Excess Advanced Fare and Ticket Office Advice

[Steveoh]

A couple of quick queries to you knowledgeable folk out there.

I've had occassion to raise a query at a ticket office twice in the past week or so and I was wondering if I had been given correct advice.

Firstly I held an advance ticket from Sevenoaks to East Midlands Parkway valid on the 16:49 from Sevenoaks and the 18:15 from St Pancras. The ticket I held was a new style ticket with both train times clearly marked. My travel plans changed at short notice and I need to depart much earlier at around 12:30. I was advised by the ticket office at Sevenoaks that:

a) I could travel on my ticket to St Pancras as only the 18:15 train counted in terms of the advance ticket.

b) No excess up to a standard super off peak single was possible as the ticket was booked on line.

I wasn't convinced that this advice was correct so I bought new tickets for my journey via a vending machine as I needed to make my journey. Was I correctly advised by the ticket office?

Secondly and on a related note. Due to a bug (confirmied) in the travel system we use at work I was issued with a travelcard for London for the wrong date via TOD. I asked at the ticket office if I could exchange it, or get a refund and buy a new one for the correct date, but was advised that this couldn't be done as I'd bought the ticket on line. Again is this correct advice?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Merseysider]

No, and you're not the only one to fall foul of ticket offices' irrational fear of "online tickets".

A ticket is a ticket is a ticket. It matters not where it was purchased.

As long as the advance ticket is neither an m-ticket nor print at home (which yours wasn't) then any ticket office can excess an advance to a flexible ticket. A £10 admin fee is payable. I would raise this with customer services via email.

Regarding your second point, providing you have a booking reference or email confirmation then this too is something customer service will (should) resolve if you send a concise email with attachments/scans of all relevant tickets/documents.

 

[bb21]

The Advance fare should have been excessed up to the appropriate fare upon payment of the difference (if any) and a £10 admin fee.

On the Travelcard front, the refund needs to go back to the retailer, so the ticket office is technically correct. No excess procedure is formally available, but some local instructions allow a "refund and reissue" where applicable.

 

[Steveoh]

Thanks both. I was pretty sure that was the case and even asked for an excess from the advance to be rebuffed. I could see I was getting nowhere so decided to cut my losses at that point.

However one point still remains. I don't believe that it was right that I should be advised that I could travel from Sevenoaks to St Pancras on an advance ticket 3-4 hours early. That isn't permitted is it? I didn't fancy appearing on the Disputes board having been given this advice. When raising with customer services I would like to be sure of my ground.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks both. I was pretty sure that was the case and even asked for an excess from the advance to be rebuffed. I could see I was getting nowhere so decided to cut my losses at that point.

However one point still remains. I don't believe that it was right that I should be advised that I could travel from Sevenoaks to St Pancras on an advance ticket 3-4 hours early. That isn't permitted is it? I didn't fancy appearing on the Disputes board having been given this advice. When raising with customer services I would like to be sure of my ground.

You should take "appropriate" connecting trains. (vagueness indeed!)

If I have you right, you needed to travel to London much earlier yet still required the booked leg, the 1815 from STP. In that case it seems reasonable clear you were requesting a break of journey which the booking office could not sanction. This is not permitted on Advance tickets, and therefore, strictly speaking, the correct action would have been to excess your ticket to one which did allow you to break your journey, which would be the Super Off Peak Single.

Booking offices are often irrational and pathetic, though some good ones still exist. It is a shame.

 

[Steveoh]

Not quite, I was specially requesting to make the entire journey which is something I raised with the staff member concerned. Anyway thanks for your help.

 

[AlterEgo]

Not quite, I was specially requesting to make the entire journey which is something I raised with the staff member concerned. Anyway thanks for your help.

A break of journey is defined by consensus as where you leave the railway's premises (to do XYZ/errands/whatever) and you may then resume your journey later on, completing the whole journey. It doesn't necessarily mean finishing your ticket short or starting long.

If that is the case then you should have been sold an excess to the Super Off Peak Single which would have enabled you to do that.

 

[Gareth Marston]

The Advance fare should have been excessed up to the appropriate fare upon payment of the difference (if any) and a £10 admin fee.

On the Travelcard front, the refund needs to go back to the retailer, so the ticket office is technically correct. No excess procedure is formally available, but some local instructions allow a "refund and reissue" where applicable.

As a station agent who lives on commission I'm not touching anything that somebody else sold to refund because if I refund it it drops my takings for the day and I earn less commission pure and simple. People who work for TOC's will know better but I imagine refunding other sellers tickets is a no no as the same principle applies and instruction has been given.

As to the excess if it was me its extra sales/ commission.....I had one once where the customers meeting had finished 2 hours early her company had booked her AP to somewhere 130 miles away. She didn't want to wait and insisted the company would pay but i was able to split ticket her cheaper than the excess/admin charge option for the full fare. Win win for her and me as it was less work! But if her company had bought off peak return they would have saved to.