If a company is breaking laws/regulations in one way, can you trust them not to be delivering an inferior product over all? I’d like to hear stories of other people’s experiences in Germany.

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Here is my specific situation:

I am pregnant and looking for a birthing class in English. I found this course:

[https://www.pippagina.com/](https://www.pippagina.com/)

Which shows the price as **80 Euro**.

I got an invoice from the company for **€95.20** because their advertised price doesn’t include VAT.

My German husband was furious because it breaks this law/regulation (the price must be declared including VAT):

[https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pangv\_2022/BJNR492110021.html](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pangv_2022/BJNR492110021.html)

I informed the company, and they made it clear in writing that they do not care about the German law/regulation despite being based in Munich.

\–It makes me wonder, if a company doesn’t care about the legal side of running a business, will they care about the technical quality of their course?

\–How often does this kind of thing happen?

5 comments

  1. Are you sure this company even exists? A German company listing their address as Munchen? No imprint which is legally required. If this was a store I‘d say it‘s a scam page.

  2. Well, that particular “company” is basically a woman who first started teaching these classes in the US, and so is probably used to dealing with sales tax, which is not the same as VAT. She’s also British by birth, and it’s possible the laws there are slightly different.

    To be slightly fair, the price is quoted as “€80 + VAT”, but of course that’s not enough to satisfy German law. Another thing that stands out is the lack of a proper “Impressum”, with only a postal address and e-mail address given but no phone number (the bare minimum required, even if the business is small enough not to need any other details).

    This doesn’t necessarily mean the course itself is bad or fraudulant, but it might mean that the person running it hasn’t taken the proper legal advice and assumes (incorrectly) that being simply a former midwife giving advice on a one-on-one basis to expectant mothers means she’s not subject to the same rules and regulations as a “real” business.

  3. >The Mother’s class fee is paid for by her Health Insurance. The partners fee is 80 Euros + VAT and is paid at booking.

  4. >
    >Here is my specific situation:
    >
    >I am pregnant and looking for a birthing class in English. I found this course:

    Are you located in Germany (or EU)?

    >–How often does this kind of thing happen?

    Very rarely.

  5. Looks like the site is managed by a uk webdesign company. Someone might want to tell them that their client faces both actual fines for not having a proper imprint and cease and desist notices with attached fees for the same infraction.

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