This grandfather made a mistake on NJ Transit’s app. Does he deserve a refund?

On November 25, Marc decided to secure train tickets. “I downloaded and set up the NJ Transit app for the first time,” he recounted. “After entering all the necessary details along with my credit card info, I realized I had made a mistake: the departure station was incorrectly set to Bloomfield instead of Princeton Junction.” Bloomfield is nearly 50 miles away, making the option unacceptable. He canceled the $70.70 order for five tickets after contacting NJ Transit. The agent informed him that cancellations aren’t allowed, but offered two alternatives: board from Princeton Junction and pay the extra fare, or buy new tickets and request a refund through the app. He chose the second option and bought a new set of tickets—four round trips, one round for his granddaughter who is 12—departing from Princeton Junction. The total cost was $169. He then sought a cancellation and refund for the initial tickets via the app. Marc reached out to a third party for help, and the team contacted NJ Transit to review the case. Although policies exist for a reason, this was presented as an honest first-time app mistake, not an attempt to exploit a loophole, raising questions about flexibility for a reasonable refund. The next day, NJ Transit emailed that a refund of $70.70 had been requested and noted it could take up to 10 days to reflect on his credit card, though the message didn’t explain why the decision changed. Marc was pleased that NJ Transit refunded the money and indicated that staff would be retrained as part of the resolution. “NJ Transit is actually going to retrain their staff, and they refunded my money,” he said. “I couldn’t have hoped for a better resolution.”

NJ.com — 2025-12-07

More News