Rail Europe Reviews

This company is absolutely awful! It is a SCAM. DO NOT buy train tickets through this company. They are NOT tickets. It is simply a reservation to buy a ticket. Buy your tickets at the train stations and DO NOT go through this company.

We are a tour company, we have used RailEurope for two years now. They have messed up almost all of our bookings. Names misspelled, misinformation. They tell they have sent us the tickets, they never show up. Misbookings. They never read a complete email. Never answer all of your questions. NO 24 SUPPORT. DO NOT USE! YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY. And on top of everything else,they do not care, they act like it is your fault. Did I mention that you will be very sorry if you use them?

My wife and I set up our dream vacation, something in planning for more than a year. We purchased 2 first class tickets from Lugano Switzerland to Basel Switzerland for travel about 45 days out. We picked a specific train time and routing. We received instead (via mail) paper tickets with no reservation but instead an open booking good for 3 days. This essentially puts us in the "take your chances" mode. I immediately requested a refund and also notified my credit card company to execute a charge back. RailEurope employee (40 minutes on hold) was not helpful and insisted that I should have known this but he could get us reservations for an additional fee. No idea how this will resolve as yet.

I made reservations for the Eurostar from Paris to London. When I looked at the printed information, it had us on the wrong day. I don't know if that was my mistake or the company's. So I tried calling to make a change - I was on hold for almost an hour! Finally through an online chat I requested a callback. Apparently one cannot makes changes online. So the guy who called me back was nice but he told me the change of date would increase my fare, in addition to change fees which were more than my original fare. So I asked him to check other times which might be cheaper. He found one, but it was not convenient for me. So I said to leave it as is.

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!! - You cannot get hold of them on the Phone ever!! -The Only way is through the "Contact Us" Page on their website - and they don't ever respond to your emails-there is no way you can get any help with your bookings with them!! We simply used different Credit Cards for our Bookings and we all assigned to Different Coaches!!- and there was no help to cancel and rebook using a same card later on.. We did not expect simply booking with a different Card would land us in different Coaches. My elderly Mom is handicapped - This is a 3:30 hour journey and she might need to go to the bathroom/restroom and she would need assistance or she might fall. We needed to be nearby her. They did not help at all. Is it please to get us all in the same coach or help us cancel these Bookings on humane grounds please so that we could book using the same card and hence all be assigned to the same Coach at the least ...

I travel to Europe often and usually book directly with service providers. This time I decided to try RailEurope and I would like to spread the information to all passengers to save their time and stress. Unprofessional, unresponsive. Taking forever to confirm booking, enough time so all other options are sold out. If I knew they would not be able to confirm the booking I would have enough time to look for other options as there was plenty at the time but no, they never got back after numerous tries. Please do yourself a favor and don't use them.

We book some trains for our Trip to Livorno, Pisa and Florence and due to some cruise line technical issue we could not make on time. We tried to get our refunds back from our tickets and was very hard to reach RailEurope customer service; then we tried to request the funds from the website in which they utility on the page says that we were entitled to. After 3 weeks and several email to RailEurope they finally got back to us saying that we will not get our money back due to their policy after sales. This company is scam... I do not recommend to use them at all.

I bought a ticket from France - Frankfurt. After making the purchase they replied saying they would confirm the purchase of the ticket with 5-7 business days. I received an email the next day stating that there were no 2nd class tickets available for the time I wanted - I could either upgrade to a first-class ticket or take a 2nd class ticket for a later Train. I had to respond within 24 hours or they would cancel the ticket. I accepted the extra fee to receive the first-class ticket, however, I did not receive any confirmation that the payment had made or receive my tickets. Fifteen hours before I was scheduled to take the train, I went to the train station I was scheduled to leave from to see if there was any record of the tickets being purchased. They did not find any tickets in my name. I emailed them to cancel my ticket but have not heard back from them.

Zero stars. Don't waste your time. I booked tickets a month in advance before leaving for Europe. Over the past several weeks, I had numerous live chats with agents who continually lied to me that "it'll just be a few days, give it a few more days." I never received my tickets. Literally the day before our trip I contacted them again and they told me my card was denied (?), which was also a lie, since I was immediately able to use the same card to book a flight between the cities we were going to travel by rail. These clowns added $1000 to our trip by forcing us to book a flight last minute because the trains were now full. Utter incompetence. Avoid.

