Irish Rail defends hefty fees for cancellations

IRISH RAIL has defended its policy of penalising people who cancel online reservations.

A consumer who cancelled a booking one hour after making it found that €20 was deducted from her credit card.

On October 24 last, the woman booked a Citygold ticket to Cork on November 4 through the website — Irishrail.ie

She went online immediately to cancel her reservation by email after learning that a meeting she was due to attend in Cork had been cancelled.

The following Monday she was informed by Irish Rail that the money already deducted from her credit card would be refunded within 10 to 14 working days.

When she telephoned Irish Rail again she was told that the travel date had to expire before any refund could be made and that the appropriate €66.50 would be refunded shortly.

The woman, who complained to RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny, said the €20 was being deducted because she had not rebooked with Irish Rail.

She said the meeting in Cork was rescheduled for a later date and that she had flown down to Cork on a Ryanair return flight for €59.

An Irish Rail spokesman said the woman, like all customers making a booking through Irishrail.ie, confirmed that she read and accepted the terms and conditions before completing the transaction.

He also confirmed that the woman would not have been penalised at all if she had rescheduled her booking and that the terms and conditions were correctly applied in her case.

According to Irish Rail’s refund rules, an 80% refund applies to bookings cancelled the day before travel while a 50% refund applies to bookings cancelled on the intended day of travel.

The spokesman said that it was the customer’s prerogative to choose to use alternative travel means after cancelling a booking with Irish rail.