While the situation has generally improved on a rail network severely disrupted by the strike against the pension reform, many users are still seeking reimbursement. If your train has been canceled due to social unrest, you have 61 days to make your request.
By default, this ticket will be reimbursed in the form of a transferable digital voucher valid for one year, to guarantee faster processing. "In view of the very large and exceptional volume of reimbursement requests, SNCF has favored digital travel as a method of reimbursement", we confirm to SNCF.
Two refund requests
Please be aware that you can request a refund directly to your bank account. But then, you have to prepare for an obstacle course. Because, whatever happens, you must start by making a first request in order to receive ... a voucher that you do not want! Once you have received it, you must then make a second request to the carrier. A subtlety that many users seem to have missed, given the many questions posted on the dedicated forum of the SNCF.
And who says new request, says new deadlines before finally obtaining the much-coveted transfer. The first request (giving right to purchase vouchers) must be processed within a period ranging from 48 hours to 30 days depending on the complexity of the file. But for the second request, mystery. The SNCF, contacted, considers it “complicated” to estimate the time periods for obtaining a transfer.
So much for the principle. But how do you find the claim forms in the middle of the meanders of the carrier's site? For all trains except TER, you must now fill out a form on sncf.com. You must first click on the "SNCF listening to you" section, then on the "complaints" tab, and finally indicating "SNCF strikes" as the reason for complaints to the assistance robot.
Backlogs processed quickly
On the other hand, TERs follow a specific procedure. You must go to the TER site for the region concerned, click on the “strike” line located at the bottom of the site, in the middle of the “schedules and traffics” section. The ticket reimbursement request must follow the same channel as the purchase: tickets purchased at the station are reimbursed at the counter, those purchased online via a complaint form, or, in the Center-Val de Loire region, by contacting "Rémi train ”by mail or telephone.
If patience is needed, hope is on the horizon: contacted, the SNCF considers itself able to process all of the files currently pending "by the beginning of February". Once these files are settled, the rate of reimbursements could return to normal.