Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
Posted 2 years ago
I find the fact that EU rail promotes itself as serving southern Europe very wrong. The responses I have had on here are no more than promotional material. The hard cold facts are that it is incredibly irresponsible for eurail or anyone to promote the idea of being able to travel on trains in Greece or the Balkans. It is not possible. And a complete logistical nightmare. I have wasted half of the time on my pass finding this out. It is not morally correct to market this pass as being able to work in these countries. It is impossible. As if you really read the posts then it just doesnt work. How can I ask for a refund for this time? If you look at the promotional literature on this site it suggests that you can travel freely and visit this eutopia (spelling intended) of beautiful places but it isn't true. And I have wasted alot of money on this and now I have to spend alot more money to leave this area. How can I ask for part of my money back?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Which promotional material on which site are you speaking of?
Flo
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
Any of the go to Macedonia or Serbia or Greece or Kosovo, or any of these areas which suggest this option would be good to go for if you want to travel or see these countries. The advice should be ignore everything here, don't even possibly consider a rail card for these places, there are no trains here, you are best to use buses in these areas. Anything else is completely misleading. And I don't buy the do you research before, because if you do your research using these services then you get the perception that it would be a good idea to use or buy a Railcard to experience these places
Arend7
Traveller
645 comments
At https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/tips-and-tricks/trains-europe/trains-country/trains-serbia is said: “The rail network of Serbia connects the capital, Belgrade with the key towns and cities across the country. There are several routes connecting Serbia to it neighbouring countries.´
I tried Subotica (north Serbia) to Kiskunhalas (south Hungary) , 48 km distance , at bahn.de. It gives no possibility.
So, Dorman has a point I think.
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
Try to use any of the rail systems in the Balkans or Greece and we will see the same thing. So, it is not fair to say that this is a legimitime means to explore these areas.it is not.use a bus
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
And if someone would say I should research appropriately before choosing the Railcard, much of my research was conducted using the eurail site which presents this as an enthralling alternative option. Which is misleading
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
And if anyone can tell me how I can apply for a refund or partial refund then please let me know
Arend7
Traveller
645 comments
Unfortunely Interrail has a disclaimer: "In no event will Eurail, nor any of its members, directors, employees or advisors accept any responsibility or liability for any (consequences of) obvious mistakes, inaccurateness or incompleteness of the (information on) the Website. In particular, Eurail will not be liable for any mistakes or incorrectnesses in prices and conditions related to the use and/or validity of the train passes." I know that in Dutch law (Interrail is settled in Utrecht) judges can destroy conditions if in his opinion they are unreasonably objectionable "onredelijk bezwaarlijk". But these rules are very common, so I don't think it will work here.
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
I think consumer rights and such EU rules concerning how ones service is promoted would be the most important in these cases
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
How do you know about this stuff? Are you a genuine person or a representative of the organisation!
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
How would you know where they are based or anything of that nature?
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
Conspicuous by your absence from the remainder of the conversation..and my guess is it doesn't really matter where you based..as you basically bound by the same terms of providing a service/goods as anyone else perhaps more so than any other product in the EU in that you can't falsely promote services in the EU and not provide them
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
Basically, you can't sell an EU based service and not be bound by the EU code of conduct relating to servicea provided. And on top of that you are a EU rail pass. I don't think I need to go on in terms of why it's important that you provide a service in line with the generally accepted terms of the bloc
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
And for example if your content was truly user generated and there were one or two mistakes in there then fine that happens. However, if there are multiple discrepancies between the known truth and what is being presented then that is very different
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
THIS IS VERY DIFFERENT TO THE DISCOURSE PROVIDED ABOUT THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL ON THE WEBSITE.
MisterSteve
Traveller
1091 comments
The big problem with the complaint is that Dorman seems to think that EU Rail is a company and that it provides train services. Which means that the basic research has not been done. As set out very clearly in the website Eurail BV is an agency set up to market the Eurail pass ON BEHALF OF the train operators that take part in the scheme. Some of these operators are only in the scheme because of pressure from their political masters and those in the area being debated here have been in financial (and other) crisis since before the Covid pandemic - put the two together and them providing up to date info to Eurail BV is way down their list of priorities (if it's on the list at all). But this forum and various other sites clearly warns that travel in these areas is difficult and thatthe pass is usually not worth the money. If Dorman has spent so much time doing research these warnings must have been found so I presume they were ignored.
And it's not just this area, warnings are everywhere about how hard it is to use the pass in Spain because of their compulsory reservations on long distance trains, with France and Italy not being much easier. Those visiting GB wanting to reserve find it very difficult to do without paying large amounts of money to agents (when reservations are free at stations) - this is one country that tried to leave the scheme but were forced to remain by politicians.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
I am still not sure whether Dorman understands that this is not the official Interrail website.
Without links to the websites/blogs he is referring to it makes no sense to try and explain further.
For any official complaints you have to contact Eurail BV directly (or your local consumer rights agency).
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
I understand that this is not the interrail site. I thought it was operated by rail.cc. I have contacted the interrail directly.
Dorman
Traveller
17 comments
I am also aware that interrail do not run the railways but they do sell the rail pass and communications such as 'the global pass is the best way to explore Serbia', 'the global pass is the best way to explore Greece' are misleading along with the maps of rail lines that are not operational. As these things aren't third party content they are promoting the idea of buying the pass to travel through those places and that is not really possible. Anyway, I am pretty sure I will be ignored but I will ask for a partial refund or to be able to use the pass somewhere for that period.