My elderly neighbor just insulted me for being a foreigner over something that wasn’t even my fault.

The Amazon delivery driver left my package at the entrance of the building, on top of her bicycle, without ringing my doorbell. I had no idea the package was even there.

She came knocking on my door, visibly upset, threw the package on the floor, and said, “You foreigners are so inconsiderate and messy. My bicycle is not for holding your packages." I know that she was upset about her bicycle being used that way, but I had nothing to do with it. The delivery driver left the package there, and I didn’t even know it had been delivered.

This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this, and I genuinely don’t know how to process it.

Hello,

2 weeks ago I sold a damaged phone on Ebay, and I explicitly wrote “defekt, nur Ersatzteile“ and that it had water damage as well.

Someone bought it and then complained because he can’t do a recover the phone, I told him it is not my problem because I’m selling it as “defective, for parts only”.

He opened a claim against me on Ebay saying “he can’t turn on/fix the phone and wants to send it back”.

Ebay somehow accepted his claim and said:

“Wir haben die Rückgabeanfrage des Käufers geprüft und ihn aufgefordert, den Artikel zurückzuschicken.“

„So geht es weiter: Wir tracken die Rücksendung des Käufers. Wenn der Artikel zugestellt wurde, ziehen wir den Rückerstattungsbetrag und die ursprünglichen Versandkosten von Ihren Auszahlungen ab.“

I have already transferred the money to my bank account, so there is no money being held by Ebay at the moment.

Who is at fault here? I am going to fight this even if it reaches the point where lawyers have to get involved. I listed the phone for auction and expected it to fetch €20, but in the end, it somehow went for €50.

Can someone return a phone that was labeled as "defective" simply because they were unable to repair it?

Hello guys, I’m pretty new to Germany and I need some advice because I honestly don’t know what to do in this situation.
I wanted to get a SIM card and a phone contract, so I searched online for Vodafone because I’d heard good things about them. I checked Google Maps, found a store nearby, and went there.
Turns out it was actually an otelo shop, but I had no idea what otelo was at the time.
I used Google Translate to explain to the lady that I wanted to make a Vodafone contract. She told me to wait, and after a while, some guy came out of an office wearing a Vodafone shirt. The lady told me to go with him, so obviously I assumed he worked for Vodafone.
I explained that I wanted a contract with a device if possible. Since I have a Polish bank account, I wasn’t sure if that would work, but he told me it should be fine.
He started writing down different offers on a piece of paper. I originally wanted an iPhone, but the upfront payment was too expensive. Then he showed me an offer with an Apple Watch for just €1 upfront, and the whole thing would cost around €60 a month with the SIM card. I thought that sounded okay, so I went ahead and signed.
They took my Polish IBAN and address, and when they asked if I wanted the SIM card immediately or together with the device, I said I’d take everything together.
I went home and kept looking at Vodafone offers online, and that’s when I started wondering why their offers were so much better than the one I’d just signed up for.
Then I received an email from otelo.
I was like… WTF is otelo?
The next day, I went back to the shop and asked the lady what otelo was and whether I could get the Vodafone offer instead.
That’s when she explained that otelo is a smaller company under Vodafone and that I’d actually signed a contract with them, not Vodafone.
Okay, fair enough, maybe I should’ve checked everything more carefully before signing. But I asked if I could cancel the contract, and she told me NO, unless I paid her €80 in cash.
I asked her where it said that in the contract, and she literally told me it wasn’t written in the contract, but if I wanted to cancel, I had to pay her €80.
At that point, I was getting suspicious, so I just left.
I called otelo customer service to ask about the situation, and holy shit, the first guy was one of the rudest people I’ve ever spoken to. I asked if anyone spoke English, and he basically yelled at me that this is Germany and I should speak German. 💀

I called again later and got a much nicer guy who explained that I needed to deal with the shop and that they couldn’t really help me.
The thing is, I haven’t even received anything yet. No SIM card, no Apple Watch, nothing.
Now I’m wondering what happens if I simply refuse to pay that €80, especially since the lady couldn’t even show me where this fee was mentioned in the contract.

I also gave them my Polish IBAN, so I’m not entirely sure how payments would work if they tried to charge me.
I know I should’ve been more careful before signing, and I’m not pretending I did everything right here. I’m just new to the country and genuinely thought I was dealing with Vodafone.
So, has anyone dealt with something similar in Germany?
Can they actually demand €80 in cash to cancel a contract when the fee isn’t mentioned in the contract? And what would you do in my situation?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Edit : I have posted this on another german subreddit but sadly there isnt any helpful final answer. Do I need to and pay the 80 euros ?

Okay I know this is a weird question but hear me out.

So I work at a small airport in the southwest of the U.S. and when I used to deal more with the ground handling of stuff, I met a lot of German people because of the Lufthansa flight school based here, and the German air force has a couple planes and sometimes would send large aircraft for whatever reason.

We stock sodas of all kinds in our lobby, and one of our least popular is the Diet Dr. Pepper.

However, whenever a large group of German people come through our lobby, they raid all of our Diet Dr. Peppers. Like, only the diet ones too, we have the full sugar ones, but they couldn't care less.

I once had a large aircraft come in, only 5 or so members of the German air force got off as they were just grabbing fuel and leaving.

They took two whole fucking cases of it. I don't even know if anyone gave permission. None of us employees cared because no one else drinks it and they did just pay us upwards of $10k for fuel but Jesus guys that's 48 cans of diet cherry cola.

Is there an actual fixation in Germany over Diet Dr. Pepper or are only the German people that like Diet Dr. Pepper all just flocking to my very specific airport in droves?

