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CLIVE
Frequent Guest
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Cheshire, UK
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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject: Ordering tickets from TrainLine.Ru |
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A week ago I ordered via the TrainLine.Ru website a ticket for the Trans-Mongolian train for May 2006.
I got an instant automated reply confirming my order, but did not receive details of availability and cost within 24hrs, which is the service they provide as stated on their website.
I then emailed to the 2 email addresses they have, asking for this information, but have had no response.
Has anyone had experience of ordering tickets from TrainLine.Ru ?
Is this their normal level of service ?
Shall I just wait and hope they get the ticket for me, or am I best getting it from somewhere else ?
Any advice would be gratefully received ! |
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bryak
WayToRussified
Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 321
Location: Edmonton, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:27 pm Post subject: fishy? |
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Yes, I would like to know this too. I have yet to order any tickets from Trainline.ru but probably will soon enough. Only the whole operation seems somewhat . . . fishy. It's funny though, because WaytoRussia recommends the Trainline site and WaytoRussia isn't fishy at all . . . is it?  |
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CLIVE
Frequent Guest
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Cheshire, UK
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| Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:43 pm Post subject: re my original post....... |
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Thanks for the reply to my original `post`.
Maybe Trainline.Ru wont respond to my emails until I have not only placed an order, but also PAID for the tickets - what I mean is perhaps they dont see that they should take time to provide customer service or reply to people who havent paid them any money?
In that case I will have to wait until 45 days before the departure date and hope they contact me to confirm the cost and availability.
Any views on this anyone ? |
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Garfield
Frequent Guest
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think that you will get a respose until 45 days before. |
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bryak
WayToRussified
Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 321
Location: Edmonton, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:56 am Post subject: Re: re my original post....... |
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| CLIVE wrote: |
Maybe Trainline.Ru wont respond to my emails until I have not only placed an order, but also PAID for the tickets - what I mean is perhaps they dont see that they should take time to provide customer service or reply to people who havent paid them any money?
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But if they haven't yet quoted you a price even . . . No, it all seems too fishy to me. Fishy, fishy, fishy . . . Or perhaps I just like using that word. hmm |
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shumway
Just Starting
Joined: 02 Feb 2006
Posts: 3
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| Did you get any answer from them? Im about to book tickets through them as well but this thread is not a good sign... |
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CLIVE
Frequent Guest
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Cheshire, UK
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| Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject: Still not had an response from Trainline.Ru |
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In reply to `Shumway` :
No....not heard a thing.
I even emailed Dimitri at WaytoRussia who said he would try and help by finding out why I had not had a reply, but I have still not heard anything.
I am therefore going to try and source tickets from elsewhere, as Trainline.Ru do not give me any confidence at all, which is not what you need when planning a once in a lifetime trip. Not impressed ! |
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noncra
Just Starting
Joined: 04 Feb 2006
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:51 am Post subject: tickets |
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Hi,
before I tried to book on Trainline.Ru, I had to see the time schedule first. I chose St Pete's - Moscow-Ekaterinburg-Novosibirisk-Irktusk-etc, as I wanted to see the departure time/ price for each part of the trip. However, in the 'price' display box, there are no figures.
Does anyone have this problem too or are all the pricings displayed?Could it be that it might not be possible to display the pricings?
So, even if I wanted to do the bookings, I couldn't.
On the other hand,I really feel like buying the tickets as I travel along the trip, because my plan is to stay in St Pete's, Moscow and Irtusk for 3-4 days each and then I will be off to Ulaan Baatar. I speak no Russian and I am sort of prepare to just 'go there and try', of course with some background information.
Any strong objections of 'net, net, NET' from WaytoRussia's team?
I should be travelling along this route from 1st June to 15th June.
This is indeed a Once in a Lifetime Great trip for me too and so have to explore all possible options.
/Regards |
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markpeterborough
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Have you had any replies yet, I want to book a train from Moscow to Tallinn, but after reading this thread, I now have doubts. |
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Rick
Moderator
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 854
Location: Касабланка
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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| This thread seems to have escaped our attention. As it is about a service by one of WayToRussia's sponsors, 'Feedback' seems the better place for it. I have no knowledge on the subject myself, but I hope Dmitri can clarify a little.. |
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waytorussia
Frequent Guest
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Dear All!
Let me give you an update on what is happening.
All service providers advertised here undergo very strict control regarding the quality of the service they provide. We closely monitor our readers' feedback, send "mystery shoppers" (I like to do it myself a lot), and basically give a lot of advice to the companies listed here regarding the quality of the service.
Most of the companies advertised here are praised by our readers -- it's enough to read the Russian Visa forum to see that people enjoy using the visa support services provided by our advertisers, the apartment reservation system is working very well, the taxis arrive on time, we've got a new hotel reservation partner (part of the worldwide Cendant corporation), providing very quality service at competitive prices...
