed businesses here taking advantages of people who don’t understand enough language.

  • Andrea

    @MarkieA – I was not Chris bashing. When I said “went to bat,” I was basically referring to the fact that he did anything for this person.

    In my opinion, she was not scammed or duped. The ticket agent was doing their job, selling a product. They didn’t hold a gun to her head and force her to buy their product. They offered it to her and she took it. She was crazy to sign a contract for something she didn’t understand. It is not the ticket agent’s job to translate the contract for every single person who wants the card. It is Ms. Woods’ job to make sure she understands exactly what she is signing.

    My comment was meant to say that Chris should have told the woman she made a mistake and hope that she learned a lesson. I don’t think he should have wasted his time.

  • Carver

    @Joe

    the use of the word scam in this sense only works if the clerk got something of value for selling the Bahm card.

    ———————————————————————-

    The ticket agent got her salary. Whether she’s on commission or straight salary doesn’t matter. In any sales job, regardless of the compensation structure, you are being paid to sell the product.

    @Andrea

    They offered it to her and she took it. She was crazy to sign a contract for something she didn’t understand. It is not the ticket agent’s job to translate the contract for every single person who wants the card. It is Ms. Woods’ job to make sure she understands exactly what she is signing.
    ————————————————————————-

    I’d agree with you except that the BahnCard doesn’t appear to be playing fair. I am very concerned that this is a deliberately underhanded way of doing business. Consider: It’s being sold at a train station that caters to international visitors (myself included), there is no on site English translation, and its self-renewing (a sketchy proposal under any circumstances) unless cancelled by the purchaser.

    Together, that sounds like Bahncard is deliberately selling products to unsuspecting tourists that it knows are inappropriate

  • Carrie Charney

    I suspect the ticket agent received a monetary reward for each new card member.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    It amazes me that people will sign agreements without reading them. It is even more unbelievable that someone will sign an agreement that is written in a language that the customer can’t read or speak.

    This isn’t a scam. A scam is where someone pays money for a product\service that doesn’t exist (i.e. buying stock in a fictitious company) or pays money for a product\service that has little or no value (i.e. $ 10,000 for a diamond ring where the diamond is actually glass).

    A Deutsche BahnCard is a real product\service and it was sold at its normal price so it isn’t a scam. Ms. Woods was oversold…she was sold a product\service that she didn’t need. It is my guess that the Deutsche BahnCard clerk receives a bonus, commission, spiff, etc. for ever Deutsche BahnCard that she\he sells. This is very common practice around the world.

    While I think that it is unethical for the contract to be only written in German since non-German speaking individuals can buy one but that is their right to do so. However, you don’t have to buy one. They can be blasted on the review sites on the Internet.

    Ultimately the responsibility lies with the buyer. It wasn’t prudent to sign a contract that she couldn’t read. It was naïve to expect that a company will have an agreement that favors the customer over them. There is no free lunch…no one is going to give you a discount without you giving them something.

    Regardless if it is US travelers going to a foreign country or foreign travelers coming to the US, there are tourist traps, companies\individuals that prey on tourists and etc. A traveler needs to keep his\her guard up. One time when we were on a tour in China, a local guy was selling umbrellas (it was raining) for one yuan (or 12 cents in US currency) but when our group got close, he changed the price from one yuan to one dollar. When we were in Italy on a tour, our tour guide told the group that pick pocketers picked on the tourists not the locals because the tourists are passing through.

    @ Carver – People learn from their mistakes…sometimes it is costly to learn from a mistake…but you will learn something. As long as you continue to bail people (or companies) out, they will continue to make the same mistakes knowing that someone else is going to bail them.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Carver – “Together, that sounds like Bahncard is deliberately selling products to unsuspecting tourists that it knows are inappropriate.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –
    According to Budget Transportation (http://budget-transportation.suite101.com/article.cfm/savings_on_deutsche_bahn_trains), tthe BahnCard 25 is the most popular and generally most useful for travelers. It gives 25% discount on normal train fares (Normalpreise) but also on special savings fares (Sparpreise). The combined savings can be 62% off the normal train ticket price.

    The BahnCard 25 cost €55 for second class and €110 for first class travel. The card pays for itself on a single north to south Germany trip.

    Maybe Ms. Wood took a single north to south Germany trip and the sales clerk\ticket agent thought it would have make sense for Ms. Wood to buy one since a single trip will pay for itself for a single north to south Germany trip.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    When we travel to a foreign country where we are going to use public transportation, I do research. My first research is researching on the Internet. After my research on the Internet, I will contact my travel agent to review my research and get her opinions and recommendations. Currently, I am researching a train trip in Switzerland that we will be planning to take in three to five years. If we were going to Germany, I would have researched the BahnCard before leaving for the trip and/or discussed\reviewed with my travel agent.

