Sorry - if a member of staff gets told off I do not care. Let me repeat - it is not my problem as a customer. Some people are too used to seeing this from 'the railways' perspective and scurrying off to quote chapter and verse from The Manual as if it was some kind of pseudo- religious tome or the TIS is missing the central point here. By a country mile.
As a customer it is simply not my problem but an internal staff issue. Quoting rules and regs and excess fares is not really the point here - as some posters have grasped this is a customer service issue not a binary piece of left brain logic that states no Railcard = bad customer = customer must be 'punished'/'excessed' or whatever phrase you care to use.
If the customer writes in and explains the situation then it is up to the company to decide if they want to refund any extra money paid based on good customer service principles. They don't have to and we all know that. But it does not mean they can't or they won't.
As a customer it is simply not my problem but an internal staff issue. Quoting rules and regs and excess fares is not really the point here - as some posters have grasped this is a customer service issue not a binary piece of left brain logic that states no Railcard = bad customer = customer must be 'punished'/'excessed' or whatever phrase you care to use.
If the customer writes in and explains the situation then it is up to the company to decide if they want to refund any extra money paid based on good customer service principles. They don't have to and we all know that. But it does not mean they can't or they won't.