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Renfe Train Loses Electricity on the Way to Barcelona

Posted by (New York) on

Our Renfe train was to arrive in Barcelona at 730pm on March 21st but was stuck without electricity or water for 9 hours. the conductor didnt know what was going on and we were ultimately told this is normal for the train to lose power.

we ultimately got a new train in Beziers and arrived at 430am on March 22nd and the conductor said there was a way to get 50% or even 100% of the ticket costs returned to our credit card which seemed like a mild consolation.

the following day we realized there is no real way through the website to get the money returned to the credit card despite claims on their website that this is possible. the only option is to get Renfe points. The Renfe website also doesnt allow any posts for feedback. Anyone else having experiences with Renfe like this?

Posted by
12329 posts

If you are still there, do they not have an office you can go to, to resolve the issue?

Posted by
2826 posts

This is very, very, very bad behaviour of RENFE. But we are used to that.
They should not have left you fgor 9 hours on that train, but immediately put you on other trains. If using only regional trains you would still have gotten you to Barcelona sooner.

And now they make it hard for you to get compensation? They really should get hung out to dry for this. I am not joking. If I had been in your situation I would be livid.

Your rights as a traveller are outlined here:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/rail/index_en.htm#delayed

Generally speaking as soon as it appears that your delay at your destination will be more than 60 minutes the railway must provide you with an alternative means to get to your destination. They have 100 minutes do do so. If they don't, you can make your own arrangements. So you could have for example on your own initiative booked the TGV from Beziers (or wherever you got stuck) to Barcelona and later claimed compensation from them.

You are entitled to a refund of 50% of your ticket price. And the railway must refund that to the same means you used for payment. However RENFE is notoriously bad at customer service (they make SNCF look excellent in comparison....). Their claim form ( https://venta.renfe.com/vol/selecIndemAuto.do ) seems to be only in Spanish...

but I would persist. If they do not reply, then follow the suggestions on the passenger rights page I showed.

I am due to take that same train in May. I hope things go well. RENFE has serious issues with the services to France at the moment, and it is an outright scandal that cross border rail services between France and Spain are so bad.

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