Okay… I truly hope today’s post will be my last one about Hello Fresh.  I think I may have finally succeeded in getting them to delete my account.  But they couldn’t just shut up and delete it, could they?  No… they had to blame me one last time.

Behold…

Customer service agent Matea confirms that my account is canceled, but adds for the record that I was the one who reactivated it.

And here’s my weary reply…  Again, I share this for the record, in case the zombies resurrect my account in the future.    

 

I tried to log in last night and found that my password no longer works.  Hallelujah!  I think this is a good sign that means they’ve finally complied with my wishes.  It only took a week and multiple emails!  I hope this will be the last time I write about Hello Fresh.  And I hope any Hello Fresh subscribers who are reading this have a better experience with them than I’ve had.

Now, on to a related topic.

I have noticed in Germany (and maybe France, too) that there’s a different mindset here when it comes to what to do when things go awry.  It seems like when something goes wrong, someone has to be “at fault”.  There seems to be no room for simple bad luck or accidents.  Someone must be to blame when there’s an accident or an error, and that person must be held responsible, usually in the form of paying fines or being chastised in some way.  Consequently, no one wants to take the blame for messing up and then be held responsible. When something bad happens, many people here immediately go on the defensive.  Then, the situation becomes nastier than it really needs to be.

I think this “faulting” mindset is why insurance is such a popular industry in Germany.  If you have an accident on someone else’s property, you will be expected to shell out money to pay for damages.  I don’t necessarily have a problem with paying for things that break on my watch; however, I don’t see why there must be such an emphasis on blaming the other party.  Everyone messes up sometimes, because nobody’s perfect.

I feel compelled to be very well insured while we’re living here.  Courtesy of USAA, we have car insurance, renter’s insurance, life insurance, valuable property insurance, and personal liability insurance.  Courtesy of a German company, we have personal liability insurance, legal insurance, and pet insurance.  We also joined the Mietverein (renter’s union).  And, of course, we also have TRICARE, dental insurance, and health insurance through Bill’s employer.  We probably pay more than we need to for insurance, but as I wrote in my previous post, I don’t like being fucked with.

Our new landlords require us to have pet liability insurance and strongly recommended personal liability insurance.  Bill was happy to tell them we have both.  He bought both policies due to my insistence.  So far, the personal liability insurance has paid for itself.  It only costs a hundred euros a year, yet we’re covered for millions of euros in case there’s a mishap and someone’s property gets damaged.

I have recommended purchasing personal liability insurance many times in my blog, especially to any Americans who will be living in Germany.  Many Americans don’t understand German and have no experience with the German legal system.  If something goes wrong, they are going to need someone local on their side who can help them navigate the situation.  However, I notice that quite a few Americans are reluctant to pull the trigger.  They seem to think personal liability insurance is a “scam” and assume that what they get through USAA or another American company will protect them adequately.

I think it’s helpful to remember that there is a different mindset here.  Many Germans have no qualms about going to court, which is why so many Germans have personal liability insurance.  What’s more, accidents can and do happen.  I have a friend who ended up paying for her German landlord’s brand new kitchen due to an accident one of her guests had while staying with her.  She did not have insurance, so she and her husband had to pay thousands of euros out of pocket.

If this post makes you want to explore more about why Germans have so much insurance, I recommend checking out poster Starshollow on Toytown Germany.  He has written many helpful posts that explain why having insurance is such a must in Germany.  Also, in the Stuttgart area US military Facebook groups, there is a poster named Gerhard Koch who sells insurance.  His English is perfect and he is extremely helpful.  In fact, he’s our insurance broker, and he’s helped us out more than once.

Anyway… I didn’t mean for this post to become yet another caveat about purchasing insurance, another subject besides Hello Fresh I’d like to retire.  It’s just that the Hello Fresh drama reminded me once again that Germans often have a very different mindset regarding how to settle accidents, and their concept of who is to “blame” might be different than yours is.  It may seem cost effective to skip purchasing insurance, but if something goes wrong, you may live to regret that choice.

Even the Hello Fresh debacle could have led to us needing to access our insurance, in case we wound up in court over that erroneous 54,98 euro charge.  If Hello Fresh had insisted that we pay for their mistake, it seriously could have led to a lawsuit.  Don’t believe me?  Read Toytown Germany.  People have posted plenty of nightmare stories about being sued over seemingly insignificant debts, which eventually turn into much larger debts due to fines, interest charges, and collections fees.

Incidentally, I think you should read Toytown Germany anyway.  It’s  a very useful site for English speaking expats and will give you a non-miltary/US government perspective of living in Germany as an expat.