stuart
Member
Hypothetical question, but one I'd rather get input to before it happens for real.
I have a Senior Railcard, my partner has a Disabled Person's Railcard. I book us a journey on the VTEC website, entering both railcard details, but when the tickets are printed off they BOTH say "Disabled". Now this is fine so long as we travel together because the Disabled card allows a "companion" to travel for the same discount. But if we have to split up and take different trains, then I'm left holding a Senior card and a Disabled ticket.
Obviously the discount is exactly the same, but it would be nice if the booking system actually did what I asked (i.e. record the two railcards) rather than trying to be "clever".
On a recent journey I asked a VTEC guard (informally) for his view, and he told me that while he wouldn't be concerned he thought there might be some guards who would take a different view. I accept that they'd be entitled to take a strict line as the ticket doesn't match the railcard, but is that really my fault when I gave the booking system the correct information at the start and it chose to ignore it?
I don't see any point in complaining to VTEC about this because their customer service team is adept at deflecting complaints rather than actually answering them, and the chances of getting anyone to understand the issue seem slim.
As a "workaround" I now book tickets separately and match up the seat reservations later, but this hardly seems customer-focused!
I have a Senior Railcard, my partner has a Disabled Person's Railcard. I book us a journey on the VTEC website, entering both railcard details, but when the tickets are printed off they BOTH say "Disabled". Now this is fine so long as we travel together because the Disabled card allows a "companion" to travel for the same discount. But if we have to split up and take different trains, then I'm left holding a Senior card and a Disabled ticket.
Obviously the discount is exactly the same, but it would be nice if the booking system actually did what I asked (i.e. record the two railcards) rather than trying to be "clever".
On a recent journey I asked a VTEC guard (informally) for his view, and he told me that while he wouldn't be concerned he thought there might be some guards who would take a different view. I accept that they'd be entitled to take a strict line as the ticket doesn't match the railcard, but is that really my fault when I gave the booking system the correct information at the start and it chose to ignore it?
I don't see any point in complaining to VTEC about this because their customer service team is adept at deflecting complaints rather than actually answering them, and the chances of getting anyone to understand the issue seem slim.
As a "workaround" I now book tickets separately and match up the seat reservations later, but this hardly seems customer-focused!