Following advice I found here, I purchased (online) a 4 continuous day Swiss Rail Pass thru Rail Europe. They immediately charged my card and sent me a confirmation email of that booking. The email said they would send me another email with information about how to "Print@Home" my travel pass within the next 2 days. So far, so good - all as expected. But the second email never came. I contacted Rail Europe who said, ah yes... there was a glitch with the second email. We will fix that and you will get it within two days. 2 more days go by... nothing. I contacted them again. Ah yes, there was a glitch... we will escalate and prioritize this for you and you will definitely get the link for printing within 2 days. Well, 2 more days have gone by and still nothing. There is no option except to Print at Home. But obviously I can't do that. Anybody else have this problem or any great advice about how to resolve it?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33821 posts
how about telling them since they can't resolve their "glitch" to give you your money back and get your Swiss Rail Pass from the Swiss whose trains it is and who sell it. Look at rail.ch their simplified web address.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Rail Europe will only refund 85% (plus a 7% service fee) on unused passes. A bit of a rip off considering they never actually delivered the pass. I originally tried to buy my pass from Swiss Rail directly on their website, but it wouldn't complete the order for some weird unknown reason. I guess my plan is to take the 85%+ hit if I must and then buy the pass at the airport when I get there.
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7158 posts
This may not help you, but in my opinion you should push them for a full refund. It's not an unused pass, it's a pass that's not able to be used because of their error. They should refund 100%.
Posted by
Vancouver, BC
381 posts
I'm with Nancy -- they never delivered a pass for you to refund. You should get 100% back. Or, give you the pass. Either one.
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8967 posts
buffjr1, is there a tiny possibility that emails got caught by your spam filter? This happened to me more than once, so I just thought I'd mention it.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Swiss Rail directly on their website, but it wouldn't complete the order for some weird unknown reason.
Did you tell your credit card company you would be making purchases in Switzerland? If this is your first use of your card in Switzerland the Credit Card company my have blocked it as suspicious. There are frequent reports of this problem.
Posted by
Chicago
8164 posts
This is one reason why it is better to wait til you land in Switzerland to buy those passes.
Posted by
Green Bay
21146 posts
Following advice I found here, I purchased (online) a 4 continuous day Swiss Rail Pass thru Rail Europe.
I have never heard of anyone on this forum giving such advice. Universally it has been to buy when you arrive in Switzerland.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6462 posts
I usually hear people on the forum say, avoid RailEurope for passes and individual tickets. I did purchase my Swiss Pass ahead of time because I was warned the price would go up (and it did), but I purchased from SBB.
You might consider calling your credit card company to discuss disputing the charge.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thanks all. Yeah, by advice, I meant the Rick Steves article(s) about Swiss Rail Passes - not the forums. It suggests that buying ahead of time and printing it at home means you don't have to fuss with getting one there (go straight from the plane to the train!), and you'll have the option to reprint it if you damage or lose it. I am going to try and dispute the charge with my cc company and lean on Rail Europe to refund the full amount. It definitely was never delivered - not just lost in a spam filter. They owned up that it was a mistake on their end, but they keep insisting that that they will correct things. Then don't.
Posted by
Jersey Shore
339 posts
Along the lines of what Stan said. Maybe Spam.. But also, can you try giving them a different email address. Sounds weird, but my Trenitalia tickets never made it to my "verizon.net" email account. I made multiple attempts.. But when I used my "verizon.com" (work) email address, all of my tickets came thru.. And then I printed everything at work, but don't tell my boss!!! Good luck!!!
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5507 posts
You do realize that this website suggests RailEurope tickets in their articles because they also sell RailEurope tickets on this website?
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Yes, but I was also thinking that if Rick Steves was attaching his name to the recommendation, and cozying up to Rail Europe on his website, that it would be ... better?
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5507 posts
Ummm, no. I think so many people make similar assumptions as you, which is shameful for the RS company. This is a business, first and foremost, and RailEurope (via this website) has been unashamedly ripping people off under Rick’s name for years.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Well, 4th time's the charm. Last night I sent of an angry email to Rail Europe demanding they either send me my Travel Pass link or refund me 100% for a never delivered product. I hunted around and found a phone number (there isn't one on their website, of course- heh) but wasn't able to get thru. But I was going to keep trying to call this morning when lo and behold - My travel pass appeared in my inbox over night! Thanks for the help everyone.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33821 posts
glad that's resolved - phew!!
I guess that they don't make the Christmas Card List though?
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
It would have been a simple fix if you had just contested it with your credit card company.