TheTrainline.com – A Cautionary Tale

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A topic from Travel & Holidays: Travelling By Rail

forwardSun 02/12/07 15:29

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Last Wednesday night I tried to buy train tickets to London for the upcoming Christmas Megaparty via TheTrainline.com website. The best deal was 2 single tickets, coming to £22 (as opposed to the £38 return fare). When I tried to complete the purchase I got a screen saying the transaction couldn't be completed, listing several possible reasons why (including that the tickets I wanted may have just sold out). It sent me back to an earlier screen to try again, with fresh information. Lo and behold, I got the same ticket options and the same 'cannot complete' screen.

This time I tried the ticket purchase phoneline listed at the bottom of the screen. The phone system is automated so a little bit plodding, but ok. Surprisingly, the phone system offered me the same trains and same fares. To finish the purchase it passes you to a live operator (a real person no less). The live operator told me that despite the website AND the phone system offering me the tickets I wanted, they were no longer available and the cheapest available fare was the £38 return. Having spent over 20 minutes getting this far, being apparently misled all the way, I was really pissed off. So I declined the ticket and sent a complaint e-mail via the website.

The next morning I thought I'd just drop by the local railway station to check for sure that there were no tickets available cheaper than the return fare. Not only were there cheap tickets available, but they were at the same price, and on the same trains that I had originally tried to buy on TheTrainline.com!

I can't think of any decent reason for this situation. At best, their information was out-of-date and inconsistent. My e-mail of complaint to the website has had no response as yet and I'm not holding my breath.

So if you're looking to buy train tickets at the best price I'd recommend your local railway station and NOT TheTrainline.com.

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