thetrainline.com

Claire_Bear

Are you from thetrainline? :P I can see how they can be accused of providing incorrect information, as they provided me with incorrect information, it's really as simple as that. I contacted them afterwards to tell them what had happened and got the usual 'It will be looked into, but we strive to provide the best service for our customers...' reply.

biscit

I stopped using thetrainline when they started adding fees for credit cards, and went with another ticket retailer who didn't.

Littlehelper_3

Claire_Bear wrote: »

Are you from thetrainline? :P I can see how they can be accused of providing incorrect information, as they provided me with incorrect information, it's really as simple as that. I contacted them afterwards to tell them what had happened and got the usual 'It will be looked into, but we strive to provide the best service for our customers...' reply.

I work in business travel so it's my business to know the different travel retailers, hence my experience with the numerous rail websites available in the market place.

As per my previous quote on this matter, if you feel you have legitimate grounds for a full refund or compensation due to incorrect information / poor customer service from a retailer then you should make a claim with that retailer. I'd suggest writing to thetrainline customer services, providing as much detail as possible, and not try resolve the matter with their call centre as the operators are primarily trained to manage travel requests and not complaints.

Good luck Clare.

Dr.Rock

Littlehelper wrote: »

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.

So do each of the individual operators websites. I know people who've used thetrainline.com many times problem free, but I always find cheaper fares just by going to the operators website, especially for NXEC. It seems they add discounts that they don't make available by booking through trainline.

I learnt recently you can book tickets for any of the operators services form any site. Makes you wonder why they don't just nationalise the whole system.

biscit

Dr.Rock wrote: »

So do each of the individual operators websites. I know people who've used thetrainline.com many times problem free, but I always find cheaper fares just by going to the operators website, especially for NXEC. It seems they add discounts that they don't make available by booking through trainline.

I learnt recently you can book tickets for any of the operators services form any site. Makes you wonder why they don't just nationalise the whole system.

I echo NXEC- at least prior to the franchise being taken back.

It was the one good thing about them GNER were much better, which is astounding given it's the same trains, track and staff and just a different layer of top management.

[Deleted User]

Trainline give me a lot of bad information where changing trains are concerned. Last week I looked for times and it told me I would have to wait 30 mins for the train I would have to change on. When I got to the second station I found that I could get another train and would only have to wait 5 mins for it. Not only this but if I missed that one there were other trains I could get that ran around every 5 mins from the station to my destination.

flutter_2

drinkupretty wrote: »

Trainline give me a lot of bad information where changing trains are concerned. Last week I looked for times and it told me I would have to wait 30 mins for the train I would have to change on. When I got to the second station I found that I could get another train and would only have to wait 5 mins for it. Not only this but if I missed that one there were other trains I could get that ran around every 5 mins from the station to my destination.

I thought that when you book a journey which has a connection they always leave at least 20 mins for you to get to the next train, as in some cases you may have a lot of luggage and have to go up / down several flights of stairs - you can override this by booking each leg manually.

dmg24

flutter wrote: »

I thought that when you book a journey which has a connection they always leave at least 20 mins for you to get to the next train, as in some cases you may have a lot of luggage and have to go up / down several flights of stairs - you can override this by booking each leg manually.

I agree with this. I can often make a train that leaves two mins after my incoming train at Nottingham, however it would be irresponsible for a ticket provider to suggest that I should be able to make such a tight connection.

dmg24

melorablack wrote: »

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

There was one big problem - you should not have to change three times to get from Liverpool to Derby!

Littlehelper_3

Dr.Rock wrote: »

So do each of the individual operators websites. I know people who've used thetrainline.com many times problem free, but I always find cheaper fares just by going to the operators website, especially for NXEC. It seems they add discounts that they don't make available by booking through trainline.

I learnt recently you can book tickets for any of the operators services form any site. Makes you wonder why they don't just nationalise the whole system.

From what I can see thetrainline.com is the only retailer that provides best fare finder and ticket alert to help people find cheaper tickets, however Virgin Trains have recently implemented thetrainline's best fare finder on their site now too.


I tried out their new beta website last week (there's a link on their home page). Their ticket matrix now shows cheaper single tickets and return tickets together, with the cheapest tickets highlighted, making it much easier for customers to find the cheapest tickets for thier journeys.

Each retailer / train operator displays the same fares / ticket prices but in different ways, however NECX are the only ones who offer discounts on their cheaper advance fares, so if you are due to travel on a NECX route then definitely try their site first.