In January we announced enthusiastically Dinner Train would come to Belgium. Dinner Train’s product is very straightforward. A fancy dinner on board a train consisting of restaurant coaches and kitchens. Dinner Train has been successful in the Netherlands, so this is – or as you can already guess – wás something we looked forward to.
But no.
The timeline
We booked a table for three, a first class dinner, on 28 January for now, today, Friday 1 March 2024. As Sam and us all work non-traditional, non-office hours, we don’t have that many free spots in in our calendars.
But 1 March was one of them. Dinner Train would depart from Sint-Niklaas, which is not far from our hometown Antwerp, so this suited us nicely. Also, 1 March was the first date so that’s interesting to write a review.
Only the time, starting at 5 PM is early for us to dine. But fine, that would give me ample time to write the review afterwards and publish first thing tomorrow.
On 16 February Dinner Train mailed Danny with more information regarding today. Somewhere between 48 and 24 hours prior departure we would receive our formal tickets, with a definitive departure time, our coach and table number.
So far so good. But yesterday we were on excursion in Charleroi when he said “hey, we haven’t received our tickets for Dinner Train yet”.
Okay, no panic. Around noon, Danny mailed the customer service asking for more information. We even saw the train had an itinerary from Sint-Niklaas to Antwerp. The ‘CHAR(ter)’ of 4.50 PM.
Today at 9.29 AM Danny again mailed customer service, as we didn’t receive a reply on Thursday’s mail.
At 9.36 AM someone from the Dutch customer service mailed us Dinner Train in Belgium would only be operational from halfway April 2024. She forwarded the mail to the Belgian side of operations.
People one knows
In the mean time we ask a train driver what’s going on. He tells us there are no Dinner Train events in Belgium in March. There are no suitable coaches (yet). He thought all customers were informed. But no. He notified someone at Dinner Train of our case.
If that helped or not, we don’t know. But at 10.36 AM Danny got a call with many apologies but there would not be a Dinner Train today. Less than seven hours before departure!
What a let-down.
I wouldn’t be surprised as we speak customers are at Sint-Niklaas Railway Station waiting for a Dinner Train which won’t be coming.
We could have stood there
What if we hadn’t mailed yesterday and only waited today to mail? What if Danny hadn’t mailed this morning because we got no reply yesterday? What if we were working today and we wouldn’t have had the possibility to take calls or check our email? What if we hadn’t known someone connected to Dinner Train?
Or what if we would have taken the booking confirmation as enough. I mean, how many times do you need to confirm a booking? Once should be enough, no?
What now?
We asked for a refund. Let’s see how fast or slow that happens. Then, and only if we feel like it, we’ll try to find another date and a starting point that suits us and is feasible. Namur is a bit far away.
Also, we’re curious to when Danny’s parents will get a mail saying their train is cancelled. They have a booking for Antwerp-Berchem on 22 March.
This is not a great start in Belgium.
Sour taste
It was disappointing to not proactively being informed about their startup issues, for a first train it is not unusual that things go wrong. Not having the coaches finished on time is probably out of their hands, not informing paying customers is unforgivable unfortunately.
They should have at least sent a mail informing us about the delayed start of operations 48 hours before at the time tickets are supposed to be sent out.
Presumably they already knew earlier that their coaches wouldn’t be finished in time and that would have been the perfect time to reach out.
If they reached out to us in time Sam might have been able to reschedule his vacation day he took to dine in the train, we would also have been more accommodating to rescheduling our trip or maybe even take a Dutch tour instead today. But their lack of communication meant they put us in a stalemate.
The last-minute cancellation, especially having to push to get more information ourselves did leave a sour taste and makes us reconsidering even wanting to try them out, will they be more trustworthy in the future?
This is also why Danny pushed for a refund instead of a mere rescheduling, they lost their credit by being this last-minute. At the phone they promised they would give us “een heel goede attentie“, a very nice attention, next time we book, if we send them a message. That is indeed a minimum to be expected.
Not so easy to export
We also wonder if another dynamic is at play. Many Dutch companies cross the border to do business in Belgium, especially in Flanders. Gym giant Basic-Fit, supermarkets Jumbo and Albert Heijn to name three household names.
In the Netherlands and Flanders the language is Dutch. While there are many differences, it’s the same language. So many Dutch people come to Flanders and they expect some kind of ‘extended Netherlands’ where vocabulary, daily customs and the way things are done (or not done) are the same.
But no, Belgium and the Netherlands are not the same and many modi operendi are different. These differences are sometimes subtle and only ‘little things’. Usually the wording of communication.
And this attitude, this expectation of sameness, can come across as arrogant. And Belgium being smaller than the Netherlands, we can be sensitive to this. It’s not unique to Dutch-Belgian relations. France and Luxembourg, Belgium or Monaco have this as well, Germany with Switzerland and Austria, the United States and Canada (not in size, but in customs and culture).
Our point is: did Dinner Train underestimate the adaptation and work needed to cross the border and be successful? We can’t tell for sure, but it comes across as such.
Post scriptum
How ironic to get ads for Dinner Train today. And also painful. We booked so early to be sure to have a spot. Now, probably availability will be way worse.
UPDATE 3 MARCH
On Sunday 3 March, Danny received notification the refund has happened.
UPDATE 5 MARCH
On Tuesday 5 March, Danny received an email with again apologies and an explanation. The March dates were a test if the system and were never supposed to go live. Our mailed showed them they didn’t notify (all) people who booked a March ride. We are offered a ride at a later date.
UPDATE 6 MARCH
What a contrast. Customer service is now really fast. We have a new date, in May. A bit further afield but the route should be nicer.
Meanwhile, Danny’s parents were contacted after Danny’s father mailed them. His parents have been rebooked and downgraded, the price difference being refunded. Why the downgrade? In the first two months, there isn’t actually a first class dinner provided. So we expect a downgrade as well.
