Deutsche Bahn AG Reviews 5,257

Every single train was late and the backup trains to those trains were late as well. The app also indicated the wrong platform for the trains we wanted to take. Trains would also be stopped halfway through a journey for repairs.

I bought tickets for an international journey, entirely served by DB using int.bahn.de.

Four weeks after the purchase, I received an email saying that "your journey is no longer possible due to timetable changes, please find an alternative". Well, the only problem was that there were no alternatives (well, there was one possible journey that would take 34h instead of 14h I initially booked and with only 6 minutes change time in Berlin Hbf - wouldn't call that a viable alternative). Oh, and I'm supposed to either give up my paid seat reservations for me and my kids and hope for the best or pay for new seat reservations.

So I've been trying to reach out to DB in various ways, sending emails to all customer supports I could find as well as using the online form on DB's website. At least I demand a full refund - even though DB really should take the costs for getting us from point A to B, since that's the service they supposedly sold me.

Now, after 5 weeks of contact attempts, I have still not received any response. This is really incredible, but goes well with the other reviews I saw here.

So, whatever you do: avoid Deutsche Bahn at all costs. Get a car. Go by plane. Use a bike. Walk. Just don't give your money to this scam company that ignores its paid customers.

I used to take the train to work daily now I cycle the 20km and 700m climb because it's quicker than deutschebahn, the trains are constantly late if the come at all. Unfortunately very very unreliable.
If this was a private company without taxpayer assistance they would have folded long ago.

It not only got my drink orders wrong because there were no English speaking employees, there conductor was very rude and made us leave behind 2 group members of our EF tour, not to even mention that they were LATE! And it was completely disrespectful, I may like trains but I’m not riding with them any time soon, or at all!

Worst decicion to Take a Train in Germany. Buy a car.

I have been travelling for work by train in Germany for two months now. NONE of the trains I travelled on was on time. I am currently on an ICE from Vienna to Berlin which is 46-minute late and I still have 3 hours of travel in front of me, so only god knows how much more delay we will accumulate. A shameful service.

Truly appalling service.
My train was over an hour late so I claimed compensation (only possible with a written form).
The refund system is totally dysfunctional, as is the 'help line'.

Expensive, always delays, rude staff (especially the one from Frankfurt Main station).

I had a bug in the app where I could not use my Deutschlandticket, so I bought the ticket elsewhere (can recommend MVV). DB kept charging me for that month as well as the following month, even though the ticket was not available for me? And now I have to deal with their horrible debt collector. Joke of a company (this plus daily delays), and half the people you talk to are grumpy sods working for them. Saftladen.

If I could I’d rate the service at minus 100! Where do I even begin..

We took our trip from Basel to Leipzig and of course we all know they are always super late (to Leipzig was about 40 min and back from Leipzig more than an hour!). The toilets are filthy and there are barely any seats available. I already paid for my ticket and expect for the trains to at least no be overfilled, why tf do I need to pay extra just to have a guranteed seat? Out of the 8.5h trip we found a free space for maybe 1 hour so we resorted to sitting on the floor (by the door, and made sure to get up each time the train stops) the conductor told us we are not allowed to sit and have to stand (MY A*SS).

We even got shouted at by a different conductor and kicked out because we took a short cigarette break while the train was waiting and a friend of mine held the door open for me for 30 sec max.!

This is the WORST experience I EVER had with any train service and judging by the other reviews our nightmare is not even comparable to theirs.

Im glad we decided to take the train bsck home couple hours earlier because it turns out, surprise surprise, we would’ve ended up stranded in Mannheim due to 2h delay. What a disgrace. You plan a trip to Germany and cannot enjoy it to the full extent because you have to plan one full day just to travel by train. I will never talk smack about SBB ever again lol, feels good to be home.

Very bad company, rude people, all the time delay and and….
Today I had important appointments, we stay for hours in the train, they give us several reasons for it but we don’t know exactly what’s happening, they don’t have the food shop opened, water just a bit, internet ist not working so we can’t do the meetings online…
it was supposed to be about 3 hours drive, and we stay more than 7 hours in this train.
Why are you guys doing this to us?
So sad …
Over and over again..

Never ever use the trains ever! Get a car, use a taxi or even walk, you'd still get there earlier. Missed flights because the trains are never on time, get cancelled last minute or simply just stop in the middle of the journey for no reason. Trying to get money back for cancelled trains costs more than it's worth due to postage charges. NEVER EVER EVER USE THESE, DON'T EVEN GO TO GERMANY AT ALL IF YOU CAN'T RENT A CAR!

Our train arrived 30 minutes late, there were almost no seats available, so people had to seat on the floor for 3,5 hours. And all of this for 40 euro ticket price per person + 5,50 euro ticket for our dog. Terrible service, DB employees not even trying to help you find a seat. Would not recommend to anyone.

At this rate DB should fire all the top officials and striking workers. Worst company and worst workers, who all think they are entitled. Worst train system i hv ever seen.

An hour's wait EVERY time you call the helpline is just unacceptable. I bokked a ticket with one of the DB staff who told me I would receive the ticket by email within an hour. No ticket/email and hour later but a pending charge to my credit card. Called back (only answered after an hours wait) and the representative cut me off within 3 minutes.
Called back following day and had 2 phones concurrently waiting - one was answered after over 1.5h! Just to get a ticket I had paid for I wasted nearly 5h of my life

This has to be the biggest joke of a company and customer ever has had to deal with. Trains are always full to the brim and the delay is to be expected at this point. I have never experienced worse service in my life. Even the workers are unpleasant, there isn’t a single good word about db. But good to know that this monopoly of trains gives the money to the higher positions instead of fixing literally anything. A true comical joke this company.

They’re charging 22€ for a trip Munich-Augsburg 50km (22mins long) and the train is late for 25 mins… Isn’t this too terrible? The trains are supposed to come often, every 20 mins, but in fact no train came in 40 mins… We have business trips, meetings at an exact time, but you can never be sure if you can make it or not…
All trains are always late!!!

Boiling hot train, reserved seats for everyone but there’s still people standing. There’s no room for luggage. The train staff just walked through the train mumbling to themselves without offering and help to anyone. I would say this is a one off but I’d be lying. Thanks for charging me an arm and a leg to stand between Utrecht and Cologne. We must do it again some time.

I have been living in three other countries before coming to Germany but i have never before faced such incompetent, unfriendly and arrogant staff. I went to ask for advice as people are coming to visit me from USA. Not only the employee could speak only German, but he couldn’t give me any useful advice on what ticket was best for them. The conclusion was: “use the online app”. Not to mention, that his tone was like i was bothering him with my request. This is my second contact with DB since three years that i live in Germany and unfortunately the expérience has not improved. I find it deceiving that even after so many bad reviews (93% rating their expérience with 1 star), no changes are made…

It’s crazy train. I went to wash room and the ticket checker put my bag on platform.