Rail Europe Reviews

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.

I have been waiting for over an hour to receive a response on the phone number attached to a reservation. The company does not answer any of the attached phone numbers. The government should investigate to protect consumers from purchasing tickets through a company like this. I bought insurance but that makes no difference.

Like others have said, I wish I had read the complaints here before purchasing tickets through Rail Europe. On July 6, I bought 4 tickets (paper tickets sent via 2-day UPS) for travel in late September from Italy to Switzerland through the website for $636. The day after I received the tickets, we had to make a change to our travel plans and cancel the tickets. What a nightmare trying to get through to the customer service telephone number! After endless hours on hold for 2 days straight, my husband finally spoke to a representative who told us that we'll lose $234 in unexplained fees if we cancel, even though the date of travel was 2 1/2 months away.

I received an email from RailEurope about strikes on the date of our commuting from Amsterdam to Paris. We had nice first class train tickets. They advised us to cancel the ticket and not travel on those dates. I emailed the company through their website that we want to cancel the ticket according to their advice. On the train station in Paris we asked how to arrange the cancellation besides the email. They couldn’t help us with this. Instead of the 3 hour first class train ride we took an 8 hour bus ride instead. (Same time as the train ticket we had.)

After finally getting through to customer support, they resolved my issue in excellent fashion. They refunded my double booking and emailed me a link that worked to my train tickets. I am not sure, why the web-based system could not find the page with my tickets on it, but it should be fixed.

Why didn't I check these reviews first! Did not realize that this company was US based distributor until I read what a train ticket should really cost on TripAdvisor the day after making the purchase (tickets from Vienna to Budapest). Impossible to cancel ticket online, unable to print ticket from home. Two hours on hold and never had my call answered. Online contact form resulted in a response to send the tickets back to them for a refund. Called my credit card company to dispute the charges; however they are still pending. I will dispute. Received notification from Rail E. that my tickets were going to be delivered by UPS. I will refuse delivery. Notified the company of these steps reiterating the request to cancel. See what happens!

Please explain if it is a website decision on what train you catch why the processing fees is $70. Seems extremely excessive but if you want to reserve before one leaves for Europe you are at the mercy of whatever Rail Europe wants to charge. And then no option to exchange until you get to Europe. A great money rip off in my opinion to the unaware traveller.

I had a ticket from London to Paris then Paris to Barcelona. Once I got to Paris I was given wrong directions by several people which in turn made me miss the train. I even went to the information at Paris Nord who proceeded to just laugh at me and say no with no help whatsoever. Then I was told to go upstairs to Eurostar and line up there then whilst lining up another Eurostar employee told me no I need to go to another terminal.

We purchased 2 Eurail Global Passes and tickets for a sleeper car on two different routes in Europe. We also purchased "rail protection" on the Global passes and the tickets for the sleeper car. The total cost for both reservations was $1204.50. We had to cut our European vacation short and did not use the Global passes nor the sleeper car. We contacted RailEurope for a refund and we were told that we had to have returned the unused tickets three (3) days prior to leaving the US for our European vacation!!! Are you kidding me! We didn't find out that our vacation would need to be cut short until 3 days after arriving in Europe.

I am on a train RIGHT now in Europe. I printed out my ticket exactly as described. I am not a German speaker, so I did not know that my ticket merely read "reservation". I have been trying for 2 hours to find a way to print my ticket online. There is NO WAY. I have been on the phone for an hour with the customer service for this company and cannot get anyone. I have written multiple emails and get no response. I checked my bank account and they drew the money 2 weeks ago. But it looks like the train system here has no record of it. This is a complete scam.

This is a criminal enterprise masking itself as a ticket reseller. Even if you follow their rules, they refuse to give you a refund. But I figured out their scam. In my latest correspondence with them I was told to activate any trip insurance I might have and pursue a refund that way. Great! They don't follow their guidelines for a refund and, as a result, our insurance rates eventually go up because insurance companies and credit cards are on the hook for their dishonest behavior. Why are European railways even doing business with these people. The FTC should look into their anti-consumer practices.

