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Changeover to a very cheap season ticket instead of refund

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oxford

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30 Apr 2012
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Dear all,

I have recently been made redundant and am looking for the most cost-effective way to refund my annual season ticket. Today (30th April 2012) is the last day I want my season ticket.

The ticket is:
Oxford to Tilehurst, 12 month, £2096.
Valid 9th August 2011 - 8th August 2012

By my calcs if I go for a straight refund I will get about £293 back - I have used 266 days of the ticket, which would be a 6 month, 2 x 1 month, 3 x 7 days, plus 2 x Anytime Returns.

Based on this thread: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61572 I am looking at a Changeover to a very cheap season ticket - eg Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour (£148 now, would have been £140 last year). By my maths if I did a Changeover I would be entitled to a £530 refund - much better!

Two questions:
1) Is the ticket office in Oxford likely to do this? If so, what's the best way to go about asking for it? I can't tell from the literature if a) you have to keep either origin or destination the same, or b) you have to prove a change of workplace or home address.
2) Does anyone know of an even cheaper season ticket in the Network Rail area that I could Changeover to?!

Ridiculous that I have to do this - would be much better if they allowed pro-rata refunds with evidence of redundancy...

Thanks for your help.
 
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hairyhandedfool

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14 Apr 2008
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8,837
Dear all,

I have recently been made redundant and am looking for the most cost-effective way to refund my annual season ticket. Today (30th April 2012) is the last day I want my season ticket.

The ticket is:
Oxford to Tilehurst, 12 month, £2096.
Valid 9th August 2011 - 8th August 2012

By my calcs if I go for a straight refund I will get about £293 back - I have used 266 days of the ticket, which would be a 6 month, 2 x 1 month, 3 x 7 days, plus 2 x Anytime Returns....

If you put in for a refund today you would get charged for an 8 month 22 day season, which is £1757.50, giving a refund of £328.50.

....Based on this thread: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61572 I am looking at a Changeover to a very cheap season ticket - eg Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour (£148 now, would have been £140 last year). By my maths if I did a Changeover I would be entitled to a £530 refund - much better!....

If you did it today you should get approx. £540 back by my maths.

....Two questions:
1) Is the ticket office in Oxford likely to do this? If so, what's the best way to go about asking for it? I can't tell from the literature if a) you have to keep either origin or destination the same, or b) you have to prove a change of workplace or home address.....

They should do it. You should ask for a changeover to a Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour ticket. There are no restrictions on what season you change it to or whether you have to change your address (although if you have had a change of address you should inform the clerk at the time of change.

....2) Does anyone know of an even cheaper season ticket in the Network Rail area that I could Changeover to?!....

I don't.
 

34D

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9 Feb 2011
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6,042
Location
Yorkshire
Don't know the answer to the question so I won't attempt one, however I wonder whether it is worth looking at something like Oxford-Didcot, which is presumably something that you could actually get use of?
 

oxford

Member
Joined
30 Apr 2012
Messages
10
Thanks for the replies - I've looked at Oxf-Did and similar things but I don't see that I'd get the value back given the number of trips I tend to do to London.

And switching to Newhaven still gives me the Gold Card which is a bigger benefit for me.

I'll go ahead with the changeover tonight and see what happens!

Thanks again for very prompt replies!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I went yesterday and did a Changeover to a Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour season ticket - and was refunded £533 - almost £300 more than I would have got had I done a straight refund!

Lady at Oxford station was very helpful and didn't query or argue at all.

I did need to dig out the original card I paid on to get the refund though.

Thanks for your help!
 

34D

Established Member
Joined
9 Feb 2011
Messages
6,042
Location
Yorkshire
I went yesterday and did a Changeover to a Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour season ticket - and was refunded £533 - almost £300 more than I would have got had I done a straight refund!

Lady at Oxford station was very helpful and didn't query or argue at all.

I did need to dig out the original card I paid on to get the refund though.

Thanks for your help!

A satisfied customer. We should have him stuffed!

Pleased that you got the desired outcome. Will you be travelling to Newhaven to take advantage of your entitlement?
 
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