In recent years, when brain drain has increased to Germany, Germany’s advantages have always been highlighted and many educated people in Turkey have Germany ranked first in the list of countries to immigrate to. I also wanted to tell you that although my thoughts on life in Germany have been positive so far, everything is not great and you may encounter many bad events.. That’s why, in this article, I will share with you the experiences of a reader who has fresh experience on Germany’s bad sides.
In my articles comparing Turkey and Germany I have often stated that my aim is not to denigrate any country.. The purpose of this article is never to give a message such as “Germany is very bad, do not come”.. I think it’s important for you to have information about Germany’s bad sides just to set your expectations correctly.
I leave the word to Serap.
…
Hello,
First of all, I want to talk about myself. I am a Computer Engineer and as a person with 16 years of work experience both in Turkey and abroad, I agreed as a Product Manager with an IT (Informatics) company located in Bonn in September 2019.. The issue I would like to point out here is that I was accepted to a position that can be started by someone with some experience, not as a Senior (expert) or Junior (new graduate), and a salary was offered accordingly, I accepted.
Office language was English. This software company of German origin, which has offices in both America, India and Germany, had 220 employees.
Coming to Cologne on November 26, 2019 I started my job on December 1, 2019.
I had previous experience living in London (England) and Kharkov (Ukraine). For this reason, I honestly thought that I would not have difficulties in Germany.. That’s not the case.
So what did I experience as soon as I came to Germany? What were the bad parts of Germany for me?
The Bad Sides of Germany
1. Shipping Problems in Germany
Unfortunately, I have a bitter experience in this regard.. We decided to send parcels containing my clothes, books and some personal belongings from Turkey via PTT.. PTT promised to deliver to the door, but at the border they deliver the parcels to DHL and DHL delivers every parcel that comes outside the European country to the customs.. PTT said it would be delivered in 2 weeks, but the parcels arrived at the German customs exactly one month later.
I, who has never been to the customs in my life, went to the customs and opened the parcels and gave an account of the contents. I took some of my parcels by myself by carrying those heavy parcels to the taxi.. Unfortunately, DHL stated that it will repack and forward my 2 parcels as they were exposed to heavy rain.. By the way, 3 of my arms were lost at the border.. PTT said we delivered, DHL said we did not receive it.
DHL delivered my parcels exposed to rain to a post office close to my home after 10 days. Since everything in it was wet, the weight of the parcel was doubled, and because it was close to home, I couldn’t find any taxi, so I had to carry it myself to the house.. My arm, which I injured while coming to Germany, was damaged again.
Cargo Problems in Germany (photo is from stern.de)
My stuff was either damp or completely wet. Some of the items had become moldy and unusable because they remained wet in the closed box for 10 days.. I contacted DHL but they said that if I bring the parcels to the branch exactly as they are, they will start an investigation.. Considering that each parcel is 15 kilos, I don’t want to carry the parcels, pay the taxi to take them to the branch, and then follow up, get the parcels back etc.. I focused on my lost parcels, saying the remainder is ours.
My lost parcels were found 1.5 months later and went to customs again.. I entered the same process again. I carried it myself again, brought it by taxi etc. etc..
As soon as I said hello to Germany, it started like this and Germany’s bad sides