I purchased an advanced ticket for my recent trips to Europe. No ticket was ever emailed as described. I called and emailed for a new one multiple times - no help. I asked for a new ticket via the company's website. No replies. I called while at the local ticketing office and they wouldn't pick up. East coast hours only! WOW NO CUSTOMER SERVICE HOURS FOR THE EUROPEAN TIME THAT THEY SELL TICKETS FOR!!! I had to purchase a new ticket on the spot. Now that I am home I was actually able to get an agent on the phone! So I requested a refund. They verified that my ticket wasn't printed or used at all yet still want me to prove to them that I had to buy another ticket and they will then determine what amount that I will be refunded. HUH??? What a SCAM! I will NEVER use this fraudulent company again.

This company clearly & boldly states on their page before you purchase a ticket that "100% refunds, no questions asked" with protection plan of $17... I bought a round trip ticket from London to Paris ($141 with protection plan). I bought the ticket because the embassy required it before visa application could be submitted. Then I initially was not issued a Schengen visa, I called the company for a refund same day, I was told tickets are non-refundable nor transferable, I asked for a supervisor so I could tell him my plight and get some money back, he said all he could do for me was to find someone else to transfer the ticket to and call them back with details. After 2 weeks, I couldn't find anyone, I appealed my visa denial and finally got it. I called them back change my date because I had lost time with the embassy. The agent told me that I would have to pay additional $195 (new ticket rate) and $7 processing fee with another $17 for another protection fee.

I purchased four first class tickets at a cost of more than $400 more than a normal high speed train ticket. The train, from Bordeaux to Paris did not have any promised amenities, not even water. When I asked for a refund, Rail Europe required that I send the original tickets back to them, which I did. A month later, a refund of 10% was applied to my credit card, without explanation. This was to be granted by the French train service, but Rail Europe would not answer repeated requests for some documentation from SNCF, so I have no way of knowing whether Rail Europe kept $360 of my refund. In the future, I will purchase my train tickets in Europe.

Rail Europe charged me 3x standard prices for three rail tickets (Paris to Belgium), then failed to send the tickets, and refuses to give me a refund. They are frauds. Based on the terrible reviews, I'm surprised they're still in business. However, I'm going to do my best to put them out of business.

Be careful when trying to book rail tickets. It is best to do it directly through the country's rail company. This site is among those sites and appears to be what it isn't. They charge way more for tickets and add nothing but headache to your transaction. I tried to cancel but paid 50% of the ticket. Their system for calling you back so you don't have to wait is also bogus. They call you and I waited a good five minutes for them to answer. I wish everyone could read these reviews before getting tricked into using this site.

I purchased two tickets for travel from Edinburgh Scotland to Inverness far in advance of leaving the States. Rail Europe charged my credit card immediately but did not email a confirmation that I had purchased tickets. Their website said they would send an email confirmation but they didn't. I contacted them again before I left the States but they would not respond. Rail Europe's website says it's their policy to respond within 24 to 48 hours. They did not respond to my inquiry and also did not email me a confirmation the sale had been completed. I flew to Edinburgh on July 16 still waiting for the tickets that I had purchased on Rail Europe's website but they would not answer me to confirm I made the purchase or even answer my subsequent inquiry about the missing tickets.

I booked a ticket on Rail Europe to support a flight I had from CDG. I paid for it and I get my reservation code. The next day I get an email stating that they cannot get this ticket and I am on my own. Do not believe that they have the tickets that they promise - they don't. Do not depend on Rail Europe to get you where you need to be. They won't. All they do is charge you extra for something you can do for yourself at the train station or directly with the train service.

I spent many hours selecting specific dates and times for trains - I did this so I could have a basis for a price comparison between individual tickets and a pass. What arrived via UPS (and it is 2017 - I don't know why there is no electronic print capability) was a stack of tickets that just had destinations and a date range with NO explanation that I could take any train during that time range. Also I had selected a trip Amsterdam to Bruges and the ticket I received terminated in Antwerp. This necessitated a call to the US Office which was a long drawn out press this press that and then a 29-minute wait time. I selected the "call me back" feature. When that call came I had to navigate through another long button pressing process to confirm I really wanted the call. The RailEurope employee explained that the Amsterdam to Bruges included the missing portion of the ticket because it includes one transfer within the same country - How are you supposed to know this?

You cannot change trains in Madrid in 9 min. Don't believe them. Don't buy their extra travel insurance. It is a waste of money. They assured me that 9 min. train changes were the norm. Once I saw the station in Madrid and spoke with the clerks there it was obvious that a 9 min train change is impossible. These people are unscrupulous thieves.

HELLO! Unexpected always happens. You have to accommodate clients.

