Try the following:

In Mijn NS, change your address to the NS main office:

Laan van Puntenburg 100, 3511 ER Utrecht, Netherlands

Then try to order NS Flex online, using iDeal via Revolut. This should work in principle. I've used Revolut before to oder an NS subcription, although not with NS's address.

I suspect the problem is indeed that EDR doesn't have data about foreign persons or addresses and they will communicate this to NS as such, but NS customer service or NS in general incorrectly interpret this as a problem with credit rating. It is therefore the responsibility of NS to come up with a solution for such cases. Not doing so is probably a breach of EU legislation, since that would prohibit residents of other EU countries to buy an NS subscription and such discrimination is not allowed.

Yeah, that would be great, but I already tried that (along with a made up phone number) and got an EDR-related error message after agreeing to the terms and the direct debit, but before it let me enter an iDeal account. When I try the same thing with an “op saldo” subscription, the error doesn’t show up but since I’m not sure I’ll be able to get my money back for the remaining months, I haven’t gone through with the iDeal payment yet.

I suspect that I won’t be able to get the credit check sorted/bypassed through customer service even if EDR directly confirmed to me that they simply don’t have any data on me (though I’d probably have to learn Dutch first), breach of legislation or not. I’ve read reports from others who simply got told again to talk to EDR. If I sued for discrimination, I doubt that would go through quickly or easily…

Here someone else tried a few extra rounds back and forth and basically both EDR and NS point fingers at each other:

OK, thanks.

Could a moderator please check what ​@jast needs to do to order an NS Flex subscription? Clearly the process on the NS side is either unclear or faulty.

Welcome to the NS Community!

If the EDR message keeps appearing, it’s probably not related to your address but your name/date of birth. You can safely use the ‘saldo’ option and switch to NS Flex later, the remaining days of the year will be refunded.

I used an LT Revolut account a while ago and that will work fine (provided yours supports iDeal payments).

For the Dutch address, just put one from work/family/hotel, phone number may be 0100000000 (any 10 digits starting with a 0)

About NS Customer Service and the EDR error, they should know this happens with all foreign addresses.

Thanks, Robert (and rvdborgt)! Can I switch to Flex by myself later without the EDR complications, or will I just run into the same issues again?

They should, and there should be a process to handle such cases, but either it doesn’t exist (we've seen more complaints about it) or it's hard to find. For the customer it comes down to the same thing: they can’t buy a subscription.

When I wanted to switch to NS Flex, I needed to use a Dutch address to be able to do it online (cause: crappy website). Customer service however should be able to make the change at all times.

You should be able to select a Flex subscription via https://www.ns.nl/en/season-tickets and then confirm at a machine (station or supermarket).

https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/en/service-points-finder

As an existing customer with no outstanding payments, there is no credit check (or a less strict one).

Yeah, I’m just wondering if an attempt to switch to Flex will trigger the same EDR check that will fail in the same way…

Edit: well, you’re faster at responding than I’m at asking. Thanks, I’ll try my luck!

If switching a saldo subscription to Flex (after the first month) doesn’t work, just cancel it altogether and use https://webshop.arriva.nl/en/flow (leave the region empty)

They offer identical subscriptions (with the exeption of Traject Vrij) but don’t have a credit check.

Might as well use that in the first place, without the NS hassle.

Hello jast, welcome at our community,

What a shame that your ordering goes like this. I'll transfer on your signal. I can'tsay what the reason is, but EDR should be able to find out. In any case, it is not correct that this message comes from a foreign address. I have often ordered a subscription with an address abroad. I think you can simply order a Dal Voordeel subscription on balance and then change it to NS Flex. If you would like, you can send me a private message and I will help you resolve this.

​@Erryt NS EDR apparently has no credit score for foreign addresses, so it gives an error.

If it worked for you before, that must have been when the credit check was still done by Focum.

Either way, for TS it also doesn’t work with any Dutch address, so EDR likely flags their name and date of birth combination somehow 

I think you can be right. It's been a time ago the last time I did order a subscription for a customer with a foreign address.

I’ve now ordered a Dal Vordeel op saldo subscription and it will activate in a couple of days (hopefully). Here’s to hoping that switching the subscription to Flex later on will work fine...

As a side note, I tried ordering Arriva Flow but there are many issues with their account website that took me an hour to work through… ultimately I asked their support (appropriately, the chatbot on their website runs into an error when trying to forward the conversation to a support agent, so I had to take it elsewhere) and they said it’s currently not possible to order Flow subscriptions and they don’t know when it will be fixed. So, yeah, Arriva currently isn’t any better.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

Thanks for the info about Arriva Flow not working!

I saw a message somewhere that they ‘revamped’ their website but the webshop is still not updated.

Go figure… Too bad that took an hour of your time to find out.

That may indeed work, but it shouldn't be needed. It would be great if you could find out what exactly goes wrong when trying to order a new NS Flex subscription with a foreign address because this is supposed to work.

I will try to figure this out. I've I got an answer then I will let it know here.

FYI ​@jast,

I trust in ​@Erryt NS for best customer service. What you need/want is totally possible!

You don't have to take ‘computer says no’ (silly EDR name/address credit check) for an answer.

Best workaround (circumventing Customer Service) done.

Just get it ‘on saldo’ (pay up € 67,20 for a year) and then change to NS Flex with restitution for unused days) 

I don't have an answer yet. I think this is becuase of the holidays, but I hope to give an answer in week 2 of the new year. Were you able to order a subscription ​@jast?

Yes ​@Erryt NS , ordering the “op saldo” worked just fine and I travelled with discount today. Next month I'm going to see about converting the subscription to Flex Basis.

Thanks for your efforts!

That's great. Thanks for the update.

Did I understand correctly that NS is fine with using their HQ address? 

I live in Belgium and already have had NS Flex for a while (passed their checks, yay!), but I have to change it via customer service (chat/whatsapp) as the website won't handle my request properly… because my postal code has no letters. Very inconvenient.

I just got a new OV-kaart so NS won't really need my real address for another 5 years.

The current form interprets every postal code as a Dutch postal code, regardless of whether there are letters in it or not. It's just broken.

NS however is not interested in foreign customers, so you have to do what's needed to make it work for you. Any valid address Dutch address will do. Nothing is sent via the post, except for a new chipcard just before it expires.

it is necessary to keep your address up to date, because we do send you important information by post. We also send important information via email. This is the reason that both of these details need to be updated in your account if they have changed. Choosing an address where you do not live is therefore not recommended. Fpr example: if you forget to pay an invoice, you may receive a letter from us reminding you about this unpaid invoice.