SNCF

We all complaining about our administration. Everywhere we live in the world, I never met someone who is satisfied about this octopus you just can’t fight against. There is a inertia with the people working at those places, only the idea to have to go there, because you have no choice, makes it an adventure. Even a coma looks more fun. I will give you today an example from France. You can find on the web thousands of examples from the whole world but of course It’s “funnier” when It happened to you. I am talking about the French railway company. I planned in the beginning of the year to take 2 weeks holiday in August in France. It’s not a big deal but when you live abroad you need to organize the journey. Internet helps a lot and booking my flights with Air France was piece of cake. Because I was traveling from Paris to the country, I needed to book train tickets. So internet helped again and although the multiple choice of proposals, I succeeded and made delivered the tickets to my parents address so they could send them to me. But … I had to cancel the whole thing. I moved and could not travel anymore. So I started to cancel. Air France, no problem (again). A phone call is enough. I knew that even if you booked a “dry” ticket (no possibility to change or to get the money back), the company gives the money back for the ticket. You only loose the taxes of the airport, which are the most expensive in the fare. The phone call was barely finished that I had a confirmation on my email and then the money was on the account 2 days later. Then the train tickets : because I booked on internet with credit card, I was expected to be refunded directly on it if I cancel. I must say I booked tickets that are refunded. But every time I tried to cancel, the system said that I had to bring back the original tickets in any train station in the next 6 months. How do I do that from abroad ? Not understanding why, I tried to locate a phone number I could reach to ask. This is a challenge you have to try to achieve because when you live abroad the phone numbers provided by France regarding customer service do not work (there are those special numbers with special fare you can’t use outside the country). So the task is to find one 1) you can use from abroad and 2) which is relevant for your request. You can look anywhere on the website, you will find none of those information. Big issue. Finding nothing, I decided to look at any available phone number, to call and see what happens. I must have landed anywhere in France and explained briefly what I needed and been forwarded in the limb. The guy on the phone was particularly unfriendly and said that he was not responsible for the fact I had so many worries to reach him. Then I asked what I had to do and why the money could not been transferred to my card : just because the tickets have been printed and I have to return the originals back. Of course. He gave me an address and I did send the tickets. A few weeks later, I received a new letter from the same company, asking me to provide my bank details. It’s as if they can take the money from your bank account but they can’t put it back. On the letter, only a reference number, no phone number, only an address. I did send the letter days ago. I’m checking the status of my bank account but nothing moves. Of course I would love to call them but without phone number, I am afraid that I lost purely and simply the amount. Making quick research on internet, I noticed a lot of groans from customers with more or less same issues. It can last months !