This Friday, October 13, 2023, it was announced that SNCF will remove the functionality related to reimbursements from its application. An option that has been widely criticized for several years.
The SNCF is taking measures. This Friday, October 13, the BFMTV channel announced that the famous railway company has decided to stop offering the famous “refund” offer on its application. On their smartphones, users of the application SNCF Connect indeed saw the message “Click here to get your refund!” systematically appear after purchasing train tickets.
This cashback offer was suggested because of a contract with the company WebLoyalty which offered customers the chance to have part of their order refunded by subscribing to the platform, all for €18 per month. However, this offer was far from being clear and precise since the offer of partial reimbursement for a train ticket ultimately required a monthly subscription of almost 20 euros. Enough to push the SNCF to remove this controversial functionality.
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The SNCF at the heart of a lively controversy
“Webloyalty takes note of the SNCF’s decision to end the partnership relationship that binds us” the company said in a statement before adding: “We remain very satisfied with all the work accomplished alongside SNCF since January 2019, the essence of which has always been in favor of the purchasing power of the French.”
Increasingly used in France, cashback is a legal method but the lack of clarity of the SNCF offer was highly controversial. “It is an additional service for customers who wish it. As part of the freedom of commercial management available to the SNCF, Oui SNCF has joined forces, since January 2019, with the cashback company Webloyalty to offer “explains to its customers certain paid programs (monthly subscription) offering reductions to their members on partner sites” declared the Minister of Transport in 2019, welcoming this new option.
But the same year, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) addressed this practice “from the angle of deceptive commercial practices” during a workshop.