Please help - trainline.com

[Stoja]

Wondering if anyone can advise or help me with a problem I'm having with the TrainLine.com company...

I ordered some tickets on Friday 18th July and input my correct address into the delivery details as my old address was already stored in there. However, the tickets were sent to the wrong address and on checking with the current occupier were sent back to thetrainline on Monday 21st July. I would like to either get these tickets back (which is preferable as the travel date is Saturday) to the correct address or to my local Train Station so I can pick them up; alternatively receive a refund so I can purchase a further set of tickets.

I've phoned them and sent emails and have been told I can do nothing except buy another set of tickets. However, given the proximity to the travel date I expect these will be more expensive, and I'd have to pay the exhorbitant rates for delivery as they now won't post first class!

Given that I haven't actually recieved the tickets due to an error with their website, is there anything I can do? I can't get hold of a phone number to speak to anyone except in an offshore call centre and poor things, they can't really do anything to help me.

Any advice gratefully received - especially around the refund question as I imagine I'm going to have to buy a new set of tickets if I want to go anywhere this weekend!

[Goldlady]

Assuming that you do get the original tickets eventually you should be OK to get a refund. Is the person at your old address OK to forward them on?

I had a problem with tickets a while back and managed to get a full refund at the station after showing they had never been used.

[JrnyFan4Life]

If the tickets were sent to the wrong address, then duplicate tickets can and should be issued to be picked up from the station, provided the station in question has ToD (Ticket on Departure) facilities, but then again I avoid trainline.com at all costs given the fact they charge you for every method of delivery available, including FastTicket collection!

[Stoja]

Hi - thanks for your help!

The person at my old address sent the tickets back to the originating address with a 'not known here' label (despite my having left a forwarding address - hey ho!) so no luck there. Just waiting now for the trainline to get back to me replying to my email on Tuesday - as yet no response!
As I stated in my email to them, having heard nothing back in 24 hours from the initial email I've had to purchase an additional set of tickets (from a different company this time - not making THAT mistake again!) so I can travel this weekend - so now I just want the money back from them.

Can't believe they can get away with this - its like a licence to print money!!!

[JrnyFan4Life]

I understand your frustration, I work for NXEC and the Trainline hate us for some reason, every time someone buys a ticket for travel on our trains they refuse to have anything to do with it, and I'm also sorry to admit that I used to work for Trainline aswell. They should give you a full refund without the admin fee for what's happend, but whether they will or not is a different matter.

[Stoja]

Guess all there is to do is wait for someone to get back to me and when/if they do state all this to them again.

Thank you for your help as well! Good to know that I SHOULD be getting the money back, even if it takes a while and they try to say not!

[T150662]

Virgin trains were running trainline perfectly well, as were National Express, their partners. They owned thetrainline. It sold tickets, cheaply, from A to B all over the country. In 2006 a collection of chair/suited/smug hybrids bought trainline.
This is them.
WX3 DOT exponentpe DOT com SLASH theteam SLASH default ASP
Since then they’ve started charging £1 to post the tickets, £2.50 to pay by credit card, 50p by debit card and 50p to pick them up yourself from the station ???????
Fair enough these leeches want to earn a quid for their investment but train line was earning plenty when they bought it. They wanted more, much more.
I bought two tickets for my daughter and her friend. I went all through the stages and pressed confirm. The screen froze. I checked my email. No confirmation. I rebooked the two journeys. Checked my email. I have two confirmations of the same journey, for the same two people at the same time.
By all means check their website for instructions. I phoned India. They couldn’t cancel my tickets because the information had already been sent to the train companies AND apparently the DELIVERY can’t possibly be stopped. I have to wait until I get the tickets send them back to a PO Box number in Edinburgh. Then they’ll decide if I get a refund and if I do I’ll have to pay £10 for the privilege.
I wrote to Edinburgh ( including tickets, emails etc.) by recorded delivery. No reply. Three weeks nothing. On their website ‘In the unlikely event…blah…blah..unable to resolve your complaint….’ Then write to
“ “ “CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGER” “ “ -no number or address. A PO Box number a couple of yards from the last lot. This man or woman will,he claims, even it takes his last breath contact me within 10 days. I sent it on the 29th September, it was signed for on the 1st October.
11th October no refund in my account, no email, no letter. Not even a crap excuse. Geeked the net and found out the next faceless contact was the actual train company in who’s name the tickets were supplied for.
First Great Western. In their website, written in the first person (I, we will, CONTACT ME), Glenda Lamont invited me, when all else fails to contact her. There’s seven pages explaining how fantastic her and her backroom staff would do everything possible to sort out the satanic-like bad, bad thing that I had been subjected to in the name of train line, who sell thousands of their tickets
RESPONSE time to a letter that Glenda Lamont receives is 5 days. It was signed for on 12th September. Which brings me to today. Nothing from anyone. The amount in question was £28.50. Anyone that knows me knows that £28.50 is not the point.
The point is these people that actually have a page on their site where their victims can view them stealing their money.
It’s not the money. Google thetrainline + refund + problem. There’s hundreds of people who’ve lost more than me and can’t afford it.
In this age of massive companies going bust, send this email to everyone you know and blacklist the train line. Look at those charming people in their seventies chairs, slimy suits and their look that says ‘we won’t just earn our money, we’ll actually steal it from you’.
Not one word of this is a lie, I have the signatures and have downloaded the lies from their websites. They may well remove them but I have the originals. How great would it be to take down Exponent -private equity for the sum £28.50.

[Esio Trot]

Originally Posted by T150662

Virgin trains were running trainline perfectly well, as were National Express, their partners. They owned thetrainline. It sold tickets, cheaply, from A to B all over the country. In 2006 a collection of chair/suited/smug hybrids bought trainline.
This is them.
WX3 DOT exponentpe DOT com SLASH theteam SLASH default ASP
Since then they’ve started charging £1 to post the tickets, £2.50 to pay by credit card, 50p by debit card and 50p to pick them up yourself from the station ???????

