• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

New Virgin East Coast Website

Status
Not open for further replies.

FQTV

Member
Joined
27 Apr 2012
Messages
1,067
I am now getting the intensely irritating:

Oh. Awkward...
The payment system has flagged your payment for a fraud review, and has held the booking.

Hopefully it'll all be approved in a jiffy, either way you'll get an email confirmation of the booking being accepted or cancelled.

almost every single time I buy a ticket or an eVoucher, despite having passed AmEx SafeKey and, apparently and unwittingly, being a 'trusted' purchaser on the West Coast site (and CrossCountry's, I have just discovered) so that I can use any card collect for their tickets.

I am only using the East Coast site now when I feel that there's an absolutely overriding reason to do so, but even then it seems to conspire to drive me up the wall.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

SaveECRewards

Member
Joined
22 Jan 2015
Messages
737
While the ship was sinking this morning and the web team were having to sort out the fallout from a less than successful release, head of eCommerce at VTEC was speaking in Amsterdam at a conference. How the person responsible for this booking engine, the travel buddy 'app' and possibly the badly thought out partnership with Seatfrog gets to speak at these events so frequently I have no idea.

All I know about it is in this Tweet: https://twitter.com/JerryAngrave/status/930774995957157890 (if you're on Twitter it would be nice to get a few more contributions to show how the site is considered in reality, it feels like they're living in a bubble and ignoring the tweets that are saying bad things)

It's nice to see she took inspiration from my parody site when creating the slides (if you don't have anything to say stick some pictures of Branson up).

But bringing the brand values to life? I don't think so, the changes are almost all universally hated. The attempts to be more 'Virgin' in their emails have not hit the mark. It feels like someone's granddad who's trying too hard to be cool.
 

FQTV

Member
Joined
27 Apr 2012
Messages
1,067
Turkey now advertising tickets for Christmas.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1584.jpg
    IMG_1584.jpg
    271.6 KB · Views: 89

Deerfold

Veteran Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
12,569
Location
Yorkshire
While the ship was sinking this morning and the web team were having to sort out the fallout from a less than successful release, head of eCommerce at VTEC was speaking in Amsterdam at a conference. How the person responsible for this booking engine, the travel buddy 'app' and possibly the badly thought out partnership with Seatfrog gets to speak at these events so frequently I have no idea.

All I know about it is in this Tweet: https://twitter.com/JerryAngrave/status/930774995957157890 (if you're on Twitter it would be nice to get a few more contributions to show how the site is considered in reality, it feels like they're living in a bubble and ignoring the tweets that are saying bad things)

It's nice to see she took inspiration from my parody site when creating the slides (if you don't have anything to say stick some pictures of Branson up).

But bringing the brand values to life? I don't think so, the changes are almost all universally hated. The attempts to be more 'Virgin' in their emails have not hit the mark. It feels like someone's granddad who's trying too hard to be cool.

Worrying when the people in charge don't even know how to use an apostrophe.

https://twitter.com/kristalsmile/status/930137145792135168
 

theblackwatch

Established Member
Joined
15 Feb 2006
Messages
10,714
I too had trouble with the website this morning - I wanted to check my bookings to get the collection code so I could collect my tickets for this weekend. I couldn't get that far, good job I didn't need them for pretty much immediate travel - I could get as far as the booking reference, but not the collection code. (On top of that there is a wifi code, 3 codes for one booking does complicate things!) I did tweet VT (and mentioned the old site was much more awesome :lol: ), their response was that it was also in my booking confirmation e-mail. That was true, but the only place I have access to e-mails from weeks ago is on my laptop at home and I was out....

I did finally manage to gain access this afternoon and popped to the station for my tickets on the way home. Come back www.eastcoast.co.uk - which was much easier to remember too!
 

philthetube

Established Member
Joined
5 Jan 2016
Messages
3,749
It's not really the same though is it? I would have thought most people buy a ticket for a specific date so they will be fully aware when that date is.
There is no reason why a voucher should have an expiry date. It's a bit like getting cash out of an ATM and being told it'll disappear if you don't spend it within a certain time.
But it does disappear very quickly, ond I often don't recall spending it.
 

