refund advice needed

[deFaoite]

I made 2 separate on-line bookings for 2 people to travel from Dublin to Cork last Friday (11/6 at 19:00) and back on Sunday (13/6 at 19:30). I collected the Dublin to Cork tickets from the ticket collection machine at Heuston station (as specified in the booking) at approximately 18:30 with the credit card used to make the booking. Unfortunately, I didn't take a close look at the tickets. The train was delayed and didn't leave until after 20:00, without the tickets being checked (of course we never found out why the train was delayed for over an hour!).

On Sunday evening I went to the ticket collection machine at Kent station in Cork. On inserting the credit card and subsequently the booking reference, it stated that the booking was invalid. I brought the printout of the booking information to the ticket desk. We were told that the tickets for the train back from Cork to Dublin had been printed in Dublin on the Friday evening. At that stage I assumed that I had left those two extra tickets in the machine at Heuston. We were then told that we had no choice but to buy 2 single tickets to Dublin at 66 euro each (on top of 36 each already paid!), which we did, and that we could apply for a refund on returning to Dublin. We later found one of the tickets which I had been collected from the machine on the Friday in Heuston - it was a one way ticket from Cork to Dublin for Sunday 13th! The wrong tickets had printed in Dublin and since they weren't checked on boarding because of the delay, the error was never noticed.

I know we should have checked the tickets ourselves but since you indicate the station for collection on booking, it never occurred to me that the machine in Heuston might print the tickets for the journey from Cork to Dublin! Do we have a case for claiming a refund and if so how should we go about it?

[Thomas Ralph]

I don't think you have much of an entitlement to any refund as it is your own responsibility to check your tickets etc. etc. and when you were presented with the choice of two bookings to collect at Heuston, this should, perhaps, have put you on notice that the tickets might not be the right ones.

Still, you can look for a refund anyway and the most you have to lose is the cost of the stamp, fill out the form at http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_in...ket_refund.pdf and send it with all your tickets to Iarnród Éireann, Heuston Station, Dublin 8.

Do let us know how you get on.

[Mark Gleeson]

This is a bit confusing, how many bookings are there? What I don't get is why you didn't book the two tickets as return tickets in a single transaction, being that is the cheapest option and results in 2 return tickets

When you make the booking, you must specify the station you wish to collect at. You cannot collect a ticket in Cork if you previously specified Heuston at the time of booking, the computer in Cork simply won't have the ticket to print. But staff in Cork can check your reservation and can tell you the time and machine you collected the tickets at.

If you present the reservation number the system will print the tickets of that reservation only

If you present the credit card used it will give a choice of which you wish to collect a specific reservation or collect all, it defaults to printing all the tickets. So its likely you left 2 tickets behind in Heuston. Review the confirmation emails you received, how many? they state the collection location, if the one you presented in Corks says collect Cork then something is wrong and we can get someone in Irish Rail to investigate


From Irish Rail's point of view, their records will show either the tickets as collected or not collected and will be able to provide a date/time/location on when they where collected if so. Under the rules no refund is possible if the train has departed.

[Thomas Ralph]

Oh, and throw in a copy of this form as well to claim €10 back for your one-hour delay on the outbound journey.

[deFaoite]

I obviously printed the wrong tickets in Heuston... I didn't expect a choice when I specified Cork for the collection of the Cork to Dublin tickets.

I'll give it a try anyway. Thanks for the help!

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by deFaoite

I obviously printed the wrong tickets in Heuston... I didn't expect a choice when I specified Cork for the collection of the Cork to Dublin tickets.

I'll give it a try anyway. Thanks for the help!

Lets be very clear here, does a booking confirmation email state

"you have chosen to collect your tickets at Cork"

If it does you have a legitimate complaint and we can ensure that the issue is passed to the right people in Irish Rail to investigate. If the email says Dublin Heuston you are out of luck

To claim the 50% delay refund you must have the original tickets

[deFaoite]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Lets be very clear here, does a booking confirmation email state

"you have chosen to collect your tickets at Cork"

Yes, the booking confirmation for Cork to Dublin states exactly this, which is why it never occurred to me that the tickets I collected in Heuston before traveling to Cork on the Friday were for the wrong booking. We made two separate bookings as we didn't originally intend on returning to Dublin by train.

The tickets for the late Dublin to Cork train we took on the Friday presumably never printed and the fact that we had the wrong tickets was never noticed since they didn't check them when we were boarding so late. I only realised myself when we found one the tickets collected at Heuston (which we thought were for the Dublin to Cork train we had taken on the Friday) after we had paid an extra 66 euro each to get back to Dublin on the Sunday.

I presume the confirmation email won't be enough to even get a delay refund.

[Mark Gleeson]

So the tickets were to be collected in Cork but when you got to Cork the system said you couldn't collect them since they seemingly got printed in Dublin

That shouldn't happen and when you got two tickets in Dublin on Friday it was completely reasonable to assume that was for the trip to Cork.

Drop us an email at info@railusers.ie and with the booking reference codes for both journeys highlighting the Cork Dublin collect at Cork one and we will get someone in Irish Rail to figure out what is going on and see what the refund options are since clearly something is amiss here.