We wanted to book train fares from Prague to Budapest, and registered with RailEurope to send us an email when the tickets/fares were available. They sent us 4 emails over a period of weeks saying that tickets were now available and each time we went to book the tickets they were not there. We emailed many times and they simply replied you have to wait until the tickets are available! But you told me in many emails they WERE available. In total frustration I eventually found out on the internet that you can book directly with Czech railways, and we were able to book 2 fares for $AUD 55, whereas RailEurope was quoting the exact same fares for 2 at $AUD324!!! Beware, some price gouging I think.

The worst website, the worst service, they don't answer, will up-sell you rail protection plan and then get you in the fine print - will never use it again. Buy direct from the train companies in Europe vs. going with these guys. They are a complete ripoff.

Placed an online order for train tickets, confirmation came back with the wrong date. Emailed them immediately, called them, with no luck of getting a live person. Sometimes they would not take the call at all. They refused to refund or rebook for correct date. They are shysters and unprofessional, at the very least! Beware!

Booked a couple of trips online, no issue, printed off tickets. The issue came when I tried to get a refund for my boyfriend's seat, since he could no longer travel on the trip. The refund was perfectly valid according to the terms and conditions on the ticket, but I sent them 5 different messages and heard nothing for nearly two weeks. They eventually responded after both trips were past and told me they could not be refunded because of that DESPITE the fact they were only past because of their lack of response. So I'm hundreds of dollars poorer because of their absolutely useless service. Learn from my mistake and don't ever use these scam artists. You can get the same tickets from the operators- RENFE, SNCF etc, also online. I will NEVER use them again.

Straight up ripped me off for almost 1000.00. Plain and simple. Deceptive, unresponsive, and the trains stink along with the food. Staff is arrogant and difficult to get along with. Possibly the worst experience ever...

I booked a ticket, then I changed the plan and transportation, and they guide me through the live chat. Then my money returned in less than 4 days. So my experience with them good. I hope also to travel safe soon.

I am leaving for Spain soon, hundreds of dollars poorer and no train reservations. This has been going on since March. Their website shows “bookings available 60-90 days in advance”. Let me tell you that as of May 14 there are still unavailable trains for June! I had to make hundreds of emails, tweets, and phone calls. Their twitter staff is RUDE and unprofessional. They shut the call center down and the only way to get through is to play with the IVR.

I used the RailEurope website to book a ticket in Spain. I made an error on the date (yes my bad) but I called their hotline within 30min of my mistake. I waited on hold for 2 hours and their response was, "We are sorry.... We are going to have to charge you a 43% cancellation fee." I asked for a favor since I had just purchased the ticket, the representative just told me, "Sorry but if you want to cancel, we will have to charge you 43% cancellation fee." Be forewarned before you use Rail Europe, their website is slick, but their policies do not serve the public, only themselves.

I used their website for an upcoming trip to Italy. The website totally misrepresents what it does. It makes it look like you are picking trains, routes, departure times etc. When your tickets arrive they are not tickets. It is a four day open voucher that you have to exchange for tickets. Nowhere did it say anything about a voucher. I asked them the questions, "If I still need to go to the train station for tickets, seats etc" why am I giving you any money when I can give it directly to the train station? Customer service response was abysmal and never did answer the simple straight forward question of "Why did I need to use you?" They certainly did say that refunds were not allowed. Skip them all together as they actually give you nothing that moves you forward in regards to securing the transportation you are looking for.

I have booked 7 tickets Paris-Lausanne-Paris on the www.raileurope.com for a team travelling to a competition for around 500$ total. The I got an e-mail with the title "Your booking has not been confirmed". The e-mail was telling, quote, "We wanted to advise you that your booking is currently being processed. One of our experienced Travel Consultants will be contacting you within 2 business days to review the details of and finalize your booking. Your credit card has been pre-authorized for the amount quoted and will only be charged when your entire booking is confirmed." Then they wrote me an e-mail, saying that they have no tickets for this price, but have tickets for more than 2 times higher price. Of course I refused and cancelled the booking. This bait and switch approach is a clear scam and should be punished by law.

We were two families together traveling, so I bought my 5 train tickets and the other family got their 5 tickets, at the moment of the purchase there were three different companies with similar prices and we choose RailEurope. 24 hours later I received an email saying that my reservation will cost me 50% more than the payment made the day before, otherwise it will be canceled and my money returned a week later!!!

Now that I have traveled to Europe multiple times I can tell you they are a ripoff. They are happy to take your money when click “buy” but expect nothing else. In international travel things happen and you can make changes if you buy at a station or European based company. This company will not help and basically told my husband and I that the “reservation” was refundable but worth $0 and the “ticket” was not refundable. What does that even mean??? It is some shady wording tactics to get out of ANY customer services, assistance with changes or refunds. Beware of this business. I will never use them again.

