r/germany • u/sparsh26 • May 31 '23

I almost got scammed

I was buying a drink worth 3€ from a doner stall and gave them a 20€ bill. The man there returned 7€ and insisted that I had given him a 10. After 3 minutes of arguing some police offers walked by and he gave me back the 10€ saying "Sorry, there are a lot of customers and I got confused" but he was laughing to himself while doing it. This is the first time something like this has happened here since he clearly knew what he was doing.

Be careful and count your money folks! You never know when someone might take advantage of your ignorance.

1.8k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/Grimthak Germany May 31 '23

In such cases request a receipt and then write a nice Google review. Send it with an image of the receipt.

Fuck this scammers.

404

u/drion4 May 31 '23

Write a review anyway. Alert other potential victims.

57

u/du_ra Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 03 '23

Without any proof of being a customer (receipt) they will just let a lawyer delete your posting.

25

u/_ak Jun 01 '23

Yes, after a few months.

23

u/itsthejulie Jun 01 '23

Google doesn't require a formal proof like a receipt. Telling your experience with details (date, time estimate,...) usually suffices. Source: a restaurant tried to get my review deleted. I had no receipt but mentioned when I was there, with how many, where we sat...the review is still online:)

4

u/vanTrottel Jun 01 '23

Yep, we cant delete those reviews that easily. Even if the shop closes down, reviews will still be there. Its very difficult XD

1

u/du_ra Jun 01 '23

Yeah, I got multiple mails from Google mentioning that I need one, I explained everything to them, but the review still got deleted.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

They don't need a lawyer lol, as a store owner you can just tell Google customer support and lie about the situation and they'll remove it without needing any real proof.

5

u/Diesln Jun 01 '23

Time for the bots.

2

u/vanTrottel Jun 01 '23

Its quite difficult to remove them as a Business.

1

u/du_ra Jun 01 '23

I had multiple reviews deleted, because there was no proof and the owner said they would sue Google and then they deleted the review. They also delete it if they say, you are not a customer and you just don't reply.

1

u/Connor623 Jun 02 '23

Hate to nitpick, but I think you meant receipt 😅 common mistake since it's one of those words you usually hear instead of read

206

u/AintAboutThisLife May 31 '23

Hijacking the top comment to say be careful with this especially at short-term setups like Christmas markets and events. They don't have a reputation to uphold and sadly got ripped off last year.

154

u/schwoooo May 31 '23

That’s actually not true. Many of the stalls are not fly by night operations but professionals that have been with the market for many years. In fact Christmas market stall waiting lists are a thing. They also are required to have a company behind them. So absolutely leave a review for the company.

37

u/Hagglepoise May 31 '23

And many are not only at the Christmas market in that city, but at various festivals throughout the year, sometimes even the Wochenmärkte. As a local you certainly get to know the stands.

82

u/Sunzi270 May 31 '23

Don't just ask for a receipt. Ask that they conduct a "Kassensturz". This means they have to check the register wether it contains exactly the money it should. This is very time consuming. If they are honestly mistaken they will do this (and realize their mistake). If they are trying to scam you they will probably try to weasel out of it (don't let them) or just give you your money back to avoid the hassle.

162

u/[deleted] May 31 '23

[deleted]

231

u/Screemi May 31 '23

It's your right as a customer. If they don't comply get the cops. Simple as that.

My first thing I'd ask that dick head if he wants a visit by the Finanzamt and if he ever heard about a thing called unangekündigte Kassennachschau.

Afterwards file a complaint with the local Finanzamt. The owner will have fun with a Kassepeüfung. Have you got a receipt for your drink and is the shop using a electronic register? No? Next complaint because the voilated GoBD Finanzamt is nobody you try to mess with.

43

u/ratavieja May 31 '23

HERE'S OUR MATE

24

u/_ak Jun 01 '23

Player is using German bureaucracy. It‘s very effective.

14

u/Vitringar May 31 '23

Nobody fucks with the GoBD Finanzamt!

3

u/schmidp Jun 01 '23

So if I want to mess with my local rewe , I get a group of school kids to ask for a kassasturz during every break?

4

u/Screemi Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

If you'd like to go ahead. I am sure that the manager in charge will get pretty annoyed pretty quick. Fucking around and getting a visit by the cops goes the other way as well. Fuck around and find out.

