• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Is this correct or have I been mis-sold my ticket?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,430
Location
Yorkshire
Yorkie I believe when I have enquired in the past about getting a refund for an unused ticket, I was advised the administration cost would be £10 yet my ticket was £9.05. I am more upset about the £40, I am a student and I know this doesn’t seem a lot of money but to me that sort of money is needed for food.
There is no admin fee for an unused ticket if the train is cancelled or delayed. I think if you wrote to Virgin with an explanation as to what happened and enclose both tickets, you should get a refund of the original ticket from them (assuming they sold it) on that basis.

But of course that's a much lower amount than you'd get if you can persuade XC to refund you, but that may be more difficult to achieve.

You could write to both companies, though it's such a tangled mess it will probably cost you, XC and Virgin more than £40 in time spent corresponding about the issue! If you remain unhappy you could refer the matter to the Ombudsman: https://www.railombudsman.org/
 

Upset76

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2019
Messages
38
Does it matter how long the train was delayed for? I have my outgoing ticket but my return was eaten by the barrier
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,430
Location
Yorkshire
Does it matter how long the train was delayed for? I have my outgoing ticket but my return was eaten by the barrier
Actually if you used the return portion you can't get a refund on it from Virgin. Your best hope is that XC will refund you the new ticket, but that could be a big battle.

I've entered into a few battles with train companies and it often costs me more in the value of my time than I get back; it's infuriating.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,533
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
It might be worth writing to Virgin CS and asking for a goodwill gesture based on you having paid £40.05 rather than the £22.25 Wolves ticket office would have charged you if their guard had advised correctly. That said, they could come back with "well you did board a train without a valid ticket and got let off half of it", as by rights the VT guard could have charged you an Anytime Single to Wolves as well.
 

JB_B

Established Member
Joined
27 Dec 2013
Messages
1,411
Yes I have sought to claim a refund. Thank you, I have never heard of ticket endorsement before today but now know for future reference.

It is good advice to get your ticket endorsed in this sort of situation. Sadly, not all rail staff are confident doing this (putting something in writing) but are happy to just to tell you what to do (no doubt with the best of intentions.)

I've had a good experience with staff at Exeter Central (GWR) who endorsed our tickets and even came up with a better value solution than I'd thought of (even though the original problem was SWR's responsibility).

On the other hand I've had a point blank refusal from a staff member at SouthEastern because GTR's letter to SE re availability during disruption managed to mention every single station on the Uckfield line except the tiny halt we were travelling from. (I'd award 50/50 culpability for that.)

He still assured us 'you'll be fine' but wouldn't put anything in writing.
 
Last edited:

Upset76

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2019
Messages
38
I don’t mind a battle in terms of my time but can’t afford any further financial expense @yorkie. Honestly the XC man was just so unpleasant and hostile and seemed to relish in making the experience as difficult as possible and as profitable as possible for them.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,430
Location
Yorkshire
I don’t mind a battle in terms of my time but can’t afford any further financial expense @yorkie. Honestly the XC man was just so unpleasant and hostile and seemed to relish in making the experience as difficult as possible and as profitable as possible for them.
In that case definitely complain to XC. It may well be the case that XC have other complaints about the person in question; I know some of their Guards on this route are infamous for being obnoxious. I'll proof read the complaint if you like.

If a Guard is going to charge someone who has made a mistake, they should at least do it politely.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,533
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
If a Guard is going to charge someone who has made a mistake, they should at least do it politely.

Agreed. "I'm afraid I can't let you off without written authority as I have no proof you were told that, so I'll have to charge you an Anytime Single to Manchester, sorry" with a tone of "it's more than my job's worth; I could find myself in trouble here if I let you off", as it were, might be annoying, but it's at least polite and apologetic.

If you were on a budget but not in a hurry, he could perhaps also have worked out if an Anytime Single to the next stop (Stafford?) and then you get off and buy another ticket and get on the following train might have saved you money?
 

Bertie the bus

Established Member
Joined
15 Aug 2014
Messages
2,781
To be fair the OP was presumably on Platform 6 waiting for the xx.11 to Manchester when the late-running xx.01 to Euston via Brum rolled in. Under the circumstances not an unreasonable mistake to make.
Platform 5, not 6. It could be confusing and I wasn’t there but I do know that Crewe are pretty good with announcements when things like that happen. If they know people are waiting on a platform for a train A and train B arrives first they normally make announcements to inform passengers for train A it isn’t their train and to wait for further announcements.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,533
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Platform 5, not 6. It could be confusing and I wasn’t there but I do know that Crewe are pretty good with announcements when things like that happen. If they know people are waiting on a platform for a train A and train B arrives first they normally make announcements to inform passengers for train A it isn’t their train and to wait for further announcements.

There's also it being in the opposite direction, though I guess a non-enthusiast might not notice that.
 

Upset76

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2019
Messages
38
I think I was just in a world of my own. The problem was before I got to the platform I looked at the board and saw my train was due to arrive at 10.16. So when “a train” arrived precisely at that time I just thought it was right. Stupid I know.
 

Geswedey

Member
Joined
8 Jul 2016
Messages
48
Whilst I believe the OP has made an initial mistake and believed that they would be ok after seeing the VWC staff member. with a ticket timed and dated from Crewe it couldn't be anything other than a mistake both trains at Crewe would been in Virgin livery so not as if the OP had been expecting to board a Northern or TFW service.

I have been an RPI in the past and have heard it all, each situation is different and needs to be treated and assessed as such, whilst I agree the XC conductor didn't really do anything wrong if I had been presented with the same evidence in the same timeframes I know what I would have done.

Unfortunately there are a lot of dishonest people about. my favourite "I boarded the wrong train" concerns an elderly couple in the days of open stations boarding a non stop train from Reading to Exeter with tickets for Didcot and saying to the Guard "we appeared to have boarded the wrong train" the guard endorsed their tickets to go back to Reading when they got to Exeter the passengers left station and boarded a local bus.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,430
Location
Yorkshire
Unfortunately there are a lot of dishonest people about. my favourite "I boarded the wrong train" concerns an elderly couple in the days of open stations boarding a non stop train from Reading to Exeter with tickets for Didcot and saying to the Guard "we appeared to have boarded the wrong train" the guard endorsed their tickets to go back to Reading when they got to Exeter the passengers left station and boarded a local bus.
Yes, which is the opposite scenario to what we have here, where the clear evidence is that the person did take the first available train back.
 

Geswedey

Member
Joined
8 Jul 2016
Messages
48
Yes, which is the opposite scenario to what we have here, where the clear evidence is that the person did take the first available train back.
Indeed As I said I believe the OP and the timing evidence provided backs that up. too many ticket examiners are programmed to believe everyone is dishonest and treat them as such without looking at the evidence. I wouldn't have charged the OP anything but you can understand why people do get charged because of the dishonest ones amongst us.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top