thetrainline.com refund rip-offs?

*mudangel*

Hi there,

Wondered if anyone's had problems with thetrainline.com and refunds or can suggest what we should do about following:

Last night, husband purchased off-peak travel card for travel to London today - £29.50 (plus a bizarre £1 admin charge). He was to use the card he'd purchased the tickets on to collect tickets from machine. Neither machine at the (unmanned) station worked.

So, he had to purchase another ticket for travel. This one cost £43.50 (return), but by now he was in a hurry and didn't want to miss the train while navigating through all the various ticket options.

He's contacted thetrainline.com about a refund. They're only prepared to pay £19.50 (rather than the original ticket amount of £29.50) because they make a £10 refund charge!

Is it just me that thinks this is appalling? If the machines had worked, there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place. Sigh.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

geordieracer

Thetrainline.com do not run the machines at stations so you would have to take that up with the TOC who run the station.

The £10 admin charge is a standard charge across the railway and is not just set to the trainline.com.

in future never use the trainline.com as you will get charged fees as you have found out with the £1 booking fee. use a TOC website.

George_Michael

I would suggest that your hubby contacts his card issuer and requests a chargeback for the full amount he paid for the original tickets.

Irrespective of who operates the ticket machines, your husband paid for an item which he was not supplied with. This may not be the fault of trainline, but they were the ones who took the money so the contract is between them and your husband.

lcharm

Didn't think you can make a refund charge! Can you still chargeback for £29? Thought it was only £100 and must be from a credit card?

Might be good to take it up with Trading Standards or if they are regulated then by an ombudsman if they exist!

*mudangel*

UPDATE: thetrainline.com refunded the entire £29.50 after my husband did a lot of complaining.

Thanks for the advice, all! Very helpful!

Icharm, no, I had no idea there was such thing as a refund charge either.

George_Michael

lcharm wrote: »

Didn't think you can make a refund charge! Can you still chargeback for £29? Thought it was only £100 and must be from a credit card?

When disputing card payments, there are 2 different routes that you can take depending on the value of the purchase and the type of card used.

The first one is a "section 75" claim, and this is what you are thinking of lcharm. This method is covered by legislation.
For this, the goods must be a minimum of £100 and a credt card must be used. (there are also a fair few other requirements).

The 2nd option which is the one I was referring to is a chargeback. This is a procedure by the card issuer in which they attempt to reclaim payments for goods that were not received or not as described.
This is not enshrined in law like the S75 method and the conditions for a chargeback are down to the card issuer.

Remixes

This company is a rip off! When it comes to refunds? That is until you tell them somebody has died in your family? You will get one then nudge nudge wink wink!!!! Worked for me ;0)

sarah_ji

I have had to request a refund from trainline, they have agreed to it, with a £10 admin charge but now they say the tickets were not in the envelope I sent recorded delivery!!!!
What can I do now? It's my word against there's!