Voyages SNCF Reviews 

We took SNCF from Rome to Paris...the first half from Rome to Turin, which gave us a beautiful view with excellent service and clean bathrooms. I noticed someone cleaning them probably every hour. What a difference changing trains makes. The second half of our trip from Turin to Paris was like going from a five star hotel to a tent on the side of the road. Our seats were in between windows and we hardly saw the attendants during the seven hour ride. I attempted to use the closest toilet, which was filthy and had no paper, so I tried the next one...it had almost no paper and smelled like dead fish. The smell was so bad I couldn't eat the packaged salad my husband had gotten me. At the end of the trip I went to a third toilet which also stunk horribly and had one square of paper left. Clearly no one attends to the toilets during the trips.

Rude, arrogant, lazy pigs. The worst customer service you'll ever receive. I will never use this company again. AVOID IT.

We were miss sold tickets from London to France to a cycling event and found that we could not take our bikes even though we specifically ask too. We were offered no alternative and still can't get any response or rebate. Even emailed the CEO who has ignored me.

On 6/7/17 I bought three train tickets, leaving from Utrecht to Amsterdam (Booking Reference RQDINX). At the time of purchase, the only delivery option was by letter. On the company's website it says that for countries other than Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Italy the delivery would be made in 7 business days. After the time had passed and the tickets had not arrived, I contacted the company asking for the ticket tracking code. The company then informed that the shipment was not made by registered mail and since I would travel before the tickets arrived, that I would have to buy other tickets at the station and make a complaint by REGISTERED LETTER to Spain and send the originals tickets purchased. Only then they would analyze. A total lack of respect, I do not advise this company to anyone. The communication channel is ineffective and took forever to give me an answer.

Still awaiting resolution of a problem which occurred on 28th June. Booked online 2 return tickets from Biarritz to Bordeaux; on arrival at Biarritz station to collect tickets from the automatic ticket machine, I inserted my card & was advised 'no booking associated with this card'. The machine offered the option of scanning the printed booking confirmation, but the confirmation had no barcode or QR code on it! Tried another machine to no avail. Since our train left at 8.57, and the ticket office didn't open until 9.0 am, we had to buy 2 singles to get us to Bordeaux, where we were able to get our return tickets, using the same card. A request for a refund via the UK end of SNCF elicited several days of obfuscation, culminating in an insistence that I WRITE to SNCF in France; I did this on 11th July, and still no response. Bizarrely, a subsequent e-mail from the UK office gave be an e-mail address for the French office, which I am now chasing. I cannot understand why SNCF don't allow printing off of e-tickets, as is the case for DB (Germany) and OBB (Austria).

I tried to exchange a ticket through Voyages-SNCF's online system. Both times I was told there was a technical error and received automated e-mails assuring me I was not be charged; in fact, I was charged both times. I submitted my refund claim and three weeks later have been through a series of Kafkaesque e-mails and calls during which the customer representatives claim my refund is still being processed but they have no idea when I will receive it. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told there is none, which while not credible would at least explain the shoddy customer service. Don't use the company; it's a shambles if not a sham

We paid for 1st class tickets and when the train came they were short a car! It was unbelievable! 2 cars of first class tickets were crammed into 1 car and most people stood the entire ride from Bayeux to Paris or had to split up and find an empty seat in 2nd class. No one offered to reimburse our ticket and acted like we were lying when we told them what happened when we got back to the Paris station. Will tell anyone I know NOT to purchase a ticket through this company.

Cheats, Frauds... They cancelled my ticket 'by mistake' and promised a full refund on the phone. No refund and they have started making me play the wait game. They have over 500 GBP of mine and are making me go in circles for my refund for absolutely no fault of mine.

BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!!! Have no idea how they are still operating with such third class attitude and service.

Absolutely shocking customer service!!! I purchased two tickets from Venice to Florence which I double checked, even at checkout. However, they have charged me for four tickets even though the booking says two tickets. They are refusing to refund any money even though it is clearly an error on their side and despite the fact that I have rang them up the same day.

Really bad customer service, Warning do not buy from these people,

You can't even reserve your seats online, always technical error and when you phone to book it cost 7p per minute and staff do not have a clue about anything , took me 6 times I had to call to make booking and must have spent In total 3 hours just to make 3 reservations .

Not helpfull at All.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...........

Our first and LAST time with Voyages-SNCF!!!

Almost a year and still waiting for £300+ refund!

Had to buy tickets in Germany, after the initial family ticket, bought online in the UK (with 2-day express delivery), failed to arrived on-time despite having 10-days between the booking and departure.

