SBB CFF FFS Reviews 2,612

Incredible to have a train network this reliable and clean where you can count on basically every connection. That means you can calculate routes tighter and spend more time where you want to be. Keep it up!

The trains are always late with no hurry to make it be on time. They also never inform you of how late it will be nor do they let you exit a train and change it to one that will be on time. Yet, they constantly fine people for not paying a fare when they should pay the money back if they are so late that you miss your transfer

Ran for a train, got on, found a seat and immediately bought a ticket in the SBB app. The train then started to pull out the station. Ticket man comes, fines me 90 chf for buying the ticket after official departure time.

So the lesson is, if you jump on a delayed train, don’t buy a ticket. If he comes, you pay full ticket price and fine, if he doesn’t, you pay nothing. This policy effectively removes any incentive to purchase a ticket if you get on a train after official departure time.

I would like to thank the young woman at counter 3 who assisted us on Friday afternoon at the SBB office in Aarau.
She restored my faith in human nature after we were embarrassed by a woman ticket controller on the train from Aarau to Zurich.

They are having delays and then they say that the connection train is waiting..This is a big joke!!! You have to be an experienced runner to catch the train. I had to run with my luggage and at the end they close the door to my face. I had to wait for 20 mnts for the next one. Third world train services

If your train isn't part of a main route best of luck getting home on the weekend. My commute home has me waiting for an hour in the cold because on the weekend when there are night trains, they decided the little towns between ermatingen and Stein am rhein don't matter to them. We've got one connecting train that brings us in at 2:30, after that won't be anything until 4:47. I get off at 2, and home at 5 in the morning because of this shit. They couldn't just run the normal bus every hour or so from frauenfeld?

Plus whatever the situation with kreuzlingen not being a part of the Thurgau zone just needs to stop. It's unnecessary, and just overcomplicates things for no reason.

By far the worst part of moving to switzerland hasn't been the RAV like I was told, but SBB instead.

All that SBB do is taking your money again and again and spreading lies. Just saw an offer from SBB on the website Deindeal.ch for a "Schnupper GA for 1 month" at the following price:
Adults 2. Klasse: the deal is CHF 355/month, but an adult yearly GA costs CHF 3995.-, (CHF 332.91/month).
Jugendliche from 16 up to 25 years old: The deal is CHF 260 the month, when a yearly youth GA costs CHF 2700.-
(CHF 225.-/month!!)

So here, they basically wants you to pay for the Schnupper GA, more than the real price. Why is SBB on this web site, which is supposed to make the user pay less and save money buy buying deals on Deindeal.ch???🤬🤬

Every year the the train price tickets increase like crazy buy SBB service is poor or even non existing. It's much cheaper to buy a flight tickets and travel to European countries than for you to travel inside your own country 😡

I have been using SBB service for more than 15 years and I am extremely disappointed with the service provided by them. In my experience, they are by far the worst railway service I have ever encountered and I have been to a lot of countries in Europe and Asia. The trains are frequently delayed, often without any good explanation, which is incredibly frustrating when you’re trying to stick to a schedule.

What’s even more infuriating is their extremely customer unfriendly policy and rude staff. One example is regarding 24-hour valid tickets. These tickets are supposed to be valid for the entire day, however, if you bought the ticket just 2 minutes late after the official departure time—which, in this case, the train itself didn’t even adhere to—they still charge you an outrageous fine of 90 CHF. The rude SBB staff claim this policy is clearly written everywhere, but I must point out that it is not easily noticeable or accessible to passengers. This lack of transparency makes the policy feel even more unfair and punitive. And it’s baffling how the trains can be often late without any consequence, yet customers are penalized so harshly for the smallest delay. This feels like a complete rip-off and seems like a deliberate way to exploit customers. It’s hard not to think that a significant portion of their revenue comes from these unfair fines rather than providing a reliable and customer-friendly service.

I expected better from a railway system in a country known for its precision and efficiency. Unfortunately, Swiss Railway has failed to meet even the most basic expectations. I would not recommend this service to anyone.

Horrible service with little to zero tolerance for tickets that have been purchased in error. Absolutely will make sure to avoid using the SBB going forward as these kinds of sharp practices show the real disloyalty towards their customers. First class ticket...first class rip-off! When are we going to het a '0' stars option?

