A month after the promise of a generous 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.
A broken promise? Christmas weekend had been marked by the strike of the controllers of the SNCF, which had forced the company to announce the reimbursement of some 200,000 travelers whose journey had been canceled. But a month later, still nothing for some users.
However, on December 21, SNCF Voyageurs boss Christophe Fanichet unveiled a shock measure to calm the situation: a voucher equivalent to twice the price of the canceled ticket, in addition to the exchange or refund of said ticket. An offer described as unprecedented by the SNCF.
But faced with the expectation of many dissatisfied users, the boss of the SNCF wants to be reassuring. “This procedure was new, and therefore takes time to be implemented. But all the travelers will have the 200%, “he explained.
A manual procedure
“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.
Thus, when a ticket is cancelled, the file is deleted from the SNCF reservation system, forcing agents “to do manual processing” for these 50,000 customers. But even for travelers who have not canceled their trip, such as those who have managed to exchange their ticket, for example, the SNCF says it has encountered “small technical problems”. It is for these reasons that delays are getting longer, and errors are also increasing.
However, the SNCF continues to insure it: travelers whose train has been canceled have until the end of May to make a complaint. The voucher will then be valid for one year from the date of issue.
