ComplaintsforRail Europe, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Merchant: Rail Europe Amount: $131.95 Dispute: I looked up a train ticket for the departure on July 25th from ******* to ***** on Rail Europe in order to make a plane journey departing later that day. I was able to find a ticket and proceeded to the checkout. On the checkout screen the ticket was confirmed for the 25th, and after completing payment the tickets I received were tickets departing for July 26th. I emailed Rail Europe as soon as I received the incorrect tickets for a refund, as I believe this was not my error (refund request email attached). Rail Europe denied the refund due to the ticket departure date being within 7 days of the refund request. The merchant provided an option to exchange the ticket for a fee of $15, with no July 25th ticket option available when searching again, so I was unable to do anything with the unwanted ticket.Id like to reiterate that I am not disputing their 7 day refund window policy. I strongly believe that their system had an issue and incorrectly issued me train tickets for the wrong date. The booking was done on a mobile phone, while searching for a low inventory ticket (scrolling through date page left and right). Everyone else in my travel group had this same issue when attempting the same booking and received the 26th train tickets when seeing 25th on their checkout using Rail Europe. They are disputing this charge as well.

  Business response

  09/29/2022

  Thank you for your inquiry. I reviewed the booking history and after-sales correspondences. Our website keeps an audit log of each step/action of a booking. Our audit logs indicate that the date initially entered and maintained throughout the booking process was July 26, 2022. I have attached the audit log for booking *********. 

  
  Note, the calendar on our website is in European format, starting the week on Monday, not Sunday, like the American calendar.Perhaps you were looking at and selected the day of the week instead of the date.

  
  As the booking audit logs show the date did not change, and that a summary review page is displayed prior to payment and invoicing, I'm afraid we are not able to process a refund as we must abide by the terms and conditions set forth by the railway carrier. 

  
  I'm sorry this is not the response or outcome you were hoping for. 

  
  Regards,
  *****
  Rail Europe Customer Care

  Customer response

  10/05/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  I'm aware the the system logs show that the search is for July 26th - my claim is that I believe this is a result of an error in your website. If this issue only happened to me, I would surely think that this is an error on my part. However, this happened to *every single person* in my travel party that was also trying to book tickets for July 25th on the same day - tickets that we all showed each other and verified was for the 25th before placing the order. As easy as it is for humans to misread a date when booking, it is just as easy to have a bug in a website that logs wrong information and sends wrong tickets.

  In our particular case, there was few (if none) of the 25th tickets available at the time of booking. We scrolled around different dates and scrolled backwards from the 26th to show the 25th dates. It's possible that the tickets that showed up on our screen was from an old cache based on the way your website loads tickets from 'previous days'.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************
  
  
  
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased an online 7 day EuroRail pass as soon as we paid and tried to use we were given a message that we would have pay extra seat booking fees for trains. Even when we tried to do this we got a message from EuroRail stating this 2022 season was oversold and even though they took the money for our pass they did not have any more available tickets. This repeated every trip we tried to book. When we asked for a refund they advised us to go on their site and request. They hold back 15% of the refund even though they have bait and switched the consumer. When you do request the refund from the site it states there is an error and to contact customer service. When you click on that link you get an error page not found from their website. This business should be notifying consumers prior to taking their money that they cannot currently deliver the service.

  Business response

  08/17/2022

  I'm sorry to hear of the customer's issue; however, the Eurail passes were not purchased from Rail Europe. The customer seems to have purchased the passes from Eurail. Rail Europe is a distriputor of Eurail products but Eurail also sells their products on their website **************. Our company is a separate company, Rail Europe. Please contact Eurail for further action. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  07/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I purchased 4 first class tickets from ****** to ****** and tried to book seats according to instructions on Rail Europe's website. It didn't work. I emailed Rail Europe for help. No response. This business is a scam.

  Customer response

  07/13/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  06/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I live in the ** and purchased 2 round trip ******* *********-*********** (*****-******). When I presented the ** code that Rail Europe provided, at the ********* Train station they said the ** Code was not valid in *****. I had to repurchase a full set of tickets, contacted Rail Europe and they refused to refund. Stay away from this company, clearly scamming people.

