FGW First Class offer

[yorkie]

If a ticket was the wrong one but 15p short I'm sure a shady SWT RPI would glady PF someone... it's the principle obviously...

Yes, they would. I trust Flamingo would let people off though, which is to be welcomed

I've let of staff who have charged me a lot more than 15p extra because at least they tried and the system was so complex they just couldn't figure it out. For example being overcharged for an excess on LM when doing a cycle ride (one way), I couldn't complain, she was too nice!

But if someone was lying and being unhelpful, then the amount is irrelevant, it needs reporting...

 

[Flamingo]

Hours? If you want to start insulting people, then you are the one who "needs to get out more" if you think it takes hours to fill in a few boxes on a form and post an envelope. It took about 1 minute, and I got far more than 15p back in compensation and apologies.

So you weren't looking for your 15p back, you were on the make? Where there's blame, there's a claim, I suppose.

 

[embers25]

Loved the guard on the Guildford to Reading train this morning who had no idea of the offer but when I explained it to her she responded that it was about time fGW gave its loyal season ticket holders something back given how expensive the tickets were. Also on approaching Reading the announcement was "youll be relieved to know we're almost at Reading!"

 

[wintonian]

Loved the guard on the Guildford to Reading train this morning who had no idea of the offer but when I explained it to her she responded that it was about time fGW gave its loyal season ticket holders something back given how expensive the tickets were. Also on approaching Reading the announcement was "youll be relieved to know we're almost at Reading!"

How do I do smilys from my phone?

:lol

 

[embers25]

Guard on 1325 Cardiff to Paddington refused to believe my voucher was valid even after calling customer services and me showing him the website!!!!!!! He took the voucher and basically said that he'd allow me to travel until he found out otherwise.....I pointed out I'd been travelling last week too and that didn't matter. Fair enough he should check but the accusation is very annoying. Now he's come back and taken my season details and claimed I was using a loophole and it shouldn't be valid...this is a joke!!!!!! fGW have said they will try to contact the guard and so we'll see what happens.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
fGW customer services are now trying to tell me I have to trade in the voucher at the ticket office before boarding now...she is off checking now if I am right!

lol wintonian!

 

[WillPS]

It's no business of his what should or shouldn't be valid, it is his job to enforce what is and isn't. If he used the word loophole, then the implication is that what you're doing is allowed.

 

[embers25]

First Capital Connect (not fGW though they are obviously both the same) called me back for 30 mins. The terms and condits they have state you should exchange the voucher first at the booking office. I pointed out the online t&C's don't and she went away and double checked and agreed. She is attempting to contact the new train manager to get me a ticket as technically I have no voucher now so can't exit the barriers withou filling in a new one lol! The old train manager and the Swindon station supervisor were having a long chat whilst we reversed at Swindon!
Yet again customer services excel themselves and yet again answer the phone almost instantly. I am hugely impressed with them.
Also the old train manager declassified the whole of first class between Swansea and Cardiff meaning there wasn't any seats for actuall first passengers. I get that the train was overcrowded but at least leave 1 coach for those that paid the extra...it must happen every time there is a match as everyone automatically went to first without any announcements regarding declassification.

 

[furryfeet]

The old train manager and the Swindon station supervisor were having a long chat

embers25 - are you going to complain about the said guard, or do you feel that the Swindon supervisor will have given him an "ear bashing" already ?

p.s. I wonder if the real culprit in all of this, presumably from head office (since from the posts in this thread it is obvious that the communication between head-office / customer service / guards )
will
a) be named
b) will make some form of statement saying that in future the communication, especially to the public will be much improved in the future.

That having been said, I hope FGW do have this offer on in the future, maybe at Christmas week, or even the "Easter / Royal Wedding week", when people will want to use the railway for leisure travel, rather than purely for work purposes. All credit to them for thinking of it in the first place. As Greenback stated, it will have generated some revenue that they would not otherwise have received.

 

[embers25]

New guard just came through and returned my voucher and apologised and was very nice....full marks to customer service for relaying the message to him...zero marks to the original guard whose name I have and will be complaining about. His basic argument was why should a season ticket for 32 quid entitle me to any free travel when fares are often over 200 quid. I did agree but also pointed out a season ticket is a season ticket no matter how long or how much and that some had only bought a week one for 8 quid and so I had actually bought a monthly and paid the extra purely because thats what fGW customer services had told me to do to be able to travel hassle free and because that was what it should have said. The fact I was acting completely on fGW customer service advice made him really mad, particularly when I started quoting names of those I'd spoken to and their relevant positions!! All good fun but I will be complaining as if I'd not been a seasoned traveller I could have ended up being excessed for a huge amount and just because I don't look like his idea of an atypical first traveller doesn't mean I'm not and picking a fight with a season ticket holder is a joke and very bad P.R. for fGW.

 

[Flamingo]

I did warn everyone on here that this offer hasn't been publicised to staff.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

That having been said, I hope FGW do have this offer on in the future, maybe at Christmas week, or even the "Easter / Royal Wedding week", when people will want to use the railway for leisure travel, rather than purely for work purposes. All credit to them for thinking of it in the first place. As Greenback stated, it will have generated some revenue that they would not otherwise have received.

I doubt it, the point of it is to put bums on seats in an otherwise slack period.

 

[wintonian]

I did warn everyone on here that this offer hasn't been publicised to staff.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I doubt it, the point of it is to put bums on seats in an otherwise slack period.

Trouble is with the phone calls we have made and us rideing round with our season tickets showing the guards I suspect they know what we have been up to, not to mention that I'm sure some of the TOC's read this fourm I hear from previous posts that ATOC might!

 

[premier01]

Trouble is with the phone calls we have made and us rideing round with our season tickets showing the guards I suspect they know what we have been up to, not to mention
hat I'm sure some of the TOC's read this fourm I hear from previous posts that ATOC might!