The SBB allows travellers to cancel and refund tickets up to a day before their journey BUT... you can only do it in person or using a pay-as-you-go telephone line. Why? Who knows. It's just a stupid, controlling decision by a company that will do everything in its power to hang onto your money, whether or not they deliver the service you paid for. I've had previous experiences where they refused to refund tickets after cancelling trains, making travel impossible. Dishonest, corrupt and entitled by their monopoly and domestic protection from consequences.

Overpriced tickets for a very bad service.
The direct train from Biel/Bienne to Geneva has been discontinued. Now we are obliged to change in Renens, where the train gets full with people standing in the aisles. And all this for the abo price of 350 francs per month. What a shame.

If there were an award for the rudest customer service, SBB would win hands down.

No matter how many times I’ve needed assistance, the staff has been consistently unhelpful and borderline hostile. Ask a question, and you’ll get a cold, dismissive response as if you’re annoying them. Need real help? Forget it – you’re on your own.

And let’s talk about the trains. If you’re traveling in major cities like Zurich, you might think SBB is modern and efficient. But venture outside the main hubs, and you’ll find a different reality. Old, dirty, poorly maintained trains that make you wonder why you’re paying such insanely high prices for the experience.

And speaking of prices… You pay premium rates, supposedly for a comfortable journey, but end up standing, crammed in like cattle, getting stepped on by other passengers because SBB refuses to manage its passenger load properly. Doesn’t matter if you paid full price – your comfort is not their concern.

Now for the worst part: the ticket inspectors.
I had a valid travel pass, stored in their official app, but the app glitched and wouldn’t refresh my QR code. I showed them my pass, provided the numbers – everything they needed to verify it. Their response? “No, this is not correct. You need the other screen.” And just like that, they fined me for “forgetting my pass,” despite clear evidence that I had it. Instead of using common sense, they forced me to waste hours at an SBB office on a Saturday just to fix a problem that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

The only redeeming factor? Trains leave on time about 95% of the time. But when everything else is overpriced, unfriendly, and completely frustrating, punctuality alone isn’t enough.

If you have another option, take it. SBB cares more about your money than your experience.

We booked the cog train which take you up the mountain to see father Christmas
We arrived at the destination on 23rd December at 10am train was leaving at 10.30 we was told it was cancelled due to bad weather. We went over to customer service desk they said if we booked on line we needed to go online to request a refund
To this day still no refund
We paid £50 per person for a trip that didn't happen.
There was 8 of us so they have kept £400 of our money .
I wonder how many more people they have done this to.
Weve tried emailing
My son spent £40 on a phone call.
I've tried these Facebook page aswell
Absolutely disgusting service

I visited Switzerland as a tourist this month and booked a train from Geneva Airport to Aigle. I paid for a full price ticket and I boarded the specific train I had booked. The train was terminated after only two stops and did not complete the journey to my destination. I have contacted SBB requesting a refund for my ticket, in the first instance on 10 January. Two weeks later, my case has not been resolved, and today I received a rude and abrupt response informing me that my case is now closed.

Over the past two weeks I received several responses from SBB representatives asking me to provide the facts, which I’ve done each time - indeed, I provided the facts in my very first communication on 10 Jan. Not to mention that SBB could easily have verified the information since I created an account and booked my ticket via its official app.

Each reply from SBB was unclear and simply repeated that I needed to provide more information. What more information could reasonably be required for a straightforward refund request? The communication has been so inefficient.

Today, 24 January, I received an email from someone called Hanan saying, “the conditions required for a refund have not been met / documents are not available, we consider your request as closed. You know all the details on this subject. We will close the correspondence.”

So basically my case has been closed with no further explanation. I find this totally unacceptable.

I am left confused and wondering: if a train that is terminated without completing its journey isn’t grounds for a refund, what would be?

As a tourist with a previously good impression of Switzerland, I am genuinely disappointed by SBB’s extremely poor attitude towards customers.

My train trip (12.01 09:28 Bad Ragaz - Zurich HB) was awful because of your conductor on a train with curly brunette hair. She was very rude, started yelling at me called me stupid and laughed at me because I have Ukrainian passport in the end she threw my passport on the table and damaged it. This is ridiculous, I have never been treated like this before. Please do something about it because this woman cannot work with people.

