Trainline Reviews

Name: Trainline
Rating: 1.20

1.2 Rating 577 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Trainline

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 577 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service, Own Driver, Courier
On-time Delivery	Greater than 20%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 76%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Live Chat, Telephone, Email
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Ticket wasn’t working despite it being an Anytime single ticket. Was told to buy another ticket, and request a refund but I’m being charged at £5 admin fee for an £8 ticket. The Customer service team are condescending and lack empathy, and made it seem like I was lying about my ticket not working. Believe all the reviews, the Trainline are bona fide crooks. Go elsewhere or buy directly from your train provider.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Never buy a ticket through this company. They are a third party with little empathy for their customers. TLDR, Buy your tickets directly from the service operators' websites, Renfe, OUIGO, etc. Trainline is a third-party vendor that will leave you on your own if you have any issues with your reservation. ------------------------------ 1st red flag 🚩 -> They do not have, or it is hard to find a chat or phone number for contact. 2nd red flag 🚩 -> Instead of helping you as their customer, if you have a problem with your reservation, they leave you on your own, even when they collect all your data and financial information. 3rd red flag 🚩 -> Trainline seems to don't have a direct resolution channel with their service operators for customer issues. --------------------------- On July 15th, I bought four tickets from Madrid to Barcelona using the Trainline website. (Total 196 EUR) The website crashed a couple of times during the purchase process, and somehow it made two duplicate purchases. Same people, same train, same time to the same destination. (It is important to mention that during the booking process, you must add your unique passaport number per passenger). The only difference was that I was assigned two different reservation numbers. And of course, they charge me twice for the purchase. After noticing it on my credit card, I wrote to their customer support through email (1st red flag 🚩 -> They do not have a chat nor a phone number for contact) They reached back, denying that their system had any issue And that I had added the reservation twice to the shopping cart. To "prove it" They sent me generic pictures of a warning message that their system is supposed to show when something like this happens. I have been working as a Software Engineer for more than 15 years, and I quickly notice two significant flaws in this argument: 1- A warning message for this kind of use case is not enough to guarantee the correct functioning of the system. (The same people cannot travel on the same train to the same destination simultaneously). 2- All user environments are different. Operative Systems, Browsers, and even the network conditions in a given moment can create a lot of different scenarios, so a screenshot of a generic message does not mean that it appeared on my computer during the purchase process. (Until now, they haven't shared with me any servers logs or videos, citing that it is for security purposes) Cause they denied any responsibility, they told me to contact the service operator (OUIGO) to resolve the issue myself. (2nd red flag 🚩 -> Instead of helping you as their customer, they leave you on your own, even when they collect all your data and financial information). After contacting OUIGO, the service operator, they said I had to resolve the issue with Trainline, and Trainline says that it is OUIGO. After several emails and a lot of back and forth, I have ended up in an infinite loop between OUIGO and Trainline when neither of the two companies wants to take responsibility for a system that makes two reservations for the same people, same train, same time to the same destination. (3rd red flag 🚩 -> Trainline seems to don't have a direct resolution channel with their service operators for customer issues). Final thoughts, Having empathy for the customer differentiates excellent from mediocre companies. I'm pretty sure that for Trainline, EUR 196 is nothing, but it represents a lot for my family and me. Until now, our money has been lost cause my family, and I could not travel at the same time to the same place on the same train to the same destination, and nobody seems to care about it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I feel like I'm being stolen from by trainline. It's going into two month since I changed a booking date with the assurance that I'd be refunded within 3 to 5 working days. Ammended a booking date and paid a fresh amount, and was told I would be refunded for the previous booking of over £40. Customer representative named Ritchie kept on saying they would revert back once they get a notification from relevant team, upon countless emails and providing all evidence relevant to this transaction. Very awful experience and loss of my hard-earned money. I need my money back!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I had to cancel due to a family issue. My tickets at a cost of £16.20 which you already charged a booking fee on. You charged £10 admin fee to cancel! I will never use your disgusting service again after using for many years- You are a disgrace”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Had a ticket booked, paid for, £25.00. Day before my journey, I received a message from Trainline informing me, the train I have booked has been cancelled. They did offer me to travel earlier or later, but this was not an option for me. So I opted for refund, outraged to discover they kept £10.00, !!! What an absolute scam ..what other companies would get way with this behaviour. Not my fault they cancelled a train, by the way a major train from London to Penzance... useless, I can't begin to explain my disgust for train companies in the UK.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Don’t use! Gave me different ticket prices every time I refreshed the screen. Did not explain offpeak hours then station staff refused to let me board a train. Didn’t tell me you can buy a cheap railcard for big discounts on every journey. Rude customer service. Applied for a refund, to inexplicably only receive 55% of what I paid, despite buying a second ticket through Trainline for the same journey, since the first one was missold. Buy elsewhere if you can.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Irresponsible staff and awkward service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Awful customer experience”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Customer service makes you pay to talk with them and it still is really expensive. It was around £120 to change our ticket so we are stuck and Trainline won’t give us help for free so I don’t recommend it AT ALL!!!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I searched on Google for cheap tickets and Trainline claims they are cheaper and you "save 61% when you book in advance so I booked a ticket from Gatwick to London Blackfriar for £23, but later when I checked Thameslink the same ticket was £10! It was when I checked the prices for tickets from London to East Anglia and Trainline offered a ticket for £413.63 (!) I realized I been had. Going direct to Greater Anglia the same ticket was £34 I understood Trainline is a total scam. The cheapest offer from Trainline for a return ticket was £186 which I booked from Greater Anglia for £65. To make matters worse I tried to get a refund but Trainline keeps an "administrative fee" so it's not worth trying to get a refund unless we are talking substantial money. Whatever you do; avoid Trainline and save ýourself a bundle!”

