Apparently London Midland don't want my business

[MKB]

I've been busy today getting various tickets I need for travel during the next month. I usually buy using Virgin's old booking system, but lately I've started using London Midland's mixing deck, because of the additional routing options and better fare information it provides.

However, I've just been given the following message:

You have now made the maximum allowed number of purchases today (2). You will not be able to purchase any more tickets today.​

How idiotic is that! I shall go back to VT to buy the rest of my tickets then.

 

[Daniel]

National Express East Coast and National Express East Anglia both use the mixing deck, if it helps?

 

[MCR247]

So do southern & southeastern

 

[Mojo]

I was told off by Lloyds TSB the other day for making 5 Cashpoint withdrawals as well. I found one that issues £5 notes so kept putting my card in to withdraw £5 notes as £10 notes are so hard to spend on small transactions but was told off after taking out £25.

 

[Daniel]

Told off as in the machine told you off or as in a member of staff came out and told you off?

 

[Mojo]

lol - well it was in Barclays and it said something about my bank refusing it. I tried RBS and it said the same. Went to Lloyds and spoke to the man and he said there was a limit.

 

[Daniel]

Strange. I knew there was a moneytry withdrawal limit, didn't know there was a number of transaction limits.

Maybe they're on to your plan to convert all of your money into £5 notes so you'll have more to roll around in?

 

[glynn80]

I was told off by Lloyds TSB the other day for making 5 Cashpoint withdrawals as well. I found one that issues £5 notes so kept putting my card in to withdraw £5 notes as £10 notes are so hard to spend on small transactions but was told off after taking out £25.

I thought the cashpoints that held £5 notes only held that denomination (it is to increase their circulation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7519972.stm).

So if you had just requested the total amount you actually wanted, you would have received the amount in £5 notes, in one transaction.

 

[yorksrob]

lol - well it was in Barclays and it said something about my bank refusing it. I tried RBS and it said the same. Went to Lloyds and spoke to the man and he said there was a limit.

Damned banks, it's about time they realised we own their sorry backsides!

With regards to EMT, I know calls are more expensive but I always find it easier to buy over the phone.

 

[LondonLarry]

I've been busy today getting various tickets I need for travel during the next month. I usually buy using Virgin's old booking system, but lately I've started using London Midland's mixing deck, because of the additional routing options and better fare information it provides.

However, I've just been given the following message:

You have now made the maximum allowed number of purchases today (2). You will not be able to purchase any more tickets today.​

How idiotic is that! I shall go back to VT to buy the rest of my tickets then.

I think it's called fraud prevention.... It's in the same vein as companies only delivering to the card's billing address. The TOC is only covering its own back - I know that GNER was hit for thousands of pounds of fraudulent transactions a few years ago.

The DLR machines don't allow more than 2 ticket purchases per day either.

 

[MKB]

I think it's called fraud prevention.... It's in the same vein as companies only delivering to the card's billing address. The TOC is only covering its own back - I know that GNER was hit for thousands of pounds of fraudulent transactions a few years ago.

This would only make sense if:

- they didn't already have secondary secure validation on Visa and Mastercard transactions;
- the rule was sensititve to the total amount (-- which is the greater risk, 3 transactions totalling £20 or 1 transaction of £250?);
- it was travel-time sensitive (-- a fraudulent transaction for travel in two months' time is going to be picked up before the date of travel);
- it wasn't easily circumvented by (a) creating multiple accounts, or (b) loading multiple tickets on to a single purchase transaction.

It's sadly typical of administrators these days that their obsession with being risk averse means they make decisions that don't actually target the risk they are trying to avoid, while simultaneously causing greater dangers elsewhere (in this example, a loss of business).

 

[Mojo]

I thought the cashpoints that held £5 notes only held that denomination (it is to increase their circulation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7519972.stm).

So if you had just requested the total amount you actually wanted, you would have received the amount in £5 notes, in one transaction.

Nope, the cash machine held £5s, £10s & £20s. The person before me requested £10 and got a single £10 note so it was too risky to ask for £10.