    Based upon a quick research on the Internet, this is what I found:

    1. A temporary BahnCard is given to the purchaser.
    2. The permanent BahnCard with the picture of the purchaser is mailed to the purchaser along with terms and conditions of the card plus instructions for the non-German speaking consumers. Did Ms. Woods received her permanent card?

    This is what I found in a quick search on the Internet:

    Wikipedia: “The BahnCard entitles the passenger to a discount price and must be purchased prior to travel. The BahnCard is valid for a year, all passengers are eligible, and it is non-transferrable. By buying a BahnCard, the customer actually subscribes to a service which will per default be extended on yearly bases. The cancellation deadline is six weeks prior to renewal. The cancellation must be in writing. Three variants are sold by Deutsche Bahn: The BahnCard 25, the BahnCard 50, and the Mobility BahnCard 100. The first two variants allow passengers to get 25% and 50% discount respectively on standard rail fares, while the Mobility BahnCard 100 is a type of annual ticket that allows free unlimited travel on most of the German railway network for a fixed price.”

    ehow.com: “Know that the BahnCard is a subscription service that will automatically renew each year. If you do not intend on using your BahnCard for any longer than a year, cancel in writing to avoid unwanted charges.”

    http://de.promo.web.id/education-training/how-do-you-get-the-bahn-card-in-germany-read-the-details: “The Bahncard is just a rebate card for 25 or 50 percent rebate that you show side by side with your ticket to prove you had the right to buy a ticket with a rebate.”

    http://budget-transportation.suite101.com/article.cfm/savings_on_deutsche_bahn_trains: “The BahnCard must be bought in advance of travel and is valid for a year. It is the size of a credit card and not transferable – both full name and a photo appear on the card.”

    http://budget-transportation.suite101.com/article.cfm/savings_on_deutsche_bahn_trains: “The BahnCard 25 is the most popular and generally most useful for travelers. It gives 25% discount on normal train fares (Normalpreise) but also on special savings fares (Sparpreise). The combined savings can be 62% off the normal train ticket price. The BahnCard 25 cost €55 for second class and €110 for first class travel. The card pays for itself on a single north to south Germany trip.”

    http://budget-transportation.suite101.com/article.cfm/savings_on_deutsche_bahn_trains: “For non-German residents the German Rail Pass can be a huge fare saver but it is worth considering the other Deutsche Bahn tickets and fare deals to determine which pass, card, or discount ticket really produces the lowest fares.”

    http://www.newcomers-network.de/germany/newcomers-guide/transportation/rail_travel_and_call_a_bike.php?local=dusseldorf: “The second discount system is the BahnCard. The BahnCard 25 costs 53 euros annually and offers a 25% discount on all tickets, while the BahnCard 50 costs 212 euros and offers a 50% discount. This is a most flexible discount system, but you need to calculate the upfront costs versus the per ticket discount. Remember that the annual BahnCard will automatically renew if it is not cancelled at least six weeks before expiration.

    It is also important to note that the BahnCard 50 is half price for certain groups, including children, students and senior citizens over 60. And to make matters even more complicated, there are additional discounts if you travel in a group, with children, and over the weekend. So it is best to consult your travel agent or to visit the Deutsche Bahn website (www.bahn.de).”

    A few minutes on the Internet before the trip (or even after the trip…what did I actually purchased) and/or talking to a travel agent before the trip would have save Ms. Woods the hassles that she went through.

  • Carver

    @Arizona

    Your definition of a scam is way too narrow. A scam is when someone is sold something that they wouldn’t have purchased had the full true facts been known.A quick wiki search equate scam with fraud. Valuation is merely on metric. Any adverse term or condition that isn’t properly disclosed may constitute a scam. That’s why there are laws on the books limiting such types of sales.
    ________________________________________________
    @Arizona

    People learn from their mistakes…sometimes it is costly to learn from a mistake…but you will learn something. As long as you continue to bail people (or companies) out, they will continue to make the same mistakes knowing that someone else is going to bail them.
    ——————————————————————-

    I’m certain that Ms. Woods is neither my child nor my student, and I’m guessing, not Chris’s either. Its not for either of us to make sure she learns her lesson.

    ————————————————————————
    @ Arizona

    Maybe Ms. Wood took a single north to south Germany trip and the sales clerk\ticket agent thought it would have make sense for Ms. Wood to buy one since a single trip will pay for itself for a single north to south Germany trip.

    ————————————————————————
    Perhaps, but since the card is self renewing, that savings will be eaten up eventually unless cancelled.

