written by Joshhaz on 15/08/2016
I have used Trainline exclusively for my train tickets for the past 6 years. I almost always used to buy 'open return' as i liked the freedom to return on whatever day and whatever time i needed too. So on the 10th of August this year i followed the exact same process that i had followed for the past 6 years and purchased what i believed to be 'open return' tickets to London to attend a meeting at the US embassy.
Then, on the day of my intended departure, i looked over my tickets and could not find a coupon for my return trip. I went to the station help desk to query this issue and she said that i had only purchased a 'day return'. I said this was impossible as i ALWAYS purchase open returns through muscle memory alone. She then informed me that the fault was that of The Trainline, not me. Unbeknown to me whenever a train journey is booked that requires Underground travel, a 'open return' search is automatically switched to a 'day return'. Now had i read the small print i would of seen this, but i assumed that i would only be offered tickets that matched my search criteria of 'open return'. I was wrong.
Because of this i had to spend a further £70 just to return home. What makes matters worse is that the employee at the helpdesk told me that this was a common problem when purchasing London bound tickets. In addition, a family friend who works for Arriva trains had a gentlemen experience the exact same problem at his station the same day.
I was thus informed by the rail staff that i would be entitled to a refund from the Trainline. I therefore called up their helpline (at 13p a minute) and told the employee what had happened. He told me i was wrong and i had been foolish in my mistake. As i began to try and explain myself in more detail, he pretended as if he could not hear me and hung up. This is certainly not the kind of customer service i expect for 13p a minute.
Now i considered myself a loyal customer of the Trainline having bought from them for over half a decade and spending thousands of pounds through their website. However this loyalty counted for nothing when i had a grievance with them over being mis-sold rail tickets that DID NOT match my search criteria.
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