Cancelling a Costco Amex Card

Roland: ... is actually not as easy as it sounds! It was really about time to cancel our Costco membership as it does cost quite a buck every year which may be ok when you regularly buy there, but does not make that much sense when you live in a country where they do not have a Costco (as unbelievable as that may sound to our North American readers).

So step 1 would be to cancel the Amex card that is associated with our account. The obvious first idea was to call the customer service number that is printed in microscopic letters on the back of the card. As expected I was connected to a computer voice that asked me for my card number and password. Once I had done that it gave me the choice to access any possible information regarding my account, but it did not give me an option to talk to a live operator. So I checked the net for alternative numbers, found a few of them, tried them all, and ended up with the same result as the first time. Then I lied to the computer stating that I did not have my credit card available (although I did not want to report it as stolen) planning on being connected to a human being, but no... it asked for my name, date of birth and social security number to access my account and give me the usual information once again.

A bit frustrated I called a GERMAN Amex number I found on the net. I was connected to the usual computer voice (obviously in German this time) that actually offered my one more choice: hit # for operator! The operator was Ines, a very nice Lady, who could not help me with my inquiry, but who connected me to the American branch of Amex, where I talked to Jonah, who could not help me either, but who connected me to the Canadian branch of Amex, where I talked to Virginia, who could not help me (other than changing our address on the account), but who connected me to Frank, who had our account closed within a minute.

And by the way, I was told to just hit the # key after calling the service number on my card to speak to an operator. Could they not have the computer tell you that when you call?! Anyway, the account is closed now, next step is to close the Costco membership. This time I will use email!

In the Claws of German Bureaucracy... a Happy Ending?!

It was about time to get our license plates replaced for our Audi and Sonja's Vespa Alonzo (changing the address always means changing plates in Germany, except if you stay in the same city), so we opened another chapter in our book of horrors through German Road Traffic License Departments. Or so we thought...

In fact it turned out that in the Ortenau District you can prepare everything using the Internet. First you are able to reserve a plate. Then you provide all necessary information in a website template. And finally they even allow you to book appointments to finalize the process at the department. 

We chose a 4:30 pm date which is pretty much the last one of the day and arrived just in time for our appointment (We were actually slightly early, but had to figure out the correct way of getting the old plates off our Audi). 

We were immediately asked to a twin desk where two friendly and competent ladies took care of our needs. Within minutes the procedure had been finalized, we paid our fees, had some new licence plates made in a nearby facility, had all paper work finished and were done! Pinch us! We can't believe it.

A big thanks to the Offenburg Licence Department for rebuilding some trust into German bureaucracy! There is hope!

We yet have to get Roland's Vespa Bella through TÜV. But that's another department and another story to be told...

In the Claws of German Bureaucracy (Part 2)

Source: www.mickx-media.de

Roland: 11 weeks after our first encounter with the drivers registry in Leverkusen and over 8 weeks after we finally were allowed to apply for German Driver's licenses we thought it would be about time that we would actually RECEIVE our licenses. So last week on Tuesday I gave them a call to get an update on the status.

The Lady on the phone was very nice, but regretted telling me that the License Department was closed for two days due to being understaffed! So she asked me to try again on Thursday...

Imagine my surprise when I called again on Thursday, not only did I get somebody on the phone after only three rings, but that person was also able to find out within a few minutes that our licenses were indeed there! I could not believe my ears! We anyway had planned a weekend in Leverkusen, so we decided that I would take a day of vacation and we would pick up our licenses on Monday morning.

We arrived at the registry at 8:40 and were right away greeted by a sign saying "today only online appointments!". We did not have such, but we decided to try our luck anyway. When we entered the waiting area we found out that no appointment was necessary for picking up licenses (in fact someone had just "forgotten" to take off the sign from last week), but that we would have to stand in line in front of room 14 and we would be called in. Well, the problem was that the line was quite long already and nobody showed up to call anybody in for a long time.

Shortly after nine the door of room 14 opened, a guy came out and asked "Is there anybody who wants to pick up a driver's license?". Like a perfectly rehearsed choir the whole line answered "Yes that's why we are standing here!" The guy looked a little bit confused, and after a few seconds of reflecting on the situation he said "OK, the first one can come in!".

A few minutes nothing happened, then the door of room 15(!) opened, and a Lady came out asking "Is there anybody who want to pick up a driver's license?" Crowd: "Yes that's why we are standing here!" a startled expression, then "OK, the next one, please come in".

This game repeated a few times (variation: "Are REALLY all of you waiting for their license?"), and then we were finally asked in. The Lady explained to us that she actually is semi-retired already, but was asked to help out due to the staff shortage. So we gave her our Canadian licenses, and she went looking for our German ones. Of course, she found mine, but did not have such luck with Sonja's. She asked here colleague, but he could not help her either. Then she decided to check the other offices and finally came back with Sonja's license. Hallelujah!!!!

At around 10 AM we finally took possession of our German Driver's licenses, and now we are allowed to drive or ride vehicles of the classes AM, A1, A2, A, B, C1, BE, C1E, CE and L. This translates roughly into anything from a 25cc Moped over a Tractor to a 7.5 ton semi trailer...

As long as we ride
Readin' the road
Doesn't even matter
Where we're gonna go
And we'll all be doin' fine
As long as we ride

From Spock's Beard: As Long As We Ride

The Light at the End of the Tunnel...

