Trainline - Where do I stand?

Trebor2013

Hi all,

I purchased 8 x advance single tickets (return - 4 x outbound and 4 x inbound) for a journey with Greater Anglia, from Norwich to Stratford on 09/01/2022. It's fair to say I've had some issues with the rail industry in recent months, which I've had to suck up and accept. But on this occasion, I'm unsure where I stand.

So on 07/01/2022, I rang up Trainline with my primary enquiry being that the tickets booked were not showing any reserved seats. The customer service agent (CSA) kindly informed me that this service didn't have reservations available and would be first come, first served. No problem with this at all.

I then explained that 1 x outbound and 1 x inbound wouldn't be used, due to one passenger no longer travelling due to covid. I explained that I was well aware with these being 'advance' tickets, that I wouldn't get a refund, but queried whether I could defer these two tickets to rebook for another date, as I believed they fell with the T&C's to be able to do this.

The CSA popped me on hold to check and when she returned, she kindly informed me she would action a refund (approximately £40). I was most surprised but I took her word for it and she then continued to provide me the reference numbers of the 2 specific e-tickets I mustn't use, in order for the refund to be processed. She clearly stated that if I didn't use either of these tickets (which I most definitely didn't) then the refund would be processed in the days after the date of travel.

Move forward to today and I check my bank account, to still see no refund. I previously received a refund from Trainline for another journey, where there was an error on their part, and the refund came through within 2-3 working days. I email Trainline about this, to which I was told that I wasn't eligible for the refund as these tickets are non-refundable (which I knew) and that because the journey date has now passed, I can no longer make any changes.

Should I have definitely known I wasn't going to get a refund, then I would have made a conscious effort to rebook the travel on the unused tickets prior to our departure (albeit would have only given me 48 hours to do so)

I feel very misled by the phone conversation I had with the CSA and that I had no reason to not expect a refund. This isn't the first time I have been misled by the Trainline, as stated above, with previous instances I have sucked it up and not caused a fuss. But in this instance, I feel like I've been a bit hard done by, even if it was a genuine error by the CSA. Furthermore; I have requested a copy of my call recording, as I was told previously that they retain their calls for unto 3 months.

Thank you in advance.

Trebor2013

And since posting the above, I received the below response:

Thankyou for getting back.

I can see that on 7/1/22 you contacted us regarding refund on one ticket as customer was not able to travel due to Covid.

Since these tickets are non-refundable but based on the circumstances  as a goodwill gesture , refund has been requested on one ticket.

Due to current situation there`s a huge backlog , which is preventing the refund , I have  again requested it from my end, I assure you it will be credited by 25th January.

​

All after I asked for a copy of my call recording...

BigBazz42

Had you bought your tickets from a Train Company website rather than Trainline's own label site then you would have been entitled to a refund for the original ticket (albeit in the form of a voucher) provided it was requested by 1800 the day before travel.

Unfortunately Trainline aren't obliged to offer that as an option as they're a third party retailer. Their only concession is to let you change the ticket for another date and waive their usual £10 fee for doing so (though you still have to pay any difference in fares) provided you do so by 1800 the day before travel.