Hi, I’ll be flying to Germany in few days and land at Frankfurt airport.

I’ll be having 23kg luggage and 7kg carry on.

I was looking through the db app and I found tickets from frankfurt airport to Leipzig.
I read the policies and rules it seems like ice train has no luggage limit?
However the transfer time is 11 minutes, is that enough for me to do it as I’m carrying a pretty bug luggage, and are the trains during transfer usually close to each other?

There’s also flixtrain, they seem to be cheaper than ice. But the luggage limit is 10kg, and if I’m carrying more than 20kg they told me to reserve an extra seat (?).

There’s also Flixbus, I’d take it but it seems pretty long (10+ hours drive) and they also have luggage limit.

Other option would be blablacar, it seems like they’re cheap and many people said pretty okay.
But I’m not sure yet, is it safe? And like Uber or something!

What do you guys think? Which is the best way to get to Leipzig? Would appreciate help and tips
Thanks

UPDATE: Decided to go with ice train, it has 1 transfer but the transfer time is 50 minutes so it should be enough.
Thank you for responding!

I did a 1 year language course at a German university to get the C1 language certificate (DSH). That was many years ago and I can't speak German that well anymore. It is in my brain, but the words don't come out of my mouth properly. Due to my poor language skill, I don't want to put this in my CV, in case the employer expects me to speak C1 German. But if I don't put it, then I will have this 1 year gap in the CV, which I heard is not good (lückenlos is preferred).

Their are already many books about the GDR, I want to learn about West Germany things like the Wirtschaftswunder, Cold War and even the pop culture etc.

My neighborhood has a guy who picks up used audio gear on Kleinanzeigen and sell at a profit. This kind of business is legal? From what amount he should pay taxes? I think he is already doing it. I too want to start this, but want to stay safe. For example this is his selling price Gerade bei #Kleinanzeigen gefunden. Wie findest du das?
https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/lautsprecher-gehaeuse-marmor/3538372683-172-4816?utm_source=copyToPasteboard&utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_medium=social&utm_content=app_ios

This was an ad few days back by another person who listed it for free to pick up. If you look at his inventory it is around 5000€ at any given time. He keeps on creating new accounts every few months for some strange reason

Based on my personal observation, Volkswagen is the most common car in the streets of Germany. There are factors like price, value for money, established brand, ecosystem, availability of spare parts, etc. that would go into people’s choice for buying a car.

I am curious to know if VW is as loved as it is common in Germany. Would people choose a different brand if they can afford, or is VW the first choice that comes to mind when people are going to buy a new car in Germany?

I have a boyfriend who's from Berlin. We're nowhere near the stage of planning to have kids, but before meeting him I've always liked the name Nannerl for a potential daughter. I know it's a nickname, but I'm seeing it as an option for first name.

In France, where I'm from, it would definitely be an unusual and unexpected name, but it wouldn't mean much to most people. It might be a little difficult to pronounce, but otherwise it would be fine.

What about in Germany? Aside from the association with Mozart's sister, would a girl with this name get bullied because it sounds way too old-fashioned/corny? Or could it have a nice vintage vibe instead?

I know it would probably be perceived quite differently in the north and the south, so I'd be especially interested in hearing different regional perspectives.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

EDIT : I think I've not been clear 🥲 So I know it's not a German name, just as much as it's not French. In France it would be okay to have it because it's super foreign so it's not related to anything to us, just letters making a name. But I was wondering how it could be perceived in Germany as Austria shares the language and I guess people would have some kind of feelings toward it. I guess I was right on that one, it's seems to be vintage in a very ugly and bullying inducting way... On top of not being a proper name at all Too bad, breaks my heart a little but at least I know :')

Serious question. In america, many people are giving up eating raw fruits and vegetables, or any uncooked items due to the frequent outbreaks on pretty much everything. Wondering what it's like for other countries. Is there just no worry where you are?

Hey everyone,
I'm 20 and live in Germany. I'm Kurdish, came here as a refugee, and I have a typical Arab name. I see myself as a nice, respectful person who is worth a genuine connection, and I have a lot of respect for myself. I'm not religious, and I'm open-minded and culturally relaxed.

The problem is that I almost never get the chance to meet women. I'm a calm guy and not really into party culture, so the usual ways of meeting people don't fit me. I also live in a city where many people aren't very welcoming to foreigners, so I don't really approach women in person. Instagram hasn't worked for me either.

I wonder if my background plays a role in how some women see me, or if I'm overthinking it.
My question is: how do I get to know women the right way in a place like this, without coming across as needy? I'm not looking for anything casual or superficial. I just want to build a real connection with someone.

For those of you who've been in a similar situation: where did you meet people, and what helped you? Any honest advice is welcome.
Thanks!

Hey everyone,
I'm 20, living in Germany. I have a job, my own car, and a driver's license. I'd say I'm around a 7 or 8 out of 10 in looks (that's what people tell me), I dress well, and I think I have a good personality. I'm a genuinely nice guy.

But I struggle a lot to connect with girls. It feels almost impossible to even get the chance to meet someone. Instagram doesn't work for me, and I don't really approach girls in person.

I'm Kurdish, I came to Germany as a refugee, and I have a typical Arab name. I sometimes wonder if that makes some girls less open to the idea of dating me. Is that a real thing, or am I overthinking it?

I'm not looking for anything crazy. I just want to meet girls and build a real connection. What would you recommend? Where do people actually meet others in Germany at my age, and how can I improve my chances?

Thanks for any honest advice