It was a Barclays cash machine and not a 'Bank Machine' one.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Those Barclays mini one's in Foyers and in brnaches rather than outside issue 5, 10 and 20 notes.

 

[Mojo]

Those Barclays mini one's in Foyers and in brnaches rather than outside issue 5, 10 and 20 notes.

That was the one I used, but it still doesn't help me get £5 notes unless you request the notes individually.

 

[jopsuk]

Hmm, I've definitely bought more than three tickets on the same day from NXEC's site, but I've bought them as a single transaction- you do realise that you can add multiple journies to your shopping cart, yes?

 

[mathmo]

If you want £5 notes then go into your bank and ask to withdraw £50 (or whatever) in £5 notes - they will certainly oblige!

If buying multiple tickets then you can buy multiple tickets (something like 5) in one transaction, so I'd be surprised if you needed more than two transactions: simply press "Book Another Journey" or something like that to book another ticket.

 

[route:oxford]

I thought the cashpoints that held £5 notes only held that denomination (it is to increase their circulation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7519972.stm).

So if you had just requested the total amount you actually wanted, you would have received the amount in £5 notes, in one transaction.

They simply hold a wider range of notes.

If the machine can accommodate 2000 notes, then it could only serve 20-40 people taking out the maximum withdrawal of £250-£500 before it ran out of money if it only stocked £5s.

 

[Death]

lol - well it was in Barclays and it said something about my bank refusing it. I tried RBS and it said the same. Went to Lloyds and spoke to the man and he said there was a limit.

I thought the cashpoints that held £5 notes only held that denomination (it is to increase their circulation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7519972.stm).
So if you had just requested the total amount you actually wanted, you would have received the amount in £5 notes, in one transaction.

I know the cashpoints that Mojo's on about - They're the small and relatively fast Wincor/Nixdorf ones located inside Barclays branches. (Aye, I am a Barclays customer! )

As they're only available for use during bank opening hours, the value of cash that they hold after being loaded only needs to last for about 8-9 hours, with the machine likely being emptied at night (Left-over cash being transferred to the day vault for better security) and re-filled at the start of the next working day. On the other hand, conventional "holes in the wall" provide a 24/7 service and may need to go without reloading for days at a time...So they need to hold as much currency as safely possible to last for such long periods, hence why "normal" cashpoints don't serve £5.00 notes!

To answer Mojo's original point though; I tend to prefer fivers as well as they're much easier to use for smaller purchases (Indeed...Sometimes I wish we still had £1.00 notes!) but even the in-branch machines will serve larger notes for any withdrawls over £15.00. However, ye could always have withdrawn £40.00 or so (Would've been 2x£20s) and then gone to the cashier for change!
Most banks will be happy to change small amounts for anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a customer of that particular bank. Larger amounts though (Involving more than ten notes and/or three bags of change) will normally be appropriate for bank customers only.

The DLR machines don't allow more than 2 ticket purchases per day either.

Is that why every single DLR ticket machine I've ever seen after 11:00 hours is always out of service?

Golly...Spending over £2,000 on every machine and only allowing it to issue two tickets a day is a bit strange, isn't it? They'd have saved a ton of money just by employing all of those spare conductors from when they started taking Routemasters off of the roads! :grin::razz:

 

[Geezertronic]

My Visa Debit card was stopped by Barclays once because I had bought two sets of tickets via the Virgin Trains website (the first time I had done so). I had to contact the Fraud department and ask them to lift the block and confirm that the transactions were actually mine.

Apparently it is a common type of fraud that people who steal credit card details will buy train tickets and then sell the tickets on.

Personally I didn't mind because at least it means that Barclays are doing their job by checking for this sort of thing, and now they know I regularly purchase tickets from Virgin Trains, I have not had any further problems of this nature.

 

[Mojo]

My parents are going on holiday and have just got a 'PrePaid' MasterCard for their trip. I know TOCs don't accept Visa Electron or Solo cards on board trains as they are often marked as 'for electronic use only' and need to be processed online (to ensure there is enough money in the account). However this card it would not be possible for you to tell it apart from a normal Mastercard. I wonder what the TOCs are doing in these circumstances for offline payments on 'PrePaid' cards.