Followed the Voyage-SNCF refund policy, had I known their refunds took 2-3months (hidden statement on their website), I would never have traveled with them. Let us not talk about the amount of phone calls I've had to make to complain and to check the progress of my claim - spoken to over 15 different people - not one could pass me on to a superior colleague! Voyage-SNCF appear to be running a ridiculous establishment and profiting heavily from it!!!

Refund claim made in August 2016, we're approaching June 2017 and the finance department "processed" the claim in Jan-Feb. No-one can definitively tell me what is happening. By far the worst customer experience I have ever had in my life!!!

In September 2015 my wife and I traveled from Barcelona to Paris with SNCF. We arrived at least an hour late - about 11.30pm. As the delay was over 30 minutes the SNCF terms meant that we qualified for compensation. On arrival we were met by a team of SNCF staff handing out compensation claim forms to everyone. Much better than the UK we thought. We claimed via SNCF Voyages UK (SNCFV) from whom we had bought the tickets. Nothing happened. Letters were exchanged. In response to yet another letter I received a reply from SNCFV which confirmed that they were chasing SNCF on a monthly basis. No acceptance that SNCFV is a subsidiary of SNCF and perhaps they should work in harmony - it is the same brand. It is now February 016 and I am about to write again to SNCFV. All promise - no delivery.

Tried to book train tickets for 2 weeks as the payment would apparently never go through. Tried on the website, called customer service and people were very unhelpful. They were basically saying that I didn't know how to operate the website when in fact I used their services for the last 14 years and never had such problem before! They obviously were only interested in making me pay an awful lot of money and would not listen to what the issue was. There is a massive problem with their website, a glitch with the payment process. Once we press confirm the final price changes (each and every time I tried) and then the payment always apparently gets declined when in fact they did take the money out at least once because I got an authorisation code from my bank. I certainly will NEVER book through them ever again!

While taking the train in France can be practical, if you plan to visit, be prepared to make extra room in your schedule. I take the train often from Paris to Limoges, and things can either run perfectly fine- or, as the conductor will put it, a "5 minute delay" will turn into 2 hours and 30 minutes of idle time in your seat, where you may end up having to switch trains altogether. To make the unplanned stay more comfortable, I advise you bring cash for snacks rather than paying by card, because the French haven't caught on yet that if they have swiping machines that only work by being connected to a land line, they're useless to have on a moving train. If you want to speed up your journey past the 1960's, take this tidbit from a french person: plan ahead for the unexpected. Or just use BlaBla Car. Or Flixbus- not OuiBus though, they're just as bad.

I would fly easyjet over any Thalys service. The train was delayed, which meant we missed our flight. They offered a 20 percent refund. When I declined, they stopped replying to all messages.

Just an awful, awful service

I booked Eurostar from London to Toulouse on 27/12/16. The Paris to Toulouse leg was on SNCF. The train was delayed in the middle of nowhere by more than 2 hours. Eventually we were given a slip of paper by the conductor who circled the website. SNCF guarantees a refund in such eventualities. The refund form is only in French (not one of the languages we speak). Clicking on English takes us back to the UK subsidiary through which we booked but whose contact pages and forms have stayed unavailable since 2nd January. I think this is only when one's message is headed "complaint". I called and was given a phone number in France. The UK people say they are only an agency which is a gross lie. They are a subsidiary. I called France and after impossible holding on, wrote to an address I eventually found on one of the websites. I sent it snail mail.

I still haven't got a response. Not only did the service stink, but the trains were filthy. The return journey on New Year's Day was on a train with toilets that were impossible to use, they were so filthy. all of them. And we were on an early morning train.

Since British Rail was privatized and split up the train service in the UK hasn't been brilliant, but compare to SNCF? ????????????

It takes up to 7mo ths to process a tefund. I wouldn't advise this company to anyone. It is better to stay away - they are not reliable.

I booked London to Bourg St Maurice 3 weeks in advance. Wife rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. Still 2 weeks before departure to resell my ticket. Obviously not able to travel. Customer service agent hid behind company policy as if it was the law. No refund or even a credit note - all this at Christmas.

To put this into context a similar situation occurred on a non refundable ticket on a low cost airline. They couldn't have been more helpful.

Custom well and truly lost if this is a window on how you choose to do business.

Rude staff, not helpful, no wifi, no power plugs, so not possible to work. Dirty carriages, small and over booked. waiting for 45 minutes to have the privilege of buying misly sandwich. Just awful. Even more expensive than taking the plane! sncf I hope they go bust

Sncf personnel not helpful. Tracks confusing for a tourist and sncf personnel does not even want to help. Acts like he should be paid extra to give information to tourists.