Ticket printout failed at the ticket machine

As the passenger did not receive a ticket, he went to the ticket counter, where he was told to buy a new ticket and that he should call the fault hotline to obtain a refund of the amount paid in cash for the ticket that had not been printed out. The request for a refund was rejected by the railroad company on the grounds that the software had not recorded an error message, whereupon the passenger contacted apf. The apf was able to mediate and the complainant received a full refund of the ticket costs in the form of vouchers.

If something like this happens to you, the apf recommends the following:

• Pay for the ticket at the ticket machine using a debit or credit card to provide proof of payment. With this payment method, the ticket machine first prints the payment confirmation and only then the ticket - so take the ticket with you to avoid any inconvenience.
• If the ticket is not printed (immediately), wait, it may be printed with a slight delay.
• Document the situation by taking a photo, for example with your smartphone, especially if a fault appears on the vending machine display.
• If possible, ask a member of staff at the ticket counter to check the situation at the ticket machine.
• Contact the fault hotline and ask for a fault number.
• If necessary, buy a new ticket and have it personalized by the train attendant or other train staff, i.e. with your name/date of birth.
• If possible, ask for the contact details of other passengers who witnessed the incident.

Further passenger and passenger rights can be found here.