so the credit card I used to purchase tickets on Thayls.com was stolen well before the trip. I had a new card sent to replace it, obviously a new number.
So I go to retreive my tickets at Nord through a kiosk, and because I dont have the original credit card, I cant get the tickets. I then go to the window for help and find out there is no way around it. WTF!!! I wanted to kill the poor guy who I argued with for 45 minutes. I had the confirmation number, my pasport and everything else they could possible need.
So I had the old tickets I couldnt print refunded, and I then had to rebuy tickets at Nord costing me a difference of $80. In what other industry does this happen.
Has this happened to anyone, I want to fight for the $80 but dont know who to go after first, Thayls or SNCF.
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I am sorry this happen to you.
However, it is with great regularity that many of us frequent posters constantly emphasize that to retrieve tickets from a SNCF boutique or service window which have been previously purchased on line, one must:
1. provide the reservation number
2. present to the agent for inspection, the same credit card used in the on line purchase.
This is a security measure universal to all SNCF on line transactions. It is realistic to assume that an agent of SNCF can verify that a credit card, with account numbers changed by a bank on a different continent, is indeed the same credit card used in the on line transaction?
SNCF provides a telephone number, with an English speaking operator, for purchasing tickets. This might be a good place to start in the event one loses a credit card needed to retrieve tickets:
33 8 92 35 35 39
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%26gt; Dumb ticket printing policy, Thayls and SNCF %26lt;
You agreed to it when you bought the tickets.
%26gt; I wanted to kill the poor guy who I argued with for 45 minutes. %26lt;
I wonder why he kept talking to you for 45 minutes? I would have called security after five.
%26gt; I want to fight for the $80 but dont know who to go after first, Thayls or SNCF. %26lt;
They actually refunded your original tickets and you want to claim the difference on buying new tickets because you didn%26#39;t inform them of the credit card change when it happened? Good luck with that - you have the number to call.
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jdbri are you saying that by being refunded my original tickets SNCF was doing me a favor? thats absurd.
Am i suppose to lock the card up in a safety box after purchasing my tickets month in advance? You dont see this type of rediculous payment security on airlines even! If you lost your card they would find a way to get you your tickets.
I did not call in advance to let them know my credit card # had changed, I never expected this to be an issue. but I did arrive early to give extra time to solve the problem. I%26#39;m not sure what they all tried but none of it worked.
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%26gt; jdbri are you saying that by being refunded my original tickets SNCF was doing me a favor? thats absurd. %26lt;
I don%26#39;t know under what conditions you bought you%26#39;re tickets under but many are non-transferable and non-refundable. If you had one of those you would have lost your money.
%26gt; I did not call in advance to let them know my credit card # had changed, I never expected this to be an issue. %26lt;
No, and because you didn%26#39;t think it would be an issue you decided to make it everyone else%26#39;s. Perhaps the terms and conditions are written for other people?
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The first problem (that the kiosk would not accept your card) would have happened even if it were the same card - that%26#39;s because US cards don%26#39;t have the chip (%26quot;puce%26quot;) that%26#39;s in European cards, and the kiosks in train stations can%26#39;t read them.
The second problem is that, although the ticket conditions do clearly state that you must present the same card that was used to purchase the tickets, you didn%26#39;t do that. I can accept that you didn%26#39;t focus on that detail, and I can understand why you might think it would be different (e.g., e-tickets at US airlines generally can be retrieved using the confirmation number plus any card that checks out as yours). That said, however, those procedures are not the conditions specified on the site where you purchased - so, sorry but you learned an $80 lesson on this one. If you had alerted them in advance, it%26#39;s possible that something could have been worked out (this question does come up from time to time) but the poor guy you were berating for 45 minutes doesn%26#39;t make up the rules - his job is to follow the rules, and the French generally are very big on following the rules in my experience.
For future reference, it would be a good idea to book as far in advance as possible, to try to get the %26quot;prem%26quot; (deep discount) fare - that way, you can print at home and none of this ever will be an issue (but only a prem ticket can be printed at home - the rest have to be sent to you, or picked up at a station or SNCF boutique, by presenting the confirmation number AND the same credit card used for the purchase.
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Look, I totally agree with you,, it is annoying and stupid that you could not retrieve the tickets YOU bought and paid for ,, just because you did not have the card used to purchase them. As noted you did have all the needed id to prove who you were, so really , I agree, it is a stupid rule, and I bet they DO make money on it.. ( no one changes a policy that makes them money unfortunately,, )
My nephew is going to France, he needs Eurostar tickets,, but, he does not have a CC( he is still only 18) so parents were going to buy him ticket online with their CC,, luckily I stopped them, as I know about this policy, and as he would not have had their card with him, his ticket would not have been valid .. How to get around it ,, I am not sure.
I do wonder if there is a policy in place that if notified of a card number change IN ADVANCE they would honor ticket vouncher?? If not,, well, then it is really just a bad policy, and serves them well.
Unfortunately,, the policy, as stupid as it is,, IS well noted on the sites.. you must read everything carefully when you book anything online. So, really, they have the right to enforce the stupid policy that YOU agreed to abide by...
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let it be known that although I wanted to kill the guy behind the window, i didnt berate him, and instead took my anger with me because i relised he was in a position with no power to print my ticket.
and although you guys are quick to point out that yes those were the terms i agreed to, most places will ensure tickets get to their blatantly obvious purchasers.
I feel for the person who gets their credit card stolen in paris and then ontop of that has to repurchase tickets at an expense greater than $80. This must happen often, and its not right.
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%26gt; as I know about this policy %26lt;
You make it sound like a big secret rather than something that%26#39;s plainly stated in the booking conditions.
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It is unfortunate that your credit card was stolen, but it%26#39;s not a DUMB policy - rather one that is in place so that others cannot use stolen credit card numbers to purchase tickets - as the card used to pay must be presented in order to collect the tickets.
And, this policy is not unique to SNCF - the same policy applies when picking up tickets at FNAC in Paris.
When we went to Las Vegas in April, I had to present the card used to purchase our show tickets in order to pick them up.
This policy also prevents the purchase and resale of tickets with huge markups.
When I use a credit card to purchase tickets online for a trip, I keep it in a very safe place until we travel.
You may have had better luck if you had gone to an SNCF Boutique in Paris to collect your tickets, or if you had been able to state your case to a supervisor in the train station.
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Some of us actually do what you show such contempt for. We stop carrying the card we used to purchase the tickets. I place mine inside my passport along with the confirmation message so I won%26#39;t leave them behind when I travel.
This will give you something really to sneer at. If your card expires between when you make the purchase and when you want to pick up your tickets, you need to hang on to it so you can take it to claim the ticket(s) you purchased with it. The rules require that you show %26quot;the same credit card%26quot;, and they mean it.
If you had notified SNCF when your card was stolen and asked your bank to certify that the new card you are carrying was to replace a lost or stolen card, you might have had a chance of having an adjustment made. I know of folks who have done this successfully, and it took a lot less than 45 minutes to accomplish, but, of course, there was no drama involved, and no contempt.
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