This is a consumer beware warning. We had never traveled in Europe and I elected to purchase raileurope.ca TGV train tickets. Terrible mistake. There was no option visible other than to ship to our house. So we did. We ended up having to change our tickets due to a flight time issue. We knew there would be a fee - so be it. We had to pay 20$ to have the tickets shipped back to the company in the US. We then waited and waited. I contacted them to no avail. We are still waiting.

I wish I had read the reviews that have been posted about Rail Europe, and seen the star rating on this site, before booking my train tickets through them. Despite returning unused tickets in the specified period of time, and meeting all of the requirements for cancellation, this company stalled of 6 months before advising that they would not be issuing me with a refund. They have no phone number, so the only method of communication is through email, which they may or may not respond to. My advice to anyone booking rail tickets in Europe is do NOT use this company. Organize tickets when you get to Europe - it is so easy, rather than use RailEurope.com. In all honesty this company should not be operating. I used the rail protection plan, which was just an additional way for this company to make money - there was no protection at all.

On 14 Nov, I requested for a refund of my ticket from Madrid to Toledo as it is impossible to transfer to the train within 5 mins. The platform is at least 15 mins away while transiting from Sevilla-Madrid-Toledo. I already fed back during ticket collection. The officer nonchalantly told me that I should just run to the other platform at top speed. Obviously, she was not a frequent traveller. In addition, the booking system does not permit a later time for the connecting train. Thus, I ended up to wait for another 1.5 hrs for the connecting train and purchase of additional tickets.

We are a "mature" couple, i.e., in our seventies who wanted to avoid dragging our luggage around to the ticket counters for our four segment rail trip through England. I logged on to the RailEurope.com site and proceeded to purchase our tickets. The website is a confusing horror - thought I had threaded through the maze after the third try and clicked "purchase". My wife's ticket was omitted and the reserved/nonreserved mess and options would try anyone's patience. I immediately called them and asked them to cancel the entire process. Was informed that they would/could not and I would be billed. At the moment my credit card company is trying to extract me from this mess. I don't know why Google allows them on the 'net.

Unfortunately, I bought the Rail Europe Rail Protection Plan that assured me I could make changes to my tickets. Firstly, SNCF (France) and RENFE (Spain) don't recognize Rail Europe as a partner. Secondly, SNCF and RENFE definitely didn't honor their change policy or Rail Protection Plan. I'm out $300 because I booked with Rail Europe. Choose a country other than US when booking through SNCF! Unfortunately, SNCF automatically redirects you to Rail Europe if you mark that you're a US Resident. HORRIBLE AND DECEITFUL.

Don't trust them. After confirming our train days earlier they emailed me on the day stating they no longer had tickets available for us and every other train was booked. They are useless middlemen.

Unfortunately, I happened to visit RailEurope website and found Stockholm to Oslo train with price of $46. I received the confirmation letter with same price. However, few days later, they said due to the market price, ticket price went up to $202 and there are other options something like $50 2nd class or same price with departing at some odd time. I refused to select other options and then they send me the itinerary and confirmation letter with total price of $202+$50+$50=$302. Wonder if this company is normal business unit. Somebody should stop this nonsense site.

These rogues stole over 600 euros from my 2 credit cards, still waiting on my cash back after 3 weeks. This left me short for my holiday which was ruined. I then had to travel to a strange country and waste 200 euros on taxis and another 360 euros on trains I had paid for before I went. Disgraceful service.

We purchased our France rail tickets from this "travel agent" monopoly several months ago after speaking with a representative. We discussed our exact itinerary at that time and ultimately purchased a 5-day pass. Because 3 of the trips were on TGV, we also made reservations. The first train reservation was made 6 days away from the last. Nothing was ever mentioned, including on the email purchase confirmation that it was 5 days "consecutive." So our return TGV ticket was paid for was worthless as they sold us a ticket for which we can't use and never timely responded to emails, website portal contact or Facebook Messenger chats.

I booked an train from Venice to Rome on 27th of April. When I was at the OTP payment option, the website froze and boot me out of the system. Well, I was shocked by how lousy the system was and went looking through my email for confirmation of purchase. However I saw NO EMAIL regarding the issue, thus I went to contact my bank to cancel the transaction. The bank explained that the credit was on hold and it would not be deducted if the merchant didn't collect it, and it's normal the merchant won't collect the money if product was not sold. Therefore I decided to ignore this matter and waited.

