Trenitalia refunds

I am in the process of getting "refunds" from Trenitalia. We have 3 separate journeys all on fast trains. The 1st trip I initiated on their website because I knew of the decree that was in place for the time of my travel. A few days before that trip, I received an email letting me know that the train was cancelled. The 2nd journey Trenitalia emailed me before I began the refund process. I followed the link in the email, which was the same I had used for the 1st trip, however, this time after submitting my request the confirmation email I received stated "Please note that due to the Covid-19 emergency Trenitalia is receiving an exceptional amount of refund requests, so that the estimated response time may exceed the usual 30 days and may reach over 90 days. Trenitalia s priority is to respond as soon as possible, however according to the possiblity basing on the total amount of the requests." I haven't begun the 3rd request, I'll just wait for the cancellation email and follow the link.

As for a cash refund or a voucher, it is my understanding that they will only be issuing vouchers good for 1 yr from the date of travel. i.e. your ticket was for May 3, 2020 the voucher would be valid until May 3, 2021.

Perhaps someone who has received a refund or voucher back can confirm?

Well, that is better than date of purchase for the voucher. I wish it was for two years not one as travel to Italy from the U.S. may still be shaky next year. I certainly want to go....but will have to see.

Beth

I too applied online through Trenitalia's website for vouchers. Applied online on March 13, 2020 and to date (almost 2 months) no reply from Trenitalia. All I got was a confirmation email that they received the request. Not holding out for a voucher. FYI - also did the same with Italo Train and still no response from them. Our train travels were for the mid-March 2020.

1. A lot of trains are still confirmed, even if are travelling half empty. A train is usually cancelled very close to the date, mainly in this period when things are changing so fast.
2. The voucher should be valid 12 months after the day of issuing. So if you request the refund today and is sent you the voucher the first of June, it will be valid until 1st of June 2021. At least, this is the policy everybody is following here in Italy, even if the 12 months have been specified only for airplane tickets.
3. Are national laws and decrees whom define the refund policies, so any country is acing in different way. The Italian Government Decree states that all tickets have to be refunded, but the company can decide to give back cash or give a 12-months voucher of the same amount. Is not a purchaser decision, but you are not forbidden to ask a cash refund. Trenitalia can politely answer you that their policy is to refund with a voucher.

Ricky--thanks for more details. A year from receiving a voucher is even better than the date of travel. Of course, both scenarios assume travel from US is possible next May/June. If so, I will be more than glad to be in Italy and using the vouchers for train travel.

I had two train trips booked for this June: one Naples - Siena, the other Bologna - Fiumicino. I cancelled the first one from the "manage my booking" section on the Trenitlia website, and received an immediate refund to my PayPal account. The ticket I had purchased was supposed to be 80% refundable; the refund I got was 70%. I think the difference was that the regionale portion of the journey was not included in the refund. I inquired, and got two links, one for the fast trains, and one for the regional.

I'll try again with my second train journey, but I'm waiting a couple of weeks before I cancel that one.

Jane--I haven't done anything-just procrastinating I guess-so will look into this too. It is so much fun to book than to undo everything. We would be leaving in less than two weeks....

Beth

Beth, it would have been tomorrow for us.

I think I am going to be sad on my departure date...... (still a month away).

I have not read here or on other travel forums of anyone actually RECEIVING a refund or travel voucher from Trenitalia. People have only posted that they have requested. I requested refund for 6 persons on a May 21 2020 train on March 19, 2020, (A substantial amount) I received an email reply that my request had been received. Received emails reminding me of my journey and then that my trains had been cancelled. It has been 110 days since my request but still no refund or voucher. At this point I would be happy with either. Just wondering if anyone has ACTUALLY received a refund...

Janet, I got a refund from Trenitalia for a trip I cancelled. (See my post upthread.)
I am currently waiting for a refund for a trip they cancelled.

I had several early April high speed tickets cancelled by Trenitalia. I filled out their forms, got confirmation emails, and never heard back from them again. I ultimately disputed the charges with my credit card company and have now been fully refunded.

@Jane. I completed the online form for a refund in April and never heard anything after getting the initial email confirming that my request was received. Finally, at the end of June I reached out to Trenitilia via the web chat feature on their website. The customer service rep said "your bonus has been issued. You can claim it at https://www.trenitalia.com/it/informazioni/cerca_e_modificailbiglietto.html ." I went on that website, entered my email address and PNR codes and received vouchers that are good for one year from the day that I claimed them.

Instead of issuing one voucher for the value of each trip, they issued one to each person that was travelling with me. For example, I paid 230.70 euros for tickets for my wife, my daughter and myself to go from Florence to Naples and, instead of issuing one voucher for 230.70 euros, they issued each of us a voucher for 76.90 euros.

Trenitalia never sent me anything saying that my request was approved. I would still be waiting if I hadn't reached out to them.

Hi Bud
WOW - I too have been waiting more than 100 days for my refund/voucher from Trentalia. I followed your directions using the code from my initial email and voila I immediately received vouchers via email. Now hopefully we can use them next year.
Thank you for your useful information.

I also followed the link above and entered my ticket info. I got the following message: "All tickets were cancelled/refunded". This is dated May 16, 2020. To this day, I have not received a confirmation from Trenitalia or a refund. The original request dates back to mi-March. I used to work for Visa and I understand that these things can take time. I also nderstand that hundreds of thousands of cancellations had to be refunded by many companies, but is this a normal waiting time? Should I be patient a little longer?

As a follow up to my previous post - yesterday I received an email from Trentalia - copied here
"the refund you requested is available in your reserved area on trenitalia.com, which you can access directly and at any time, or by entering PNR and CP at this link. https://www.trenitalia.com/en/purchase/manage_your_ticket.html

Once you have viewed the details of your trip, simply click on "100% e-credit refund" and enter the email address where you would like to receive your e-credit.

You can find a video with all the instructions at the next link. https://www.trenitalia.com/it/informazioni/tutorial-rimborso.html

Your electronic credit, with a value equal to 100% of the ticket, can be used either in a single or during several purchases, within the expiration date. The electronic credit can be used to purchase any Trenitalia product. You can also ask, as alternative, the refund for the unused part by the expiration date on the same payment tool used for the purchase. If you prefer a full refund on the same payment tool used for the purchase, please go to a Trenitalia ticket office and show this comunication and the travel datails or enter a new request using the following link. https://reclami-e-suggerimenti.trenitalia.com/Reclami/en/Anagrafica.aspx

Even if we are working hard to answer all customer requests, we are sorry that you had to wait longer than the standard time we usually need to manage these processes. The exceptional situation, caused by the COVID 19 health emergency together with the operational difficulties due to the lockdown, has led to a huge volume of requests and increased the time needed to manage refunds.

Yours sincerely,

Giovanni Ferrari
Trenitalia S.p.A.
Divisione Passeggeri Long Haul
Customer Service e Vendita Diretta
Post Vendita"

I had already claimed my vouchers and when I went to the site and followed the directions - using my PNR code it told me the date that the vouchers were issued to me. So it seems that they are following up even if you already have a refund/credit. I sent the original request for refund on April 17th.