Obtaining a refund from Eurostar

[joncombe]

I am booked to travel on Eurostar on a London to "Any Belgium Station" ticket over the first May bank holiday weekend. Since travel on Eurostar isn't allowed any more from the UK unless you live on mainland Europe clearly that isn't going to happen. (The Eurostar website currently has this message

Important update: travel from the UK for non-residents of continental Europe is no longer permitted.

).

However I can see from the Eurostar website that they are only offering an "eVoucher" which you must use to book a new journey by 30th September 2020 and complete travel by 31st March 2021.

That is no good. I have another booking with Eurostar in August anyway so I would like to defer my plans until the first May bank holiday in 2021. That is not possible under the terms of the voucher and so I would like a refund instead.

Does anyone know how to go about this? I cannot see anything on the website apart from applying for a voucher, which I don't want. It does seem that in the Conditions of Carriage (https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/conditions-carriage) term 32 might be relevant. Specifically 32.3.2.

32.2.3 deciding not to travel or to continue your journey under the contract. In this case, you will be entitled to a full refund on the unused portion of your ticket to the extent covered by the contract with us and on the used portion of your ticket to the extent covered by the contract with us if your journey no longer serves any purpose for you having regard to your original travel plan, provided that you provide supporting evidence, where appropriate, that your journey no longer serves any purpose for you and you cancel your ticket in accordance with our instructions.

This suggests if you are delayed or likely to be delayed by more than 60 minutes you can choose a refund. At the moment Eurostar look to be down to a single service per day. The outward one is over 2 hours after my booked train whilst the return one is several hours earlier. So I think, unless they change the time of the 1-train-per-day they are now running that it is clear I would be delayed by > 60 minutes so should be able to request a refund.

If my understanding is correct has anyone had any success doing that? I guess telephoning is the only option.

 

[StephenHunter]

I'd say it was too early to defer or cancel any booking for August. We don't know what restrictions will be in place then.

(I have a booking in September myself).

 

[joncombe]

I'd say it was too early to defer or cancel any booking for August. We don't know what restrictions will be in place then.

(I have a booking in September myself).

Yes this is a booking for May I wish to cancel. My reference to August was that I have another booking on Eurostar which for now I'm planning to keep, but another reason why I don't want a voucher, because I may end up with another for my August plans too.

 

[farci]

Yes this is a booking for May I wish to cancel. My reference to August was that I have another booking on Eurostar which for now I'm planning to keep, but another reason why I don't want a voucher, because I may end up with another for my August plans too.

The Conditions of Carriage quo quoted seem clear. Assuming your ticket is cancellable anyway you should ask for a refund on the assumption that cash is preferrable. Although conditions for airllines are different they too offering a voucher rather than cash. I recently cancelled a hotel reservation (through Expedia) and insisted on cash. Both those examples assume cautiously that the carrier/establishment may not be able to honour a voucher at a later time

 

[Ian99]

There are some useful comments on this subject here

 

[Birkonian]

Eurostar are trying not to publicise it but if your booked train is cancelled you are entitled to a refund not a voucher. I applied for e-vouchers but once it was confirmed that my trains were cancelled I sent a direct message on Twitter. The money was back in my account within 48 hours.

 

[Ian99]

That's a lot quicker than it is taking via Trainline.

 

[Birkonian]

They seem to respond to Twitter DMs quickly. I've managed to get all my refunds promptly once I've gone down that route.

 

[Nigel]

Eurostar told me that they had approved a refund payment, but that it would take up to two weeks to reach my card account. Three weeks later I'm still waiting. When I contacted them again, they said payments are taking longer at the moment.

 

[joncombe]

Thanks good to know it sounds like it will be possible to get a refund. The trains I'm booked on is not the (single) train still running so unless that changes and they start running more trains I should be able to get a refund.

The Eurostar website is certainly pushing a voucher instead of anything else and even suggesting travel insurance won't cover you if you decide not to travel. I don't think that is generally true I think most policies will cover you when the Government advises against travel to an area, which is currently true of both Belgium and France.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

And the French and Belgians have also closed the frontier to all but returning residents and cases of dire emergency...