I made reservations for train journeys in Italy and paid by credit card. I received a confirmation but shortly afterwards received an email from their fraud department stating that my booking had been cancelled and that any money paid would be refunded to me. No detailed explanation was given... I can only deduce that it was cancelled due to suspected fraud. However, the payment went through my account. A whole stream of emails followed between me and a person with the name of Cijie ** with absolutely no result. The booking was made on 18 April 2016 and as I write this on 12 May 2016, the matter remains unresolved. My advice is... AVOID THIS WEBSITE LIKE THE PLAGUE...

Rail Europe (USA site) is the worst site to get information from. I have received incorrect phone numbers for handicapped services in France. I called several times and was given incorrect information. I attempted to fill out forms that were only available in French and Rail Europe refused to guide me through it, in order to properly fill out the form so that the requested form could be sent. In addition, I received a lot of information from several customer service agents that was incorrect. It frightens me to think that this sole Representative for Rail Europe is so unhelpful.

Be aware of this website, it is a rip-off. I rebooked the train tickets for France and canceled the previous one due to I only could print out 2 E-tickets instead of 6 tickets. They charge me 7% penalty/per ticket plus the booking fee of $7.95. If I go directly to French website (www.sncf.com/en/passengers), their price are mostly lower or the same and they don't charge any booking or penalty fee for the kind of tickets I bought (flexible).

2 days after I bought a ticket for $119, I have got this email from RailEurope: "Thank you for booking online with Rail Europe. Your order has been placed on hold because the requested fare is no longer available. However, we are holding the lowest available 1st class fare for a grand total of $181.95. We are also holding the lowest available 2nd class fare which is $97.95. Please reply to this email within 24 hours to advise us how to proceed." I called them and they said they are sold out. But I check their website and I still get the price as $119.

Do not use RailEurope if possible. I bought a 2nd class rail pass and a ticket from the RailEurope before the start of my journey (at the end of Oct 2015) but mistakenly bought a ticket for 1st class seat. I went to the RailEurope office and informed them of the error. The staff there told me the ticket was invalid, and that I needed to buy another ticket and then to request for refund of the first ticket. I thus bought another ticket from RailEurope, then returned the first ticket and asked for refund (and this request was made at least a week before the start of my journey). But a few days later, RailEurope told me that there would be no refund because I bought the ticket by mistake. That answer was totally unacceptable. They told me the first ticket was invalid - and if so - I paid for nothing. RailEurope ignored my request and even ignored my response that I would tell other travelers about my experience in this case.

Rip off - not full disclosure of additional cost and restrictions. Really impractical/inflexible to make reservations and changes. Cost resulted much higher than buying on the spot. Added stress and frustration.

RailEurope is the worst! We purchased tickets for our recent trip. Paid extra for the protection plan. Our flight was delayed 4 hours so I called to change the tickets per RailEurope's policy (and the only way to exchange tickets), but their offices were closed. They've now denied our claim because we didn't exchange our tickets before departure time. Cost us $333 to purchase new tickets in Paris ---- Do yourself a favor and purchase tickets at the train stations in Europe! It's more convenient, easier to use and you won't get ripped off. #RailEuropeRipOff.

I had purchased five first/second class fare tickets on the Thello overnight train from Milan, Italy to Dijon, France for passage taken in July of 2015. When my family arrived at the Milan train station at 11pm for our passage, we were told that first and second class cars were closed due to no air conditioning and if we wanted to travel on that evening train it would have to be in the economy class cars if we could find a seat. Since we had connecting trains the following morning to complete our journey and not traveling that evening would have made us incur or forfeit another $1,000+, we were forced to board the train and try and find accommodations for our group. We were traveling with our three girls and had paid over $1,000 Dollars for the first/second class passage. We were forced to separate from our girls into two separate cars and my husband and I ended up in a compartment without air conditioning anyway.

On June 1, 2015, Eurostar had to cancel train service to Paris. I bought the ticket on Rail Europe and they will not give a refund. I had to take our group of 4 to Luton to fly to Paris. They keep telling American Express it did not happen but Eurostar gave us documentation about the cancellation and I sent it to them. They tell American Express I did not let them know about it and I have proof of mail delivery to them. I have been on the phone to their "no" customer service line for hours. I do not think it is a real company. DO NOT BUY TICKETS FROM RAIL EUROPE. GET THEM FROM EUROSTAR.

