Avanti West Coast Reviews

I used to enjoy travelling with Virgin, tickets were much cheaper and sometimes a cheeky first class bargain!
I have a complicated problem to sort with my ticket, needing to add another passenger who is disabled and needs to sit next to me, plus go on to a further stop.
NO WAY to contact customer service. Website, unhelpful. LIVE chat, dead.Phone line, unanswered. This is an urgent query and there is no way of resolving it. I am angry and upset
Their contact page on line forces you to select a category then points you back to their useless website.

Absolute disgrace, fair hikes and an abysmal service. Whoever has taken the back hander to allow Avanti to take over from Virgin needs to use the Avanti service instead of a chauffeur driven limousin. Congratulations Boris.

Terrible service and can't wait for rails to be nationalised.
Had booked a ticket with trainline for a friend and the barcode was slightly clipped off so could not be scanned. Even though just underneath was all the journey details straight from the trainline app they forced my friend to buy another ticket. Surely his system should be able to see that the ticket and seat was booked with trainline for the route in question?
Not possible apparently.
Okay no problem, surely they will refund when we show them that we were forced to purchase two tickets for the same route when we call up?
Nope, no help at all

I am just trying to amend one side of a return booking that has a bike reservation attached, as it's complex I cannot use the eForm, but I can never reach any agent. I have been trying for days, each time I am on hold for hours, until I give up. There is no call-back option. There is no live chat option. Each time that I give up I attempt to use their eForm and I am given an answer that is not answering my question. This is futile and pointless. It's LDN-MAN, such an expensive ticket, and I have no other options. They don't even tell me where I am in the queue, or how long this wait will take. I really hate how disrespectful this company is being to me as they are making me sit here for hours with no resolution in sight.

We booked out tickets from Euston to Glasgow Central on May 21 an return on May 23, a total of 150 pounds. Due to some power surge the trains got delayed/cancelled. There were long queues and hundreds of people inside the station with no clear info when the issue will be fixed, it was a covid-19 hotspot. We also did not find any convenient alternate routes. Seeing the situation we decided to cancel our trip. We lost our money for the hotel and the trip we booked but we felt assured that we will get our train tickets refunded.
But alas! we were absolutely wrong! We emailed Avanti, called them and even went to the station to get our money back but to no avail. The customer rep never picks up the phone and the rep at the train counter said you can only do the refund online. There is no option for a refund on its website you either call or email. Why should we suffer all these hassle when it was fault at ur end. Such pathetic customer service. I am so angry at this point. You want to cheat and scam your customers. You want to make you customers sooo frustrated that they forget about the refund!!! I wish I could report you to the highest authority and cancel your service and save people from this harassment!!! I will definitely tweet about this. Such a terrible experience with no possibility of refund in sight! Guys please beware of these frauds who will loot you with their expensive tickets but offer you the worst service!

I was stopped boarding the train because it was TWO minutes before boarding time. The gate staff decided that was the deadline now. Be aware that you may be stopped boarding unless you are there three minutes before? Whats the official timing now? Who knows - because it's not on the website. Or the ticket. Or visible from the station platform. Inform customers of your regulations maybe? Or be reasonable? What happened to that? Not sure. Or make them miss their train and then pay for a new ticket, or have to pay for an overnight stay. Sensible & safe. Excellent service.

Never mind the train journeys, the app on the iPad is completely useless! I make lots of long distances trips in the UK and have given up trying to book via their app. Does anyone vet this stuff?

Would rate 0 if I could, disgusting staff

Website is misleading.
The option for Print at Station isn't visible on the website only if you click a small print "more options" at the bottom of the webpage.
I was denied boarding after they refused to print my E-Ticket in station.

Wouldn’t even give them one star but I have no option. You need to be a brain surgeon to work out how to find and book the cheapest tickets and even then they’re miles more expensive than Virgin were.
No wonder people are sticking with their cars and driving up north rather than using this diabolical service. How are we supposed to be greener with services like this.

i was travelling to manchester for work, on a sunday afternoon. And due to the train being so quiet, the lovely train manager insisted i sit in first class so i could be extra comfortable. Made my day. i travel a lot with Avanti West Coast and highly recommend them. :)

Appalling experience booking tickets. Attempted to buy tickets for family emergency - purchase progressed 3 times but journey booking not completed and tickets still in basket. Credit cards are showing payments made for all 3 attempts. Never had this poor an experience with Virgin - I need my money back and I'll book my train tickets elsewhere!