I Came to Germany Believing Consumer Protection Was Strong. Then I Met Conny.
When I moved to Germany, everyone told me the same thing: don’t worry, consumers are well protected here.
I believed it. I don’t anymore.
It started with a Facebook ad
Like a lot of expats, I saw one of Conny’s rent reduction ads. Reduce your rent, no upfront cost. I filled in a short form — address, apartment size, rent. Took maybe two minutes. Nothing about it felt like hiring a law firm.
They sent me an email. I didn’t reply to it.
A few days later they called me. Because I hadn’t replied.
The guy on the phone was friendly. He explained the service. No upfront costs, no financial risk, and if I wanted to go ahead, I just had to reply “OK” to the email.
So I did. I replied OK.
Nobody on that call said: by replying OK you are entering a legally binding contract, and if you stop cooperating later, we may claim thousands of euros from you. Nobody said anything close to that. Maybe it was written in one of the attached PDFs. Honestly, I don’t know, because like every normal person on this planet, I did not open a PDF full of German legal text after clicking a Facebook ad. The salesperson had plenty of time to explain the benefits. The consequences didn’t come up.
Then they wanted a Power of Attorney
Some time later, Conny asked me to sign a Vollmacht.
I said no.
Not to be difficult. Germany already taught me this lesson once — years ago a gym contract cost me a fortune, and since then I simply don’t sign legal documents I don’t fully understand. I thought that’s what a careful consumer is supposed to do.
So I told them I didn’t want to continue.
The answer was a number: around €2,700 that I could owe for “not cooperating.”
Read that again. A Facebook ad. A phone call. A two-letter reply. €2,700.
So I went to the consumer rights office
This is the part I really need you to understand, because this is where I lost my faith in the system.
I went to the consumer protection office. I explained everything. And they told me they couldn’t help me — because Conny is a legal company. They said they’re not allowed to give advice in a case against a legal services company.
Let that sink in. The consumer protection office cannot protect you from a company, specifically because that company is made of lawyers.
So the one type of company you’d most need protection from — one that knows every rule, writes contracts for a living, and can take you to court without breaking a sweat — is exactly the type of company the consumer office won’t touch. If that’s not a loophole, I don’t know what is.
Fine, I thought. I’ll get my own lawyer then.
First consultation: around €400 for one hour. No guarantee of anything. Imagine paying €400 just to possibly hear “you have to comply anyway.” I don’t have legal insurance. Every attempt to understand my rights was itself a financial risk.
So I gave up.
I signed their documents. I sent what they wanted. Not because I agreed. Because I did the math and I couldn’t afford to keep fighting. That’s it. That’s the whole reason.
Then my inbox filled up
After I first mentioned this publicly, people started writing to me.
Expats. Students. People who’d just arrived in Germany. Same story every time, almost word for word. The ad. The friendly call. The “OK.” And months later, a letter with a four-figure number in it. Some of them were in full panic when they messaged me. Some had already paid, just to make the stress stop.
Every single person who wrote to me was a foreigner. Every one.
Make of that what you want. I know what I make of it. The ads are in English. The calls are in English. The whole thing is one effortless “OK” — offered to people who have no way of recognizing a German legal contract when it doesn’t look like one. If that’s an accident, it’s a very profitable accident.
Maybe all of it is legal. That’s exactly the problem.
I still don’t know if Conny broke any rule. I’m not a lawyer, and as we’ve established, I can’t afford one.
But if everything that happened to me — and to all the people who wrote to me — is 100% legal, then something is deeply wrong with what “legal” covers here.
A contract worth thousands, formed by replying OK after a sales call? Legal, apparently. Refusing to sign a Vollmacht and getting hit with €2,700? Legal, apparently. The consumer office turning you away because the other side is a law firm? Also legal. Apparently.
I don’t think Germany designed this on purpose. But the result is the same as if it did: the side with the lawyers wins, and the side with the Facebook account pays.
If you’re an expat, please learn from my expensive lesson
An email reply is a contract here. A friendly phone call is a sales funnel into one. “No financial risk” describes how it starts, not how it ends.
Before you agree to anything — ask in writing: what exactly am I committing to, and what happens if I want to stop? If the answer is vague, the vagueness is the answer.
And if this already happened to you: you’re not stupid, and you’re not alone. My inbox is proof of that.
This is my personal experience, plus what dozens of people have written to me about theirs. I’m not making any claims about what’s legal or illegal — finding that out costs €400 an hour.