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Impossible to get in touch with anyone from customer service

  • 19 February 2023
  • 5 replies
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This is a chronic issue with Interrail staff. Very simply, I cannot fathom how a travel agency can operate with no telephone number, no way of contacting them, no email address. This is at the fringes of legality. All you can do is write to a chatbot that represents the current highest standard in artificial dumbness.
Three days trying to get in touch with someone and instead I have to deal with this annoying piece of dumb software that tells me 750 times a day that I have received a confirmation email and a ticket has been created.
Can someone send me a phone number or email address? Can I talk to some real person?

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Best answer by Camilo. 28 February 2023, 12:26

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Userlevel 6
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This is a chronic issue with Interrail staff. Very simply, I cannot fathom how a travel agency can operate with no telephone number, no way of contacting them, no email address. This is at the fringes of legality. All you can do is write to a chatbot that represents the current highest standard in artificial dumbness.
Three days trying to get in touch with someone and instead I have to deal with this annoying piece of dumb software that tells me 750 times a day that I have received a confirmation email and a ticket has been created.
Can someone send me a phone number or email address? Can I talk to some real person?

Hi @Ricojazz 

Eurail/Interrail is not a travel agency, so we don't organise trips for customers. We only offer a Pass that allows you to travel around Europe. The best way to contact us is with the form mentioned above by @rvdborgt  or a direct message on Twitter. 

Additionally, you can also contact me on a private message. 

Have a nice day! 

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What if you have a flight to South America with Iberia, you go to the airport and they have a computer glitch that doesn’t show your ticket and they don’t let you on the plane? Do you write to the Iberia community while you watch the plane take off? That’s exactly what happened to me last year with interrail. Sorry but again, there has to be customer care and corporate responsibility.

I have flown quite a bit with Iberia, and their customer service is utterly incompetent. Including being denied boarding for vague reasons (and changing depending on the desk you were at) and refusing to pay out compensation in all cases (even when due to their fault I had to buy a new ticket).

You seem unaware that the DB compensation is the same for Interrail: https://www.interrail.eu/en/support/delay-compensation Not surprising, though, as it's the minimum set by European legislation.

Maybe the community is still helpful in a way, allowing to avoid useless queries to customer service and thus keeping the pass prices low. If you want more service, you can buy your pass through one of the many actual travel agents that sell them, and accept the extra cost that comes with that.

Userlevel 6
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Whenever I've had an issue that required quick action (for instance an issue while travelling), they have been very quick in answering my emails. As such, I found it understandable they focus on those channels (email and chatbot) as that enables proper prioritisation. 

As far as I have understood, Eurail itself is a pretty small company. Keeping a call centre active would probably increase their costs quite a lot.

Userlevel 7
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The best way to contact customer service is by using this form:

https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new

(Sending an email will also result in creating a request.)

Include as many details as you have, including screenshots. and say when you will be travelling, so your request can be prioritised correctly.

You could also post your problem in this community. Currently, not enough details have been provided, but I gather you're either trying to buy a pass (which is your ticket) or a reservation. If you don't receive a confirmation mail, check the order overview in your account if you're trying to buy a pass, or check the reservations overview in your account if you're trying to buy a reservation.

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Thank you for your replies. I did not include details on purpose, because I don’t want them to be public. This whole concept of delegating customer care to the community is quite atrocious.
They need to have a contact email address that is well evidenced, and a telephone line like any other business.
I just used the form that you provided, thank you for that--but again how is it possible that the chatbot does not provide it after dozens of requests? Or that it is not even listed under “how to contact us”? How can the chatbot tell me time and again that I was sent a confirmation email when there’s no email whatsoever?
As for responding quickly, last year when they did un update to the app and every user lost their pass for a whole day or two, they replied to my inquiry after A MONTH. So much for being on top of things. I found an answer on how to reload the pass in the community, but this is far from acceptable and I would have gone to a lawyer to get the pass refunded if it hadn’t been a massive waste of time.
For your information I am certainly not new to interrailing. I have bought dozens of passes over the years, last year alone I had two 3-month continuous passes, which means that I spent half of the year on trains. I think I know every possible trick on how to get the most out of the pass. I am also very well aware of how amateurish this company is. They have no sense that some people actually use the train for work and not just for hanging out in the French Riviera and sleeping in hostels until a seat becomes available on the TGV. If you have a ticket with Deutsche Bahn and there’s a delay and a lost connection, they respond right away, refund 25% of the fare for delays up to two hours and 50% for delays over two hours, and even give you accommodation for the night if there’s no alternative. Here instead everything runs like a hippie camp, if there’s a delay lay on the hammock and wait for a better day.
Somebody needs to understand that an interrail pass is a proper train ticket and needs to be treated as such. This is the only travel agency in Europe that I know of that takes no responsibility over anything. What if you have a flight to South America with Iberia, you go to the airport and they have a computer glitch that doesn’t show your ticket and they don’t let you on the plane? Do you write to the Iberia community while you watch the plane take off? That’s exactly what happened to me last year with interrail. Sorry but again, there has to be customer care and corporate responsibility.

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