Most interesting.

I too noticed earlier this year the additional charges. I refused to pay, and walked down to my local station and paid the flat fare with no extras.

As of this evening I have now also "un-subscribed" from their site.

Does anyone know is there is any other on-line facility other than trainline that does routes and tickets?

[barracad]

Originally Posted by Esio Trot

Does anyone know is there is any other on-line facility other than trainline that does routes and tickets?

If you use the National Rail site to search for your journey, it gives you all the available options and then when you've selected the tickets and fare you want, it will give you a link to purchase directly from the train operator (e.g. Virgin, Arriva, etc); or to use a third party site such as Raileasy or thetrainline

[Spiceskull]

Originally Posted by barracad

If you use the National Rail site to search for your journey, it gives you all the available options and then when you've selected the tickets and fare you want, it will give you a link to purchase directly from the train operator (e.g. Virgin, Arriva, etc); or to use a third party site such as Raileasy or thetrainline

Strangely not the case. At Easter I went up to London to collect Jake, and we have FGW down this neck of the woods. I logged onto FGW (where I am registered) ordered tickets, and they were posted to me, free, because I chose bog standard delivery.

This summer, when going to get Liam, I went through the same process again, only when it came time to pay I was redirected to Trainline. Yes, it cost £1.50 for the delivery by post, but in all fairness the tickets turned up two days later without any problems.

I needed to book the tickets when I did, but for future reference I will get off my fat butt, walk half a mile to the station, get some exercise, save myself £1.50 and get the tickets immediately...my biggest gripe is that I was not able to buy direct from the operator...

[barracad]

Will FGW let you buy over the phone, or will that also divert you to a third party reseller?

As an aside, this page gives useful contact details for all operators.

[Spiceskull]

Originally Posted by barracad

Will FGW let you buy over the phone, or will that also divert you to a third party reseller?

That I don't know...I am merely relating my web-based experience...being thetrainline.com I guess they only operate online...easy pickings, plenty of subjective excuses for confusing people...you know the stuff, stuff we deal with every day now...one day, somewhere, some company is going to come along with impeccable morals and ethics...I just hope and pray that they are not a rice salad conglomerate...and suddenly business will change forever...I did think that this was going to be Google, but it seems that every company succumbs to the greenback whore eventually...

[Hungrydoug]

I usually buy my tickets from the NXEC site as they don't charge any additional fees. Any TOC's website should sell you the tickets you need but check that a) they don;t charge fees and b) it isn't just a front for the trainline.

I also think that NXEC has the best ticket selection interface, but that's just me.

[flora leeman]

The trainline, I believe, are trying to screw the consumer. I've had awful service, ignored emails, non returned phone calls, blatant lies (one call centre manager told me my bank statement had not been recieved, when I asked how they had managed to refund the wrong amount into my account without my details, he stumbled then admitted they had recieved it. miraculous!) My advice is to email rob.lewis@thetrainline.co m or try writing to Trainline.com Limited
Abbey House,
83 Princes Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 2ER.

and threaten small claims court action. This costs £30 if you have to go through with the court claim but my bet is they will suddenly find all your details and refund the amount immediatly. And do not accept the £10 charge. It is completely invalid if it is their cock up in the first place. I'd like to charge them an admin fee for the blinkin hours i've spent on hold on my phone bill.

PS. Refund questers: Please do not let this massive corporation intimidate you into backing down your rightful claim for your money back.

[JrnyFan4Life]

Originally Posted by flora leeman

The trainline, I believe, are trying to screw the consumer. I've had awful service, ignored emails, non returned phone calls, blatant lies (one call centre manager told me my bank statement had not been recieved, when I asked how they had managed to refund the wrong amount into my account without my details, he stumbled then admitted they had recieved it. miraculous!) My advice is to email rob.lewis@thetrainline.co m or try writing to Trainline.com Limited
Abbey House,
83 Princes Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 2ER.

and threaten small claims court action. This costs £30 if you have to go through with the court claim but my bet is they will suddenly find all your details and refund the amount immediatly. And do not accept the £10 charge. It is completely invalid if it is their cock up in the first place. I'd like to charge them an admin fee for the blinkin hours i've spent on hold on my phone bill.

PS. Refund questers: Please do not let this massive corporation intimidate you into backing down your rightful claim for your money back.

I know Rob Lewis very well from when Trainline was based in Newcastle, he's a good bloke and is the one person you should aim to get hold of if anyone else is having problems with them.

[greenmg]

I've had similar experiences to those above. Last year an email to Rob Lewis sorted it out with a £10 bonus for weeks of trouble. I don't know if he's been leant on but this time the approach didn't work.
I had tried to buy tickets, but as with the poster above the process didn't complete. I eventually rebooted, but this time it wouldn't let me use a debit card. So I had to use a credit card - kerching, an extra £2.50. The train was subsequently cancelled, so I didn't travel (apart from the 23 mile drive to/from the station to no avail). I claimed a refund and was told it would be paid in full.... but when it came, they'd kept the booking fee. I took this up with the train company who said it was the trainline's responsibility and they this sort of thing was happening all the time. The trainline refused ro refund. Then they stopped replying. Then the punchline.... despite no confirmation email, it turned out the initial failed purchase had been charged to my debit card. They refunded it eventually, but kept a £1. That's £3.50 for nothing. Nice work.
I refused to give in and despite no response to numerous emails threatened to take them to court for being in breach of consumer law. The £3.50 was refunded within the hour. The moral is this: they are in the wrong. Don't back down, threaten legal action even if over as little as a pound. They cannot be allowed to win.