FQTV

Member
Joined
27 Apr 2012
Messages
1,067
While the ship was sinking this morning and the web team were having to sort out the fallout from a less than successful release, head of eCommerce at VTEC was speaking in Amsterdam at a conference. How the person responsible for this booking engine, the travel buddy 'app' and possibly the badly thought out partnership with Seatfrog gets to speak at these events so frequently I have no idea.

All I know about it is in this Tweet: https://twitter.com/JerryAngrave/status/930774995957157890 (if you're on Twitter it would be nice to get a few more contributions to show how the site is considered in reality, it feels like they're living in a bubble and ignoring the tweets that are saying bad things)

It's nice to see she took inspiration from my parody site when creating the slides (if you don't have anything to say stick some pictures of Branson up).

But bringing the brand values to life? I don't think so, the changes are almost all universally hated. The attempts to be more 'Virgin' in their emails have not hit the mark. It feels like someone's granddad who's trying too hard to be cool.

Having had a quick web wander, it's perhaps interesting to note that the Head of eCommerce and Retail at VTEC would appear to be a specialist in Social Media, as much as anything else.

From The Drum in 2014: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/07/14/twentysix-appoints-kristal-ireland-head-social

Joining from her previous role as director of strategy at Enjoy Digital, Ireland said: “Twentysix has a formidable reputation within our industry, and I am delighted to have become part of such a talented team. The growth of social media and its importance within the digital marketing mix is something I have always been passionate about, as is developing a truly strategic, creative and ROI focussed model to deliver a point of difference for Twentysix clients.”

And then two years on from Prolific North: https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/dig...eland-lead-ecommerce-virgin-trains-east-coast

Ireland, a well-known figure on the Northern digital scene thanks to her organising role with SAScon, moves from Leeds agency twentysix where she was head of planning and insight.

She has previously held roles at Enjoy Digital, Propaganda Agency and Welcome to Yorkshire.
 

SaveECRewards

Member
Joined
22 Jan 2015
Messages
737
Having had a quick web wander, it's perhaps interesting to note that the Head of eCommerce and Retail at VTEC would appear to be a specialist in Social Media, as much as anything else.

From The Drum in 2014: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/07/14/twentysix-appoints-kristal-ireland-head-social

And then two years on from Prolific North: https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/dig...eland-lead-ecommerce-virgin-trains-east-coast

Any evidence of working in eCommerce sites before, particularly high volume ones or rail industry experience? I have experiences of the former, but not the latter (although even though I never worked in the rail industry I'd have a good starting point due to my familiarity with the features and drawbacks of WebTIS).

Perhaps she wanted a new challenge but it proved too much. Of course it may not be her or her team at fault here, the project was underway when she was hired so they may have turned around a bigger disaster. It's hard to know as we don't have any insider information. But the public facing actions certainly gives the impression that they've got their heads in the sand acting like they're doing brilliantly.
 

IanD

Established Member
Joined
18 Sep 2011
Messages
2,718
Location
Newport Pagnell
I used the new site to sign up for alerts when advances become available for some dates in April but I didn't receive a notification, despite the tickets being released for nearly a month now. I emailed to ask what was going on and got this unintelligible reply. Still no idea why no notification was sent.

