"Rail.Ninja": un-accredited UK ticket retailer?

[skyhigh]

They are registered in Hong Kong as 'Firebird GT Ltd' and in Malta as 'Arsia Ltd'

I don't think it'd make a Byelaw prosecution any easier that they're also registered in Malta...

 

[DanNCL]

I don't think it'd make a Byelaw prosecution any easier that they're also registered in Malta...

My first thought was that Malta being an EU country might be easier to get something out of... But then I remembered we left the EU!

 

[ServerHoster]

Just decided to book myself London to Liverpool 300 years in advance. Using a "complex route" from Paddington to Lime Street via Euston. It seems like Avanti will still be operating, and still using Pendolinos, in 300 years' time. £326 is a steal for First Class considering Avanti's prices!

 

[Merseysider]

View attachment 121221
Just decided to book myself London to Liverpool 300 years in advance. Using a "complex route" from Paddington to Lime Street via Euston. It seems like Avanti will still be operating, and still using Pendolinos, in 300 years' time. £326 is a steal for First Class considering Avanti's prices!

Not to mention, judging by the picture, Virgin will apparently have won the franchise back by then

 

[JamesT]

I'm questioning if the second quote block (claim more money from people to secure the tickets) is illegal.

It depends if a contract is deemed to have been formed by the initial stage, or if that was just an ‘invitation to treat’. If the customer has paid the initial price and they come back for more that sounds like it would break the Consumer Rights Act. But if it’s that the price has changed by the time it comes to payment, that would be legal.

 

[Adam Williams]

They definitely seem to charge straight away - before ticket fulfillment, as Braintree have already taken the amount I paid from my account

 

[JB_B]

Are they using fake accounts with legitimate retailers ( when/if they eventually buy genuine tickets to pass on ) - in the the same way that bot-generated accounts are used by event ticket scalpers?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

They seem to think the Northern stoppers between Manchester and Liverpool are “Intercity Express”, a “High Speed Train” and worth £27-£35.

Most expensive bona-fide standard class single I can find between Manchester and Liverpool is £16.70 (Anytime Day Single). If £35 is Rail Ninja's supposed return fare, even two singles wouldn't be that much, surely?!

 

[Starmill]

Most expensive bona-fide standard class single I can find between Manchester and Liverpool is £16.70 (Anytime Day Single). If £35 is Rail Ninja's supposed return fare, even two singles wouldn't be that much, surely?!

Indeed. They seem to be selling most tickets at significantly more than face value, as evidenced by post #12.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Anyone fancy buying child tickets from Lichfield Tent Valley to City and seeing who the tickets are issued by? Or I suppose as I’m in Malta at the moment I could pop round and ask

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Anyone fancy buying child tickets from Lichfield Tent Valley to City and seeing who the tickets are issued by?

Good luck with that. The site doesn't seem to recognise Lichfield as a departure or arrival city.

 

[Adam Williams]

Or I suppose as I’m in Malta at the moment I could pop round and ask

Ask them where my WCML ticket has got to

buying child tickets from Lichfield Tent Valley to City

I wanted to try this approach initially, but:

1. They don't allow buying tickets for 1 child, 0 adults
2. The only supported stations are Inverness, Fort Williams, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry, Cambridge, Birmingham, Oxford, London, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Brighton. Apparently those are the only stations in the UK you'd want to travel to/from

 

[Wallsendmag]

OK in that case has anyone successfully booked with them and would they be happy to post an image of their ticket?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

OK in that case has anyone successfully booked with them and would they be happy to post an image of their ticket?

With all due respect, my card details ain't going anywhere near Rail Ninja's website. Be surprised if many others on here would have done so, or will be doing so, either.

 

[py_megapixel]

Fulfilment is manual (!) and apparently can take up to 1 business day from purchase.

I quite like this result provided by Google:



(Screenshot of an answer suggested by Google for the question "How fast is rail ninja": "around 186.5-199 miles per hour")

 

[Starmill]

I quite like this result provided by Google:

View attachment 121236

(Screenshot of an answer suggested by Google for the question "How fast is rail ninja": "around 186.5-199 miles per hour")

A good lesson for anyone (including me, previously) relying on the "answer your question" or "knowledge panels" or whatever they call them these days on Google. Even if it looks like you've got the answer you were looking for, it always pays to either click through to the primary source, or scroll down to the first 'organic' result.

With all due respect, my card details ain't going anywhere near Rail Ninja's website. Be surprised if many others on here would have done so, or will be doing so, either.

If you refer to the first post in this thread, @Adam Williams has already done so.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

]If you refer to the first post in this thread, @Adam Williams has already done so.

Thanks for clarifying. Hopefully @Adam Williams' order will be fulfilled by Rail Ninja and he can report back on here in due course. In the meantime, 'Caveat Emptor'.

