Gold card on Heathrow Express

[island]

I bought a HEX single from the HEX office at PAD showing my gold card on Tuesday and was given a ticket marked NSE for £13 (instead of £12.50, 34% off £19). Apparently the HEX machines don't make a distinction between network cards and gold cards. I know it's only 50p, but what's the best way of (a) following this up and (b) getting around it in future?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Agree that you appear to have have been over-charged 50p.

If you consider it worthwhile, you could always write to:-

Customer Relations,
Freepost RLXY – ETJG – XKZS,
Heathrow Express,
London.
W2 6LG.

and see what response you get (!)

 

[dzug2]

I wonder if buying it at the main ticket office would be a possibility?

The FGW site prices it at £12.50

 

[island]

Might try an FGW TVM next time as well.

 

[jon0844]

I always got NSE too - never even realised there was a difference in the discount (ah, it's the £13 minimum on a weekday isn't it - which only applies to Network Railcards).

Damn, I probably overpaid a fair few times too!

 

[Dave A]

Yep, that will be the minmum fare rule (as the GOLD card follows the same ones as the NSE Card).

£13 is the correct fare.

 

[A60K]

When did it change?

 

[34D]

Yep, that will be the minmum fare rule (as the GOLD card follows the same ones as the NSE Card).

£13 is the correct fare.

It didn't used to though.

 

[barrykas]

Apart from the £5.60 minimum for "in-boundary" Off-Peak Day Travelcards, there is NO minimum fare for Gold Card discounted tickets.

The only recent change is the increase of the Child fare from £1 to £2.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Dave A]

http://www.railcard.co.uk/network/terms

6) A £13 minimum fare applies to all journeys Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

HEx use the same T&C's for GOLD cards.

The reason why they may not always charge the correct fare is a training issue. The TOM's (Ticket Office Machine's) are correctly programmed, however the same can't be said for all the staff...

 

[barrykas]

http://www.railcard.co.uk/network/terms
HEx use the same T&C's for GOLD cards.

Where is that documented? The HEx website just mentions a 34% discount, both Journey Planner and FasTIS give the normal discounted rate of £12.50, and the relevant page in The Manual says "Normal Railcard discounts apply."

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Dave A]

HEx make up their own rules mate. When I worked there, that is what was trained... :?

 

[barrykas]

HEx make up their own rules mate. When I worked there, that is what was trained... :?

Fair enough...So the obvious answer is to make sure you buy your ticket from the main Ticket Office at Paddington, or any other station, not the HEx one then.

 

[jon0844]

Fair enough...So the obvious answer is to make sure you buy your ticket from the main Ticket Office at Paddington, or any other station, not the HEx one then.

And if you can get your return sorted, all the better. I've had many situations where for whatever reason there's nobody at the ticket desk at Heathrow and not wanted to wait all night, and you must therefore pay the full price as there's no discount from a TVM (Crazy reason why - apparently people would get them without having railcards, yet it would be invalid and net HEX a whole new ticket sale and all trains have TMs) and you can't buy on board with a discount, and will get stung for the premium too.

 

[LondonJohn]

I had the same thing when I tried to buy a ticket at the T123 terminal a couple of weeks ago. Firstly I was told no discount, then I was told min fare £13 then he said oh I'll put it through as a weekend ticket and it had NSE on it.

I have sent an email off to HEX and asked for their staff to have better training to avoid the delays at it took 9 mins to serve me and the unhappy queue was building up behind me.

 

[jon0844]

It's really frustrating when staff can't issue tickets as you end up feeling that everyone waiting behind you is blaming you! And not only do you get the daggers in the back, but you'll probably miss your train too.

 

[Dave A]

I have sent an email off to HEX and asked for their staff to have better training to avoid the delays at it took 9 mins to serve me and the unhappy queue was building up behind me.

Sorry mate, but if they listen, I'll eat my shoes!

There are no designated training staff currently, and the one person who did ticketing when I was started 4 years back, knew less than me. The company fail to do re-training on ticketing (even though all staff have a day rostered for training every 7 weeks), and the only managers who even have vague knowledge of ticketing, are ones who used to sell them (about 2/3)...

Sadly, as long as they can keep roping in tourists to their trap and charging extortinate amounts, they don't give a hoot about anything else...

