Chilternrailways Reviews 

Dreadful - horribly overcrowded trains, endless delays for signal failure, etc. We deserve better!

I buy a weekly travelcard ticket every week which in your terms and conditions enables me to travel on Chiltern trains to London from stoke Mandeville station, underground and London buses.  Today I was told by the Inspector on the bus that this is no longer the case and my ticket was not valid I was then given a £100 pound fine and told to appeal.  I was humiliated and also late for work.  I am so frustrated with your service I never ask for a refund no matter how many times your trains are delayed or cancelled and cause significant stress but this is the last straw.  I want the fine sorted out by yourselves and a refund on my ticket that you sold to me fraudulently for the emotional distress and humiliation i suffered this morningcan provide you will all the documentation. Please come back to me today this issue resolved. 

Please use starlink service, your current internet is slow and unstable.

Mid journey cancellation at Banbury (Warwick to Marylebone)
Conflicting information from Chiltern staff about what to do next and also from the electronic information board
Being stuck outside Oxford station in a packed train (cancelled train + local travellers) with no air con, no info over the tannoy for 25 minutes.
Several passengers were upset about the lack of info. One passenger in particular + her young child wa clearly in distress due to having force her way through the crowded passengers to access the toilets.
I would strongly advise potential travellers that the substantial low ratings on this website are a true representation of the managerial ineptitude of this company. "Managers" (I use this word in a very broad sense) clearly have no concept of or ability to implement integrated decision making.

4.19 train cancelled at Marylebone. Told by staff to travel to West ruislip for a shuttle service. Got there but we all left stranded. Sat for 1.5 hours on the floor, while all the other trains went past without stopping. 20 min journey has taken over 3 hours.

Horrible. The announcements are so so loud causing damage to my ears. They've put the air-conditioning on, its absolutely freezing. Staff at the gate are extremely rude. Well over priced for the service

Absolutely brilliant! The customer service at Bicester village on Sunday 20 sep. is outstanding- I needed to change my ticket from a day ticked to an open return ticket (this was a mistake made at Marylebone station) when I saw Mohammad at the desk and explained the situation, he was more than happy to assist! He is very professional, understanding, and always happy to help!

Chiltern Railway is the worst railway company I have ever experienced. You can only rely on them to NOT deliver a service that meets any time scheduling targets. You can rely on them to regularly cancel trains at the last minute with no alternative options for customers. You can rely on them to regularly announce delays to trains and provide a limited number of coaches to ensure customers experience discomfort during their journey. An appalling company and service which has managed to exist because of a monopoly.

I’ve got a season ticket and I’m genuinely considering giving it up. The amount of money you pay, you’d expect at least a reasonably pleasant journey.
Instead, it’s overcrowded, often smells absolutely lovely, delays and cancellations are practically part of the service, and you never quite know when you’ll actually get where you’re going.
But hey, at least the ticket price keeps going up. Wouldn’t want us getting too much value for our money, would we?

Absolutely ridiculous you can only get a refund on a ticket the day before you travel!

It's an e-ticket, they will know if anyone has used it so why can't I cancel it on the day of travel if they know it hasn't been used?

I am not allowed a refund for last minute issues that arise that stop me from travelling?

I should schedule all my emergencies to happen before 23:59 on the day prior to travel?

Awful policies.
They somehow manage to be overprice whilst also given the impression of being underfunded.

I have never been on a train that had a working power socket or wifi and yet those are two selling points for the service!

Reserve seat option for longer journeys but they don't enforce it, so what's the point?

Shocking! 1st train I got on, sat in Rickmansworth for 20 & then we were told ot had broken down. 2nd finally arrived late & was already crowded. They never put enough carriages on. Are they tryong to copy India? If so doing a poor job
Trains in India aren't this unreliable

Hello, I was just wondering: what is the point of having quiet coaches if nobody respect the rules?
Every time I get on a train and I seat in a quiet coach, there will be noise people, talking loud, talking on their phones or listening videos without using headphones.
That is very very annoying.
It would be great if you could say anything on the microphone, remembering rules to people.
Thank you.

Carriage crowded and unbearably hot. No windows to open and no Aircon. Train crawled from Marylebone to Oxford with frequent stops. The driver did apologise so at least we had updates.

Would give zero if I could. Just waited 30 mins outside Stourbridge junction station travelling on the 18.40 from snow hill , with NO ANNOUNCEMENTS to let us know what’s going on. I get that things happen but just communicate with your customers!!! Ridiculous

No acceptable Wi‑Fi connection, despite stickers all over the carriage, and no power available to charge laptops due to non‑functional sockets. I genuinely wonder when British railways will reach the standards already achieved by many European and Asian countries

There’s lots of good things about Chiltern, who whilst not perfect - and less reliable than they were - are better than a number of other operators. They could be better however. Irritatingly if you get one of their shiny new trains you will have to listen to loud banging from the cupboards on board, an unsecured metal hook or similar which no one will sort out, driving you slightly mad, quite unnecessarily. A shame given the scale of the outlay on the trains themselves.

Insane prices, never enough carriages, often standing room only. Worst of all why don’t they warn you before locking the doors? Is it too much to ask for a whistle to be blown or something while you’re going up and down the train looking for space and then you miss the train entirely even though they clearly see you half way down the platform trying to get on?

Incredibly rude staff at Marylebone. Zero customer service for people paying high prices for terrible service.

How Chiltern railways think it is acceptable to charge approximately a pound per minute for a journey yet regularly have late, delayed or cancelled trains with no air-conditioning in the summer is appalling.

Really poor experience booking on their website, beware. Booked a return, selected an outward journey time, moved the return time to a later set of times, and unbeknown to me that changes the already selected time to a different one. Ended up booking the wrong ticket, and lost £10 even when phoning up immediately to try to rectify. Wouldn’t advise anyone to use them to book tickets. Shocking customer server.

Last minute cancellations and poorly maintained trains. That's the everyday story for this company.