Trainlines Customer Service awful

IceTry

I booked a ticket yesterday with this company, and the confirmation said "no seats reserved". Since their website had put me asked me these questions when booking, and I had booked a table, etc I was very surprised. I needed to check this. I spent about 40 mins. trying to clarify this in "Chat". I was told Southern Train don't do this. I said well, why was I asked then. Just long, circular arguments. I said I wanted to complain in writing, could she give me a name and address. She gave me an email address @ sales! I decided to ring them. I rang Trainline. I hung on for 10 minutes. There was clearly nobody going to answer at 3.30 p.m. on a Friday after noon. An hour I'll never get back with these cowboys.


Still, lesson learnt. I will never book a ticket with Trainline again.

Browntoa

trainline charge a fee , always book direct with a train operator site and collect at your local station

abacab

Greater Anglia still free 1st class post.

yorkie2

Trains branded "Southern" (operated by Govia Thameslink Railway) are not reserveable (despite some railway systems erroneously showing them as reserveable; this is a known problem that the rail industry appears to have no desire to resolve)

As for Thetrainline, I agree their customer service is awful. They also charge fees that are easily avoided by booking elsewhere.

There is absolutely no good reason to book tickets using Thetrainline. Avoid!

IceTry

Thanks for response. Sometimes I think I'm going mad with these customer service lines. Microsoft being a case in point. Another company that has turned into a pile of ......


I agree with you Yorkie2, they clearly have no wish to resolve this simple issue.


Finally, just to add salt in the wound. I went to my local ticket office today to collect my ticket from machine. Whilst I was there I decided to check ticket price in advance, to compare prices. I found out that for. South West Trains, my train is considered Off Peak so I could use Family and Friends. But this was not the case on Trainline, who marked it as a peak train so I could not use my card. So it was twice the price in effect to go with Trainline. Never, never, again.


Its such a mess this industry, in terms of pricing. It is just appalling.

yorkie2

IceTry wrote: »

... I went to my local ticket office today to collect my ticket from machine. Whilst I was there I decided to check ticket price in advance, to compare prices. I found out that for. South West Trains, my train is considered Off Peak so I could use Family and Friends. But this was not the case on Trainline, who marked it as a peak train so I could not use my card...

Out of interest can you give more information about this, such as the origin, destination and time of travel?

IceTry

Hi Yorkie, I've looked again and maybe I've got mixed up. Its not difficult too with so many confusing factors. But it still stands that customer services so bad I spent 50 minutes (!) just trying to establish why my reserved seat doesn't show up as reserved. They never managed to answer my question and would not give me an address to write to, despite me asking five times. Its very frustrating.


I feel a wave of nostalgia - and I'm not even pensionable - when you could just go to the train station and buy a ticket without all this total nonsense and profiteering and customers being deliberately misled and confused. Even the South Western Rail ticket office man seemed completely confused and out of his depth. It was a simple ticket purchase, returning the same day.


Learned my lesson I guess as far as Trainline.com, but South Western trains not all that much better either I'm guessing.