Do not even get involved with this pseudo business. No people on the customer care. You wait 3 to 4 hours for one call. It is the biggest scam in the USA. Good for nothing. Pitiful. I tried to communicate on June 14 telling them that due to the Tropical Storm in Houston I will miss my connection and I will never make to the rail station on time. When I arrived in Munich 11 hours later I saw that they called me. There was nothing I could do. 800 numbers do not work from Germany. I had to buy another ticket for 154.00 Euros. Do not try to buy from this company or you will get hurt. If I could, I will give these company a minus 10 stars. They do not have a C.E.O. They have a stupid idiot running the show.

I made a train reservation with Rail Europe on June 19th for a trip to Europe, while making the booking I realized that there was a booking fee and that should have sent up red flags but I continued with the booking. I had to cancel the booking a few days later (on June 22), so I sent an online request to do so, however I tried to cancel the booking on my own online and I noticed that they were only going to refund me 93% of the ticket price. So I emailed again asking for my ticket to not be cancelled thinking I could find a way to make it work rather than lose $17 between the "service fee" and the "booking fee." Of course, they canceled my ticket, although the clarifying email was sent immediately after.

I bought rail tickets through the Rail Europe website after the French SNCF website basically threw me out and switched to the Australian Rail Europe site. Having found the ticket I wanted, I clicked on it to buy and got a message saying there was a problem with the transaction and I would have to wait until the charge to my card cleared and try again. When I tried again, it worked (magically) but now the price had increased. When I checked on the SNCF website I could see the same ticket was still at the same price and cheaper than it was offered on the Rail Europe website.

When my husband and I were planning our first trip to Europe, we wanted to travel by train to get from country to country. Rail Europe had the most user-friendly website, and without independent knowledge of how to coordinate trains between countries, we assumed Rail Europe would be a good place to use. We were absolutely wrong. After our purchase, everything seemed okay -- we were able to print tickets for England and France at home, and it simply said that when we arrived in Italy we would need to enter our confirmation code to print tickets at the stations. It seemed simple enough. However, when we arrived in Italy, we discovered that all trains were Trenitalia, and that the confirmation codes issued through Rail Europe were invalid.

You would think you are safe with an e-ticket and your credit card debited. NOT with RailEurope --- This is my story: I arranged a trip first class for my 92 years old mother from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Brussels using RailEurope.com website. First, like many other customers I did not receive any email confirmation. I found that suspicious, and I immediately contact my credit card company. The funds were already debited from my account. The next day, first thing in the morning, called RailEurope. If you have to speak with someone in that company, be ready to wait between 30 to 1 hour 30 minutes.

My bad as I booked tix online and I didn't receive tix. On phone for almost 15 mins. First agent couldn't help resend tix to correct email so on hold for another 45 min. No way to reach anyone or search by reservations unless you have an account which I didn't want one. Will not use site again and high complaints now after looking to post my own. Please do not use this service!

I tried to book a brief trip on the RailEurope website. After giving them my credit card number I clicked on finish and the site informed me that there was a problem with my credit card. I used the online chat and was given a number to contact. After going through the long voice menu I was told that there was a 3 hour wait to talk to a human and they would call me back in three hours. In less than 3 hours I got a call but I was placed on hold. In other words there was still a wait. After about 45 minutes I hung up. My credit card statement indicates that they actually did accept my card and placed the amount of my ticket on hold. I have no ticket or access number for an e-ticket.

I booked a Railpass with RailEurope back in January 20015 for our trip to Portugal and Spain in March through April 2015. In the last week of January, I got my Railpass + seat reservations for Lisbon to Madrid trip. Since the seat reservations for my selected trips in Spain were not up yet, I was advised to call back sometime. I kept calling back, but each time I called, I was told that 2 to 3 reservations were not up yet for purchase. A few more weeks of calling and waiting and again and again, I was told the same thing - one or two reservations were not up yet for purchase.

My son was traveling to France and we thought to buy the rail pass to get from Paris to Angers. He also wanted to travel to Italy to see Rome, but you need reservations on all trains when traveling. After booking the reservation from Paris to Rome, he was told it would be another $350 dollars on top of the $380 we had already paid for the pass. My son decided to take a little bit of risk and fly to Paris and buy the ticket directly at the TGV terminal at CDG. It was no problem, he actually got the ticket for $52 one way and $90 round trip to Angers. The trip to Italy will have to be put on hold, but we now know that buying tickets at the terminals is the way to go.

