Sammy, sorry you went through such a horrible experience and glad you finally managed to get a somewhat satisfactory resolution. You showed amazing patience and frankly I'm surprised it worked so well. I just wouldn't have been able to do it. Had it been me, I'd have probably started threatening with an all out media/internet campaign about my situation and escalated the issue at a much faster pace -- which would have probably ended with me leaving messages to the CEO in Stuttgard within a couple of weeks.
"Let me talk to your manager" is golden.
Hope the repair goes well.
Z.