Advice on tickets lost in post

[Rangdo]

I'm looking for some ticket/travel advice for a journey tomorrow. My mum bought some tickets online with First Great Western and arranged for them to be delivered to her home which she has done many times before with no problem.

Unfortunately this time the tickets never arrived. She phoned the company well in advance and was told that they would fax the station and they would print her some new tickets but that this could not be done until 24 hours before.

So she goes down there today but they can't fax the confirmation to the station. They keep saying they've sent the fax but it never arrives so the station won't print her new ones even with all the online paperwork she's got.

The company and the station refuse to talk to each other, all the phone operators are useless and even the manager she has spoken to has nothing else to suggest other than buy new tickets and write to them for a refund.

So where does she stand? She's got the online booking confirmation with the seat numbers and the proof of purchase on the credit card statement. Are any inspectors or station staff really likely to start an argument with a pensioner with all the evidence to prove she's paid?

Any help and advice much appreciated, particularly if you work for a rail company.

Thanks

 

[ChrisTheRef]

With time such a factor, I think now your options are:

Have another try tomorrow. Arriving in good time at the station and try what you tried today
OR
Failing that, buy new tickets and write to them insisting on a full refund and compensation for your inconvienience

 

[yorkie]

I appreciate you may not want to reveal the exact details of the journey, but can you say what the ticket type is, e.g Off Peak, Advance etc?

I think the only option, given that the customer is considered "wrong" until proven otherwise on the railways, is to buy another ticket and sort it out later.

 

[Rangdo]

I appreciate you may not want to reveal the exact details of the journey, but can you say what the ticket type is, e.g Off Peak, Advance etc?

I think the only option, given that the customer is considered "wrong" until proven otherwise on the railways, is to buy another ticket and sort it out later.

They were advanced single tickets bought about 2 months ago. Didn't arrive after a couple of weeks which was when she rang and was told to go to the station 24 hours before. Unfortunately 24 hours is then too late to resolve it when it goes wrong.

She's understandably reluctant to fork out for another ticket given how their customer service has been as useful as a chocolate teapot so far so theres no guarantee she'll get it back. Will they refund it if the second ticket is bought at the station instead of from them?

You never know how good a company is until you have a problem to resolve and they've been absolutely shocking. I've never known anything like it. They've got no process in place should the fax solution not work. Nothing to help a paying customer get the service they paid for.

 

[tony_mac]

When I have had this happen in the past, the procedure was to ring up the company 24 hours in advance, they then fax the station. The station office then has a file of these faxes that they look through when new tickets are requested.

So, you could try ringing again tonight, if it's not too late, and asking them to send the fax - and hope it has arrived and been processed by tomorrow.

The last time this happened to me, the fax they sent was only for the outward, but not the return. The station staff did provide the return tickets also, but there was some more form-filling to do, and they weren't entirely happy about it. (I got the impression that if they don't have the faxed approval, then their company may end up paying for the tickets, instead of the company that issued them). So, it is possible, but you may need to be persistent.

What a ridiculous system!

 

[ChrisTheRef]

She's understandably reluctant to fork out for another ticket given how their customer service has been as useful as a chocolate teapot so far so theres no guarantee she'll get it back. Will they refund it if the second ticket is bought at the station instead of from them?

Oh she will. We'll help if it goes wrong. Get Passenger Focus invloved, and you're certain of a good outcome in your circumstances.

There are charters and such which mean she HAS to be refunded

 

[theblackwatch]

Make sure you keep a note of the dates/times of your calls with FGW and if possible, the name of who you are speaking to, so that you can quote it in any correspondence afterwards. Similarly, I'd make a note of who you have dealt with at your local ticket office and when.

 

[Rangdo]

Oh she will. We'll help if it goes wrong. Get Passenger Focus invloved, and you're certain of a good outcome in your circumstances.

There are charters and such which mean she HAS to be refunded

Thanks for the advice, I'll pass it on. I find their attitudes bemusing. I thought they'd be doing everything possible to sort it out in time for her journey but they've given no indication that they care at all. Their attitude seems to be that they've tried to send a couple of faxes so beyond that tough. How are they not using email these days??
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Make sure you keep a note of the dates/times of your calls with FGW and if possible, the name of who you are speaking to, so that you can quote it in any correspondence afterwards. Similarly, I'd make a note of who you have dealt with at your local ticket office and when.

Thanks. I told her that the first time I spoke to her. I also said to stop speaking to the front-line staff and immediately ask to speak to a manger. Unfortunately they weren't much better but at least she has a name and the time that she was no help

 

[ashworth]

I had an interesting situation happen to me a few years ago when some AP tickets I had booked online with Qjump never arrived.