East Coast Customer Services said:
Regarding your booking of ticketing in advance if you are registered for the Early Bird Alerts. These will be emailed to you directly if selected, on our website there is an area to which explains when tickets can be purchased and up to which date is available for purchase. This includes the sales and promotional offers also to which there will be days within the exclusions when the tickets can’t be sold throughout adding to this some dates are not available sue to engineering works not finalised and/or other train operators have not made there bookings available for that date and time you may select to which our services only have that period open and not others. We believe there was a temporary problem where this was not the case and emails were sent to customers who selected to receive these alerts were incurring wrong information and can apologise for this in advance. We have been informed that the problem has been rectified.
 

jsmith300

Member
Joined
9 May 2010
Messages
111
I've noticed that VTEC seem to be holding back some Friday evening peak services for advance tickets until nearer the date the weekend becomes on sale. For example, last weekend the 1930 KGX to DHM was showing as sold out for advance, however on Friday £20 advance tickets appeared.
 

alistairlees

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2016
Messages
3,724
I used the new site to sign up for alerts when advances become available for some dates in April but I didn't receive a notification, despite the tickets being released for nearly a month now. I emailed to ask what was going on and got this unintelligible reply. Still no idea why no notification was sent.

That reply is gibberish!
 

Starmill

Veteran Member
Fares Advisor
Joined
18 May 2012
Messages
23,224
Location
Bolton
I wouldn't go so far. A more plausible expectation might be that the company's accountants don't like having the open-ended liability of unexpiring vouchers on their accounts, and prefer to keep things neat and tidy by having the liability "drop off" after a while, if the vouchers aren't used.
TransPennine Express' accountants don't seem to have any anxiety about selling vouchers that expire in 9999.
 

IanD

Established Member
Joined
18 Sep 2011
Messages
2,718
Location
Newport Pagnell
If that was the answer then what do you suppose the question actually was?

I know what the question actually was because I asked it :p

I suspect they just skimmed, saw the phrase Early Bird Alert and tried to explain what they are, how to sign up for them and why some dates might still be unavailable.
 

skyhigh

Established Member
Joined
14 Sep 2014
Messages
5,218
I used the new site to sign up for alerts when advances become available for some dates in April but I didn't receive a notification, despite the tickets being released for nearly a month now. I emailed to ask what was going on and got this unintelligible reply. Still no idea why no notification was sent.
We believe there was a temporary problem where this was not the case and emails were sent to customers who selected to receive these alerts were incurring wrong information and can apologise for this in advance...
Apologise in advance? Surely they could just stop it before it happens in that case...!!
 

tspaul26

Established Member
Joined
9 Jun 2016
Messages
1,530
I know what the question actually was because I asked it :p

I suspect they just skimmed, saw the phrase Early Bird Alert and tried to explain what they are, how to sign up for them and why some dates might still be unavailable.

To clarify: if they weren't attempting to answer your question, what question were they trying (and failing!) to answer instead?

[I speak very much in jest.]
 

IanXC

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
18 Dec 2009
Messages
6,331
I used the new site to sign up for alerts when advances become available for some dates in April but I didn't receive a notification, despite the tickets being released for nearly a month now. I emailed to ask what was going on and got this unintelligible reply. Still no idea why no notification was sent.

At times like this I am always inclined to reply to companies stating that there must have been some kind of administrative error as the response provided has no connection with my query and requesting they check their records and send the relevant response to my original letter.
 

SaveECRewards

Member
Joined
22 Jan 2015
Messages
737
At times like this I am always inclined to reply to companies stating that there must have been some kind of administrative error as the response provided has no connection with my query and requesting they check their records and send the relevant response to my original letter.

That’s a good idea. I had hoped when VTEC took customer relations back in house things would improve but they’ve not got back to GNER style service.
 

skyhigh

Established Member
Joined
14 Sep 2014
Messages
5,218
I tried to use the new website for the first time today to book a journey. Immensely irritating, I selected a journey and got a seat reservation (C10). I had a look at the seating plan and managed to choose the last of my favourite type of seat (C65). The return train was busy, so I pressed the back button (on the webpage, not on the browser), went back to the search screen and chose a different train.

The seat reservation for the outward leg was now automatically chosen as C11, with both C10 and C65 now blocked up from my previous attempt... The other return train I'd looked at wasn't any better, so I went back to choose the previous train. By this point, all the advances in the tier had been taken up by me so it wanted to charge me more! Why can't it discard the booking? After waiting a couple of hours it all reset and I got what I wanted in the first place.
 