It's there sorts of people that give the TOC's a bad name and what makes people on here annoyed-when I thought he was going to accept the situation although grudgingly I thought that at least that's better than the guilty until innocent strategy some staff use but then made me really annoyed to see the trouble that was caused to u both.

Interestingly how much is the phone call to customer services-I have found that calling 0845 0800 numbers is expensive especially from mobiles therefore potentially costing u even more!

 

[Greenback]

The offer may not be repeated, at least not in its present form if FGW don't feel they have increased revenue as much as expected. We must also remember that this time of year is generally pretty slack for leisure travel - that's not the case over Christams and won;t be during the Easter and Royal Wedding weeks!

I remember the 'free ticket' and 'go anywhere for £5' that ran in Wales and the West Country in 2001 or 2002. The trains were full on Saturdays and there were loads of complaints from regular travellers who couldn't physically get on traisn due to all the free ticket people! The locla promotions never included weekends after that!

 

[bnm]

Interestingly how much is the phone call to customer services-I have found that calling 0845 0800 numbers is expensive especially from mobiles therefore potentially costing u even more!

SAYNOTO0870 is a great little website for finding alternate 01 numbers. For instance FGW Customer Services is 01752 675653. Straight through to the queue, no button pressing menu options or recorded messages. Handy where you do not have inclusive 08** calls on your landline or contract mobile.

 

[premier01]

SAYNOTO0870 is a great little website for finding alternate 01 numbers. For instance FGW Customer Services is 01752 675653. Straight through to the queue, no button pressing menu options or recorded messages. Handy where you do not have inclusive 08** calls on your landline or contract mobile.

I remember that now!-yes that's good advice-got a 01 number for National Rail recently and it routes through London Midland call centre but they changed the routing recently and when u select the option to find out about train times it routes you to sales now!

Probably to avoid taking the hit for paying the call charges from people like me using this strategy!

 

[embers25]

Darn it forgot about that number...I also will be campaigning for a phone refund too lol! I hear also that some people have been kicked off trains too which si worse than me.
Flamingo I take your point about many fGW staff not being notified about this offer but the issue isn#t with guards querying the offer and checking with control its with the guards out there that took the guilty until proven innocent approach and with first class season ticket holders too.

 

[Flamingo]

It's OK, I wasn't defending the approach, if it was as poor as you said. I don't see what the first class season-ticket holder has to do with it, though, he shouldn't have been rude even if you had a standard class ticket!

Don't knock the guilty until proven innocent approach, though. If you heard the number of excuses and stories that implode on themselves, you'd realise it often saves a lot of time! (especially if the story begins "Well it's like this mate...")

 

[tannedfrog]

The offer may not be repeated, at least not in its present form if FGW don't feel they have increased revenue as much as expected.

Presumably the increased revenue would have been intended to be from the Take-A-Mate offer at £20 per person?

Rather than FGW expecting the likes of us to buy £8.70 season tickets that we wouldn't otherwise have bought!

 

[Flamingo]

Presumably the increased revenue would have been intended to be from the Take-A-Mate offer at £20 per person?

I've only seen one of these so far (unlike the Club 55, which are about 25% - 50% of all passengers on some trains, and 75% of First Class).

 

[tannedfrog]

The catering lady looked at me very suspiciously when I showed her my 1st class ticket with a price of £0.05 !!

 

[wintonian]

Wrong thread.

 

[Greenback]

Presumably the increased revenue would have been intended to be from the Take-A-Mate offer at £20 per person?

Rather than FGW expecting the likes of us to buy £8.70 season tickets that we wouldn't otherwise have bought!

Quite possibly! Whatever the reason, if the revenue increases aren't to FGW's liking, the offer will not be repeated in its present form! It seems likely FGW didn;t consider the possible implications carefully enough!

 

[tannedfrog]

Wrong thread.

which, my comment?!

 

[MikeWh]

which, my comment?!

No, his comment I think. If you post to the wrong thread you can't delete your post, even if it is still the last post. I've done it before. Other forums allow you to delete your own post if it is still the last in the thread. I wish this did.

 

[wintonian]

No, his comment I think. If you post to the wrong thread you can't delete your post, even if it is still the last post. I've done it before. Other forums allow you to delete your own post if it is still the last in the thread. I wish this did.

Correct.

I was aiming for the SailRail thread and must of had the forums open in another browser.

 

[lyesbkz]

I eventually managed to use this offer last weekend after a lot of hassle. Admittedly I was using the £8.70 7-day season ticket from Appleford to Culham, and on the Friday I managed to get a hold of tickets from the desk at Paddington for a return to Reading for use on the Saturday, which worked out fine.

However, on Saturday evening I attempted to get tickets (again in advance from the desk to avoid having any problems and possibly penalty fares on the train) from Paddington to Oxford, and I was told I could only get them on board the train. I asked about the ticket gates, which were operational, and I was told to show the voucher and my season ticket to the staff at the gates. The gate staff obviously had no idea about the promotion and sent me back to the ticket office, where after a lot of arguing about how to get onto the train to start with, they stamped my voucher and wrote "Kindly pass through barrier" on it, which presented no further problems.

And on the Sunday, I was told at Paddington (for the first time) that only monthly or longer season ticket holders could use the offer when attempting to travel to Cardiff. I travelled to Reading, where my return to Cardiff was issued with no questions asked.

There really was no continuity at all in what the staff knew about the offer!

Finally it should be noted that for my entire weekend of travel, my tickets were only actually ever checked twice, and those times were on the same journey! (returning from Cardiff to London Paddington).

 

[radamfi]

If you got a monthly season ticket for the offer, don't forget to get a refund on any remaining validity, if applicable, and if you can be bothered.