I was charged for 1st class seating even though I had to move seats twice (there was no visible sign that the coach was first class), the train was delayed, AND my final destination was removed so I had to add an additional train swap. Terrible experience and customer service and terrible information.

Worst site ever, use it for a while and it will let you down in many different ways each time. In the end it will make you sick, try to find the best itineraries and prices with weird ways to navigate and buy your tickets. Nothing is clearly indicated and the offers and routes unclear while you try booking your trip. But that isn't the worst by far at all, the plateforme is full of glitches and maintenance interventions, a real hell to work with.

I am Swiss living abroad and back to Switzerland for a couple of month. I use the train and need to say that it's not as it used to be. They are always late, cancel their trips, make you change several times when it's said direct, are packed full ..a disaster honestly. You pay so much money for such a poor service. Shame on you!

the most expensive, most uncomfortable, dirtiest and smelliest, most stingy, greedy, miserly, most inhuman, most disrespectful, most racist, most perverts, most Nazi transport in the world.

in addition to disturbing customers 3 or 4 times on a simple trip with ticket checks if you are lucky enough not to be woken up or insulted and mistreated by a Nazi gulag guard they call a Cff/Sbb controller, useless, arrogant, stupid and unpleasant with no respect for the customer who has paid excessively expensive for their ticket so as not to be able to travel in peace and quiet.

abusive controllers and controls that show a country and people stuck in the past in a bubble with Heidi and Hitler where extremist totalitarian control was the norm and commonplace.

This reflects the image of sick brains greedy for money and control when all other countries have simply installed a portal with a QR code to let the customer travel quietly and comfortably.

I will not mention all the faults and problems with this disgusting company it would be too long and a waste of my precious time,

but since you insist I will add thieves racists crooks scammers inhuman disrespectful greedy miserly perverts fraudulent offers fraudulent commercial techniques of subscription scandalous prices and false prices displayed on their application systematic abusive controls racist disrespectful arrogant useless controllers in dirty smelly nauseating disgusting uncomfortable slow and often late trains and they want to fine you stupidly for anything without valid reasons even if you have a ticket like rats trying to keep your money by all the ways possible after that if you refuse to pay legitimately they use recovery procedures worthy of the greatest dictatorships and so on...

with my greetings.

The most appalling behaviour I've received from an organisation.
(Deep breath in)
So having the pleasure of taking my dog on the train from England to Italy, should be long but straight forward I hear you cry! Well it would have been had it not been for the organisation named above.

Sadly there was a Fatality on the track which caused an unavoidable overnight stay ad I missed the connection, frustrating but in the grand scheme of things very sad.

The following morning I got onto my train- ticket purchased the evening before, myself and domino border and got a seat. She is a rescue and not only nervous but will take any seat to dive under, tricky when trying to fine one free with a big bag.

Almost immediately was an announcement stating the train was broken and we should all get off-
Was directed by a company representative to a different train
SAME ROUTE - SAME COMPANY . Ok so I was at ease with this although by this stage I had now seat, it was chaos.

We eventually found one in 1st class - got as far as some beautiful lakes some 4 stops in- when a what I can only describe as the world's angriest ticket collector entered our carriage, he was about 5ft 2 and was being followed by a woman who also worked for the company.

He got to me and I said hello polightly, handed my ticket, he immediately said "OH we have a problem" I explained the process prior and exspected a reasonable response, but he told me my ticket wasn't valid as wrong train, I reiterated my explanation which made the kittle man very angry and now felt like he was performing to an audience < the other passengers.
I said I didn't agree and called him my friend, he immediately stated I was not his friend , for which I then agreed that was becoming the case.
He then told me I had 2 choices - buy another ticket or get off - after a few moment ls of quiet contemplating I advised the little man that I did not like his options and would like to speak to someone else.

He walker away and spoke to said woman his colleage, I them exspected her to come and see me but to no avail.

The next stop the train sat for a longer period I was slowing calming down and the other passengers had even appolagised to me for his behaviour. I looked up to see 5 Swiss armed police surrounding my table seats .... I then had to explain the whole thing to them for which they where reasonably sympathetic, but clearly frustrated why they had been involved.

They disappeared and rightly so and the little man didn't come back.

Sbb off ffs I think the last three letter are the most accurate.

Discusting - they even send me a invoice