Complaining to eurostar-tips please!

[jillrobinson]

Did you book via a Travel Agent or with Eurostar direct ?

I found this on the website:

We have booked separately. How do we ensure we are seated together?
To change your seating so you are seated together on the train please contact your original point of sale.

If you made your booking on our web site at www.eurostar.com please contact us on 08706 000 796. or 0044 1777 777 878.

If you made your booking directly with ourselves over the telephone please contact us on 08705 186 186 or 0044 1233 617 575.

Please have your booking reference ready so we are able to access your booking.

If you made your booking elsewhere with a travel agent or other company it will not be possible to change your seating in advance however you may be able to change seats once you have boarded the train if you speak with the train manager.

 

[mulan1]

thanks for the replies, they are very useful indeed,
jill, i booked via the website and spoke to them straight away when i realised that the seats were part from each other, the guy i spoke to said speak to the train manager, so that's when i wrote the complaint.
Passenger focus will hopefully act as a mediary to hlp sort out and help me fight my case, i've sent them a message already and intend on calling them tomorrow.
Lucy you've made some great points and I will dfinately include chid protection as one of my points, if i don't get resolution on this I will try to find others like me and maybe we could come together to complain.
Thanks again, I've been having a tough time lately and this is just adding to my stress. I pray it can be sorted out successfully.
xxx

 

[jillrobinson]

I guessed that you would've seen it before and thought you'd booked direct with Eurostar.
I certainly wouldn't let it rest, I think it's appalling customer service and I wouldn't be happy if they were my seats and my children are much older than your child.
I too checked earlier and would still have been able to book 9 seats (the maximum allowed online) on your train, so there are definately places available in standard class. I definately wouldn't give up on this, Good Luck

It is a really child-friendly way to travel and makes taking kids on holiday easy… And even fun!

^ Taken from their website !!!

 

[mulan1]

It is a really child-friendly way to travel and makes taking kids on holiday easy… And even fun!

^ Taken from their website !!!

Ha!
I should throw that back in their faces shouldn't I?!

Thanks for the hug!
I need it!

I couldn't find the line, what page is it on please Jill?

 

[jillrobinson]

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/travel_information/before_you_go/travel_with_children.jsp


Can't help thinking that Developmental Child Psychologist, Dr Janine Spencer might want to add "ensure children are seated with their parents to her list".

 

[liberty]

Yeh don't give up on this matter!! , i hope you manage to sort something out.

Keep smiling!

 

[mulan1]

jill that page is classic!
Dr Janine, i'm going to google you!
oo! just found her phone number and email address!!!!

just sent her an email, i wonder what her response will be?? i hope she can be of help, otherwise, if she knows this is happening and continues to endorse eurostar then hmm?

 

[mulan1]

Grr!
Well Eurostar are no help, passenger focus said i shoul get in touch with london travel watch.
So I called just now and the kind lady told me there is nothing they can do either as they can't force Eurostar to change our seats, she said however, that if when we do travel the train manager does not help us effectively then LTW will be able to take up something with the way they book their seating in future.
I'm really cross about this as Eurostar shouldn't rely on peoples good will to swap seats, they should have a proper system in place.
I'm sure people wil be kind enough to swap with us, but that has never been my issue, I'm just really upset they would seat people like that in the first place.

Paula, the nice lady told me, the best thing is to book by phone in future and request the seats we want.

I intend to!!

So nomore online booking with Eurostar for me, it will all be done by phone from now on!!

Did those of you who also had trouble book online?

 

[mulan1]

Hi All, since another fellow diser is experiencing problems with seating i have decided to contact BBCs watchdog, i would recommend all of us who have had these problems to also contact them so they are aware this is a widespread problem.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/contact_transport.shtml

 

[ema74]

ARGH!!! I can't help but think that they're really useless and can't be bothered to even listen to us... We had the same problem last July, booked online and asked for a family area and got seats in different rows. And again, for our trip in April they did the same... When I called they said nothing could be done and if I really wanted a family area then I should book over the phone and pay £5 for the booking on top... Well, if that'll save me from all this hassle then I'll do it next time we go... The lady was very rude, very short tempered and to be honest I wouldn't have used Eurostar if it wasn't convenient for us (we live one tube stop away from St Pancras)

Hope they sort something out for you Mulan...

 

[mulan1]

thanks ema, do you mind if i ask, did you get to swap seats with other passengers in the end so you could be together as im really worried abut my son being next to a stranger?

