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Trainline


Country United Kingdom
State England
Website https://www.trainline.eu/

Trainline Reviews

  • Aug 17, 2022

Beware of this third-party vendor (T-PV), Trainline (a/k/a/ "trainline.com," purportedly a legitimate rail ticket vendor for British and European rails, including Eurostar which Americans should have no problems buying from directly).

Unfortunately (and I've encountered this more than once), some U.K. websites have difficulty with U.S. zip codes, and for convenience and a small fee, it's tempting to resort to a T-PV like "Trainline." I used a credit card online to buy a return (roundtrip) fare for an overnight trip (out June 24th), instead of booking directly with Great Western Rail (GWR), which I could have done in person while in London, but I would have missed the advance purchase price.

GWR allows passengers to pick up the paper tickets at kiosks and some stations by using a code and the credit card involved, instead of having tickets emailed or mailed (postal dispatch is not offered for Transatlantic addresses or is cost prohibitive). Trainline's customers may also pick up their GWR tickets in-person also.

As an American on holiday with limited time and unfamiliar with the area, I was caught-up with thousands of others in a rail strike that cancelled my train! I picked up my tickets at Paddington Station over a week before the day of travel en route to Brussels, but misplaced my tickets by the time I returned home, and in the interim I was preoccupied with getting bus tickets (leaving from a station I could reach by foot, to more or less keep my original schedule).

In Trainline's favor, they emailed me that my trip was canceled at the beginning of the week in question, as it was a big story days before the strike occurred. Additionally, Trainline included an application one could click in their message which stated I could reschedule or get a refund without additional charges (emphasis added).

I waited a few days, during which I got bus tickets, before responding to Trainline to simply cancel before the departure date, presumably for a charge back to my credit card; and Trainline's email offered a link to use to cancel; but despite starting simply enough with a few questions - the final step, on small print read, "Your refund will occur in 5 to 7 days after return of collected tickets."

Furthermore, the tickets had to be returned to an address in Scotland, with the suggestion they be dispatched by tracked delivery. Such additional steps would require finding a post office, queuing to pay about $10.00 in postage (for tickets that cost around $75.00) and doing all of that before going home.

If one could still find the useless tickets; presumably they were useless because not just the outgoing leg, but the return, portion of the journey was cancelled; and the original email from Trainline, notifying ticket holders stated that they (Trainline) themselves were informed by GWR that the trains were cancelled; but despite that admission, Trainline still required customers to perform additional burdensome steps of returning paper tickets (for what reason other than to hinder making refunds?)!

Undoubtedly many customers with low-cost tickets just forgot the whole thing and Trainline would have gotten away with a "fast one," through their automated "customer service" with unreasonable procedures. This seems to be a common practice with retailers who require faulty products be returned to a location other than where purchased, via insured certified delivery, and/or in the original packaging (after numerous phone calls and emails or letters to various departments) in hopes customers just give up.

Trainline's original emailed notification instructed ticket holders to click on the link to an app to get a refund, or reschedule, at no extra charge (emphasis added). However, returning tickets is in fact a charge; and finally after successfully finding an email address to indicate my displeasure with their procedures, and asking for proof that "requirement" was part of the contract; nevertheless, all I received was an email with a link that repeats tickets must be returned.

As of this writing I am still awaiting the final outcome of a dispute through my credit card issuer, filed upon my return home in July (2022). In closing, modern business practices seem to blur the line between (intentionally?) poor customer service and fraud. Hopefully, my experience can alert other travelers about Trainline's customer service.

P.S. - Travel insurance also requires you to return the tickets for a refund; but it's common knowledge that returned tickets or merchandise is claimed to never have been received (even when delivery verification is used), at minimum returning tickets seems to be a tactic to drag out the refund procedure; and the frequency of similar incidents may be less of a common inconvenience and more of an anatomy of consumer fraud.

Naturally, many T-PVs will try to deflect that charge by claiming they need the actual tickets to prevent fraud (in a brash turn of the table over who's actually committing the fraud!).

  • Jan 8, 2018

I booked two train tickets from Paris to Brussels. Trainline did not send email confirmation, sms confirmation of tickets. Plus, if you can able to reach their customer service, they can not find your information too. If you want to file a complaint they respond in four days.

Here comes the good part they easily accept your 200 euros and refuse to refund.

Instead you have to spend another extra 200 to get new tickets from elsewhere. It is such a scam that, this day and age they really think they can get away with it.

Overall awful service never, ever use when you are traveling. Avoid it all costs.

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