thetrainline.com

Claire_Bear

Hi all, this happened to me a while ago but I still thought I would warn people about using thetrainline.com to check train timetables.

Me and my boyfriend had been out in Newcastle for New Years, and were planning on taking the train to Thornaby on New Years Day so we could go and eat dinner at my parent's house. We checked thetrainline which told us we could get a train to Darlington, and then change for the train to Thornaby. So we got the train to Darlington alright, but when we got there, there was no information on the connecting train to be seen on any of the departures board. We asked a guard what was going on and he said there was absolutely no trains going to Thornaby that day, even though trainline had said there was quite a few! He said never to use them as they don't get their information directly from the train companies, and they are notoriously bad for giving out wrong information. He said always use nationalrail to check timetables as they are always correct and up to date.

dacouch

The Trainline have a bad reputation for bad information, tickets not being at the station, charging fees etc.

I personally use them to find train routes / times, from this it tells you the train operator and I can then go onto the train operators site to check the information. You can then buy the tickets from the train operator without a fee and if anything goes wrong its the train company that need to sort it out

becky170

I've used thetrainline.com for years without any problems. They have started charging more fees recently, but it saves me the hassle of going to the train station to buy the tickets. I always get them sent to me at home and they have always arrived the next day. I do tend to re-check my train time before I travel on national rail (to see whether there are rail works which mean I have to get a bus) ans sometimes the train times may have changed by a minute or two but nothing major.

dally1

I'm really surprised to hear the trainline has a reputation for not having the correct information. I've also used them for years, and we always use them at work when people need to travel around the country - never any problems. As the previous poster said always double check times just before travel as they can vary by a few minutes either way - but this can happen with any form of transport, I've known plane times to change as well.

Claire_Bear

I've not had experience with them for buying tickets or whatever, but when I told the guard we used thetrainline to check for times he gave me an 'oh dear' look and said loads of people complain to him about times being wrong. Before this happened I'd used them to check times quite a lot as well, but will be using nationalrail from now on as I know they'll always be accurate. Because it was New Year I'm guessing it was more likely to have problems, but there was a list of about 10 different trains that day when in fact none of them existed. You think they'd check before just putting stuff online, I'm sure we won't have been the only people to be stranded that day

melorablack

We used them to get from Liverpool to Derby - we had to change 3 times and there weren't any problems.

jamespir

Claire_Bear wrote: »

Hi all, this happened to me a while ago but I still thought I would warn people about using thetrainline.com to check train timetables.

Me and my boyfriend had been out in Newcastle for New Years, and were planning on taking the train to Thornaby on New Years Day so we could go and eat dinner at my parent's house. We checked thetrainline which told us we could get a train to Darlington, and then change for the train to Thornaby. So we got the train to Darlington alright, but when we got there, there was no information on the connecting train to be seen on any of the departures board. We asked a guard what was going on and he said there was absolutely no trains going to Thornaby that day, even though trainline had said there was quite a few! He said never to use them as they don't get their information directly from the train companies, and they are notoriously bad for giving out wrong information. He said always use nationalrail to check timetables as they are always correct and up to date.

new years day was 7 months ago so what do you expect ive used trainline for years there the best service ever

Claire_Bear

I don't get what you mean? I just signed up to the site recently which is why I didn't say anything at the time. I don't expect anything :P Just thought I'd warn people to use national rail instead for checking times as according to someone who worked in the station trainline are well known for getting times wrong.

glider3560

Why do people use thetrainline.com? If you go to a train company's website, e.g. First Great Western, they have a branded version of thetrainline.com that doesn't make any charges. Also, NXEC and Southern's booking engines are easier to use.

melorablack

If you don't know the area you aren't going to know what the local train services are called, never mind when, where and how to get there.

Littlehelper_3

Hi everyone. Online rail retailing websites access the same journey information database, so this means that the same journey information will be displayed on thetrainline.com, National Rail Enquiries, First Great Western, NECX etc. So I can't see how thetrainline can be accused of providing incorrect journey information, especially as they operate the majority of train operator sites and they only display the data provided to them by the rail industry.

I've used the majority of websites for a number of years and it all really comes down to the users preference and the level of customer service provided by the retailer. Personally I will continue to use thetrainline as my preferred retailer for these reasons.

They display the tickets clearly and make it easy to understand. They also have a gadgets and tools tab where you can use a tool they call best fare finders which finds you the cheapest tickets available for your day of travel, and they also have a free email service where they will email you as soon as cheap tickets become available for the journey you are looking for.

By booking in advance with thetrainline and using their cheap ticket finding tools I've saved myself a lot of time and money - so I'm a very happy customer.

If anyone has any issues with thetrainline then they should contact their customer services through the help link on thier website. The same goes with any retailer; unless we as consumers raise complaints then issues of poor customer service won't get resolved. And if you feel you are entitled to a refund or are owed compensation then you need to make a claim for that too.