All Schengen countries are equal, but some think they are more equal than others

By far the worst visa-application experience I've had in my 60-country travel history. Traveling with a South -African passport is not always easy, but my last two Schengen visas were both 2-year valid multiple entry visas, obtained from either the Italian of French embassy, as they are reasonable and can see from my passport that I travel often and responsibly. It took three visits, one of them lasting 5 hours and the other two 1 hour and 3 hours, for Visametric, the German visa representatives in London, to give me a 6 day Schengen visa for a university trip. I arrived, as always with all the right paperwork, and then it started: we don't accept your letter from the university, it has to have a fresh stamp and signature; we don't accept your travel insurance, it has to be German or UK; we don't accept your banking statements, they have to be German or UK and on and on and on. I lost count of how many times I heard one of the consultants tell a customer: "Oh maybe for other Schengen countries but not for Germany". I've got 30 years of travelling experience in 60 countries. I had two of my passports right there, showing my last two 2 year valid multiple-entry Schengen visas as well as my 10 year USA visa. But I was sent out into the cold, like most of the other customers, to return and to return again with meaningless paperwork. It was a frustrating and humiliating experience and one cannot help but feel that that was the intended purpose. Avoid this experience at all costs. Go and get your Schengen visa elsewhere and then go to Germany if you want.