Problems booking tickets on thetrainline.com

I have been unable to book any tickets using any of my several cards on Trainline. They tell me it is my fault and need to sort it out with my bank. My bank says it's Trainline and there are lots of problems with this site.I can pay on any other website so why not this one? The customer services said they could book me a ticket but not reserve a seat (for a journey in a weeks time). This is useless customer service. They said E-mail the webmaster.

I know several other people who cannot buy tickets on this site. Does trainline not want our business?

I spent over an hour trying to book a train ticket for Peterborough to London via the trainline. Each time I submitted my application it was refused because of inaccuracy in the card no. I have just received a call from my bank querying my purchase of 6 tickets which they had no problem in authorising for the first application.

I tried to send an email to trainline but it refused to accept it because they already have my address! I tried phoning but after listening to music for 15mins I gave up. How do you communicate with these people? My bank says that the trainline will not remove my money if it has not authorised the ticket but I will not know this until my statement arrives.

Has anyone else had this or similar problems?

I have been waiting for a refund from this company since 10th November for incorect tickets, they got it wrong and I was advised to buy the correct tickets and return the others for a full refund, I have been contacting them through GNER (now Nat Express) I have been informed 5 times that the refund has been requested, I cant believe they are allowed to get away with it so many times.

Just one quick note: thetrainline isn't owned by Virgin any more. It was bought by a private equity group in 2006. Since then, they have introduced more and more charges, with a 50p minimum booking fee for collecting them from a machine at the station yourself! Given that advertising websites isn't allowed, I'll just say Google "avoid thetrainline fees" to find out how to avoid paying these.

Same credit card problems for me via virgin trains web site (now trainline) I have no idea how to get the problem resolved and meanwhile I'm missing out on half saver return deals which are only available on-line.

The Trainline have pulled the biggest scam on me! I was sold an invalid ticket which I wasn't allowed to travel on, and I had to buy another ticket. I requested all £25 of my money back because of their incompetence, but they have only refunded me £15 ( since it's £10 for the admin fee!). It's an absolute joke!

I don't know why such a shoddy company is allowed to rip off so many people when travel is so important to the UK economy. There should be much tighter regulations on how companies like these can operate! They should be fined heavily for not treating customers fairly. I sincerely hope that people wise up to the money-making scam that the Trainline is. I hope they end up on Watchdog and get torn apart- I'm sure they will! It's just another example of rip-off Britain!

I have had exactly the same problem with the non-arrival of tickets. I booked two tickets two months ahead of travelling and surprise...surprise...they didn't arrive. I phoned up a week before travelling and was told by the company's Indian call centre staff that they had been dispached and then they hadn't in exactly the same conversation..which rang alarm bells. I was told "special arrangements" would be made if they hadn't arrived the day before..and I stupidly believed them. Turned up to the railway station to pick up my tickets and they had no knowledge of me picking them up etc...and the Indian call centre staff were quite rude both to me and the person in customer services trying to help. Best to avoid this web-site completely. I'm sending a dossier to Watchdog and Consumer Direct are quite helpful too if you call them. Am trying to get a refund but was told by the website's call centre that I couldn't get one without my tickets - which, of course, I don't have, so I won't hold my breath. £80 and a nice surprise for my other half down the drain. A shame the trainline have an apparent monopoly on online train ticket sales. If they didn't, I suspect their customer service would be a lot better.

On 6 November I purchased, via the net, a ticket for travel on 13 November (from Paddington to Cheltenham) - and was advised on my confirmation e-mail that said ticket would be sent in the post. Day before said journey ticket not having arrived I spent a frustrating hour trying to get hold on The Trainline by telephone (of course telephone number is prime rate). Finally got through and was advised to go to Paddington station ticket office half an hour before train departure - show an id (eg the credit card I had used to purchase ticket on the internet) and I should get the ticket. I was assured I would definitely have no problem!!!!

I did get to the Paddington office ticket office in good time - queued up - 10+ passengers before me - got to the desk and was informed to go to the Information Office. Went to Information Office - staff member checked her records - no ticket for me - she rang the Edinburgh office - like me she had to wait approximately 10 minutes to speak to a "human" only to be told that the Edinburgh office had to speak to me personally - of course she explained she was not allowed to let me into her office. I was then advised to find a phone box and call Edinburgh - by this time I had little time left to get my train and in view of my telephone experience the day before I decided I had to purchase another ticket in order not to miss my train. A week later on my return home I wrote to the Customer Services Manager, The Trainline, Edinburgh, explaining situation - sent my purchased ticket and the receipt.To date (12.12.2007) have had no acknowledgement or refund. The ticket that was supposed to have been posted to me has still not turned up either. Wonder what the Trainline is up to - I sure will not be using this facility again. Perhaps this is a topic for BBC Watchdog to pick up on!

I booked tickets on 24 october. They show up on my trainline account as being paid for (including the £2 charge for use of a credit card). But they haven't arrived in the post. I can't get through on the phone line "we are currently experiencing difficulties, please try later". The service used to be good, it is now rubbish, but there seems to be no alternative. I guess the only answer is for everyone to complain to the relevant operators. Once they start receiving myriads of complaints, they should start bringing pressure to bear on Trainline.

Since they upgraded the security on Trainline my credit cards keep getting rejected, even though they work everywhere else, and the "customer service" people ask me to correct my address details, even though they are correct. I would use another alternative to this site but have not found one yet since other sites use the same underlying processing system that makes the same mistakes.

I cannot believe I've been stung by them as well. I tried to buy a ticket for my son to come home from uni for the weekend. The ticket didn't arrive and they say that his address was incomplete because it didn't include the name of the university he goes to. Sounds like a scam to me...

Trainline has charged me 170 pounds today without issuing a confirmation number or suggesting a solution. It happened after I tried to book with my debit card several times after the page showed that the 'booking has not been authorized".

I will sue them, and I will advertise as much as possible that problems like these cannot be ignored, and tickets bought online are not the exact sign of courtesy from the trainline company!

Re JC's comment about going to the local station. I have done that regularly for many years and found the staff have always done their best to get the cheapest ticket etc.
My wife had an Apex return ticket from Dundee to Battle (nr Hastings) but was unable travel because of being in hospital. Scot Rail were unable to give me a refund at the station and didn't think I would get one anyway being an Apex ticket, but I sent off the claim form and duly got back a full refund with nothing deducted for administration and a personal letter wishing my wife a speedy recovery. Needless to say, Scot Rail kept a regular customer

Glad to hear I'm not the only one having credit card rejected by the trainline and Virgin websites.

Has been happening to me for a month now

I have had the same problems as the last two comments. Credit card rejected, but bank says there is no problem. All my calls to train people are treated to the same response - your address must be incorrect. It's not of course, but I cannot get past the call center in India to talk to anyone who might be able to sort this out. If they don't want my money then fair enough, but this is the only way to get tickets without going to a station or via awful call centers.