This place is a rip off! I bought my tickets for Paris to Lille today for a trip in December and realized within an hour that I booked them a week early!! So I contacted the company regarding the issue via their chat system (SINCE THEY DO NOT HAVE A PHONE NUMBER) and was told that because of the type of ticket I bought, which was the early bought ticket, they cannot be exchanged or refunded!!! I seriously only needed them moved up a week! I would have paid whatever difference it made but no! She said that the rail insurance would have taken care of it!! The cost of it was the cost of the first class tickets I bought!!! are you kidding me!!! Stay away from this company!!! They pay top dollar for the first spot on Google search with my money that they ripped off!!!

Please save yourself money and trouble; you can just purchase tickets directly when traveling and this company does NOTHING to help you even if you have your tickets insured. Their services are absolutely useless. Ironically, we initially contacted Eurail who said they had a policy in place to help if we lost or left our tickets but didn't recognize our account; we checked the email again and realized we had used RailEurope instead who then told us there was absolutely nothing they could do and we needed to just buy our tickets directly from Trenitalia! So if you really want to use a broker for train tickets at least Eurail has some value because they do offer services to help you.

Had Swiss Rail Pass, wife got injured 2 days before scheduled departure from US. Had to cancel month long trip. Contacted Rail Europe 2 days (Aug 29) after Doctor visit and was advised the Pass was effective on Aug 28 (only visible in fine print), thus Rail Protection was worthless! Did not have planned rail travel until September 31. Watch the fine print. Rail Europe will not help you when buying the tickets or the Protection and will not help you after the fact.

I ordered some rail tickets to travel on Deutsche Bahn while in Europe. One set worked OK, but a pair of tickets to travel from Frankfurt to Nuremberg did not work. The number provided from the website did not work in the ticket machine at the station and the station staff were not able to make it work either. So Rail Europe has defrauded me out of the cost of two fares from Frankfurt to Nuremberg. I have asked my credit card provider to reverse the charge but Rail Europe are trying to dispute that. They have not provided any good reason why they should be able to keep the money since they have not actually provided the service. Isn't that wire fraud?

Website is broken by failing to store booking number just made so there is no way to cancel or exchange bookings. You can't cancel on SNCF's site, you are told to go to original booking agent, RailEurope which will not help. They will not answer emails even on their own form. They will not answer any of their phones even if you are a travel agent. Essentially they have no customer service. There is no way to settle a dispute except contest the CC charges and have your bank issue a chargeback on the funds you have paid. Then book directly with the train company.

I wrote this review this morning, but I do not see that it posted. I will endeavor to recreate it from memory. Went to the Rail Europe (RE) site to purchase First Class tickets on the Swiss railway system. Put in the names, dates and times as requested and paid for them by credit card. The mail arrived with an envelope containing General Boarding tickets with no names on them and no specific time and a range of dates for use. The tickets were from a French company (SNCF) and not the Swiss rail system. There was no explanatory note in the envelope. Emailed the company. Emailed the company. Emailed the company... Emailed the company again; got no answer once again. Sat for ~2 hours on-hold on both the 800 numbers they have; no one ever answered.

Purchased two tickets for $250 and included the trip Rail Protection Plan for an additional $40. Decided we needed to move our trip back one day and exchanges are allowed with our protection plan. Go to do this online: No way to do so. All cancellations and exchanges have to be done via phone. I go to call, and end up on hold for 2+ hours. Had to hang up due to work time constraints. Called in later that day. Another hour phone wait. Once talking to rep, they say they can do it for 100$ increase, even though the listed price online was same price as original purchase. Rep says she can’t see that price, which seems ridiculous to me. I say I’ll wait and try again tomorrow. Next day, 2.5 hours on hold with no answer. This is unacceptable. They make it virtually impossible to contact them and quote prices that don’t match their own website.

Paid over $800 on overnight train from Austria to Venice and thankfully (we thought) added trip insurance. Lost our physical tickets and attempted to use the trip insurance. Due to timing, we were instructed to buy new tickets and Rail Europe would reimburse us. We purchased the EXACT same sleeper car directly from the train company for $260. A month later I am still unable to get in touch with a Rail Europe representative. Spend 30-60 minutes on hold at a time only to have to abandon my wait due to work schedule.

RailEurope are ripoff merchants! Buy your tickets from station prior to your holiday. Yes you can do it, research where to buy them. RailEurope billed me $240 for train tickets in Croatia, upon arrival I could have bought the same tickets for $40, go figure! Our train never showed up, a coach ended up transporting us to destination.