We purchased Eurail Global Pass Flexi in April 2014 in advance of a 90-day trip to Europe. We used Eurail passes several times since our first experience in 1996, and each time they were terrific, providing flexibility and a wonderful travel experience. Unfortunately, this time they were useless. Due to the unavailability of reservations available to Pass holders, we were unable to find reservations that met our travel needs, even when planning several weeks in advance. We were unsuccessful finding reservations on the website and figured we were doing something wrong. We then went to the Ivrea, Italy train station where we activated our passes and were told we had to go to Turin because we were seeking reservations from Turin to Paris.

I am booking extensive train travel in Europe, and some of it on RailEurope. Their website is buggy and unreliable - different computers or times of searching gave different prices for the same trip. Eventually, I managed to book Swiss travel passes and TGV Tickets from Paris to Zurich. Only to discover that the TGV Tickets were for the wrong type of travel pass. Trying to sort this out has been a nightmare. No phone number to call, emails take over a day to be replied to, refusal to admit any responsibility for a poor website - always blaming the consumer. There are better websites out there, so avoid this one at all costs.

I made an online train reservation for first class on AVE in Spain, but I got a Turista Plus, "middle-class" ticket. The difference is that there is a meal served on first class, but not on middle class. I sent an email of complaint to RailEurope Japan, but did not do anything to help me. If they are professional people, they should be responsible for what happened to me. Whether a meal is to be served or not makes a big difference to me. To make matters worse, they do have any contact address for international customer service. Maybe, they do not care. I am disappointed very much with their unprofessional people and unprofessional service.

I bought a pair of tickets for Paris to Frankfurt and reluctantly chose the postage option since the print @ home option was greyed out. (Later found out it was because I had chosen to pay with PayPal instead of card - for peace of mind!!! - In the first transaction since I was paying for two trips, Milan to Paris and Paris to Frankfurt tickets) Milan to Paris was easy as it was printed at home but lo and behold, the post had lost my Paris to Frankfurt tickets. Despite their tracking system saying it was delivered, I had nothing.

Very bad website. Though logged, it asked me many times to "log in". Also, does not provide phone numbers for customer service. I have a problem (my wife's name is incorrectly stated) on the booking confirmation received from Rail Europe, but just don't know whom to contact to resolve this. Buyers BEWARE!!!

On Sept. 8, 2014, we had booked four reserved seats on the 932 a.m. train from Zurich to Milan. Four people with a total of six pieces of luggage. The 9:32 a.m. train was cancelled at about 10:00 a.m. Then we were boarded on a train at about 10:15/10:30 that would take us to a station where we had to change trains to get to Milan. That substitute train was then cancelled. Rail Europe (whatever the Italian carrier was) then changed platforms and put us on yet another train. That so far meant moving luggage four different times. We were told that our connection at the border stop would be waiting for us. Move the luggage again. There was no train waiting. The next train to Milan was an hour later and it was the 11:30 out of Zurich. This train was packed. At no point we’re able to take or find our reserved seats on any of the trains that we were assigned and for which we paid. Another lifting of the luggage and a royal battle to find any seats, let alone together. Not one person from the train to assist. All the conductor could do was shrug and say that's the way it is.

Terrible customer service on refund requests. Don't buy Comfort Class tickets. They'll make it idiotically difficult when you find your train only has standard class and you've paid $20 more than you needed to for a ticket. They boast of extraordinary customer sat. What they should advertise is their complete lack of common sense and total lack of anything resembling service.

I buy 2 tickets on Rail Europe over 2 months ago. In the site, I made a mistake and buy it the wrong way. I contacted the firm, that told me to sent the not used tickets, and to give proof of the right direction tickets that I add buy it after. They said I would get the refund but, 2 months have pass and all I have is: "Kindly note that the refund request is being looked into by our After Sales Team. Once the refund is done, we will get in touch with you at the earliest."

I purchased Paris to London Channel Tickets for my family. The train was scheduled to leave Paris for London on Tuesday, September 2. While in Paris, we had to change our plans. I had purchased the travel insurance and had understood that one change or refund would not be a problem. We made our decision to change our itinerary late Friday night and I emailed customer service the next morning. I was informed by email that I needed to call the listed number in the US. That office was not open on the weekend. When I called them on Monday (the day prior to travel), I was told that they would offer me no help. No refund, no exchange, no credit, no nothing. Oh, but they were sorry. Save your money. I bought the insurance in case something happened. Something did. Insurance gave me no help. Don't waste your money with this add-on.

