Distance Selling Rules

[warby002]

Quick question. Do rail operators have to adhere to the distance selling rules around cooling off period for a product or purchase made online.

I bought a ticket last night now don't need it. It was an advanced ticket for travel Saturday purchased on the GWR app.

Chatted to someone on their website and they said distance selling rules don't apply to them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Quick question. Do rail operators have to adhere to the distance selling rules around cooling off period for a product or purchase made online.

Yes, they do need to adhere to them.

However, those Regulations provide that there is no cooling off period for the purchase of transport tickets, so the policy of not so doing complies with it.

However however, out of friendliness Trainline appears to do free refunds within a short period (I think it's an hour) for the case of mistakes, and other retailers might do similar.

 

[warby002]

Really because airline tickets do have a cooling off period.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Really because airline tickets do have a cooling off period.

Not legally. Some airlines may choose to offer that, as Trainline does.

 

[superkopite]

Really because airline tickets do have a cooling off period.

Ryanair certainly don't have one

 

[Bletchleyite]

This is the list of things which don't require one:

Exceptions​

These rules do not apply to:

• goods and services worth £42 or less
• NHS prescriptions and treatment (free and paid for)
• financial services, for example pensions, mortgages, credit
• the construction of new buildings (but not extensions)
• food and drink supplied regularly (like milkmen)
• gambling
• package holidays, timeshares and holiday clubs
• contracts to let a property the customer will live in, for example renting a house or flat (although they do apply to estate agents’ marketing services)
• goods bought from a vending machine
• using a payphone or paying to use an internet connection (for example, at an internet café)
• bus, train, flight and other tickets for passenger travel

Online and distance selling

Rules for online and distance selling for businesses

www.gov.uk

 

[island]

Not legally. Some airlines may choose to offer that, as Trainline does.

Actually, airline tickets to and from the US have a mandatory 24 hour cooling off period, unless the airline offers you the option to place a "hold" on the flight for up to 24 hours free of charge.

Ryanair certainly don't have one

In fact they do, they just don't advertise it. I have a number of times messed up a Ruinair booking and upon calling them within 24 hours been refunded, either straight away or subject to making a new booking whilst on the phone.

However, those Regulations provide that there is no cooling off period for the purchase of transport tickets, so the policy of not so doing complies with it.

Indeed.

However however, out of friendliness Trainline appears to do free refunds within a short period (I think it's an hour) for the case of mistakes, and other retailers might do similar.

LNER allows two hours.

 

[Wallsendmag]

LNER allows two hours.

As long at the journey isn’t the same day.

 

[WF4HA5HE]

I bought a ticket last night now don't need it. It was an advanced ticket for travel Saturday purchased on the GWR app.

Train tickets are exempt from the distance selling rules and to be fair the whole point of advance purchase tickets is you get a discount but take the risk of them being non refundable and can't be changed but maybe sent customer services an email some TOCs do refund sometimes as a gesture of goodwill.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Train tickets are exempt from the distance selling rules and to be fair the whole point of advance purchase tickets is you get a discount but take the risk of them being non refundable and can't be changed but maybe sent customer services an email some TOCs do refund sometimes as a gesture of goodwill.

All Advance tickets are changeable, and are refundable if the train on which they were booked is cancelled.

If it's worth more than £10 changing it to a future occasion may be sensible, if one is known.

 

[WF4HA5HE]

All Advance tickets are changeable, and are refundable if the train on which they were booked is cancelled.

If it's worth more than £10 changing it to a future occasion may be sensible, if one is known.

Yes sorry, I was more referring to if you just paid for the ticket and then decided you had no reason at all to use it anymore.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

the whole point of advance purchase tickets is you get a discount but take the risk of them being non refundable

I agree with that, but see the few hours to undo a purchase more to do with fixing buying the wrong thing than changing my mind about the journey. A few hours is perhaps more than necessary to achieve that

 

[warby002]

Well I didn't use the ticket but naturally the train was 30mins late so I'll get a chunk of it back anyway.

 

[Watershed]

Well I didn't use the ticket but naturally the train was 30mins late so I'll get a chunk of it back anyway.

If you didn't travel, you shouldn't claim Delay Repay. It would technically be fraudulent to do so and there is an outside chance that you would actually be 'caught' (e.g. because of a lack of scan history on the ticket).

Instead you should claim a full refund from GWR (as the retailer you used to buy the ticket), on the basis that you did not travel. As the train was delayed, even Advances are refundable in such cases and there is no administration fee.

 

[MrJeeves]

However however, out of friendliness Trainline appears to do free refunds within a short period (I think it's an hour) for the case of mistakes, and other retailers might do similar.

As of when I write this, TrainSplit (and the forum's site) will allow a fee-free refund within an hour of booking for any tickets, provided the departure time on the itinerary hasn't passed yet.

 

[superkopite]

In fact they do, they just don't advertise it. I have a number of times messed up a Ruinair booking and upon calling them within 24 hours been refunded, either straight away or subject to making a new booking whilst on the phone.

Ryanair will not allow you to cancel and refund a booking, even 5 mins after booking. The only thing they will allow is a waiver of the admin fee for a booking amendment within 24 hours of booking a ticket.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Instead you should claim a full refund from GWR (as the retailer you used to buy the ticket), on the basis that you did not travel. As the train was delayed, even Advances are refundable in such cases and there is no administration fee.

This assumes there was a delay (any delay) apparent at the origin station. Claiming they abandoned would be tenuous.

 

[island]

Ryanair will not allow you to cancel and refund a booking, even 5 mins after booking. The only thing they will allow is a waiver of the admin fee for a booking amendment within 24 hours of booking a ticket.

That's not my experience.