Thalys print-at-home ticket nightmare

continued from first post... I also used the email form on Voyages-SNCF.com (that website also seems to recognize my booking reference code, but I would get a similar error message when trying to generate the ticket from their website), a got a response a few days later stating: "Après vérification, je n'ai pas identifié votre commande. Si votre commande a été effectué sur le site Thalys, je vous invite à vous rapprocher de leur service." I'm guessing their telling me to contact Thalys again (when the Thalys representative told me to contact the SNCF in the first place)?? Even more alarming, since I received the email from the SNCF I am now getting a NEW error message when attempting to generate my ticket on Thalys.com or Voyages-SNCF.com: "Your ticket has been issued and / or printed already, we are not able to give you access to it. Thank you for your understanding." I was never able to generate the ticket!!! So does anyone: a) know of a current English language phone number for the SNCF or b) think I'll have ANY chance of just being able to pick up my ticket at the train station, even though I ed the print-at-home option. I can print out the email with my booking reference and will be traveling with the credit card used to make the purchase (oh, and I checked my credit card statement, and a charge from the SNCF did go through on 31 January, so that shouldn't be what's causing the problem). The last thing I want to do is be forced to buy a new ticket when I get to Paris (especially since I doubt that they'll refund the original one), I imagine the fares will be at least €100 at that point.

I always fear this sort of thing when buying paperless tickets. I guess the obvious question is Did you write down your confirmation/reservation number? or is it in any of the emails you've received. If so, you should be able to go to the ticket desk in Paris, give the number to a hopefully helpful clerk and get your ticket. Also, take the card you made the purchase with with you when you go. they can often verify the ticket in this manner if you need to use a ticket machine. Who did you call that told you to call SNCF? I would try to call that number again, assuming you have your confirmation number, and ask them to verify that it is valid. You may have just gotten a jerk, so try the number again and try to get some help. If you have to go back to the +33892...number, wait until someone comes on the line and simply say in clear English that you need help in English. The agent can find a translator or may speak English herself. Be sure to check that you were charged for the ticket. If the card got blocked or some other mystery problem happened, the ticket may not have actually been purchased and that might be the source of your problem. I know this isn't a whole lot of help, but in the future ALWAYS print the page that comes up on the website that shows your confirmation number rather thanwait to print from an email. It is at least some form of a receipt.

I have the reference code (six letters long, no numbers) from my confirmation email which is what i was using to attempt to generate the ticket; the Thalys website recognizes my reservation, it just won't generate the PDF file. Hopefully that same code will work at the train station ticket counter. I have to bring the credit card with me anyway since Deutsche Bahn requires me to present it along with my ticket as a form of ID (had no trouble at all getting the PDF files for my tickets on DB or Eurostar, only Thalys). The charge to my credit card (on my statement it appears that the charge was from the SNCF) appeared soon after buying my ticket.

I would think that if you have your paperwork and the credit card you used for purchase, you'll have a good shot at getting your ticket. How much time do you have between your arrival in Paris and your departure on the train? We had to deal with SNCF last summer and they really were quite cooperative. That was to give you some piece of mind. In the meantime, this message may indicate another issue. We had trouble with the website last summer because we were trying to charge more than SNCF would allow, but that was not the error message we were getting. Try googling your problem and see if you can find some other traveler websites. I think the one I found last summer was "cheaptickets.com" or something similar. I'll see if I can dig it up. Also, try looking in the Helpline archives.

Sorry, it's not "cheaptickets", it's eurocheapo.com. If you're still looking for answers, I used this blog to walk me through: www.eurocheapo.com/blog/france-train-tickets-how-to-book-tickets-on the sncf-website-in-french.html

I'm happy to report that this ordeal is finally over. Thalys Customer Service finally responded to my first email, two weeks after I sent it; I had completely given up on them ever responding. They were able to generate the ticket at their end and I was finally able to download it this morning. It's now saved on my computer and in Google Docs.