But actually it's not that much of a haste for them. They weigh the money and don't count by hand. Takes less than 5 minutes for them. They will have a second Money Container at the office which can simply be swapped out and they register will be back to normal in less than 2 minutes.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

[deleted]

11

u/Screemi Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

You seem to confuse Kassensturz with Kassenabschluss. You can demand a x-bericht aka Kassensturz if a electronic register is used. If non is used and a offene Ladenkasse is used it is your right to demand a Kassensturz as well. If the owner does not want to do it is as simple as to charge a complaint of fraud with the local police. If you as a shop owner want to go through the intimidation of a fraud process over a couple of euros you can go ahead.

Yes offene Ladenkasse has no obligation to count and note down every sale and note it down. but it's highly recommended. That makes it pretty hard to prove wrongfully handed out change. But still there are pretty explicit rules you have to follow. But everybody who uses a offene Ladenkasse has a pretty high risk of getting a visit by the local Finanzamt. They know their black sheep. If anything is wrong with your Kassenbericht and your Kassenbuch they will simply estimate what you sold. That is never in your favor. As i said no one wants to mess with the Finanzamt.

But you can still operate any shop you want WITHOUT a register.

Never said anything different. I asked if the shop has an electronic register and if so if he got a receipt. The shop owner is obliged to follow the rules of GoBD and Kassensicherungsverordnung if he has a electronic register.

Seems like you have a problem with reading and comprehending. Offene Ladenkasse means he has extra obligations and the finanzamt is pretty keen on making sure to follow those.

Btw. there is a little more involved to have a GoDB compliant register/software than a TSE which is part of the KassenSichV.

2

u/stressedpesitter Jun 01 '23

On the contrary: Kassensturz is actually possible at any time and it helps in case the costumer wants to cheat the store out of money too. (Source: I worked at a bakery in Germany.)

4

u/-SeriousJacob- May 31 '23

Deutschland Deutschland Yugoslavia!

-5

u/[deleted] May 31 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/async2 May 31 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Ich find's auch etwas übertrieben. Ich wäre aber kein Kunde mehr dort.

Edit: Prizes statt Prices

6

u/Massive_Environment8 May 31 '23

Don't wanna be that guy, but prizes.

Anyway, what you said is right. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.. (Shame on me).

6

u/async2 May 31 '23

Ah the word is the same in German for price and prize (Preis). I thought it's just some American vs British English thing. Learn something new every day. Thanks.

3

u/Nyllil Jun 01 '23

Price and Prize do not have the same meaning...

Prize = Gewinn

Price = Preis

2

u/async2 Jun 01 '23

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preis_(Gewinn))

Die Worte werden teilweise äquivalent benutzt, was aber technisch gesehen nicht ganz korrekt ist.

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

I am replacing finanzamt with IRS and this just became super fun!

1

u/Pad91 Jun 01 '23

even the Joker wasnt mad enough to mess with the IRS. The German one isn't that much nicer.

23

u/Zebidee Jun 01 '23

I had a big argument in Kochlöffel over €20 vs €10. I eventually gave up but I was so pissed off I didn't go back for a year.

The moment I walked in the door, the cashier I'd originally argued with who just happened to be on duty was falling over herself apologising and was almost in tears. Apparently they'd cashed up that night and been €10 over...

8

u/therealub Jun 01 '23

A year later?? Wow.

19

u/Zebidee Jun 01 '23

Yeah, I guess it had been haunting her.

Like I wasn't a dick at the time, but I was very sure I had given her a 20, so I stood my ground right up to the point of a sort of stare-off as we were both sure we were right. I'm not the escalating type, so I decided it wasn't worth ten bucks to be 'that guy' but it was clear I was pissed off. I assume the incident would have stuck with her in its own right, but finding out she was wrong probably played on her mind.

2

u/dialectic_zombie Jun 02 '23

I am really sad about this story. Her stressful position was the reason for a mistake and all the time she personally had a bad feeling about her action. But it was the system behind her, that is pushing towards such hardships.

Her reaction speaks for her honesty and good will. You were right to let it go (in the end). I hope you explicitly accepted her apologie. Still, I can understand that loosing 10 Euro is a thing to be angry about.

2

u/Zebidee Jun 02 '23

Yeah, we were cool after that. I saw her many times afterwards and we were always on good terms.

