My experience with Trenitalia website

Posted by Warren (Kelowna, BC, Canada) on 05/25/10 10:44 AM

Hi everyone,

Got on their website this morning to try and book my Venice to Florence trip July 28. Was happy to see that the schedule was finally up. Was able to book the Meno30 (discounted fare) and proceeded to make payment. Voila - it worked. Thought this was cool so I tried to book my Florence to Rome travel on July 31. Not so lucky this time. Tried my first mastercard and it was denied, tried my second one and it too was denied. Even called my credit card company and they say the second transactions are not even showing up. I'm guessing that Trenitalia doesn't like 2 transacations that close together and is denying it. Am I reading this right and I may be lucky later. FYI, I'm using a Canadian card.

thanks

Posted by Norm

Ottawa, Canada

05/25/10 12:07 AM

4555 posts

Warren...I had that same experience two years ago. I found that, when I waited until the next day, my second transaction went thru fine. If yours doesn't call your CC issuer to see if a transaction was attempted but rejected, possibly as a security measure.

Posted by Warren OP

Kelowna, BC, Canada

05/26/10 12:47 AM

433 posts

Tried again on day 2 and still no luck with either credit card. I did call my credit card company's and both say nothing is showing up on their end. Gonna try creating a new account and see how that works.

Posted by Warren OP

Kelowna, BC, Canada

05/27/10 09:08 AM

433 posts

Have kept on trying to use both of my credit cards and they continue to be denied. Even tried setting up a new account, but again the cards keep getting denied, I'm guessing because I've already tried them once. I have been checking with my credit card company's and they assure me nothing is showing up on their end, so it's Trenitalia blocking them. Last night, I set up yet another account, this time using my wife's credit card and everything worked fine . . .this time. Go figure. Anyways, I did email them and got this response:

Dear Customer,

We are sorry for the problem that you noticed and that block you in purchasing on our website.

We inform you that, for security reasons, some credit card companies can interrupt for a period, fixed or not, the possibility of purchase on particular websites or on the Italian web platform.

For technical reasons, American Express is temporarily limiting online payments to Italian cards only.

CartaSi informs that credit cards are checked with the IP number of the PC where the purchase has been made. Therefore, and for online purchase only, the transaction could be denied by the credit card circuit.

We kindly suggest you to contact your credit card company to analise throughtly the problem.

Best regards.

Posted by Norm

Ottawa, Canada

05/27/10 09:58 AM

4555 posts

Yea, that's the same canned reply I got when I complained that my second transaction had initially been refused...by the time I got their reply, I had already made it through the second time. There's absolutely no concern on the part of Trenitalia to correct these problems.....as far as they are concerned, their system, and that of their partner credit card access provider (CartaSi), are perfect...it's always someone else's fault.