 

[Adam Williams]

With all due respect, my card details ain't going anywhere near Rail Ninja's website. Be surprised if many others on here would have done so, or will be doing so, either.

If you refer to the first post in this thread, @Adam Williams has already done so

What can I say, I like to live life on the edge..

I'll post mine if they fulfil it tomorrow; unfortunately I'm not sure this thread will do me any favours in terms of getting them to treat it as a normal booking.

 

[STINT47]

Looking at the frequently asked questions on their website. Two of the questions are Is Rail Ninja trustworthy and Is Rail Ninja legitimate it says yes so that's alright then.

 

[syorksdeano]

I've just checked Sheffield to London and apparently my train will be direct with LNER.

Also just tried Sheffield to Leeds and apparently no trains available

 

[rg177]

I've just tried Sheffield to London in January 2029 and was presented with departures at 0438, 0442, 0443, 0448, 0449, 0451, 0458...

It's like it's taking every single variation of departure times and mashing them together. Of course its £165 single for these fictional trains.

The way everything is written on the homepage just doesn't feel right to me. It's written sort of well, but doesn't match the tone of voice you'd expect for a professional ticket retailer. But, its unfortunately convincing enough for a sizeable number of people to fall victim to these scammers.

 

[AdamWW]

I've just tried Sheffield to London in January 2029 and was presented with departures at 0438, 0442, 0443, 0448, 0449, 0451, 0458...

It's like it's taking every single variation of departure times and mashing them together. Of course its £165 single for these fictional trains.

The way everything is written on the homepage just doesn't feel right to me. It's written sort of well, but doesn't match the tone of voice you'd expect for a professional ticket retailer. But, its unfortunately convincing enough for a sizeable number of people to fall victim to these scammers.

The good thing is that it doesn't take much effort to find out that one shouldn't use them.

When I just did a Google search (and of course not everyone may see the same thing) I got:

1) Advert for Rail Ninja
2) The Rail Ninja site
3) Trustpilot - and going there made it very clear not to use them.

 

[STINT47]

Rail Ninja appears to be acting as a third party broker who buys tickets, then sells them on to the customer at a higher price, with the difference being kept by them as their profit.

Looking at the website it appears that if you book to far in advance you only get your tickets when they become available to buy to everyone.

On reading Trustpilot it would appear that some people are then getting tickets for trains at different times from those they booked at or not at all. Not surprising as the timetable between now and 2023 could be different, whilst if the cheapest ticket when they go on sale doesn't offer them a big profit margin presumably it's easier for them to just cancel a purchase. Who knows if the customers then get a refund?

It's misleading at best and a fraud /scam at worse. I'm not surprised that's it's not an official national rail site as it wouldn't get approved. Problem is on the forum we can see this but others are fooled and with it being overseas getting the site closed may be impossible.

 

[KimLawrence]

Has anyone reported this site to the RDG Licensing and Commercial Team and if so what is the response? There is an obligation to have a licence to retail, or just be a supplier of tech (or both) but no one is permitted to retail without a licence that is granted and bonded. Why has the site not been closed down if it does not have a licence. It would be interesting to see where the settlement goes for a ticket purchased does it go via central settlement systems for example?

 

[DelayRepay]

Has anyone reported this site to the RDG Licensing and Commercial Team and if so what is the response? There is an obligation to have a licence to retail, or just be a supplier of tech (or both) but no one is permitted to retail without a licence that is granted and bonded. Why has the site not been closed down if it does not have a licence. It would be interesting to see where the settlement goes for a ticket purchased does it go via central settlement systems for example?

I think the problem is that this site is based overseas, and are not directly connected to the UK ticketing issue systems or databases, so it's very difficult to shut them down.

 

[island]

Has anyone reported this site to the RDG Licensing and Commercial Team and if so what is the response? There is an obligation to have a licence to retail, or just be a supplier of tech (or both) but no one is permitted to retail without a licence that is granted and bonded. Why has the site not been closed down if it does not have a licence. It would be interesting to see where the settlement goes for a ticket purchased does it go via central settlement systems for example?

The existence of rules and the ability to enforce them, particularly against offshore shell companies, are two rather different things.

 

[JaJaWa]

Anyone fancy buying child tickets from Lichfield Tent Valley to City and seeing who the tickets are issued by? Or I suppose as I’m in Malta at the moment I could pop round and ask

I live about 5 minutes from their Hong Kong office

 

[Adam Williams]

So I got this email today:


Bizarrely, I'm taken to a SalesForce page... where I don't need to change my departure time at all but do need to agree to not getting a seat reservation (duh, it's West Midlands Trains!)



Still an entirely manual process, seemingly, so I still don't yet have any tickets despite submitting the form.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Adam Williams. How much have you shelled out already to this high quality ticket provider?

 

[Adam Williams]

@Adam Williams. How much have you shelled out already to this high quality ticket provider?

£20