The goal of Germany's Deutschlandticket is to offer easy access to public transportation by providing low-cost travel on all forms of local transport throughout the country.
So far the deal - launched in May - has been very successful; since its launch, passenger numbers on regional trains that are part of Germany's national rail network Deutsche Bahn have increased by 25 percent.
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But some people have struggled to reap the benefits of the offer - namely those with foreign bank accounts.
Payment for the ticket is processed through the SEPA direct debit scheme and problems often arise when customers with foreign bank accounts have to enter their IBAN.
If a 28-digit Polish IBAN, for example, is entered on the deutschlandticket.de website, customers receive the message: "Please enter a correct IBAN". As a result, they are unable to purchase the ticket.
German IBANs start with the letters "DE" and are followed by 20 digits, but in countries like Belgium, there are 16 digits, and in Poland, there are 26 digits after the country code.
The Central Office for Unfair Competition in Bad Homburg and an international initiative called "Accept my IBAN" have collected and documented a whole series of cases of customers being unable to buy the Deutschlandticket with their international bank accounts. Customers from countries like Belgium, Lithuania, and Poland have been particularly affected.
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In the European Union, the practice of not recognising certain IBANs has actually been prohibited since 2014 by the European SEPA regulation (Single Euro Payments Area). Under the regulation, which applies to 36 European countries, banks, merchants, and authorities must accept IBANs.
Complaints about problems purchasing the €49 ticket have mostly been directed at Transdev, Germany's second-largest railway and bus company, which operates the website deutschlandticket.de.
Municipal companies such as the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) and Wupsi in Leverkusen have also faced complaints, as customers can order the subscription from them as well. The Deutsche Bahn website, on the other hand, accepts foreign bank details.
Transdev has admitted to the issues and has said that it is working to resolve them, blaming outdated IT systems which struggle to process IBANs that deviate from the German format.
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The Central Office for Unfair Competition is also investigating these cases. The association, also known as the Wettbewerbszentrale, is supported by 800 associations, 1,200 companies, and several top associations of the German economy.
If the association detects a violation, it demands a cease and desist declaration from the companies. If necessary, it also files lawsuits with the competent regional courts. So far, in 35 out of 36 cases, the association has been successful, such as against the comparison portal Verivox or the real estate company Vonovia.
Regarding the Deutschlandticket, the Central Office has reported some initial successes. In several cases, the transportation companies eventually accepted the foreign bank details after customers urged them to do so. The Leverkusen-based company Wupsi also had its issues resolved by a software manufacturer.
Anyone experiencing payment problems with the Deutschlandticket can contact the Wettbewerbszentrale at any time.
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