    ———————————————————————————-
    @Arizona

    Currently, I am researching a train trip in Switzerland that we will be planning to take in three to five years. If we were going to Germany, I would have researched the BahnCard before leaving for the trip and/or discussed\reviewed with my travel agent
    —————————————————————————–
    Your conclusions are derived from a base line premise predicated upon your travel habits. While understandable, hardly fair. Not all travel is predicated upon years of meticulously planned research. On my first European Trip, the plan was to go to Greece then London. I bought guide books on Greece and the UK, and consulted one of my closest friends who is from Greece and lived in London. On the night before leaving Greece for London, I discovered a deal in Paris, a city I had wanted to go to since 9th grade.. At about 11pm Rhodes time, I switched my flight to Paris, cancelled the London hotels, booked a Parisien hotel. No time at all to research anything about Paris. No time to research public transportation, restaurants, anything. It was a spur of the moment decision.

    I did that again in Italy. I was bored with Rome, so I hoped on a train and went to Venice for two days.

    The point is that there are many diverse travel habits and patterns and we shouldn’t try to shoehorn them into our own paradigms.

  • http://noaddedsalt.blogspot.com Elisa

    This is kinder than MANY contract deals in the USA.

    You signed something you didn’t understand… whose fault is it then? The company did nothing wrong, Germany has done nothing wrong, so why did you complain and expect Chris to fix this?

    Just stupid.

  • James

    My understanding is that the EU has put in place new laws that prevent automatic subscription renewals on Credit Cards. (My Dutch AmEx sent me a note about changed terms (in Dutch), so I called the 0800 number and the agent explained to me about the new EU rules).

  • Carver

    @Elisa

    I’d be curious to know where you got your information. I can tell you that most states actually have fairly rigid laws forbidding what the Bancard folks did. That contract would not have been enforceable in California for example. Automatic renewals are highly disfavored and generally have to follow a precise set of dislosure rules in order to be enforceable.

  • Sean C.

    Many people are jumping on the blame bandwagon since Ms. Woods since she signed something in a language she didn’t understand. She unfortunately trusted the person who sold the discount card to fully disclose the terms. I don’t recommend signing anything in a language you don’t understand but I have done it with a Hertz car rental several years ago in Italy. I have also done this with short term apartment rentals. I can read and write basic “tourist” Italian, but legalese in any language can be daunting. I asked the agent to advise me about the implications of what I was signing and hoped that since I was signing “standardized” forms that I would not be hit with unexpected charges. If I refused to sign the forms since I did not understand it fully, I would have been unable to get the rental. Thankfully I didn’t get burned with my experiences.

  • Kat

    It’s just caveat emptor here, who in their right mind would sign up for any type of credit card without understanding the terms? Pay up and learn from it.

  • Mike Galsworthy

    To all of you who say she is stupid – you are plain wrong.

    I also fell victim to this scam as did a small community of us that are banding together to challenge it. See more here: http://familienbericht.blogspot.com/2010/05/deutsche-bahn-scam.html

    I was in a German train station and was told that by buying this “1 year” ticket, I could save 5 Euros on my return train journey. I enquired about the utility of the ticket, requirements, etc – and at no point was told that it was a legally-binding lifelong subscription with no automatic cancellation and aggressive debt collector follow-up.

    So I filled in my details, paid for the BahnCard – threw it away when I got home – and months later received the bill and legal threats from the debt collection agency. I was shocked – and then found fellow victims online.

    Simply put – with a train coming in 20 mins and a queue of people behind you – you have to make a decision. You simply trust that the clerk advises you in your best interests, gives you full information, etc. Furthermore, no one employs such charging schemes in the UK, Switzerland or Slovenia – where I have lived and worked.

    It is plain misinformation to tourists – and you can calculate yourselves the associated profits as hundreds or thousands of tourists fall prey to this abuse of trust annually.

    And it doesn’t look like a contract, okay? It’s a little booklet with pretty pictures asking for your details and signature so they can send you a “proper” photocard for your “year-long” membership.

    So Ms Woods was not “stupid” at all for just “signing contracts” in a foreign language carelessly and at leisure … this is a very serious scam that hinges on clear misrepresentation and exploitation of trust.

    If you are in this boat too – email me at mike_galsworthy@yahoo.co.uk

  • TeesBoro

    I believe I am a reasonably street wise traveller. I have travelled in every continent both backpacking, holidaying and with business. However, I too have been caught with the BahnCard renewal (SACAM).

    Fankfurt Summer 2006 (yes the world cup). Thousands of foreign tourists want tickets home. Sign this and you get your ticket 10 Eur cheaper. No mention of renewals, subscriptions or contracts. No English paperwork either (remember this is Frankfurt – international financial captial).

