Has anyone use Trainline.com or First Great Western booking
 

I tried booking a Paddington-Hereford train trip at nationalrail.co.uk and it took me First Great Western. I confirmed the booking and was ready to pay and the site went to trainline.com.

I had to put in my itinerary again and paid for it. I got a page that says my reservations was accepted and showed the total price and journey details but no confirmation number. On their help page it says confirmation number should be emailed within a couple of hours and if not to give them a call.

Well I waited for 3 hours for the email that never came and so I called them up. I was told to login to my account and if there was nothing under the "booked journey" section then the booking was not accepted. I'm not sure now if they charge my CC because after I made the booking, a page did pop out saying booking was made and what the total price is being charged.

Has anyone have any experience with either of these two sites? Thanks.

I booked a couple of tickets last month via First Great Western.

Do you have an account w/First Great Western?

Initially it directed me to thetrainline (which charges a service fee) - that's because my address is not in the UK. I closed the browser and open a new one. Then I go back to First GreatWEstern and log in. With this additional maneuver, I was able to purchase my ticket directly w/First GreatWEstern without going thru thetrainline.

If I were you, I'd call the CC and see if any charges had gone through. If there isn't, it seems to me that your booking never went through and go ahead and try again.

Yes, I had to sign for a FGW account. I called my CC and told them to block the charge from trainline but because of this seeming FGW-Trainline connection, I'm afraid that if I book my tickets through FGW, the company name going to my CC will be Trainline and will get rejected.

Anyway, I'll try logging in to FGW. Thanks yk for your response.

This is what I wrote last month when I was trying to buy a ticket from London to Bath:

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It was also a slight challenge in terms of buying the train tickets in advance. The routes London-Bath and Bath-Salisbury are served by Great Western train. I got some help by reading advice on Tripadvisor forum.

When I registered on the Great Western website, it wouldn't let me without having a UK postcode. I used the Salibury B&B post code and was able to register. Then I re logged in to change the address (otherwise the CC billing address would be the B&B address). After I did that, I clicked on Great Western logo to buy my ticket, but I was re-directed to TheTrainLine website (which charges a fee for purchase).

I logged out, closed the browser. Then open a new browser and logged in again at Great Western. This time I was able to purchase directly from them using my US CC and US billing address. No fees.
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Good luck!

Also, when you purchase your ticket, you'll have to specify where you want to pick up your ticket. In your case, it's probably easiest to pick them up at Paddington. There are numerous e-kiosk at the station and the process takes 1 minute or so.

yk, I'm surprised they accepted your US CC. I tried 2 of my CC and they were both rejected. I called my CC company and they assured my they were not declining the charges. I called FGW and was told I could not use a US CC to book online. I ended up doing a phone booking.

I've always had success with FGW's website. I'm from Canada and found the booking really easy and my credit card (Mastercard) worked with no problems. The e-mail confirmation came instantly.

Perhaps it's a glitch or the system is being stubborn.

chcl-

I never ever had a problem using my AMEX to purchase anything - including train tickets in UK, Spain, France, budget airlines tickets, concert tickets etc etc etc. Perhaps I should worry about that since nothing I bought ever caused the fraud dept to raise a red flag.

Another CC I never had a problem is my Citi/Shell MC.

OTOH, a recent repeated purchase of train tickets on SNCF website caused a block to my Bank of America CC. A few hours I received a call from BoA fraud dept.

I tried both my Citibank and Capital One and both got rejected considering I used my Capital One on National Express East Coast, Eurostar (UK site) and Ticketmaster (again UK site) without any problem whatsoever.

As Point says, maybe just be a system glitch. I really prefer internet booking as I get an email confirmation. With this phone booking they couldn't even send an email to confirm my booking nor could I even check their website to make sure my seats are book!

It is already in my list to confirm this booking a few days before we leave for London.

I too had the same issues all are dealing with - so I booked by phone and got an email confirmation. Phone charges were cheap and I was able ot talk w/ someone about times, fares etc. Old fashioned but it worked for me. I got the same prices I would have gotten online .