These were tickets from Derby to Southampton and return. I rang Qjump a couple of times before the day of travel and they kept saying that if I didn't receive them the day before travel I had to contact them again.
They didn't arrive and so I rang them the day before travel and they said they would arrange for them to be there for collection at Derby Station.
The next morning I arrived at Derby, at approx 6.30 am on a Saturday morning, complete with my print out etc but they knew nothing the tickets. The station staff were very helpful and they rang Qjump with my details and then issued me with replacement tickets complete with hand written reservation tickets getting the details from my printout.
The tickets obviously had been booked because when I got on the train my correct seat reservations were there

The thing that was worrying me all along about these tickets, and problems I may have encountered at Derby, was that the money had not been taken from my bank account and usually it is taken out immediately after booking. But Qjump were able to supply all the details to Derby by telephone and as I have said the reservations were there.
Interestingly the money for these tickets never was taken from my account and so I had a free return trip from Derby to Southampton.

Somehow the booking had been made and the seat reservations issued and the booking and all details was acknowledged by the usual online email, but the tickets were never actually printed and posted to me, and they didn't take the money from my bank account.

 

[yorkie]

Unfortunately this time the tickets never arrived. She phoned the company well in advance and was told that they would fax the station and they would print her some new tickets but that this could not be done until 24 hours before.

Terrible advice from Thecrapline. But nothing more, or less, than I'd expect from that shower. I don't use them these days, except I did the other week to get 10% off FGW. I would never leave it 2 weeks, I'd be pestering after a week or less!

I've experienced very bad customer service by them, despite spending £1000+ on tickets, so I use NXEC now, and never have a problem.

Now that the 50% off tickets (courtesy of FSR) have dried up, I have no reason to use them - except for the occasional FGW promo (e.g. £5 off).

 

[Rangdo]

Just an update that my mum went back to the station this morning and the fax had arrived and she has got her tickets. Coincidently the time on the fax was shortly after she spoke to the manager last night. So the moral of the story is when you first call ask to speak to someone who can use a fax machine!!

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Probally nicked by the postman same happened to me the theiving B***** took £20.00 of mine in the post.

 

[Waddon]

In these circumstances, what do you do if you begin your journey at a station which has no ticket office?

 

[90019]

the theiving B***** took £20.00 of mine in the post.

I suppose you have proof that this happened since you're so sure?

 

[Helvellyn]

For anyone caught in this situation in future enquire about Ticket on Departure (ToD). This allows the purchaser to collect their tickets from any Ticket Machine that is part of the system, and it will eventually be applied to every TOC on the network. For example, on SWT I believe it is now available at every station with a TVM. If it was a station with only one TVM, and it was out of order, you could board the train and collect the ticket at another station (make sure you have your booking reference with you, and card payment was made with).

It's a much more robust system, and can be used in good ways. A Guard was telling me of a situation a couple of months ago where a sailor lost his warrant. He needed to get from Portsmouth to Sunderland. The Guard made enquiries, and was put through to an office dealing with MoD bookings. The lost warrant was listed as 'lost' and the lady then arranged for a ticket to be made available for collection from a TVM for the sailor to collect, at no charge. Technology and customer service coming together - yes, even on the railway!

 

[mullin]

For anyone caught in this situation in future enquire about Ticket on Departure (ToD). This allows the purchaser to collect their tickets from any Ticket Machine that is part of the system, and it will eventually be applied to every TOC on the network. For example, on SWT I believe it is now available at every station with a TVM. If it was a station with only one TVM, and it was out of order, you could board the train and collect the ticket at another station (make sure you have your booking reference with you, and card payment was made with).

As I believe my ticket has been lost in the post (I booked my journey 10 days ago and tickets have never taken this long to be posted). I've called up TPE who I booked the ticket through, they tell me to wait and see if they have arrived by the end of next week!

I have a few questions...

TVM = Ticket Machine, right??

How'd I go about this ToD as well? Call up TheTrainline / TPE and ask them to allow me to collect the tickets from a machine? The ticket is out of Euston and I've seen a 'farm' of machines there.

If so, does anyone have a geographical phone number for these guys that isn't an 0845, 0870 etc number, and ideally isn't 0844 811 0150 that is in my confirmation e-mail. Tried calling that and got an automated message saying this number is for rail staff only or something similar :roll: Damn expensive to call these numbers from my mobile.



Thanks in advance!

 

[ainsworth74]

Can't help you with the other stuff but try putting the number you've been given in here to see if they have an alternative.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

Its a very useful website, probably saved loads on the phone by using it!

 

[mullin]

Can't help you with the other stuff but try putting the number you've been given in here to see if they have an alternative.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

Its a very useful website, probably saved loads on the phone by using it!

Cheers for that site, it has come in useful. As for my tickets, printed 16th Feb and arrived this morning in the post... ****e service from Royal Mail then...