    Ticket discarded following the journey home. 4 years later, I receive an aggressive debt collection letter from the Netherland treatening legal proceedings if I don’t pay 95 Eur.

    This is completely ridiculous and clearly a money making policy from feeding on the trust worthy tourist.

    By the way I am yet to anyone in my life as smart and wise as some of you pertain to be on this blog. Ms Woods is a victim of corporate hard nosed business. SCAM is too kind a word for it.

  • Max Schneider

    To anyone coming here before getting caught with the automatic subscription thing:

    It is perfectly possible to cancel the subscription the moment you get the BahnCard – that way you also don’t miss any deadline by forgetting it. It is just a simple letter (“please cancel my subscription to my BahnCard ‘number as follows’ “) and you are off the hook. Unfortunately you have to think of this beforehand….

  • Holger

    Since Iam german I want to say something about it:
    The first Bahncard has to be paid while standing at the counter and you get only a paper ticket.
    You get the “real” Bahncard (looks like a credit-card) 1-2 month later. With it you’ll get the contract again: stating that this is a yearly renewable thing.
    Before the year is over you will receive a bill to pay the next card: At this time you still have time to cancel the abonnement. Which is not because they are nice and to give you time to do so. its simply that you pay month in advance to have a cash as working capital.

    So what to do when you receive the second bahncard, cause you missed to deadline to cancel the subscription?

    Call and lie:
    call them and tell them that you already canceled while you bought it; tell them that group you were traveling with can wittness it; youre a foreigner and therefore you did this immediately: You wrote on a paper ” I hereby cancel the subscription of the bahncard with the number XY”.Then you handed it to the ticket agent and she took it.
    If they say they dont have the paper/ the agent is not allowed to accept it, tell them the story again and that it can be attested by wittnesses.They will give up soon.

    BUT when a collection company calls you, then youre to late and you have to pay: you did not miss all deadlines stated in the contract (6 weeks) you even ignored all bills form the company, and they have to send you at least 2 before handing it to a agency

    my2Cents

    PS: a lot of germans have this problems with the DeutscheBahn too, so its not a tourists trap!

  • http://www.fsbizcollect.com/ Transportation Collection Agency

    What an interesting saga. Thank you…it was fun reading.

  • Andrew Earland

    I also fell foul to this BahnCard promotion / scam (I do not feel this was a scam, I am using the word scam as people may have searched for this word) by Deutsche Bahn due to their policy of automatic renewal.

    I came across this thread, and after reading some of the vulgar and non-constructive comments about this woman by seemingly shameless posters, I came across Mike Galsworthy’s very useful post. I contacted him and after a simple process, Deutsche Bahn finally accepted the cancellation of my BahnCard and have waivered its claim. Many thanks to Mike for his help.

    So if you are receiving payment demands, from Deutsche Bahn or Universum Inkasso, over a BahnCard which you thought was only valid for a year or so, but has been renewed automatically. Then feel free to contact me at andrewearland@gmail.com. Or read Mike’s post.

  • http://www.ctas.net Transportation Debt Collection Agency http://WWW.CTAS.NET/ABOUTUS.ASPX//

    I’m told the EU has put in place new laws to stop automatic subscription renewals on Bank Cards.

  • http://www.fsbizcollect.com/ Commercial Debt Collection

    Auto-matic subscriptions are a pain to say the least. I do not enjoy them one bit. One thing I have noticed over the past couple of years is that companies that have this type of billing try to hide it. They have made it harder and harder to cancel these services. Whether it is a hidden web page or a long wait on the telephone. It is a hassle to say the least and I wish consumer advocacy groups could do something to protect us.

  • Bill

    I am not a fan of automatic renewals at all. I notice that a company called sonicwall turns on the “automatic” renewals when you buy their subscription services (not travel related)without asking. Also, the Economist Magazine tries to put in automatic renewals. They also offer a reduced rate per issue if you allow automatic renewal. I cancelled my subscription in protest.

    The DB card may be a good deal, but I hope there is an EU law to prevent automatic renewals. I’d also like to see a similar one in Canada and the USA.

    I do not advocate signing things in a foreign language that you do not understand.

  • Marion Thompson

    I have a Bahncard25 and don’t find any info on how to cancel it, anywhere! My No. is:7081 4110 5077 8238 gueltig bis 09.01.11. Marion

  • Rudi Westergaard

    Hallo,
    I try in english.
    As dane we are to obay danisch law, and not German.
    Therefore we will refere to a general danish law, saying that no body can bee contracted for ever, therefor we can say no after 6 month, with 1 month respit.
    Deutshe Bahn: NO MORE.

    Rudi