Southeastern Railway Promotional tickets

Islineclear3_1 · 26 Jul 2019

I tried to purchase an Advance from St Pancras International to Margate (for a date in August) via the SE website. All good until the payment stage where my debit card was declined. Tried 3 different computers/browsers, tried other cards, checked with my bank and concluded that the website had an issue. Tweeted SE who advised me to contact their Customer Services

Tried to purchase again today via website with same problem. Spoke to a lovely lady in Customer Services who checked with IT but didn't want to commit to saying the website had a problem. She did tell me that I could purchase my Advance from St Pancras to Margate from any SouthEastern station

Is this advice correct?

RailUK Forums

ThisIsSurbiton · 26 Jul 2019

Yes, any station that can do Advances (or other train company site, or 3rd party) should be able to sell them. They were limited to sale by Southeastern in the early days, but perhaps that was a mistake. I've just had a look on the SWR site, for instance, and they're on there.

Hadders · 26 Jul 2019

Contact your bank. I had a similar issue trying to purchase some concert tickets, after 2 or 3 attempts the bank blocked further transactions with the website as they suspected fraud. Spoke to my bank, they released the card and it worked next time I tried.

Islineclear3_1 · 26 Jul 2019

Hadders said:
Contact your bank. I had a similar issue trying to purchase some concert tickets, after 2 or 3 attempts the bank blocked further transactions with the website as they suspected fraud. Spoke to my bank, they released the card and it worked next time I tried.

I did contact my bank - a non issue as far as they were concerned (as I expected). Told me it was the company's responsibility as it was their website. I have used all my bank cards since on other transactions with no problem

Islineclear3_1 · 26 Jul 2019

ThisIsSurbiton said:
Yes, any station that can do Advances (or other train company site, or 3rd party) should be able to sell them. They were limited to sale by Southeastern in the early days, but perhaps that was a mistake. I've just had a look on the SWR site, for instance, and they're on there.

Thank you, that is reassuring.

I have since gone to my local station (as at work) and they sold me the required Advance. The only concern I have is that my ticket says from "London Terminals" - not specifically St Pancras or "Valid on High Speed". The guy in the ticket office showed me the itinerary on his screen to try and reassure me that the ticket would be valid on High Speed

If I have a problem on the day then no doubt I will be back on the "Disputes" part of this forum ...

Edit: I bought my advance from my local SE station near work

Paul Kelly · 26 Jul 2019

ThisIsSurbiton said:
They were limited to sale by Southeastern in the early days, but perhaps that was a mistake. I've just had a look on the SWR site, for instance, and they're on there.

Yes indeed; Southeastern had blocked other TOCs and 3rd party retailers from selling them in the retail control data, but not all ticket issuing systems supported this, so only some outlets were enforcing the ban. It was a big mess for a few years. But I've just checked now and sure enough the ban has been removed; all retailers are now permitted to sell these fares.

Those Scotrail "Smartcard Only" Super Off-Peak Day Returns should be the next target for elimination of this sort of dodgy practice whereby TOCs try to prevent the cheapest fares from being available through all sales channels and fulfilment methods...

ThisIsSurbiton · 26 Jul 2019

robert7111a said:
The only concern I have is that my ticket says from "London Terminals" - not specifically St Pancras or "Valid on High Speed". The guy in the ticket office showed me the itinerary on his screen to try and reassure me that the ticket would be valid on High Speed

London Terminals is quite OK, but I'd expect the ticket to indicate high-speed or not, though, as there is no 'Any Permitted' advance from London to Margate. If it cost £13.80 without any discounts, it's the Plus High Speed version.

Islineclear3_1 · 26 Jul 2019

ThisIsSurbiton said:
London Terminals is quite OK, but I'd expect the ticket to indicate high-speed or not, though, as there is no 'Any Permitted' advance from London to Margate. If it cost £13.80 without any discounts, it's the Plus High Speed version.

It cost me £20.00

ThisIsSurbiton · 26 Jul 2019

robert7111a said:
It cost me £20.00

I see, I thought you'd got the normal Advance fare. At the risk of getting it wrong again, I think you have the "Promo Day Return", which as far as I can see has no advance purchase requirement. The route code is the mysterious 'As Advertised', explaining why there is no mention of high speed. It will be OK, and in my experience Southeastern are very reasonable.

londonbridge · 26 Jul 2019

Hadders said:
Contact your bank. I had a similar issue trying to purchase some concert tickets, after 2 or 3 attempts the bank blocked further transactions with the website as they suspected fraud. Spoke to my bank, they released the card and it worked next time I tried.

In a similar instance, I was purchasing a ticket through Grand Centrals website, put my card number in and it came up with the pop-up box saying the bank would send a one-time passcode to my phone. At this point I realised I'd put the wrong card number in, ie not the card I actually wanted to pay with. Clicked cancel and within a minute I had a text from the bank asking me to confirm the transaction. After confirming I received another mesage thanking me for the confirmation and to check whether I needed to submit the transaction again as it might not have processed correctly. I then entered the correct card details and the payment was accepted by the website. A mistake on my part, but good to see that banks are seemingly more alert in identifying unusual/possibly fraudulent transactions.

Islineclear3_1 · 26 Jul 2019

My ticket says "Promotional Return" from London Terminals to Margate. At the bottom it says "£20.00 M".

Not sure what the "M" means

And no mention of "High Speed" on the ticket

Some time ago, I purchased a Promotional Return from St Pancras to Ramsgate for the same price with the purpose of travelling on the High Speed service (bought from SE website). Had ticket checked on the train - no problem. But I can't remember now if the ticket said High Speed or not

ajs · 26 Jul 2019

Not sure what the "M" means

The M denotes that you paid by cash.

Edited to insert missing word!

Paul Kelly · 27 Jul 2019

M = Money?

yorkie · 27 Jul 2019

Yes, and X for card, W for warrant or rail travel voucher.

Southeastern Railway Promotional tickets

Islineclear3_1

Established Member

RailUK Forums

ThisIsSurbiton

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Hadders

Veteran Member

Islineclear3_1

Established Member

Islineclear3_1

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Paul Kelly

Verified Rep - BR Fares

ThisIsSurbiton

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Islineclear3_1

Established Member

ThisIsSurbiton

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londonbridge

Established Member

Islineclear3_1

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ajs

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Paul Kelly

Verified Rep - BR Fares

yorkie

Forum Staff