Swiss Travel Pass refund question
A traveler named Nstpie faced issues with their Swiss Travel Pass refund after postponing an April trip to the following year. Though they were originally told their passes were fully refundable, they received a refund that deducted 20 CHF. They sought clarification on whether this was typical.
- Always verify cancellation policies directly with the vendor before purchasing your tickets.
- The Swiss Travel Pass should have a full refund when canceled before the trip date, so keep documentation of your purchase and cancellation requests.
- If you experience unexpected fees, they might be due to exchange rates or bank charges, so check your bank statements closely.
- Contact customer service for clarity if you encounter issues; persistence can often lead to a resolution.
AI-generated summary-
Hi! Last July Swiss Travel Pass had a special offer. We purchased this 9 mos. prior to our April trip when it clearly stated full cancellation refund. Before we purchased we specifically asked in an email if this ticket had a full refund, they replied yes. Sadly our trip is pushed back by one year. We asked STP to extend or refund, reminding them that we had refundable tickets. They chose the refund route and deducted 20chf. Is this common?
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Hi Nstpie,
I’m sorry to hear that! Free cancellation is totally free normally, but I need a bit more information in order to say whether or not something went wrong here. Please let us know which website you purchased from (probably one listed here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price), in what currency you paid and in what currency you received your refund. Also it would help if you can attach your invoice and credit invoice (please remove any personal details).
How did the seller explain the difference of CHF 20? As a cancellation fee?
Hi Arno, We purchased through Happy Rails. We have not received the refund yet. They stated the refund has been made to our credit card but it will take a couple of business days before we see it on our statement. My husband sent me this email. Now I’m wondering if they are giving us the full refund?
“SBB has accepted your refund request against the 10 CHF per pass. The refund has been made to your account just now and this should be visible in your bank account between now and two business days.”
Our group postponed our Viking river cruise. We booked again next April. I’ve learned so much here about Switzerland that we will definitely add a few extra days prior to our cruise than we would have originally!
Hi Nstpie,
That looks like a standard text from the Swiss Federal Railways. The standard cancellation fee is CHF 10. This should not apply to your cancellation though. Unless you cancelled on or after the pass start date. Free cancellation applies when cancelling prior to the trip date.
Please check again once you received the amount. Of course if you paid in CHF and have a bank account in a different currency, you may receive a bit more or less than you spent due to exchange rates, but that’s a banking issue.
Feel free to post back here with the requested details if you think something went wrong. In that case, do contact HappyRail first please: http://www.myswissalps.com/aboutus/partners/happyrail.
Glad to hear you’ll still come, and longer! You won’t regret it, there is plenty to see.
Arno, looks like our refund was even less than we expected…
We have emailed Happy Rails, an employee named Mandy.
Attachments:
Hi Nstpie,
Thanks for the details. What I can see is that you ordered for CHF 348 worth of Swiss Travel Passes, and I assume (but do not kn0w) that you paid in the CHF currency. The spent amount of USD 376 equals CHF 348 based on the exchange rate of 5 July 2021.
The refund of CHF 348 equals USD 362 based on the exchange rate of 22 April 2022. You received USD 325.55 though. That difference can probably be explained by your bank, they may have subtracted a fee and/or used a less than favourable exchange rate.
But this is all based on assumptions. We’ve had a similar case recently and HappyRail refunded 100% of the spent amount, in the original currency used during the payment. The bank of the customer took fees though, and banks aren’t always crystal clear about that.
There should be an invoice (July) and some kind of credit invoice/statement (April) from HappyRail, and your bank should be able to show exactly which currency and amount you spent and received, and which exchange rates and fees they applied. Please check all of that, and then you know were the remaining USD 37 went. Please let us know.
Here’s a thread about how to save on foreign payments and get more insight in those payments: http://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/avoid-banking-fees-when-paying-in-swiss-francs.
Looking into this we can see you were correct and there was a credit card fee. Thank you for the info. Unfortunately there was also a charge from Happy Rails too. We purchased the Swiss Travel Pass from Happy Rails earlier than need be because of the fully refundable offer. Disappointing that they didn’t refund as stated.
I’m happy to help! How did you find out about the charge from HappyRail? There should not be a charge from them. Feel free to post your HappyRail order number here, so I can try and find out more details.
Thanks for your concern Arno. Just received confirmation from Happy Rails that they took the 10 CHF and won’t reverse it. I’ve enclosed a photo of our invoice. Tonight would have been our flight and the train ticket would have been used starting tomorrow.
Nancy
Attachments:
Hi Nancy,
Your attachment is the original invoice which shows you apparently paid in Euro’s, not in Swiss francs what I assumed earlier. That does not make much of a difference since both are a foreign currency to you and your bank. So banking fees apply, as you said.
However, the CHF 10 fee is still a mystery to me. I can’t see this confirmed anywhere, so I’ll try to find out more info on this.
Thank you again Arno. If there is a reason for Happy Rails to keep our 10CHF per ticket it would be nice to know why, seeing we bought fully refundable tickets. We are still planning to visit Switzerland for a few days next year so STP will be getting us back as a customer.
Hi Nancy,
I understand you. Arno tries to find out the reason and he will let you know once he receives the answer.
We hope that next year you can come to visit Switzerland.
Regards,
Ildiko
I’m guessing no news is bad news. 😕
Hi Nancy,
I certainly hope not, but indeed it takes some time. Because of local holidays I think. I’ll let you know once I have news 🙂
Thanks!
Hi Nancy,
I heard back from HappyRail: apparently the problem was caused by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). Their standard cancellation fee of CHF 10 should not apply to Swiss Travel Passes, but in this case they did apply it. I understood that you have now received an additional reimbursement, so in all you have received a full refund. Of course the difference in exchange rates between purchase and refund date, and banking fees, still apply.
Hopefully everything is cleared up now 🙂
Not sure why “ in this case “ but yes, it’s clear that we won’t be getting our refund. Thank you though.
Hi Nancy,
As I understand it this sometimes happens (randomly, not that there’s something special about your order), and SBB is working on preventing that. I think it’s a human error on their end actually, because cancellations are processed manually, and the majority of customers simply gets the 100% refund straight away.
I was told that you have received an additional amount to cover for the 2x CHF 10 that were still missing. So you should have received your full refund by now. Didn’t you receive that second amount?
Arno, we received the rest of our refund today! I believe you had something to do with this,THANK YOU! We appreciate your help.
Great to hear that Nancy! Hope to see you back here when you’re preparing for your trip again.
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