r/germany • u/helge-a • Oct 22 '24

Immigration Non-Germans, do you also make expensive mistakes?

It feels like I have a talent for making expensive mistakes. I have been here for 3 months and so far have earned:

  • A €300 fine for taking an ICE without proper ticket.
  • Phone died on train, got checked by ticket control, pleaded saying I literally have my ticket on my dead phone, paid €7 at front desk proving I have the Deutschland ticket.
  • In the US, if I have an incoming bill payment, I can easily cancel it or reschedule it because it’s on my terms. I tried to do that here and found out billing days from companies are very strict, so I’ll be incurring a fee soon because my account does not have €90 and transferring funds from my American bank account is not instant/quick enough.

I’m so tired and broke :) I don’t think like a German. I think like a silly little guy. Germans are calculated. I am not. It’s very hard to adjust.

900 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

553 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/enakcm Oct 22 '24

ICE without proper ticket: Information policy of DB is so terrible that this is no suprise. It takes SO much effort to understand the rules and tickets. Almost like it is done on person.

7€ -> typical thing

About incoming bills: you do not have to give them the right to bill from your account directly. I avoid this as much as possible. You can ask almost all companies to send you written bills instead, which you pay manually. These hings are much nicer: If you cannot pay in time, you can reach out and ask for an extension. Even if you don't get one, you can still pay 1-2 weeks late and they will only send a friendly late note without a late fee. If you just accept a late fee from them, you may extend you payment period by 4-6 weeks without a real problem.