It is disappointing that ES are only offering vouchers rather than refunds, which is what they are required to do under the EU Passenger Rights Regulation. Although it seems to be possible to get your money back ultimately, the information that ES is providing seems to completely hide that ....!

 

[EAD]

And the French and Belgians have also closed the frontier to all but returning residents and cases of dire emergency...

It is disappointing that ES are only offering vouchers rather than refunds, which is what they are required to do under the EU Passenger Rights Regulation. Although it seems to be possible to get your money back ultimately, the information that ES is providing seems to completely hide that ....!

The same game is going on with certain airlines too re cancellation (particularly looking at you BA) - they want to hold on to the cash so BA have removed the ability to request a refund on-line completely since April [I got one to work with a bit of java script playing about end of March] and bombard you with messages about a voucher. That means you have no choice but to join an overloaded phone system to request what you are legally entitled to - a full refund where flights are cancelled in your itinerary. I feel quite sorry for the staff facing customers about this.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The same game is going on with certain airlines too re cancellation (particularly looking at you BA) - they want to hold on to the cash so BA have removed the ability to request a refund on-line completely since April [I got one to work with a bit of java script playing about end of March] and bombard you with messages about a voucher. That means you have no choice but to join an overloaded phone system to request what you are legally entitled to - a full refund where flights are cancelled in your itinerary. I feel quite sorry for the staff facing customers about this.

Can you blame them, though? Too many cash refunds mean a cashflow problem and full collapse of the business, then nobody gets anything.

The railway didn't do it until the Government underwrote the cost.

 

[EAD]

I knew someone would raise that argument. No - as a business I don't blame them for trying it to aid cashflow (and of course they will be doing all they can to delay paying suppliers etc so passing on the pain down the line).

That said, the average consumer likely does not realise that a) they are entitled to a refund for cancellation (and they themselves are often stretched right now) and b) taking administration as you flag - in that case having taken a voucher the consumer loses out as the bit of paper is now worthless. Of course people deciding they don't want to travel/being unable to meet current entry requirements even if the flight is operating is different and there vouchers/flexibility in rebooking makes sense and retains you the cash as the airline even if the average punter would argue that is unfair if they can't to all intents travel.

 

[deep south]

BA have form in this area; if you are delayed enough to get into EC/261 territory, they give you a leaflet that has buried on page 3 a bland "You may be entitled to compensation" line, with no further details. Even when it is a blatant case for the compo! It took me several phone calls after I had filled in the relevant forms to get them to cough up for what other airlines (e.g. Easyjet) do pro-actively and automatically.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Under the ES offer of vouchers, they say the whole booking will be refunded. But what happens with a return booking where the first half has already been used? Presumably the value is split in some way and only the unused bit turned into vouchers?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Under the ES offer of vouchers, they say the whole booking will be refunded. But what happens with a return booking where the first half has already been used? Presumably the value is split in some way and only the unused bit turned into vouchers?

Eurostar's fares are all priced in singles, so it's fairly obvious what the price of the unused bit will be.

 

[Gadget88]

Tried to email today as my train is cancelled no reply so may have to apply for a voucher if they don’t mail back?

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

so it's fairly obvious what the price of the unused bit will be.

Yes, that was the case when I bought the ticket but the confirmation only gives the total ticket price, not the two components. Anyway, I am going to be bold and attempt to get my money back for the 2nd half.

 

[Mainline421]

Tried to email today as my train is cancelled no reply so may have to apply for a voucher if they don’t mail back?

If your train is cancelled then fill in the normal form at https://prr.eurostar.com/ You only have to accept a voucher if you're booked on a train is that is still running. Alternatively you can call Eurostar from 24 hours before departure. ES are making it harder by claiming that services aren't officially canceled until "the timetable is confirmed the day before" but at least they're only sticking to a grey area rather than operating in the black like some airlines are by actually illegally refusing refunds for canceled flights in writing!

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Perhaps they need to be reminded that entry to France and Belgium is currently barred (for most people anyway) by the authorities in those countries.

Have just tried that link but, as often with ES, the website is far from helpful. It creates a page with no 'submit' function!!!