 

[kmikenchelle]

This is my first post so bear with me. We are going to Disney in Sept for our 3rd visit and can't wait. This is the first time we would have gone by Eurostar after converting all of our Tesco clubcard vouchers into airmiles and then using the airmiles to pay for eurostar.
after having some initial problems with not being able to book the return train we found out from eurostar that there are possible enginering works on the line on the 28th Sept which is when we due to come home, so after booking an extra night in Disney (shame) I managed to book our seats on eurostar and with the help of the very nice man at airmiles got offered a family table on the way there and back.
Just thought you guys might like to know about another use for Tesco vouchers and how nice and helpful the people at airmiles are compared to the people at Eurostar who were also very unhelpful during the constant phone calls i made trying to establish why there wasn't any trains on the 27th or 28th Sept. Can't Wait.

 

[ema74]

thanks ema, do you mind if i ask, did you get to swap seats with other passengers in the end so you could be together as im really worried abut my son being next to a stranger?

Hi Eemaan, can't really remember but I think my daughter was supposed to sit next to someone else. The people 'next door' were lovely, they offered to swap seats and even held their little girl so my baby DD2 could sleep during the trip .
I find all the people using the direct train very very nice and understnding as opposed to the ones travelling into Paris or Lille. We had to change trains in Lille once and some people were so horrible to us when they saw us with a baby and a child.

Shame about Eurostar and your tickets but I still think you'd be able to swap seats and sit next to your little boy. I would be very upset if either of my girls had to sit on her own... Don't understand Eurostar at all

 

[Ware Bears]

Hi kmikenchelle, welcome to the DIS!

Glad you got your return journey sorted ~ isn't it awful being forced to spend another night at DLRP!!

 

[Cyrano]

Hi kmikenchelle and welcome to DLP DIS board
We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here, DIS posting guidelines can be found here.

 

[chris1373]

The guy on the phone told you to speak to the train manager because he cannot change your seats when there are no seats available to put you somewhere else. If any seats were empty,he would have changed it rather than debating the issue with you.

You booked when there was limited seats available (hence you probably paid an arm and a leg) so you cannot expect to get seats together all the time, therefore you have to rely on other kind hearted passengers to fix the situation.

If you try booking earlier in advance (they have four months booking window) you wouldn't have this problem. The train manager will help you out, but you cannot expect Eurostar to take liability because you booked too late.

If the guys on the phone cannot change it, then ask on the day in the ticket office if there is any availablility. As for the seating allocation in the first instance, computers fill up carriages and they never go by the numbers.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but these are the stark facts of the situation. Your solution in complaining won't do much because its not a valid issue and you will simply get a patronising letter telling you how sympathetic they are.

My advice is to ask the train manager if he/she minds you being upgraded to ensure that you all sit together. If there are seats available in first, then maybe you will get lucky.

 

[jillrobinson]

You booked when there was limited seats available (hence you probably paid an arm and a leg) so you cannot expect to get seats together all the time, therefore you have to rely on other kind hearted passengers to fix the situation.

If you try booking earlier in advance (they have four months booking window) you wouldn't have this problem. The train manager will help you out, but you cannot expect Eurostar to take liability because you booked too late.

Not sure where you have got your facts from regarding dates, but we have had quite a few members on here affected in the same way. The OP had booked 3 plus months ahead of of her trip how can that be construed as booking late.
I don't mean to sound harsh either but from other's experiences the Eurostar booking system, computerised or not, leaves a lot to be desired and there is no excuse, whatsoever for the poor Customer Service some people have reported. Look through the Boards and you will find several threads with the same theme from different posters. It's a great shame because despite the 4 hour drive to Ashford, I and the rest of the family agree that our 2 Eurostar trips to DLRP were the best, transport wise. I love the ease and convenience, but we have been fortunate to have been seated together, I doubt I'd be so impressed if we weren't.

It will be interesting to see if Watchdog do take up the case.

 

[nightrider68]

Any seats booked via a Travel Agent or Eurostar website are automatically allocated by their system and no consideration is given to children or adults.

The only way to get allocated seats is by booking over the telephone with Eurostar.

 

[britchic4]

Any seats booked via a Travel Agent or Eurostar website are automatically allocated by their system and no consideration is given to children or adults.

The only way to get allocated seats is by booking over the telephone with Eurostar.

It's certainly a flawed system which places small children apart from their parents. There should be some kind of flag which is raised when children are under a certain age, even if this flag means the travel agent or the person booking online then needs to phone Eurostar for seat allocation.
Somebody booking with a travel agent may book months ahead but they don't get their tickets until quite close to departure, meaning by the time they find out about their seat allocation the carriage is full.

 

[nightrider68]

I totally agree and unfortunately learnt the hard way when Thomas Cook and Eurostar said there was nothing they could do except for me to look for the train manager.

That is why I would never again book a package to DLRP via a travel agent.