SaveECRewards

Member
Joined
22 Jan 2015
Messages
737
I tried to use the new website for the first time today to book a journey. Immensely irritating, I selected a journey and got a seat reservation (C10). I had a look at the seating plan and managed to choose the last of my favourite type of seat (C65). The return train was busy, so I pressed the back button (on the webpage, not on the browser), went back to the search screen and chose a different train.

The seat reservation for the outward leg was now automatically chosen as C11, with both C10 and C65 now blocked up from my previous attempt... The other return train I'd looked at wasn't any better, so I went back to choose the previous train. By this point, all the advances in the tier had been taken up by me so it wanted to charge me more! Why can't it discard the booking? After waiting a couple of hours it all reset and I got what I wanted in the first place.

This can be particularly bad when there's a sale on (like now). An example on Twitter. Someone found a bargain fare, when they tried to pay there was a server error. The next time they went back to this page the fare was higher, the person on VTEC Twitter suggested clearing cookies and cache and that didn't bring back the cheaper fare so he suggested web support. By the time they got through to web support with the stock 'fare must have sold out' the fare had increased once more. I'm guessing it's a combo of the website holding onto bookings and other people booking the same route.
 

skyhigh

Established Member
Joined
14 Sep 2014
Messages
5,218
This can be particularly bad when there's a sale on (like now). An example on Twitter. Someone found a bargain fare, when they tried to pay there was a server error. The next time they went back to this page the fare was higher, the person on VTEC Twitter suggested clearing cookies and cache and that didn't bring back the cheaper fare so he suggested web support. By the time they got through to web support with the stock 'fare must have sold out' the fare had increased once more. I'm guessing it's a combo of the website holding onto bookings and other people booking the same route.
It's crazy I managed to end up blocking 7 tickets/seats for two hours trying to book a simple journey from Leeds to King's Cross by following the instructions. I'd seen the comments on this thread, but hadn't realised it was that bad!
 

FQTV

Member
Joined
27 Apr 2012
Messages
1,067
Potentially one for the unwary, here.

I clicked on the promotion link, and then later on went back to book some tickets (for non-promotion dates) using the homepage search box. The tickets are for four passengers travelling together, on Virgin Trains East Coast services, and they are eligible for the Small Group Discount. However, the 'Discounted' icon wasn't appearing in the fares matrix.

Opening another browser of a different type, the same search brought up the correct Small Group Discount fares.

Checking promotional fares would therefore appear to be blocking out discounts such as Small Group on other searches.

I've attached the simultaneous screenshots to show how the unwary could have potentially overpaid by £108 in total.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2.jpg
    Screenshot 2.jpg
    431.9 KB · Views: 22
  • Screenshot-2017-11-20 Booking Engine.png
    Screenshot-2017-11-20 Booking Engine.png
    97.9 KB · Views: 21

Merseysider

Established Member
Fares Advisor
Joined
22 Jan 2014
Messages
5,388
Location
Birmingham
The website is crap!

Was booking an Inverness - Kings X journey for Feb, price comes up as £37.50 for 1st, great, put it in the basket and reserve seats.

I open a new tab to check Cally Sleeper prices for the Friday night, reserve a bed and am presented with the payment options.

Meanwhile, the VTEC website has decided to time out and forces me back to the search page. Nothing in my basket. And no £37.50 fares are showing either - the cheapest is now £86.

Facepalm. Refresh. Nothing changes. I close the browser and try searching again. Nothing.

Quickly load up my history and go back to the 'Reserve Seats' page listed from ten minutes ago. Bingo! The ticket has now magically appeared again, with the same seats reserved, but it's still not in my basket :lol:

Utter crap.
 

SaveECRewards

Member
Joined
22 Jan 2015
Messages
737
Checking promotional fares would therefore appear to be blocking out discounts such as Small Group on other searches.

It also removes the 50% off online only price for the super off-peak singles.

This site really is a joke
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top