 

[jfollows]

The Guardian now reports that Eurostar will now offer cash refunds rather than its previous "offer" of unusable vouchers (https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...inese-lab-theory-as-global-deaths-pass-250000).

I think that all these companies, clearly operating under difficult conditions, need to understand that offering a restricted voucher with limits on future redemption can not be good enough. Be creative, offer something which might be attractive to a significant subset of customers, such as a voucher with a reasonably long redemption period for more than the amount paid, so as to attract some customers to take this option. Then refund those who choose not to. The end result could be that everyone is reasonably happy under what are difficult circumstances and will be happy to be customers in future. If I'm treated badly by a company I tend to remember and avoid the company in future.

We're all aware that times are hard, but coming up against corporate insensitivity and stupidity is not the response we need today. Maybe companies will re-learn the importance of customer loyalty rather than the recent trend of taking existing customers for granted?

My plans, not with Eurostar, were for a flight to Greece in April, cancelled and money refunded. Like many people, and as reported, I would much prefer to have my money back and have no plans to book travel by September - maybe I will, but I don't want to commit to that today.

Miles Brignall
Eurostar is to offer more generous cancellation terms and has promised cash refunds after facing a backlash from customers furious at its previous refunds stance.

With French borders still closed to all tourist traffic, Eurostar has been forced to cancel all but two trains a day out of London, leaving thousands of passengers with unusable tickets.

Easter trips to Disneyland in Paris and a host of other cities were all cancelled.

Like airlines, Eurostar has pushed customers into accepting replacement vouchers, which it said had to be used to make a booking by the end of September – a date regarded as far too soon for many of its customers, particularly older travellers.

But after facing a growing backlash from customers – some of whom said they would never use the service again – Eurostar is now allowing up to a year to rebook trips, which can start six or nine months after that. It has also confirmed it will refund tickets for those whose trains were cancelled.

Guardian Money has been inundated by unhappy Eurostar passengers who claimed they were denied the refunds, and that the policy terms made the vouchers all but unusable.

 

[StephenHunter]

That's rather similar to the Interrail pass policy, IIRC.

 

[FQTV]

As a data point, I had a ticket for travel on Saturday 2nd May. The service wasn’t ‘cancelled’ in Eurostar’s terms, until Friday 1st May.

I tweeted a request for a refund at noon on Friday, received a reply quite quickly with instructions, and the funds were showing back in my American Express account by Monday morning, 3rd May.

 

[Ian99]

As a data point, I had a ticket for travel on Saturday 2nd May. The service wasn’t ‘cancelled’ in Eurostar’s terms, until Friday 1st May.

I tweeted a request for a refund at noon on Friday, received a reply quite quickly with instructions, and the funds were showing back in my American Express account by Monday morning, 3rd May.

I had exactly the same experience - EXCEPT for the fact that I booked through Trainline who said it will take up to 12 weeks before they refund.

 

[joncombe]

An update here since I started the thread. My outward journey was due to be tomorrow and as expected the service I was booked on is not running. I telephoned Eurostar and go through after about 5 minutes - you have to ignore the part about applying for a voucher on the website and the statement on the telephone that that can "only be done at Eurostar.com". Then I did get through to someone explained and asked for a refund. Although they did ask if I wanted a voucher first when I said no I was told it was no problem to refund and it would take 10-15 days to go back onto my card. Hopefully it does.

So whilst it still seems to be impossible to get an actual refund (not a voucher) online I was able to get a refund fairly quickly on the telephone.

 

[Jamesrob637]

An update here since I started the thread. My outward journey was due to be tomorrow and as expected the service I was booked on is not running. I telephoned Eurostar and go through after about 5 minutes - you have to ignore the part about applying for a voucher on the website and the statement on the telephone that that can "only be done at Eurostar.com". Then I did get through to someone explained and asked for a refund. Although they did ask if I wanted a voucher first when I said no I was told it was no problem to refund and it would take 10-15 days to go back onto my card. Hopefully it does.

So whilst it still seems to be impossible to get an actual refund (not a voucher) online I was able to get a refund fairly quickly on the telephone.

Fine to ask/offer the option of a voucher, and it sounds like you had a competent person on the other end. I work in travel and Eurostar always seemed one of the more professional outfits to me