We are from the USA and are on a 2+ week vacation around Europe.
On Sunday, October 19, while traveling from Offenburg to Cologne on the Deutsche Bahn ICE 200 , my wife accidentally left her phone on the train as we departed at the Cologne Station.
We immediately realized our error, but the train had already departed.
We called the phone and another passenger answered. He said he would give the phone to train employee.
We got online and created a lost item report K2025/***** (Number hidden by moderation). We put the phone into lost mode, and put instructions on the screen to call my working phone.
With find my iPhone, we watched as the phone ultimately traveled to Hamburg.
Since then, nothing has happend. The phone sat in the same location for 3 days, until the battery died.
We tried calling the lost+found number for Deutsche Bahn, but they hang up on us. “We can’t help”.
Now, my lost item report https://db.novafind.eu/home/db/DB/app/lossrecords/K2025_246544?accessToken=JLZKFKKBCDCR2BBDBH223B4T2AISXBMLU46NDMBQF64SDKHSGBMLHJLFI6GJ5DXA&culture=en is saying that report with that number does not exist.
We spoke with the local employees at the Cologne station, and they could do nothing for us. They gave us a phone number to call for Hamburg, but it is just an automated message, and no live person ever answers.
As silly as this sounds, at this point, it actively feels like Deutsche Bahn is trying to steal our phone. I understand they don’t care, but good grief, this level of indifference has turned me off from Germany.
Do we have any recourse at this point?
- For reference these are the phone numbers we have been calling:
+49 30 586020909 - They hang up on us
+49 30 39182857 - Hamburg office with just an automated message