UPDATE 8 MARCH
“In the first two months, there isn’t actually a first class dinner provided”, we wrote two days ago. But on Instagram, this ad pops up.
So what does that mean?
UPDATE 12 APRIL
A little bird told us Dinner Train operations in Belgium is delayed until September 2024. But no official word yet. Half April is now, but Dinner Train’s socials for Belgium are dead calm.
UPDATE 20 APRIL
Sonja, someone Danny knows, reacted on Facebook she was due to experience Dinner Train from Mechelen tonight, 20 April. But she received an email there had been an error and booking shouldn’t have been possible. She was offered a replacement date in September, but Sonja can’t then. She asked for a refund, but hasn’t heard from Dinner Train since.
Trip By Trip 
The same happened here but the email adresses do not work anymore. Which phone number did you use to get in touch with them?
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It was a private number and they called us 🫤
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hi everybody,
I have the same story with Dinner Train, reservation 19 july Aalst postponed to 25 october. On the site Dinner Train all date for departement Belgium are erased. I sent them a mail to have a refund, now waiting for an answer. Also send my problem to Radio 2 winwin. I will also send a complaont to the Economische Inspectie.
there must be much more persons who are the Victor of this.
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Let’s hope people get a refund!
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The same happened to me. Booked a 4 persons table on April 20th with departure from Mechelen. A few days before, I received an email message saying ‘booking shouldn’t have been possible’ and I was offered a replacement date in September with departure from Antwerp. Since this is not possible, I asked for a refund, but several emails stay unanswered. Sending my email to the service desk in the Netherlands, the response to it was simple: we send your message to dinner train Belgium! Hower, the email support in Belgium does not work …
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You’re not the first it seems. We are due to do the Dinner Train in some ten days, from Namur. We haven’t heard anything from them.
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hello there. Did anybody receive news?
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No unfortunately. We have now a booking for October.
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Hi all,
In the end, I was given a full refund. I was a little annoyed it took a few strongly worded emails to get there, but I guess that are just struggling with logistics.
I am considering rebooking for the autumn, and thankfully I have an understanding wife, because this was supposed to have been for her birthday!
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Hey this has happened to me as well.
I emailed them at info@dinnertrain.be a few days ago but have not received a response or a refund.
Do you have their phone number, by any chance?
Thanks,
Graham
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Unfortunately not. We are also trying to contact them. Try social media or the Dutch customer service.
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thanks I will!
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Hi, same story here. 2 weeks ago NL customer service said BE CS would deal with our request for a refund but we still haven’t received any news. My guess is that there is no BE customer service (yet?)
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That’s possible. They are (almost) impossible to reach.
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O yes, I did receive some news. After sending a strong worded email on May 27th, I received two days later an answer with some excuses and other blablabla, stating that I would receive by the end of that week (so by May 31th) a suitable solution (Dutch: Wij zullen dan ook uiterlijk deze week vrijdag met een passende oplossing komen, om dit op een positieve en goede manier af te handelen.)
Guess what? Untill today, July 10th, nothing happened … No solution, even no further response, no restitution. So, a new strong worded mail has been sent today.
Please review the DT’s general conditions (article 21, par 3 and 4 Dutch version); they describe clearly what should have happened in this case. Unfortunately, DT acts as if these conditions are not applicable.
My advice; stay away from them!
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Thank you for this update. We have a table in October now. I’m very curious if it will go ahead…
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I had the same experience as most of you. I planned a trip for May (Ghent) since January. At the end of April, I received an email with a rebooking for September due to the same reasons (this trip was not supposed to happen and it was just a test that shouldn’t be launched online).
After asking for a refund, they promised to come back with a “suitable solution” in 2 weeks (around the end of May). I started to give them reminders from half of June until now and still no answer.
Considering the amount spent, I think this is a really big scam. But I still have some hope of getting the refund.
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You’re clearly not alone.
We did receive a refund a new booking. But we’re not holding our breath.
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After posting my comment here today, I received an email from the company offering me a voucher equivalent to the travel cost. It seems that we have to shame them online to get them to do their job.
Anyway, I made a refund request, not a request for alternative ways to use their service.
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Thank you for the update. Unfortunately indeed it’s sad it takes public shaming to get things moving.
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Hello I read the content and I like it, check out my site in return
Thanks
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I have the same story with Dinner Train, reservation 19 july Aalst postponed to 25 october. On the site Dinner Train all date for departement Belgium are erased. I sent them a mail to have a refund, now waiting for an answer. Also send my problem to Radio 2 winwin. I will also send a complaont to the Economische Inspectie. I don´t know if we will ever get our money back.
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Oh! Please let us know if WinWin or the Inspection does something.
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In the email from Winwin, it says that they are reviewing my question and that if they start addressing the Dinner Train issue, they will let me know. This may take some time, of course. From what I read here, there are several people affected, and maybe we should group together. I have sent an email to the organization requesting a refund, but of course, I have not received a response yet. I will certainly keep you informed because I believe we are not a credit institution to sponsor their dinners that occasionally take place in the Netherlands. The amounts in question range from 250 to 350€, so I think it is worth standing up for our rights. Doing nothing is not an option; we must try. By the way, I found a correspondence address through a site (I hope it’s still correct): Kerkhovensestraat 9b – 5061 PJ Osterwijk – Netherlands.
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The k you! We have our refund but many others don’t.
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I now see that I had not updated my name in my profile after registering on the site… Babybravel is Christine, sorry for the confusion.
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same problem happened to me, long story, many mails, many excuses.. “wrong booking”, “wrong new proposal date” etc.. and now the mail is even no longer working! 😦
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Oh! Okay, so they completely disappeared…
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