On 22 Apr 14 I paid 73 Euros online for two one-way tickets from Milan to La Spezia for a trip on 1 Jul 14. Two days later, I had a change in circumstances and could no longer take that trip. I sought a refund following the procedures on the RailEurope website. The reply came back that "this booking cannot be refunded online." I contacted the company's "chat room" and was instructed to send an email to 'bookings@raileurope.com.au' in order to get a refund. I never received a response to my emails. I normally verify websites before dealing with company's online. I slipped up this time. If I had read the 'Consumer Affairs' website beforehand, I would never have dealt with RailEurope in the first place. Belatedly, I see that my experience with them is no different to other dissatisfied users. An expensive lesson for me at 73 Euros. I subsequently went online with Rail Italia and got satisfactory serve. I would vigorously dissuade potential customers from using Rail Europe to book trips.

We bought tickets from Lyon to Avignon. I went to the station to cancel the tickets on the day of departure, but prior to the departure time. It was a painful decision because we know we will lose about 150 Euros (half the cost plus additional service fees). Here is the gem. The confirmation email says that if you wish to ask for the 50% refund you should follow a link. The link explains that if you have a paper ticket, printed at the station, you should send it by post mail to the local office, that the details are in your confirmation email! Thus, creating a loop!!

On June 13th, I purchased a ticket. I never received the ticket or a confirmation email. As it was the weekend, no money could be detected as being charged for the ticket, so on June 15th, I purchased another ticket. The ticket was on the same train, at the same time, going to the same destination and using the same name. Two days later I noted money for 2 tickets had been removed from my bank account BUT I still did not have ANY ticket. When I tried to contact the company, I was only provided with an email address therefore I emailed someone who sent me a copy of both tickets. I immediately wrote back and said I did not want 2 tickets and that there had been a mistake due to the fact that I had NEVER received a confirmation email for either ticket or a ticket for either purchase. I have emailed the company 15 times and NO ONE REPLIES TO YOUR EMAILS.

I bought tickets with Rail Europe - the only option they gave me for delivery was by mail. I paid for the tickets but I never received them. I emailed them and their response was TOO BAD! They said I would have to buy a new set of tickets. They don't care about their customers. I will never buy tickets from them again - I paid $123 and got absolutely nothing for it.

My son and I rode the "EuroNight" departing from Mainz on 27/08/13 at 22:09 arriving at Wien West on 28/08/2013 at 08:56. According to EuroRail pamphlet, the trip would count for only one day of travel. However, the conductor directed me to completed two dates, the departure and arrival dates. I objected and showed him the EuroRail overnight conditions of carriage. I protested to him but he would not accept my explanation. He then took my voucher and did not return it until some time later. He had arbitrarily stamped it between the two date thereby reducing my voucher by one day. The wagon we were assigned was 252, couchettes 31 and 32. I contacted EuroRail and after requesting several documents they responded:

I booked a ticket and selected the wrong date. Despite contacting within minutes, they would not change the date. You have to buy a new ticket and lose money on the non-refundable ticket. I will not use this company again. In future, I will search for reviews online prior to using online sites.

Terrible customer service and no willingness to work with customers... This is a company just in it for a quick buck. Think long and hard about your purchase before you finalize. We had trouble with the website when booking - it was glitchy and kept giving errors. Finally we got through and paid $30 for overnight shipping as we were leaving in 2 days. Total cost was $568 for all our train services in Spain. When our tickets arrived they had booked me and my husband on different trains!!! Of course they blamed us, despite the continual errors on their website. I asked for them to switch us to the same trains and they said they could not. The only thing they could do was partial refund for our tickets and resend the tickets overnight (which we would have to pay overnight shipping for both the refund and the new).

I want as many travelers to know about the terrible service I received from RailEurope Europe, especially those planning to go abroad for a longer period of time. I ordered tickets to Italy while I was living in Germany. There was no option for electronic tickets (which is another issue in itself) so my tickets had to be delivered by mail. As their website and emails say, you cannot get on the train without your tickets. The night before my trip, I still had not received my tickets. I notified them of this the next day and they sent me a confirmation number, saying that my tickets were delivered to a completely different address (even though my address was submitted correctly).

