One month after the promise of a generous purchase voucher drawn by the SNCF to extinguish the anger of travelers faced with an unexpected strike by controllers over the Christmas weekend, many users are still waiting and are starting to find the time long.
“Still pending despite several reminders”, was impatient on Thursday a client of the SNCF. “One month to the day after filing a complaint, (…) I am asked to file a complaint in response to my complaint”, lamented another, exasperated.
On social networks, messages of this type are multiplying to denounce the slowness of the compensation procedure, decided in an emergency, a few days before a strike by controllers which led to the cancellation of hundreds of TGVs and Intercités on 23 , 24 and 25 December.
50,000 travelers concerned
On December 21, the boss of SNCF Travelers Christophe Fanichet had unveiled a shock measure to calm the situation: a voucher equivalent to double the price of the canceled ticket, in addition to the exchange or refund of said ticket.
An offer described as unprecedented by the SNCF, which involved some 200,000 travellers. Since then, few have been able to benefit from the famous 200% voucher.
“It was an exceptional strike action, we decided to reimburse the tickets at 200% because it was exceptional”, recalled the CEO of SNCF Travelers, Christophe Fanichet. “This procedure was new, and therefore takes time to be implemented. But all the travelers will have the 200%, ”he reassured.
“Of the 200,000 travelers affected by the strike, the problem concerns 50,000 people who had already canceled their tickets before taking the 200% approach,” added the director of TGV-Intercités, Alain Krakovitch.
When a ticket is cancelled, the file is deleted from the reservation system of the SNCFforcing agents “to do manual processing” for these 50,000 customers, according to Mr. Krakovitch.
“Technical problems”
But even for travelers who have not canceled their trip, such as those who have managed to exchange their ticket, for example, the SNCF said he had encountered “small technical problems”.
Delays are getting longer, and errors are also increasing. As for this journalist from theAFP whose outward journey on December 25, worth 59 euros, has been cancelled. She first received a voucher for 212 euros, well above the expected amount, but impossible to use because it was invalid. Before receiving two days later another voucher for … 50 euros. This time less than the 118 euros to which she can claim.
She filed a complaint on the online form of the SNCFwhich has so far remained unanswered.
The examination of all these complaints “takes time”, defends Alain Krakovitch. “We hope that (reimbursements) will be made in the next few weeks. It takes a long time to find the link between the customer and his travel file, ”he tried to explain.
Travelers whose train has been canceled have until the end of May to file a complaint, assures the SNCF. The voucher will then be valid for one year from the date of issue.
