Eurostar - Not offering refunds for trains they cancel?

[bluebeck]

My DS and his DP planned a trip to Amsterdam late May.

They don't expect to have heard yet whether it is cancelled or not, but friends of theirs have been advised that their trains to Paris are cancelled, and no refund will be made.

Instead, vouchers are issued to be used within a certain timeframe.

Does anyone know if this is correct practice? Obviously Eurostar isn't an airline so doesn't come under those regulations but it doesn't seem fair that they won't issue a refund.

If your trip is cancelled then they will offer you a voucher as they want people to rebook. We had a trip to the Alps with Eurostar cancelled last week and we got the email offering a voucher but we emailed them back asking for a full refund in line with their customer charter. We have since received all of our money back.

That's brilliant - thanks @pinkchampagne1. Do you have a link to this Customer Charter? I couldn't find anything online that gave me hope of anything other than the voucher.

I've tried to claim the cost of my Eurostar back and they've only offered a voucher.

If you google ‘Eurostar customer charter’ you will find a section regarding cancellation of trains under the ‘Delay Compensation Policy’
If your train is cancelled and email them mentioning their customer charter then they should quickly reply with confirmation that you will get a full refund.
My DH also emailed on behalf of my parents and my in laws who also had bookings and they have now received full refunds.

My DH says that if you go to the Eurostar ‘contact us’ section and click on the email link there is an online form to complete. They normally reply to this quicker than a standard email.

FABULOUS!!!

I'm affected by Eurostar cancellation ... so far they have insisted I can only have a voucher (took forever to get that far, voucher is useless to me). I'm trying to claim off an insurance policy (insurance company are taking forever to decide). Since it was a work trip, I may be able to claim off of employer, but not until I show I tried all other ways to get the money back.

I have a huge collection of screenshots of original bookings, reasons I couldn't travel, everyone saying Non to my requests for refunds. All taking up so much time...

We were due to travel tomorrow and have been offered vouchers but I have now done the request for a refund, fingers crossed! Thanks for sharing the advice.

YeOldeTrout if your trip was cancelled then you are entitled to a full refund from Eurostar without needing to go through your insurance. They don’t actually suggest you are entitled to a refund in the initial contact as they hope you are going to take the offer of the voucher. If you use the ‘contact us’ tab on their website and complete the form asking for a refund in line with their customer charter then they should get back to you quite quickly.
My mother and my in laws thought they had to accept the voucher after their trips were cancelled so my DH emailed Eurostar on their behalf and they both got their full refunds.

I applied and later phoned up Eurostar. They were quite adamant I wasn't entitled to a refund. I think I'm special case because the outbound train wasn't cancelled but the return one was... I can try your process and at least 3 other ways I might get compensated. I could see getting to June or later before that compensation happens.

It's too much boring detail to list here. I will update later if I ever get a refund from anyone.

I booked through Rail Europe and was offered a refund as soon as I hit the cancel button. They did specify that it was for trains up to 30 April.

Well so far my request for a refund instead of vouchers has been rejected, I'm just tweeting them now for an explanation. Could be because the return journey is still in the future (25/4) and not yet cancelled?

Eurostar has now confirmed a refund, thank goodness, so Twitter is one way to get a result.

So pleased you got your refund in the end.
We did wait until our trips were cancelled before we requested our refunds so don’t know if that made a difference.

We’re booked on the same train OP - I think we just wait to see if it’s cancelled (same with our hotel booking).