My mom bought her train tickets a few months ago (she is flying out on Sunday), and in the meantime, she had some fraudulent activity on her card, so they changed credit cards. Forgetting about the DB tickets, she cut up her credit card she used to purchase those tickets with.
I remember when we had ours checked on the train, he actually had me pull out my card and checked to make sure it was the right one. Anyone know what her options are at this point? Thanks!
I think she printed the ticket up from the website (will ask in the morning), so it's mostly a concern when they come around and check. Yes, she was the purchaser and will be there with my dad on the train. They will have passports with them and probably their licenses, too. Thank you! I wasn't sure how strict they would be about the card matching.
I would try to call German Rail (49) 1805 99 66 33 immediately. I don't know if they have anyone (particularly English speaking) on staff on the weekend, but you really need to tell them. I don't know if they can change it now, or not, but try.
When I registered with the Bahn almost 10 years ago, just for access to information, not expecting to buy tickets with that registration, I used my nick name, not my legal name. In 2008 I purchased Dauer-Spezial (now Sparpreis Tickets) from the Bahn. Not realizing that the names were different, I used the registration. When I printed the tickets, I noticed they used my nickname, not my legal name on my credit card, and, since my legal name and nickname are not used in Germany, I called and asked them if the conductor would understand that it was a nickname. They said the full name and the last four digits of the card number are all important, but he couldn't change it. I hung up, expecting to have to change the name on my card (you can do that). Fifteen minutes later I received email from the Bahn with new pdf files with the name changed.
Good luck.
I think DB is also concerned, because they send you a pdf file that can be printed multiple times, that only one copy of the ticket can be used. They try to do that by putting the credit card number on the ticket and requiring you to show that credit card. If the conductor accepts the ticket with a different credit card #, what is to say that somewhere else on the train, someone will present another copy of the ticket with the original card. I think that their hand-held scanners are linked to a central computer so that they will only accept the ticket once, but if the second ticket is held by someone with the correct card, how do they go back and catch the first person?
This is the number she ended up getting help from:
(49)1805101111
She is going to take her statement that shows the charge of the tickets with her. Because she has first class tickets (she found a good sale!), she will be able to get help when she gets there at the first class lounge. Otherwise, they said the conductor would be able to give her a temporary pass while he verified the rest of her information with the central computer, since he couldn't just scan her card, since there would be a mis-match. It sounds like they will then give her new updated tickets.
Thanks, everyone!