Fair enough...So the obvious answer is to make sure you buy your ticket from the main Ticket Office at Paddington, or any other station, not the HEx one then.

Even buy it from the FGW TVM's at Paddington mate. They allow railcard discounts, & might still have the old prices on! Just make sure it's a HEx one, & not a Connect.

 

[jon0844]

Or just take Heathrow Connect which is loads cheaper and not much slower, especially if you just miss a HEX when the time difference becomes even less.

(Obviously it's worse if you just miss the Connect!)

 

[LondonJohn]

Sorry mate, but if they listen, I'll eat my shoes!

There are no designated training staff currently, and the one person who did ticketing when I was started 4 years back, knew less than me. The company fail to do re-training on ticketing (even though all staff have a day rostered for training every 7 weeks), and the only managers who even have vague knowledge of ticketing, are ones who used to sell them (about 2/3)...

Sadly, as long as they can keep roping in tourists to their trap and charging extortinate amounts, they don't give a hoot about anything else...



Even buy it from the FGW TVM's at Paddington mate. They allow railcard discounts, & might still have the old prices on! Just make sure it's a HEx one, & not a Connect.

I wouldnt normally go by HEX but my flight was considerably early and I hadnt spent as much money on my trip as Id budgeted for so I thought why not. If it happened again I would just wait patiently until the matter was sorted out no matter how long that took. I am sure the 20-30 people in the queue might not like it but hey thats down to HEX.

I did notice that they had staff in the arrivals area tax free shopping selling tickets from their machines round their necks. I am guessing that they wouldnt do railcard discounts.

 

[jon0844]

No, they don't. I asked.

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[LondonJohn]

Or just take Heathrow Connect which is loads cheaper and not much slower, especially if you just miss a HEX when the time difference becomes even less.

(Obviously it's worse if you just miss the Connect!)

I've done that a couple of times and gone to Ealing Broadway then got the Central Line to Stratford not too bad.. frustrating thing is that when I do fly into Heathrow its usually a Sunday after a weekend away and the Connext Service is only hourly.

I remember when the Heathrow Express was called Heathrow Fast Rail and went to Heathrow Junction where you would have to transfer to buses to the terminals

 

[A60K]

Yes, a temporary arrangement to get staff trained until the tunnel was ready - I had almost forgotten about that!

 

[Dave A]

I did notice that they had staff in the arrivals area tax free shopping selling tickets from their machines round their necks. I am guessing that they wouldnt do railcard discounts.

Yeah, those guys work on commision, so even though they can, they wouldn't... :roll:

 

[jon0844]

Yeah, those guys work on commision, so even though they can, they wouldn't... :roll:

Surely they earn something for selling a discounted ticket (and they can ask to see the railcard if necessary) than nothing at all?

I do wonder if it's a training thing though. Maybe being told that I couldn't get a discount was because the person didn't have a clue what I was talking about or how to do it? Perhaps they only get told how to sell singles and returns.

 

[LondonJohn]

Yeah, those guys work on commision, so even though they can, they wouldn't... :roll:

I wasn't overly concerned and it was an impulsive decision to get the Heathrow Express and there was no time factor but I would not have moved away from the counter until I had the correct ticket. I did feel sorry for the poor guy as he was really squirming and the queue was building up.

I am flying to/from Heathrow several times in the next few weeks so will explore all options depending on the circumstances but usually travelling from the airport I am in no hurry so won't be moving from the queue until I had been sold the correct ticket.

In the unlikely event that I would be travelling from Paddington I am sure it could be purchased from a TVM at the station.

 

[island]

I did notice that they had staff in the arrivals area tax free shopping selling tickets from their machines round their necks. I am guessing that they wouldnt do railcard discounts.

They do. I've bought one before.

 

[jon0844]

What magic did you use? Or did you find 'the one'?!

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[island]

What magic did you use? Or did you find 'the one'?!

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I just asked for it, showed the railcard, and handed over my Amex.

 

[jon0844]

Then you are the chosen one!!

I shall remember to point out that they issued them before next time I am at Heathrow and didn't buy my ticket in advance.

 

[island]

HEX doesn't sell railcard tickets online or at TVMs, which is bloody annoying.