SNCF service so deplorable
I was interested to read your article about SNCF (Connexion online) and its new platform policies.
Here are a couple of my own experiences, which demonstrate how passengers are constantly penalised:
E-ticket – Sète/Montpellier –on TER. Price with carte senior €3.20. The e-ticket did not attach to my iPhone, due to an error of SNCF, and so I bought a ticket at the station and asked for a refund for the same journey on the TER.
More than a month and innumerable emails later, the refund I received was only valid on the TGV or Intercité – meaning for the same trip I would have to pay extra. I eventually received an email to say they were sending a refund by post exceptionnellement for use on the TER. Exceptionnellement? This should be standard procedure.
Computers not working, ticket offices closed at stations and being impossible to buy a ticket normally priced at around €13. When I explained to the controller, he demanded €60 – which is scandalous.
I was told I should have bought the ticket on my computer at home, or used my iPhone at the station. Does SNCF not understand that many people – especially elderly passengers – do not have a computer or iPhone?
Does this mean they must come back to the station every day until it is possible to buy a ticket? I do have an iPhone but Apple does not connect to unsecured networks, like in the stations, and there was no network in any case.
One does not always know the precise train before leaving home because of unforeseen delays, etc.
When I arrived in France nine years ago, the service was excellent. Now it is deplorable, with daily delays due to infrastructure failure. It’s a disgrace.
Patricia Ford
