[Tedujam]

29 June 2023 at 18:40:24 #830186

Some of you may have seen my posts in the Swiss Rail Pass thread about purchasing 8+2 day STP tickets from Happyrail.

I had the 8+2 day tickets in my cart on May 13th. After the purchase, I checked the tickets and Happyrail had given me the standard 8 day passes, not the promo 8+2 day passes that were in m y cart. I immediately sent them an email about the problem requesting a cancelation.

Happyrail didn’t respond for 5 days, and the response just asked me what the problem was. I didn’t receive another response for 4 days, wherein Happyrail said they would “apply for a cancelation”. That was the last response I ever received from them. The tickets were never used.

I went through the dispute process with my cc company and they initially credited me with the charge. I just received a letter from my cc company that Happyrail was denying any issue with my order, so they put the $743 charge back on my account. Now I have to fight with my cc company over this.

Happyrail is a terrible company and is currently costing me $743, due to a purchase link from this site. Be careful if you deal with them.

Actual response from my cc company:

When you contacted us about this, we credited your account for $743.12 the amount you are disputing. Since then, the merchant provided the following information to support the transaction:

• Notification that goods were as described and received in good condition

So for now, we are reapplying the charge to your account, and it will appear on your next one to two billing statements. At this time, we consider your case closed.

[Arno]

30 June 2023 at 7:36:27 #956020

Hi Tedujam,

I’m sorry to hear this is still not solved! I will check with HappyRail and get back to you.

[Arno]

30 June 2023 at 9:06:18 #956021

Hi again Tedujam,

I have some good news: the refund is approved and you’ll get the money back. HappyRail will contact you about that.

Refund claims like this always go through the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), regardless if you purchased via HappyRail or somewhere else. That’s often a time consuming process. HappyRail regularly checked the status of the claim and the last time it was still being processed. Today, it is approved, so they can now finalize this with you.

So far I’ve not encountered a case where HappyRail, SBB or any other legitimate retailer keeps the money while the customer didn’t get the (correct) pass. Credit card disputes are often denied in cases like this, because there is a “standard” but slow process to refund the money.

There is no scam in this case, but the process and the communication are far from optimal, and can be confusing and slow. Rest assured that if any of the websites we link to would scam customers, that link would be gone quickly. We don’t sell anything ourselves, so our main job is to link to trusted companies.

By the way, I think the problem was caused by the promotion being ended by SBB on an unexpected time. This is speculation on my part though. I heard that some travelers wanted to buy last-minute, but then the promo was gone.

I hope this clarifies the matter, and you’ll find the money back in your account soon.

Enjoy your weekend!

[Tedujam]

30 June 2023 at 16:37:42 #956022

I appreciate your response, but Happyrail never contacted me until I started this thread and I sent you an email. The last email I received from them was on May 22, almost 6 weeks ago.

They just sent me an email stating that the refund was approved and had been completed. There is no credit to my account and I replied to them with that info and that my chargeback had been denied.

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[Arno]

30 June 2023 at 18:23:18 #956023

Hi Tedujam,

The slow communication is unfortunate indeed. I don’t know if/when they e-mailed you in the mean time. Mail is sometimes blocked and in some cases doesn’t even reach the spam folder. I don’t expect that to be the case here because you did receive their last mail. I recommend asking HappyRail about the mails they sent, now that you’re back in touch. Keeping customers updated is obviously important. Anyway, it looks like it’s all going to be fine since the chargeback wasn’t completed and the refund is waiting for you.

[Tedujam]

3 July 2023 at 17:44:20 #956024

No, I still don’t have a refund. Happyrail just responded after 4 days that they were not refunding my money until I told them the status of the chargeback…which I have clearly already told them was denied in the last email to them on 7/30.

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[Arno]

4 July 2023 at 11:19:23 #956025

Hi Tedujam,

Sorry to hear that but I’m sure it will be alright in the end. I’ll see what I can find out.

[Arno]

4 July 2023 at 15:08:40 #956026

Hi Tedujam,

They had to double check with the payment provider to confirm the denied chargeback. The amount is now paid to you. You should see it in your bank account within days.

So I guess this is finally closed and solved 🙂