  Customer response

  07/23/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by Rail Europe, Inc. regarding complaint ID ********.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  06/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 14th, me and my friend purchased Eurail Global passes though Raileurope.com for $327.95 each. We decided to cancel our passes soon after we purchased them. Their After Sales Policy on their website states that, "Partially used and/or activated passes are non refundable. Unused and non activated passes are 100% refundable within 1 year from the date of purchase." We expected to have no problems canceling quickly online since we never activated or used our passes. However, when I tried to cancel my ticket online I received an error message saying "Sorry, this item appears to be non-refundable. Please check the fare conditions. Please contact us if you require more information." This error message directly contradicted their refund policy. So I contacted Rail Europe twice using their contact form page and received no response, not even an automatic confirmation that my contact form had been received. Their help page claims that "You can request a refund via your Rail Europe account. It only takes a minute and you'll get instant confirmation!" But that is simply not the case. It also claims that "Our customer support team will come back to you as soon as possible." Yet, no one has reached out to me or even acknowledge my refund request. I am convinced that this website does not have a customer support team and does not honor refund requests. The order reference number on this booking is ********* and the *** reference is ***********

  Business response

  06/21/2022

  Dear ****************,

  I do see your inquiries in our system. For some reason, they were not moved to our internal queue to be handled. I have reported this to our technical team. In regards to cancelling your pass, I'm not sure why you weren't able to cancel and refund the pass yourself on our website, as the system allowed me to do so without issue. I canceled and refunded your pass in full, in the amount of $320.00. The $7.95 booking fee is non-refundable. The refund transaction receipt is attached. Please allow up to 24 hours for the credit to appear in your account. 

  The booking reference number you provided only had your pass. I'd be happy to process a full refund for your traveling companion as well, if you would provide their booking reference number, name or email address. You can reply via this BBB inquiry or ask your friend to email me directly at ***********************************.

  Thank you,

  *************************

  Head of ************* ******************** Americas

• Initial Complaint

  05/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a three month rail pass from Rail Europe. The company makes it impossible to use the pass since you have to use an app on your phone to register the journey. The app only works about 10% of the time, rendering the pass USELESS. There is no support from the company. When you email for support, they take 30 days to respond. Not at all helpful when you are trying to board a train and you cannot access the ticket on the app. I have had to purchase tickets separately to get where I needed to go. This company should be banned from selling items and should refund all monies paid.

  Business response

  06/21/2022

  I am unable to find a booking under the name, email address or phone number provided. Please provide a Rail Europe reference number or Eurail mPass number for further investigation. 

  Customer response

  06/23/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here] It is too late and has taken the business too long to respond.  This was in April and my pass is over now. 
  

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business response

  06/24/2022

  If the pass was not used or unable to be used, we can seek reimbursement from the rail carrier. However, without a booking reference number, I am unable to procced with further investigation. As mentioned in my first reply, I am not able to find a booking under the traveler name, email address or phone number. Perhaps the pass was purchased from another company; in which case, the customer will need to contact the company from which the pass was purchased. If it was not purchased from Rail Europe, I am not able to process any reimbursement or compensation. 

• Initial Complaint

  09/10/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On August 3 and August 25 I purchased 2 train tickets from Rail Europe. I would be flying from the US to Europe. Since the time of my purchase, the countries I would be traveling to have changed their laws, and do not allow US travelers. I requested a refund from Rail Europe for the tickets, and they refused the refund, even though I explained the situation with Covid restrictions changing.

  Business response

  09/10/2021

  Dear **** ******,

  Thank you for your email. I'm sorry you have not received the response you're expecting. I will look into your inquiry immediately and get back to you as soon as I hear back from the rail carrier. 

  I appreciate your patience and understanding while I investigate this matter with hope to have a favorable resolution. 

  Thank you,

  ***** *******

  Rail Europe

  Head of Customer Care Americas Region

  Customer response

  09/12/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  ****** ******
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business response

  09/20/2021

  As explained in my email to the customer on September 9, 2021. I have investigated the case further and confirmed that the rail carrier is not offering exceptional refunds, as Austria, Slovenia and Hungary are allowing US citizens to enter their borders; details an be found at the following websites. 
  
  *************************************************************************************** **************************************** **************************************************************************
  The EU non-binding advisory against travel is not a ban, thus the rail carriers are not offering exceptional refunds. 
  
  I realize this is not the outcome you were hoping for. While I empathize with your situation, as a distributor, Rail Europe must abide by the rail carriers' policies. 
  
  I wish you the best during these challenging times.

  Best Regards,

  Rail Europe

  Customer response

  09/22/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******  
  
  
  
   
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