Chiltern Boundary Ticket Refund refused

[Mark_re]

Dear all,

I hope you could give me some advice. I travelled from Banbury to London on 1st February of this year. At that time I had a Z1-3 travelcard on Oyster. The ticket office at Banbury refused/could not sell a ticket to BZ3, which I reckoned should be available at £15.85 (with 16-25 discount). Instead I had to buy a ticket to London Terminals, at £23.15 (with 16-25 discount). I complained to Chiltern and today received their response. Could you let me have your thoughts?

Good Afternoon,
Thank you for your email.


Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your query. We have enquired with our Customer Services team regarding this and due to extremely high levels of correspondence we have only recently been able to obtain the relevant information.


It would not be possible to purchase a ticket from Banbury to London Zone 3 from Banbury station and as such we would not be able to offer any refund in this instance. The only way that you would be able to do as you stated would be to purchase a ticket from Banbury to a station within Zone 3 which would have to be specifically asked for. It is not possible to purchase a ticket from Banbury to Zone 3 as a whole.


Kind Regards,

Chiltern Railways Email Team​

Thanks,

Mark

 

[MarlowDonkey]

It is not possible to purchase a ticket from Banbury to Zone 3 as a whole.

I suppose it might be the case that Banbury wouldn't sell it, but is this ticket you wanted?

http://www.brfares.com/#fares?orig=BAN&dest=0042&rlc=

 

[transmanche]

Their use of the phrase "It is not possible to purchase a ticket from Banbury to Zone 3 as a whole" suggests to me that the person replying has completely misunderstood the point.

 

[island]

Yes you can have a ticket to BZ3. The code for it is 0042 in case you have problems getting the clerk to sell it next time; however, the machine must be in a specific mood (sales rather than journey planning I think) for it to appear. barrykas may be able to advise further.

 

[bb21]

Strikes me as the person replying not knowing what they are talking about I reckon.

Chiltern do not serve any station in Zone 3. Maybe he confused that with the issuing of a Boundary Zone 3 ticket.

 

[oversteer]

I bet they think you wanted a "Banbury to London Zones 1-3" ticket

 

[barrykas]

Yes you can have a ticket to BZ3. The code for it is 0042 in case you have problems getting the clerk to sell it next time; however, the machine must be in a specific mood (sales rather than journey planning I think) for it to appear. barrykas may be able to advise further.

FasTIS doesn't link to Journey Planner like Fujitsu STAR and Shere SMART do, so will quite happily issue bus links and tickets to & from Boundary Zones from the normal Journey Input Screen without needing any "voodoo".

I can appreciate Banbury not knowing that you can get tickets to Boundary Zones, as ATOC didn't (to my knowledge) make a formal announcement/briefing about it when they were introduced, though I personally would've at least tried to find such a ticket if it was requested and I wasn't sure of its existence.

Rather late now, but the least worst solution for the OP would have been to go to the Excess Fares window on arrival at Marylebone (assuming you arrived before 10am on a weekday), where the clerk would have been able to refund the difference. Not ideal, I appreciate, but would've had the desired effect.

As it stands, I'd suggest contacting Passenger Focus, who should be able to resolve the matter for you.

 

[yorkie]

What a surprise - Customer Services get it wrong again! No, I am not having a dig at Chiltern Customer Services specifically, but Customer Services in the rail industry in general.

I'll be honest: for anything but very simple queries, I am more surprised when they get it right!

I am happy to proof read a letter to Passenger Focus. I'd chase this one up, out of principle if nothing else.

 

[thedbdiboy]

Yes the fare exists; yes it should have been sold; yes I will follow it up with them.....

 

[barrykas]

Whilst it's too late for the OP in this instance, an e-mail has gone out to all Chiltern ticket offices to advise/remind them of the existence of tickets to Boundary Zone locations.

 

[RJ]

I bet they think you wanted a "Banbury to London Zones 1-3" ticket

Either that, or they wouldn't entertain the idea because there are no stations between Zone 1 and Zone 4 on Chiltern's network. I recall a post inferring that Zone 1-2 and possibly Zone 1-3 Travelcards won't work the barriers at Marylebone, though I haven't tried it myself.

 

[island]

I have, and my Z1-3 on Oyster does work without deducting an entry charge.