thetrainline.com - misleading customers

Jay-Producer

Hi,

trainline.com claim that they sell "cheap" or"cheaper" tickets. I purchased my ticked from their app at the end ofOctober 2013. Unfortunately I was given no choice of seat or insurance add on.Their app claimed that the cheapest ticket was a return from Cardiff toEdinburgh advanced ticket. I purchased this thinking it would be the cheapestas they claim you can "save up to 80% with the UK's No.1 independentonline rail ticket retailer."

I found out that I could not travel due to problems withhealth so I went to the station at the end of November 2013 to get a refund.The operative informed me that I could not get a refund as it was an advancedticket. He was more shocked at the price I was charged. I asked him to checkwhat they were charging and to my shock they could offer me a first classflexible ticket £20 cheaper than my current advanced standard ticket. This wasalso with limited availability.

I wrote to the trainline.com company asking for a refund andexplained that I was misled and the reasons for not being able to travel.Although they offered to change the travel date I explained I had no idea whenI could travel and initially failed to mention the £10 charge for changing thedate each time. After carrying out substantial research I pointed out to themthat their App does not offer the insurance add on and customers are not madeaware that you need to purchase a ticket from their website in order to getinsurance. The insurance would have allowed me to get a refund however now I am ore than £180 out of pocket and money that could have been spend on my daughter's Christmas. Their app alsofails to mention hat you can only choose your seat preference from theirwebsite. The app description does not provide any information about this andneither does their terms and conditions. What the app also fails to do is giveyou the options of single or return in comparing prices which the website cando.

Further researchshowed that even today I can still get a cheaper ticket direct from the stationthat I can with thetrainline.com. I also found thousands of complaints aboutthe company are misleading customers. I have also discovered that they had a TVad banned in 2009 for exaggerating savings customers could make and are still at it, only this time its online. I have foundthat thetrainline.com offer the most expensive tickets from all the places Ihave compared them to. Their advertising of saving up to 80% is misleading andfalse.


In email correspondence they had sent me they claim thatadvance tickets are potentially cheaper than tickets purchased closer to thedate of travel. I found in my case and others complaining that this isuntruthful. On each occasion for the past 4 weeks I found that I could stillget a cheaper ticket elsewhere closer to the date of travel. Further emailssent to me from the company underpin contradictions and false misleadinginformation. I also found that tickets on their app were more expensive than ontheir website but not on every occasion I tried it.


There is clearly a lack of transparency with the way theysell tickets. They are also advertising tickets to be cheaper with them when infact they are not and more expensive in most occasions I found. There are also flaws in their app by notgiving you the option of adding on insurance or pointing out (lack oftransparency) that you need to purchase the ticket from the website for thisoption to be added. They should not be allowed to falsely advertise tickets asup to 80% cheaper on their website or get away with lack of transparency.

Has anyone else reading this had bad experiences with them?

I have reported them to trading standards already, notified Watchdog BBC, The Ferret, X-Ray TV programs and also ASA. If anyone else would like to do the same message me and i'll forward you all the direct links (no fussing around required). It only took me 20 mins to do all of them and it was easy. The more complaints they receive the more likely something will be done about it. Trading standards etc aren't going to listen to just one person but will if several complain. I hope that you had a good experience yourself but the net is flooded with complaints about them.

Jay





Jay

richardw

Perhaps put this on the UK travel board.

jpsartre

Every travel site selling tickets claim to be cheap. If you take that at face value without doing any research you're being extremely gullible.

Caz3121

I think the "save up to 80%" should be taken in exactly the same way as sales in stores that advertise "up to 70% off", there will be some 70% off items but others may be 10% off. The 80% off is likely to be when you book 12 weeks in advance.
A fully flexible first ticket on that route is £640...did you really pay more than this for your advance ticket?
I find thetrainline ok for checking schedules/routes etc but would normally book direct with the actual operator

callum9999

Nothing will be done by Trading Standards etc. as they have done absolutely nothing wrong. They are not obliged to sell you insurance and can charge whatever they like for train tickets.

That ticket you were told about by the station ticket office incidentally is also available on TheTrainLine. I never buy from there as it's ALWAYS cheaper to buy elsewhere, but their fees are in the magnitude of a quid or so - not £20+. And a first class return on that route is £403.50. Are you sure you paid £423 for 2 advance tickets? That's more than what it costs to get 2 standard singles... I'm confused as to what exactly you bought - I find it hard to believe such a ticket exists!

dzug1

callum9999 wrote: »

.. I'm confused as to what exactly you bought - I find it hard to believe such a ticket exists!

So am I - as described by OP there is no such ticket


Their app claimed that the cheapest ticket was a return from Cardiff to Edinburgh advanced ticket.


Advance returns simply do not exist - only singles.




I do mistrust apps though - they do often miss out on functionality

pogofish

Since when did Cardiff to Edinburgh become an Overseas journey?

Cornucopia

TheTrainLine is a prime example of advertising that has been honed by interaction with the regulator (the ASA) to be just the right side of legal, without actually being very helpful to consumers.

The claim is typically: save 42% by booking in advance using theTrainline versus buying on the day.

Which is true. However, the underlying truth is that the relevant part is "booking in advance" and the "using theTrainline" part is irrelevant.

Once you understand that all Rail ticket retailers operate from the same database of available fares and reservations, it all becomes a bit clearer.

TheTrainline will ALWAYS be more expensive because they charge a booking fee, and some of the other retailers don't.

Moto2

pogofish wrote: »

Since when did Cardiff to Edinburgh become an Overseas journey?

'spose that would depend on where you're based - it's certainly overseas to me right now

pogofish

Moto2 wrote: »

'spose that would depend on where you're based - it's certainly overseas to me right now

Except this is a UK-based forum with a specific "UK Holidays" Forum and a "Praise Vent and Warnings" Forum. Both of which are far more applicable.

agrinnall

pogofish wrote: »

Except this is a UK-based forum with a specific "UK Holidays" Forum and a "Praise Vent and Warnings" Forum. Both of which are far more applicable.

Actually, the Public Transport board is the correct place for it if the OP has asked a question (I couldn't be bothered to read it all), otherwise, as you say, PV&W.