Online train seat reservation - anyway to get my money back?

Harvey_Reynolds

Myself and two friends have bought 1st class interrail passes for a train based holiday next year.
In order to use them on the Eurostar, you have to use an intermediary website to make a seat reservation.

I used a website called Rail Europe that I was referred to by a reliable website for train information.
During the order process, I had to put in our class of Interrail passes, but it didn't ask me what seat class I wanted to reserve.

So I assumed it would send me first class seat reservations to match our passes. But when the tickets came through by email, I noticed they were standard class.

Rail Europe has next to no customer service - there is no web chat or telephone number. There is only a web form where they reply by email about once a day.

After I had had minimal contact from them twenty four hours later, I decided to cancel and use another website so we could get the seat class we wanted.

But they said their terms and conditions did not allow for a refund.

I have been onto my credit card supplier and they said they did not think they could make a chargeback dispute because it said in the website terms and conditions that they might not refund the money. Even though I have nothing to show for the money I have paid out, Rail Europe have apparently complied with their side of the deal by sending me ticket reservations, even though they were the wrong class.

Is there anything more I can do to recover the money or do I just have to write it off?
Is there anyone I can complain to, other than Rail Europe itself, which does not really have any customer service?

eskbanker

Harvey_Reynolds said:

Rail Europe has next to no customer service - there is no web chat or telephone number. There is only a web form where they reply by email about once a day.

After I had had minimal contact from them twenty four hours later, I decided to cancel and use another website so we could get the seat class we wanted.

It sounds like you didn't really give them much time to correct their error, so if this was effectively a unilateral cancellation then I'm not sure you have any options?

marcia_

 I think you should get a chargeback because you haven't been provided with what you ordered. Their cancellation policy shouldn't come into it. But you do need to give them time to rectify it. 

born_again

Only chargeback option would be if you have proof you ordered 1st class seats & received std class. Only thing here is that you have now cancelled. 
So that blows that option out of the water.

For none receipt of refund you need date, amount & last 4 of card number (in effect a receipt) to confirm they have refunded. If not received in 15 you have a right to claim back. I'll let you guess the odds of getting that from them 🤷‍♀️

No mention of interrail passes in their T/C

https://www.raileurope.com/booking-terms-and-conditions


This information is intended for answering your enquiries. It is used by Rail Europe (52 rue de la Victoire, 75009 Paris, France
Is there address.

Voyager2002

Please note that a first class inter-rail pass does not allow one to travel in first class on Eurostar. I think you should have been given a slightly better sort of standard class ticket, but definitely not first class.

SiliconChip

Has the second booking that you made in the right class been completed and accepted as the first part of your Interrail journey? Hopefully it has, in which case the thing that you're trying to get a refund for is the cost of the reservations, how much was that? You could try your card issuer again for a chargeback but they may stick to their previous position, and unless you can convince Rail Europe to respond and refund you then you might have to suck up the cost.

One other option might be to contact seat61 (which is where I assume you saw the initial recommendation to use Rail Europe) to see if they can suggest any other way to proceed.

t0rt0ise

Don't forget that if the bank refuses the chargeback, there's always the financial ombudsman to try.