Trainline 1 star review on 22nd July 2022

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Could not amend ticket on the Trainline site so had to request refund and charged £10 + for doing it. How that can be justified I do not know. Very reluctant to use this company again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“TRAINLINE WON'T REFUND FARE FOR CANCELED TRAIN (unless you jump through hoops, and then still that's no guarantee of a refund). TOURISTS SHOULD AVOID "TRAINLINE.COM UK GB" LIKE THE PLAUGE! Numerous rail strikes in UK in June: Trainline notifies you of cancelation, and in their notification offers a link to claim a refund, but at the end of the process, informs you to return any collected paper tickets by mail (recommending using certified or tracked royal post*) to an address in Scotland??? It's just a scam with cumbersome hoops to jump to dissuade refund seekers from what they are owed (I'm sure they claim non-receipt, illegibility, or have addition steps to complete). Avoid this middleman ticket seller and buy directly from the rail provider! Footnote* - Even if one is still in the UK, what Yank (or any tourist) on holiday wants to waste time looking for a post office and standing in a queue to find an envelope and stationery (and copying your correspondence for your own records), just to pen a letter and spend seven quid for tracked mail... sometimes for a train fare equivalent to only $25.00? Trainline is operating a real racket, and the scam ought to be investigated and stopped by the government!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“God AWFUL! Thieves. There is no ‘treating customers fairly at all’ when things go wrong. They won’t provide help. When THEY cancel your ticket because of a cancelled train, you ask for a refund and THEY charge you an admin fee. In my case though they cancelled my tickets as the train was cancelled and won’t give me back my money at all saying the tickets were collected, even though they were cancelled. They still have my money and I’m so angry about this, that I will take this as high as possible, involving MP’s and ombudsman. Watch this space!The convoluted complaint process is seemingly deliberate in order to prevent and deter customers from complaining. The complaint system weighs heavily in favour of, in this case, both the ticket provider and the train operator, and the system seems not to treat customers fairly at all.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Tantamount to fraud, but they get away with it. Avoid. Trainline booked my Derby - Ghent travel. Easy all in place. But then when you get a cancellation or strike you don't get your money back. Eurostar won't refund me nor will Trainline. I am out of pocket by £93 because of this I will never use Trainline again. Basically they take your money for a service they don't guarantee and won't refund. I am tempted to ask my bank to reverse the original transaction as fraud. AVOID! I will in future.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Had so many problems and was denied a refund after the train strikes, even though the app misleadingly implies and even includes phone numbers offering reimbursement. The railways station even said "don't use them, they're awful." I will gladly take this and other bad reviews I will soon write off the Internet if I get a refund. Please email me at ajimoc@gmail.com.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I bought a ticket on 23rd June from Minden (WF) Germany to Copenhagen. The website took the funds plus a booking fee but then informed me that the booking was unavailable and that they would refund the $180 Australian dollars within five days. It is now nearly three weeks and still no refund and no answers to my emails. This feels like a fraud! How do I get my money back?”

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Posted 2 years ago

“You book a train (Amsterdam, Interlaken) €431,50, everything seems fine (train number, itinerary, times etc), then they ask you to pay. After payment you receive a notification that Trainline can’t make the booking and they will return the money that can take up to 5 days.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Booked a journey from Newcastle to London with my wife (Both 75 years old) and my autistic 12 year old grandson and was allocated 3 seats none of which were together. I have contacted Trailine and Lumo and neither of these organisation could help. You don't know which seats you have been allocated until you have booked the tickets. How they expect my grandson to sit with complete strangers is beyond belief. It is left to me to talk to other passengers to ask them if they will swop seats. I will now think twice about booking with Trainline again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“First they charged me twice for the same journey, when asked for refund they charge £7.50 as admin fees out of 12£ total amount of tickets that I never booked for. Called customer care, who informed that They will refund the 12£ and I can use the ticket after my travel. Didn’t get the refund for more than a month, so called customer service. Now they say that I have to post them the tickets( that I never received) in order for them to process the refund. In short they double book you and won’t return your money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Appalling customer service and no customer care. Jody Ford does not care at all about his customers and disregards any concerns brought to him. Due to the strikes, I missed shows in London and am out of pocket as a result. Rather than accept any responsibility, Mr Ford blamed me. Avoid Trainline.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Trainline is rated 1.2 based on 577 reviews