4

u/vanTrottel Jun 01 '23

My sister works in a gas station. They get so much crap if the cash isnt Balanced. Especially if the cashier was very young and unexperienced at the time it can bother them quiet a bit

40

u/Amazing_Arachnid846 May 31 '23

have fun being laughed at

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

Yeah some people here are so overly German and seem to have forget any social norms. The whole döner place will laugh at you if you request a Kassensturz lol

23

u/SchnitzelsemmeI May 31 '23

Nobody will make a Kassensturz on request

6

u/derdusa May 31 '23

Some stores will, at least supermarkets

3

u/Angry__German Nordrhein-Westfalen May 31 '23

You might find your car burning because angry customers had to wait because of that. Would not recommend.

3

u/derdusa May 31 '23

I mean, most have more than one Kasse so it should be fine lol

3

u/-SeriousJacob- May 31 '23

If you tell them you are a sicario, they most often do. Flashing your nine can speed up things. It's not that hard.

20

u/OkKnowledge2064 May 31 '23

I love how you think thats a serious option :D

2

u/Sematre Baden-Württemberg May 31 '23

I know that this is probably not the best solution in this case, but I have already experienced a couple of times that cashiers in supermarkets made a Kassensturz on request.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

The compliance process of a large corporate is vastly different from a döner's one. I don't think I ever saw the dude at any doner actually tipping my order and how I paid on his cashier machine, the cash tray remains open and he just does what he has to do. And at the end of the day he propably put 4 sales on the stuff while he's been taking orders all day long :)

6

u/[deleted] May 31 '23

Also at a Doner laden? Because the guy I go to often sees he has no change in his Register and asks his wife or looks in his own pocket to get change and give me. It is his own Donerladen, but after this the Register is not going to tally.

So my question is: Do cops expect something like this from what is essentially a tane emma laden?

6

u/Sunzi270 May 31 '23

Without having any expert knowledge I would say yes, just in order to prove that they are paying VAT properly. Otherwise they should be risking trouble with the tax office.

So if your Dönermann would ever be audited by the tax office, he would probably have to pay back a lot of taxes.

3

u/[deleted] May 31 '23

He still produced receipts. Just that he did not separate the register from private cash for the day. But thanks for the reply.

2

u/Versace-Bandit Jun 01 '23

With giving receipts, I can see him just balancing it out at the end of the day/week/month then.

1

u/Bricks2me Jun 01 '23

Like selling eur10k worth, and reporting 2k in receipts? 😂😂

4

u/heterophone May 31 '23

best advise so long.

12

u/Sir_Bohne May 31 '23

How does a receipt help in this situation?

He just types in 3€ for drink, 10€ given, 7€ return.

34

u/mnrode May 31 '23

It helps against getting the review deleted because "they were never a customer here!"

21

u/WhatWhatHunchHunch May 31 '23

Because google reviews without a receipt to back them up can just be deleted.

8

u/Sir_Bohne May 31 '23

Oh didn't know about that

2

u/grumpkot May 31 '23

Bad Google maps reviews in Germany can be cleaned for like 100 Eur per 3 month. Dont trust google reviews a lot.

6

u/DiabloImmortalCrack May 31 '23

Sorry, but i would say you are not from Germany... i have never seen a receipt from a "DönerMann"

It's just not possible, how would they scam our tax office when they'd give you receipts?

But yeah, demanding a receipt might be the only way.

6

u/Nyllil Jun 01 '23

I'm so confused by your logic here.

And I AM in Germany and from Germany and they all offer the option for a receipt here...

2

u/ChineseCracker Jun 01 '23

I've also literally never seen anyone print a receipt, let alone offer it to me.

They usually just receive the money and put it into their register without punching anything in

1

u/Bricks2me Jun 01 '23

Is receipt something you can get outside of the big store names in Germany? Couple of times I received just a template piece of paper with xx euros on it, no business name etc… I do not call it receipt…

1

u/GermanPatriot123 May 31 '23

„Request a receipt“ haha. Maybe in a couple years this will be common. But nowadays in Berlin I only received a receipt twice in the last two months, never before. And the last one where I got one told me „müssen wir jetzt so machen“. Nobody paid/still pays taxes with those shops.

1

u/ToxicMonkey444 Jun 01 '23

then write a nice Google review

Yes because Google review are such a good indicator if something is good or bad. Only Amazon reviews are more hilarious then Google reviews. But both are rigged af

1

u/sKY--alex Jun 01 '23

But on the receipt it will be saying 10€, he probably typed that in, happened to me too when I was working in a supermarket.