Chilternrailways Avis 

It seems Chiltern Railways use the threat of strikes to cancel all their trains on the Aylesbury-Marylebone line. Even when the strike is cancelled they reinstate the trains but don’t have them stopping at most of the stations. It used to be a very well run company but is now pretty terrible with many cancellations and much overcrowding.

First time taking chiltern railway from London to Oxford.
Last minute cheap ticket was convenient but the trains definitely need a good update and hygiene wise enormous improvements to be made !
What are we paying our taxes for ? !!

Price all right considering it was last minute as a result of disruption with a different company

10.02 on the 28th out of Marylebone . Ran with 68010 set AL01 . Great seats . Announcements explaining that towards the front , the toilet is broken . On some other trains that would actually be a problem but these are walk through so for most , simple , just walk through. I looked at the accessible one near the end of the journey (think we'd just left Dorridge , around 100 miles from London) . Was clean and everything .

Note that boarding in Leamington Spa / Warwick was absolute chaos . I think extra dwell time at Leamington Spa is needed , even if this means some calls have to be removed on this departure .

I also found all staff to be polite and friendly

EDIT: This ride ended up being free because another train company cancelled onward trains .(isn't Chiltern's fault!)

I am buying London to High Wycombe tickets for more than 5 years.
No matter what time I choose for the ticket, I was always able to travel before or after that time.
Now, when tried to scan the digital ticket to go to the platform, it did not work. Well, I thought something is wrong with the app or with their scanner.
Nothing wrong with the scanner, but with my bloody ticket. The staff told me my ticket is for 09:30. I said I know that but as mentioned previously, it never mattered the time on the ticket with the time of boarding.
The timetable apparently has changed and can’t travel before 09:30.
Tried to change the time from the app. This was one hour before- 08:15
Could not.
Then I asked another member of staff which told me to go to the ticket office.
I was told I have to pay £5 extra to change the ticket time !!!!!!!! Why ???? Why can’t I change it from the app? That’s why there is an option there.
What’s the point of having a railcard for cheaper tickets if you are asked to pay extra cause of their new timetable???
What on earth is that ?

Plus, I could have wait, no problem, but I was going to see my mum which she is in the hospital- mentioned this twice. Nobody gave a damn.

Never had any issues with Chiltern until today.

Dishonest company that do not want to recognise customers.appears to stem from disengaged and incompetent management.

Assaulted by a member of their staff, who was then allowed back to his position to try it again with me, this time with my little daughter. Vile staff for the most part. They are the worst rail company by far in this country. Avoid at ALL costs.

Their website is not working AGAIN! Unable to book tickets, access my account with them, no up to date information about strike days timetable..... Need I go on? Already commented on ridiculously short trains in previous review, so I have little expectation that they will read this one either. How lovely it would be to have a proper, grown-up, efficient rail service.

If the day ends with a Y, they are probably striking.

Simply appalling WiFi. I have this with no other train operator and yes, I applied all the 'fixes' suggested by the Icomera website. Unacceptable.

Extremely rude staff on the 17:07 London Marylebone out.

Saturday 25th November. Warwick Parkway to Marylebone 09.42. Aimed for rear carriage expecting the "quiet" carriage as did many others. No seats and amazingly connecting door to next carriage forward was locked - no escape.
Eventually about 50 people standing for most of the journey but apparently all carriages were the same!
18.02, Marylebone to W Parkway , experience repeated - four coaches not six. Felt sorry for the staff having to constantly apologise.
We have travelled Chiltern for years - will avoid in future as progressively getting worse, enough is enough.
Ironically an email asking for "feedback on your journey" couldn't be sent - clever 😕

Yet again let down by Chiltern Railways. I arrived at the platform 10 minutes early at Amersham station to catch a train at 1433. The train was initially delayed until 1439 and then as usual just disappeared off the phone app. At 1455 a guy stood next to me went over the footbridge to the ticket office and when he came back he said he'd been told that the train was just delayed.
Wind forward another half an hour and still no train so after checking the app and finding that the 1533 train was also going to be delayed I went to the ticket office to ask for a partial refund on my return ticket as I was already late and going to have to get a taxi. The reply was "Did you pay by card?" To which I answered yes and was told "Oh, you'll have to telephone to get a refund." I didn't even get a telephone number as he went on to serve someone else! I would desperately urge anyone thinking of travelling by this method to think again. I paid to stand on a freezing platform for over an hour for nothing to then have to give up and pay for a taxi on top of the train fare. By the way, this isn't the first time and the lady stood next to me on the platform also had to leave to get a cab after waiting over an hour!
I noticed the ticket office staff wore a body camera, I presume in case they were mistreated, but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they have to do so as the service given by Chiltern Railways is shoddy at the best of times and probably drives customers to be abusive. I gave one star as I couldn't give none!

On 25 Nov I was taking the train at 5:04pm from Bicester Village to London Marylebone. The train had a faulty signal and everybody was asked to leave the train immediately. The staff then asked everybody to rush to the opposite platform immediately and advised that the next train at 5:30pm will arrive in that platform. Many were shoppers from Bicester Village so it was chaotic. The passengers finally settled on the opposite platform, but then the train at 5:30pm arrived at the original platform again, and people had to run towards the original platform to catch that train. The staff had no clue before giving instructions and the experience was incredibly unpleasant.

Used to be fantastic -now one of the worst. Late, old and short formed trains. Delays cancellations and endless excuses and yet the prices still keep going up. Avoid like the plague if you can. You will be standing for all of your journey no matter the time of day.

Train was late, overcrowded, and dirty.

I have lived on this Line for decades. I recall a time when Chiltern were #1. I use the service to London less frequently, indeed, since covid times, hardly at all. (My partner commutes daily). I was appalled on a recent journey at the state of the seats, cleanliness and overall carriage state. Nothing has changed, a steady decline in comfort and hygiene was evident. This rolling stock is an embarrassment. I am sure that ticket prices will rise in Jan, where..does the money go?
A bad year for reliability, a poor year for Arriva. Shameful.

Packed trains and highly Irregular service. Not nearly enough carriages at peak times.

I’m a disabled person with MS and I’m flabbergasted at the continual lack of rolling stock on services between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone. All carriages are habitually overcrowded with many passengers left standing. Thankfully a lovely young lady gave up her seat, because she saw my walking stick but I’d otherwise be lucky to get a seat on any given Sunday!

Oh and Chiltern, lovely chicken advert BTW! Pack them in as hard as you can, why don’t you?

Only 4 carriage train on the main Birmingham to London train. Had to stand the whole way from Warwick parkway to London marylebone. We were crammed in like sardines. An absolute disgrace. This used to be such a good line. Now it's a disgrace.

When my train got cancelled and I had to rearrange my journey from Banbury to London last week, I was not expecting such a helpful and targeted reply from one of the Banbury administration staff. It is so unusual these days not to receive an automated / generic reply - so I was very pleasantly surprised (and grateful) to find that this was not the case. Toni Mee gave me excellent advice and arranged for a refund that went very smoothly. Credit where credit is due to the Banbury office staff.