Found this old thread, have a similar situation and have some questions.

I bought a Deutsche Bahn rail ticket online to travel in Europe on April 21th. The ticket was purchased before the Iceland volcanic ash cloud problem started.

The trip was planed to fly to Europe on April 19th but it got cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud. I contacted DB right away via online customer service form to let them know I won't be able to use the ticket and check if possible to get a refund due to the special circumstance. The inquiry got bounced from one department to another and then I was told to fill out a form and mail it with supporting document to their Germany office. Few days ago I got a letter from DB (in German language), after confirm via email with DB, we were told it is not possible to get a refund.

Like OP, I bought the ticket without creating an account so I could not login to cancel the ticket.

The communication back and forth was rather poor and inconsistent. I am not certain if whoever replied knows the full picture of what happened. Thought I check with folks here to see if this worth pursuit further.

Some info about the ticket:

The ticket is a special saver ticket. To my best knowledge, the ticket has 15 Euro charge if need to change schedule after validate it (my recollection that was the T&C). The online ticket has these wording: "Europa-Spezial", "UMTAUSCH/ERSTATTUNG 15 EURO"

My questions are:

- is possible to get a refund under the special situation and we did contact them before the travel date? Airline has wavier for the ash cloud problem, not sure about railroad.

- if not possible for refund, is there any value left for the ticket (after 15 Euro change fee)? Is it possible I validate the ticket next time in Europe and change route/schedule to travel to somewhere else? Actually I am not sure I understand what "validate" means. is it like airline that need to "check-in" even I hold a confirmed ticket?

Thanks for any help