“I bought a ticket to London and paid Trainline £135. I am currently on the train, the conductor is saying its not a valid ticket as Trainline haven't sent a QR code with the email. I have tried to download the trainline app but it doesn't work. So I am now being told by GWR that I'll have to buy another ticket. I am utterly shocked at the messy and unnecessarily complicated IT information from Trainline. A simple e mail with a QR code isn't difficult. Absolutely disgusting service, will not use again.”
“We had purchased train tickets through Trainline for December 08,2024 @ 10:47, travelling from Lamballe, France to Paris, France for a total of 214.20 euros. The train was cancelled due to an electrical issue on the track, we found out once arriving at the station. In trying to get a refund, we have been denied several times. Not our problem as we were at the station ready to board. Not impressed!!
Be sure to buy from a reliable source!”
“Travel a lot for work, however due to the nature of this I have to frequently rearrange trains. As such, I frequently get RR1 errors on refunds for tickets I don’t use (travel plans change is a legitimate reason for refund on their app), meaning I have to phone up to sort out, usually resulting in no refund. The app is so close to being usable however going forward I will just book on the day at the station which ultimately will cost my employer (although probably equals out with the amount of denied refunds) but means these cowboys won’t get any money.”
“Awful service my trains were cancelled today and need to refund tickets. Can't do at train station need to send tickets back to trainline in scotland even though the tickets have no monetary value and can't be used as only valid today. Clear making refunds as hard as possible. Plus I've been charged for the privilege!! Switching to uber who now do train tickets.”
“Actually deserve 0 star !! Paid 2 tickets from Leicester to London (150 pounds) and no seat available!!! What's a joke paying this amount and no seat for 1 hours and half !!! Never ever again next time I will travel by bus at least with a seat !!”
“I have been trying to get a refund on a train ticket I cancelled before departure back on Wednesday 6th April 2022 (booking ref: 542581515021). It is stuck in "processing" for over two years, and yet when I try to contact customer service through their official means, it does not recognise the reference number. This is not the first problem I have had with them, nor the most egregious. I am convinced the only thing this company delivers is dissatisfaction, because that has been its most reliably delivered product.”
“I booked a ticket on the computer and the system changed by ticket from 6:55am the next morning to 11pm that night! I didn't realise until I had already paid £84.59. When I tried to cancel, it then redirected me to paying for another ticket, which I thought at first must have been just paying the difference of an off-peak ticket to a peak-time ticket, but I was then charged another £63.20! The computer system was horribly confusing, and it was very difficult to know what the right thing to do was, and it seemed that each time I clicked on the same link, it took me to a different webpage. Overall, I spent almost 2 hours trying to sort out this issue which was caused by Trainline's horrible computer system. Eventually, I requested a refund on the £84.59 which cancelled those tickets.
The following day after my journey (today), I see that I have only been refunded £10.90, which included a £5.00 admin fee for the privilege. I tried to phone customer services and could not find a phone number easily on their website, just a business services phone number, who then gave me another phone number for the personal customer services phoneline.
When speaking to customer services, they informed me that the maximum they could refund me was an additional £50.90 (which was additional to the £10.90), which still left me paying £22.79 for the privilege of using their horrible computer booking system that put me in this position in the first place. I was told that if I had called them, they could have sorted the problem pout before I would have had to pay for another ticket, however, their phonelines are only open from 8am-6pm, so there was no possible way of me contacting them before I had to get the train.
The lady on the end of the phone did what she could, and she was perfectly pleasant. However, I am still appalled by Trainline's shocking customer service policies. When I requested if there was anything that could be done to compensate me for the additional £22.79 I had lost, such as a Trainline coupon, I was told no. When I asked if Trainline had a complaints handling procedure, I was told no.
I looked high and low on the Trainline website for a complaints portal, but I was left disappointed. The fact that I am unable to lodge any sort of formal complaint is shameful, as every modern business should have one as standard. When I went onto their Customer Support page, I was left with dead-end problem pages with no way of submitting any sort of formal complaint. The Rail Ombudsman supposedly regulates Trainline, but they were unable to accept any form of complaint against Trainline. On their complaints page, it also kept redirecting me to an Italian webpage - NOT HELPFUL!
I then used their chat service and they also were not able to help me in any way. No other service I have ever used charges extra for people to receive a refund. This is terrible. They are a big company and can afford to give people proper refunds.
Your customer service and computer booking system are shameful Trainline - do better!”
“Really annoyuing website. Tried looking for train times and costs and were also taken to booking,com regardless of whether I needed a hotel or not. Apart from this being a money making scam there is absolutely no reason to add that tro the search for train times. There are plenty of options which I will use in future rather than Trainline. Also, tried to contact Trainline by email etc but no way of being able to. Went through the motions and ended up spending time and no result. Very frustrating.”
“Horrible, still my money. It’s scam company. My train was cancelled, I paid for tickets £62 and after 2 weeks arguing by email I received £11 back to my account. Disappointed.”
“I diagnosed with autism anxiety depression learning disability and they told me send tickets back and they refund me but I can't send tickets back because of my mental health issues
Do not trust train lime rip off robbing thiefs
Ryan young”
“Great service until you need help, can’t refund, can’t change ticket, all just a con to steal money off you, £40 ticket, 5 minutes later and I can get £11 back and cat change date or time, robbers”
“The open return option user to mean any day return. They have changed it to day return with no notifications so just been accused of fraud infront of a train full of people and my young son! Never again. Nobheads”
“I booked a ticket through trainline last week. First for a year. Guess what - got a scam telephone call just now related to trainline. I don't believe in such coincidences but there is no way of contacting TL easily to warn/complain, just endless irrelevant FAQ”
“Purchased a single in error, phoned and asked to upgrade to return.
They wouldn’t upgrade and take more money, & wouldn’t refund.
They said buy another ticket?! If purchased direct with the rail company direct (southern rail), I could have upgraded or got a refund.
Dodgy third party middle man service”
“My first time using Trainline and was given a ticket. I paid for ticket online, as a first time user I was hoping my ticket is online. Only to be asked to pay £56 for not printing ticket for a trip cost £6. This is wickedness. Gave them my code and app to show I didn’t intentionally board the train and decided not to pay. Was only because I had no idea I was meant to print off a ticket I bought online which I also think makes no sense. The Trainline needs proper data governance and data quality practices in place to avoid stressing customers in a service you actually provided online. The train agents should be able to use the code to authenticate a payment and not resulting to such harsh verdict, it’s so annoying experience.”
“I just cannot get a refund or claim when trains are delayed. It stops you when you apply. For example my train was cancelled last evening and as a lone female traveller I did not want to be stuck in Bristol Temple Meads in the dark so I had to get a taxi back to cheltenham. The previous train had been cancelled on the app. That is why I had no choice but to get the 20.35 one. I had travelled from France. When trains are delayed I have trued to claim compensation but can never do it because it is like the app is set up to make it impossible.”
