The tickets for my desired July dates became available yesterday, so I went to SNCF to buy them.
I have two different credit cards that don't have foreign transaction fees, so I tried the first card. "Echec de paiement" (payment failure). I tried the other one, and it failed too. (This is apparently because the purchase didn't fit my usual spending pattern.)
So I got on the phone to call the credit card companies. Meanwhile, one of the two tickets in my basket timed out. I tried to buy the remaining ticket with the card whose company told me the purchase should be fine, but no. ... Long story short, after being on hold and speaking with different customer service agents, three (3) hours later I succeeded in buying the two tickets.
So far so good. I received two (2) confirmation emails, one for each ticket, along with a whole series of "Echec de paiement" emails documenting my numerous unsuccessful attempts.
But! On the SNCF page where you view your tickets it is showing that I bought three (3) tickets, the third being a duplicate of ticket #2.
SNCF supposedly has an option for "annuler" (cancel) when you open a ticket, but elsewhere it indicates you can't open your ticket until shortly before your time of travel. And, of course, I chose the 2nd Class fare which is changeable but nonrefundable.
The only thing I can think of to solve this is to call my credit card companies again, and see whether I was charged for more than two (2) tickets. If I was charged for a third ticket (a duplicate of my 2nd ticket), I'll have to dispute the charge with the credit card company.
Any other suggestions?