Don't purchase anything from Rail Europe (Australia)! I recently purchased 2 global Eurail passes from the Australian raileurope.com site. They printed the names incorrectly on the tickets. I contacted them straight away and many times after through their website, hoping they would rectify this before they sent them out. No response until I received the tickets and called their issuance company, which gave me another email address to contact. They informed me that this was not their mistake.

I've been trying for days to contact them and there's absolutely no response from their end. They have no phone number listed on their website so I tracked down the number connected to the address they give. The people who answered the phones said they are not that company! I'm not sure if that's even legal? I'm still trying and trying. I would never deal with them again and would warn others against it.

I have found that Rail Europe is a horrible organization to do business. They attempted to book reservations for me but were unable to successfully book the rail tickets. However, they were successful in charging my credit card 6 times the amount of the rail tickets. This amounted to a $1,800 authorization showing up on my credit card. Contacting their accounting and customer care lines is useless. They refuse to contact the credit card claiming the authorizations will drop in 30 to 60 days. How is that even acceptable or plausible? I will never attempt to do business with them again.

I and my elderly parents were booked through Rail Europe on a Zurich-Paris train in September 2011. Arriving twenty minutes before the departure time, we boarded the train but found another party sitting in our pre-booked seats. We showed them our tickets but they refused to move. I left my parents there with our luggage, whilst I then walked through the next two carriages. Unfortunately, all seats were taken/reserved, and given the age and health of my parents, it wasn’t an option to have them standing for the duration of the trip.

I have purchased an online ticket from Zurich (Swiss) to Paris. Print at station ticket option was selected, while ordering. I got the confirmation details via email. Credentials for printing ticket at station was emailed to me as well. I reached Zurich on the 10 Nov 2011 by flight. My ticket to Paris was on 12th Nov. On 12th Nov, I couldn't find any place to print my ticket at Zurich. When I inquired at central station, I was updated that this option is not available in Switzerland! That was so disturbing, and I struggled a lot to find an alternative travel arrangement to Paris, for me and my wife. Many things were missed in Paris due to the changes in our plans.

I purchased, on June 17, 2011, two first-class seats in coach 12 of train 6176 from Cannes to Paris on September 16, 2011. These seats/coaches did not exist; train 6176 had only eight coaches (1-8). We were unable to board the train, and were forced to find alternate transportation. I have requested a refund from RailEurope without any satisfaction or reply.

On the 15th of August, I'm returning by train from Lourdes to Paris. What would be my surprise that my seat was the site of the bikes and I had no bike. I would not wish anyone to travel 8 hours sitting on its side without a place to rest your head. The publicity put you on the web is a person sitting comfortably in a front seat or back, but comfortable. If I knew that I was going to ride the bike site for 8 hours traveling all night, I had sought another way to travel. I would not wish anyone to ride this way. I wanted to change seats but the company told me not. That give poor service to tourists.

Rail Europe customer support representatives do not provide accurate information regarding unused portions of tickets. Their instructions to contact a railway official before the trip are invalid and they don't tell you that you need to have the person that punches the ticket to place a note on the ticket in order to get part of a ticket refunded. Failed to get proper refund on two passengers that did not travel on the trip.

I agree that Rail Europe leave a lot to be desired. I haven't actually taken my trip, but my experience at their branch in London, rude staff, talk to you like you’re a child and run the place like an army barracks. Not impressed at all. Furthermore, the tickets they sold me don't even have our names, they claimed they were the last seats and yet the train isn't even on their Internet site and there is a cheaper fare online, which they told me there wasn't in the branch. Why do they treat you like this? Simply because they have no competition! There is no other company that provides the services other than the country of origin.

Hello, on June 28th my wife Sylvia ** bought tickets from this company for rail travel from Madrid, Spain to Alicante, Spain for July 20 2009, and then on July 10th, we decided to ride the train back from Alicante, Spain to Madrid. The total for these two trips were $605.00 which includes the insurance in case something happened since we were taking Sylvia's 86 year old mother with us, Vera **.

1. Raileurope/der travel publications, widely used by AAA travel agencies, do not mention any limited availability of certain fares on the Eurostar train. "14-day Advance Fares" and "Student Fares" are not noted as "limited in availability". No asterisks and no fine print in any of their publications. However, when I tried to obtain their published advance and student fares, I was told none were available, even though I qualified. When I boarded the trains, they were only half full!