Way to Russia Talk Lounge

deardana · Just Starting Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 7

Hi WTR guests and team,

A week ago, I filled out the ticket request form on WTR website; I need to reserve a ticket to Moscow that I plan to pick up in St. Petersburg...well, they responded and told me to wait to hear from service provider; later WTR team notified me that since I have not paid for ticket, my request will be cancelled with 200 hours...but how could I pay when they never contacted me/confirmed or anything?

I just want to know, will they ever contact me? Has anyone had experiences with Intergroup? Would you recommend using another agency/service? I tried Russian Railroad (РЖД) website but they couldn't process my American bank card (I am not sure why)...I have never reserved train tickets online before and would appreciate any advice/contacts very much.

Diana (Penza, Russia/St. Paul, MN)

greg222 · VIP Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 523

Sorry about this, Diana. Express to Russia, the vendor you chose, are pretty useless. We might remove them if they don't improve. Please go here:

www.trains.waytorussia.net

And send a new order. This time choose InterGroup or Svezhy Veter as the vendor. Both are good. InterGroup are cheaper but they do delivery only, while with Svezhy Veter you can pick up your tickets at the station.

Guido · Just Starting Joined: 28 Jul 2008 Posts: 4

Does anyone know the best way to get 32 tickets for a specific train on a specific date...without getting ripped off? I have a grp of tourists traveling from Moscow to St Petersburg the first week in October and they would like to take the overnight train in first class. The info on this site mentions that the fares listed may not be up to date...is this the case? I need to know what the total fare will be per person. Does anyone knows the correct fare?

Does Russia trains always quote fares in USD$?

Thanks for your assistants.

deardana · Just Starting Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 7

Greg, thanks for your response. However, I am not going to try InterGroup again, because they ARE the ones who are NOT responding to me now. Svezhy Veter seems to have high credit card markup (by the way, you should really explain what that means - doe the price of the ticket go up according tot he percentage listed? Totally unclear).

Essentially, you do not offer to track my order and find out what's wrong/fix the situation, but are asking me to go through he process AGAN with the same non-responding agent. Thanks a bunch. I know you tried but that just doesn't seem helpful...
God, it proved to be nearly impossible to buy tickets online as all web services I tried just..don't respond after I fill out their endless forms!
Diana

deardana · Just Starting Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 7

sorry, Guido, can't answer most of your questions. Russian Railways (tripleW.rzd.ru)quote prices in rubles, naturally, but most sites in Englihs will use eihter USD or Euro (tripleW.visitrussia.com - they seem too expensive though).

good luck - I'd suggest to work with an agent ...don't have any contacts though. this is my first time trying to order online (and not a very successful one)
Diana

greg222 · VIP Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 523

There's only one person named 'Diana' who has ordered train tickets in the past couple of weeks and it was definitely with Express to Russia, from St Petersburg to Moscow, submitted on July 19th. I'm quite certain that it's yours - it's the same route and the person is also from Minnesota. Maybe you chose Express to Russia by mistake?

But if I'm wrong, please PM me the Request ID (eg. ABC-123456) of your order and I will check it out. It's very strange that InterGroup wouldn't respond.

Those aren't actually credit card fees - I know the way it's presented is a bit confusing. It's supposed to say which credit cards the agents accept, while the percentages are a rough indication of the mark-up the agents charge. We can't be more accurate than that as fees vary depending on the ticket. For InterGroup and Svezhy Veter, fees and profit account for 11% of the total price on average. Credit card fees are around 6%.