The thing is that it was our goal from the beginning to offer quality online train ticket reservation system outsorced to a reliable company that would be able to serve English-speaking customers through the internet.
The reality of this business in Russia is such that each ticket requires so much paperwork, there's so many obstacles (such as 45 days rule, inability to reserve tickets, inability to buy stopover or open date tickets), that only a few companies in Russia provide this service. Sometimes they get overwhelmed by all these problems and their customers experience that directly.
Because of this, it was very hard for us to find a good and reliable company that would be able to offer quality train tickets online to our readers.
Our first partner simply didn't pay us commission when it was due, so this was not an option.
For our second try we found a small company that had good experience and great ideas, but didn't have any means to offer their services on the internet. We created an online train ticket schedule system for them and designed the order process (which is what you see on TrainLine.Ru) and it was working very well. Customers were using TrainLine.Ru as a free information resource asking for schedules and advice and everybody was very happy with the way it worked. However, as our site grew, TrainLine couldn't seem to cope with the amount of requests while keeping the same quality of the service (and our 24-hour reply standard). The problems started in the end of December and we gave them one month to improve (especially that January is normally low season). We noticed it early enough because we regularly do "mystery shopping" from our advertisers and check if what they do is according to our standards. Also, I should thank you all for bringing this matter to my attention as well.
However, as our site grows (130 000+ visitors every month now), we need to make sure things like that don't happen again, so we decided to re-design the train ticket ordering process on our website.
First, the software provided to TrainLine.Ru will be used as back-end to our new train ticket reservation system.
Second, the visitors will then be offered to purchase their tickets either directly from railway station (at the prices listed) or from carefully selected advertisers (for a fee on top of the listed price).
This will ensure that there are not too many orders for each company, as well as a complete transparency of the ordering process: you will still be able to use the online ticket information service (with stopovers, which is the only site for Russia that does it on the internet). However now you will be choosing yourself which company you should use to purchase your ticket, while being sure that the companies listed are monitored by WayToRussia.Net team.
We are currently in the process of arranging new contracts with train ticket providers, as well as modifying the train schedules for 2006.
By the way, if you want to recommend a good company you used to buy train tickets before, please, send me a Private Message. We will do some "mystery shopping" there and if everything goes well, include them in the list on this site as well.
To summarize, Way to Russia is movings towards the new model of travel guides: rather than simply recommending good companies, we design easy-to-use ordering interfaces, allow our readers to choose among recommended companies, and constantly monitor the quality of the services they provide through your feedback and by sending mystery shoppers their way. If any company is not performing well enough, they are taken out from this website. It's very different from conventinal travel guides, when they just heard about a certain travel service once or maybe used it once and they recommend it. In this case, we're talking about constant quality monitoring. After all, a lot of my friends from US and Europe use this website and I want it to be the best internet has to offer. So, by the end of February you will have a new booking system, and if you can wait, I appreciate your patience.  |
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CLIVE
Frequent Guest
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Cheshire, UK
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:14 pm Post subject: Thank you ! |
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Dmitri
I would like to say thank you for your last `post` in relation to the general experience of poor customer service from Trainline.Ru and to my initial post that started this thread. It is obvious that you take great pride in the website and the selection of partners, and you should be commended for your approach. I look forward to the `new` service for purchasing train tickets at the end of February !
Best regards,
CLIVE |
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overseas_expat
VIP
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 741
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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Agreed. Good post Dimitry.
I hope you enjoy great success in your business ventures in the future. Keep up with that kind of 'follow through' and initiative. |
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markpeterborough
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Dimitri, thank you for looking into this, and for your quality posting. I have resolved my problem, as I have a reliable contact in Tallinn who is sorting my tickets out now. |
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waytorussia
Frequent Guest
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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Dear All,
I'm happy to announce that we have a new support system in place. You can see it at http://support.waytorussia.net
Now all orders for all travel services advertised through this site by various providers will be submitted through this system. This gives you, the clients, a few very major advantages:
1) Tracking system, every order is registered in the system. You get a password and can log in to check the status of your query any moment or simply wait for an e-mail.
2) All providers follow strict quality guidelines, such as reply in 24 hours, fair prices, quality support, etc.
3) You can access your full correspondence with any provider at any moment from any computer or even a PDA (mobile telephone version is coming soon).
4) We put together a very detailed knowledgebase, that has answers to most commong questions about visas, transport, and accommodation. http://support.waytorussia.net (click Knowledgebase).
5) If no reply is received by you within 24 hours, the status of the request is escalated to urgent, and the service provider receives a notification both by e-mail and phone. If no action is taken during the next 24 hours, the request will be reviewed by Way to Russia team and we will make sure you get a meaningful reply.
6) You can now order train tickets online again. Just go to http://waytorussia.net/Services/TrainTickets.html
The online timetable is not ready yet, but you can simply submit your order through our support system and we will forward your order to the service provider who has the lowest price for the ticket(s) you want.
Dmitri / WayToRussia.Net |
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