... Or second installment of our series "In the Claws of German Bureaucracy". After two visits and several calls to the Führerscheinstelle (Drivers License Agency / DMV) in Leverkusen we finally got confirmation that all data has been transferred from the license department of the neighboring city (Bergisch Gladbach) which handled our file prior to our immigration to Canada. And finally we were able to apply for a German drivers license. It only took three weeks (!) for the documents to travel the distance of 15km. German public service must be stuck in the stone age of communication. Even snail mail is faster than that. And they still use paper index cards. Duh! We pretty much felt like this...

... and after filling out the necessary paperwork and signing the documents we were more than ready and willing to work off our frustration. We chose an outing in the close by Bergisches Land, which is a low mountain range (or better hills) with lots of forests, creeks and rivers, hiking trails and old farm houses, and went for a long walk in the crisp air to clear our minds.

Below is Rausmühle, a mill which was already mentioned in the tax books of the 15th century. Today the mill is no longer in use. Instead you will find a lovely restaurant with traditional local cuisine.

The big city is only a few miles away but one feels remote in this forest surrounded by green grass and trees and a bubbling creek flowing by.

We follow a small path through the forest which then opens up into a meadow.

There we find serenity and watch the clouds chasing each other. We haven't seen blue skies in a while, and appreciate the dry spell today.

Whenever cloud watching is on, a certain lady blogger comes to mind. These pics are for you, Martha.

Live is always good after a long walk in fresh air. We are making progress in our re-settlement (ever so slowly), and might spend the weekend in another country or two... stay tuned.

In the Claws of German Bureaucracy (Part 1)

Photo: pisch-music.de

Roland: Eight years ago, when we came to Canada, one of our first tasks was to exchange our German driver's licence into a Canadian one. Back then this took us approximately one hour to get a temporary licence, and a few days later we had our plastic cards in the mail.

Yesterday we went to the local department of motor vehicles to exchange our Canadian licences back into German ones. After a short waiting time we were asked to the desk of an officer who looked astonishingly similar to the Gentleman above (the late comedian Diether Krebs in his role as 'Martin'). 

When we told the officer our request he said that he could not just give us a German driver's licence; he would first have to ask the department at our last German address whether our German driver's licences have been sent back from Canadian authorities. If so we would get our old licences back, if not we would have to issue a notice of loss for our licences. Only then he could start the process of replacing them.

Naively (and spoiled by the excellent public service in Canada) we expected that he would pick up the phone and call the other department or at least would send them an email with a search request for our old licences, but instead he opened a Word document, manually entered the address of the other department, printed that thing, crossed a few paragraphs, put it into an envelope and told us to call him again in three weeks(!!!) to check on the results.

When I said that I would need a new driver's licence anyway as I had added a Motorcycle licence in Canada he explained to me that he would need an official translation of my Canadian licence first (look at the guy in the picture: does he look like he speaks English?). When I asked if my (official!) International Driver's Licence would suffice he just laughed and said 'No!'. 

Then he took out a little red book with the official procedures for exchanging international driver's licences, checked for British Columbia and stated that he cannot exchange my Motorcycle licence (a licence 6 in BC), because his list would not include a licence 6. This surprised us as we had checked this on the internet before, and it clearly said that licence 6 can be exchanged, so we kindly asked him if he was sure that he has the latest version of the red book (which would be the August 2012 version). 

He thought for a moment, said "well, there was a new one", checked another drawer, and within a moment came up with another (obviously never used) red book, looked it up again and agreed "yes, this one says it is possible"...

The other thing we noted was his mumbling and bad grammar. We can only imagine how irritated a new immigrant with limited language skills must feel when encountering such a role model of German bureau-crazy.

To be continued...

At the Einwohnermeldeamt!

Roland: Presenting Leverkusen's City Hall during the last 50 years:

Sources: 1, 2, 3

All three of them were pretty much at the same location, the first one still being mourned for by the people here. The second one was hated by everybody, and nobody shed a tear when it was demolished to make place for an integrated shopping centre / City Hall.

Leverkusen is a city of 150,000 inhabitants in the Rhineland area near Cologne. It is not exactly a beautiful city, and it exists for just one reason: the Bayer headquarters. When I was little everybody in the family used to work for Bayer in some capacity; if the father worked there the son would be finding a job there as well. These times have changed for sure now, but my mom and my dad worked and met at Bayer, I was born in this city, and my mother and sister still live here, so it seems a natural choice to start the European adventure!

The first thing you have to do when moving to Germany is to go to the 'Einwohnermeldeamt' (Resident's registry office, one of these beautiful long words in the German language that combines three words into one!) and inform the powers that be that you are back! Germany has a compulsory registration system for residents, which means you MUST notify the registry where you live. So you better get over this rather sooner than later!

I went there on my first day, and the very first thing I noticed is how grouchy Germans are. Everybody has to pick a number ticket and wait for their number, but everybody does so with a grumpy face. I occupied a seat in the waiting area, and an old Lady came and sat down next to me. She asked me if I could help let her know when her number came up, because she could not see very well. 'Of course', I said, and right after the old Lady switched to complaint mode, about not being able to see properly all her life, 'this is not an old age problem, I was born with that!', about only getting 80% disability pension, all the forms you have to fill in when dealing with the public services, and how slow these registries are: 'I have other things to do!'

I did not dare to ask what other errands were she had to run that day, but I helped her finding the way to the right counter when her number came up. Then I waited for another thirty minutes before it was my turn. Everything went pretty smoothly from there, and after showing my German passport and answering a handful of questions I was 'gemeldet' (registered). Next thing on the list is to get a 'Personalausweis' (Identification Card), but first I need a new passport photo for that.

I rewarded myself with a Currywurst for my successfully achieved first target, but no historical document of this moment exists...