NationalExpress East Coast site doesn't appear to be doing railcards properly.

[digitaltoast]

On every other site, if I check the price of a saver return from Reading to Worcester with a network card, it comes out as £23.75. On the NXEC site, excellent though it usually is, even though it definitely says you've added the railcard, it still shows £34. I've taken it right up to the booking page, and it's still like that.

Incidentally, with this 5 day return thing, Reading > Worcester is a new journey to me, and £23.75 seems to be a standard walk on 5 day return fare - would I do well to book a seat on a weekday 5pm train, and if so, even though that's a walk-on fare, would I be limited to that seat?

 

[adambro]

I've just checked and had the same experience as you regarding the NXEC website, it would appear that they don't know what area the Network Railcard covers perhaps.

The saver return is valid for one calendar month after the outbound date on the ticket, you can return anytime within a month. Whether to book a seat or not is of course up to you and not being familiar with this route I can't comment whether it would be wise but because the ticket is as you note walk-on fare, although you can still reserve a specific train, it doesn't matter if you change your plans because it isn't a compulsory reservation.

 

[voyagerdude220]

A few weeks ago, the NXEC website tried to convince me that the FOR between Manchester and London was somewhere in the region of £540! hock:

When I then decided to test it on the prices of AP singles between Birmingham & London, it was showing a £50 fare for £107, £14 for £43 etc

A few hours after this, however, it appeared to revert to the correct prices....

 

[digitaltoast]

It's been four weeks and four phone calls from me since I reported it.

They know when I logged it, they know about it, but still they are not applying the Network Card discount. Are they breaking some sort of T&C?

I just tried to get a voucher out of them, pointing out that it wasn't my job to do their job! No go initially, let's see how it goes later when I have a Passenger Focus reference!

Much as I love the NXEC website, this really isn't good enough.

UPDATE: I just got a call back from NXEC. They know there's a problem. But apparently, they won't be able to do anything about it until the autumn!

So ALL the people who don't know what the correct price for a ticket is, will be ripped off by a third. Much as I love their site, this really isn't good enough, so I've logged a complaint with Passenger Focus.

 

[djw1981]

Try also complaining to Trading Standards - both local to you and in York where NXEC is based.

 

[digitaltoast]

I complained to both Trading Standards and Passenger Focus on 29th July.
No response from either yet, and NXEC website is still not showing the correct fare.
This has been over 2 months now. Can anyone offer some legal and press advice to spread the word further?

 

[rail-britain]

They are not actually breaching any law or regulations
All tickets and sales are subject to availability, and that includes website operation, availability, and discounts
Sadly the only solution is to try another website or purchase at a manned rail station

 

[digitaltoast]

Oh, so there is NO way, apart from checking across at least two site, that you know you are being sold the right ticket?
So someone could be paying an extra £100, having paid £20 thinking this attracted a discount, and not knowing that discount wasn't given?

For example, let's say I make a regular commute, buy a ticket twice weekly, pay £30 instead of £20, and assume that because I paid my £20 and ticket the railcard box, that I would get the discount.
And so, over the year, I end up paying £3120 instead of £2080.

And there is NOTHING to prevent rail companies doing that? Well, that totally sucks AND blows at the same time!

 

[rail-britain]

I encounter the same problems when booking online, even though they are supposed to use the same backend sofware and database
I use :
virgintrains.co.uk
trainfares.co.uk
nationalexpresseastcoast.com

Quite often you can get different fares and options, and other times no results at all, even though you have put in the same details
Obviously if the route is wholly NXEC then their own website will discount the fare by 10%, so that can be quite a saving on its own

I tend to book most of mine at virgintrains.co.uk as the tickets are sent from Edinburgh and usually arrive next day
If that's unlikely, then I print that page out and take it to my local station between 20:00 and 21:00, and book from there

 

[digitaltoast]

I tend to book most of mine at virgintrains.co.uk as the tickets are sent from Edinburgh and usually arrive next day

Ah, I usually collect at station, as most of the companies print those ridiculous tickets the size of a small country which you have to fold 20 times to get into your wallet. And as everyone knows, you can't fold anything more than 7 times (apparently) therefore the mere act of folding it causes a rupture in both the space-time continuum, and my wallet.

If that's unlikely, then I print that page out and take it to my local station between 20:00 and 21:00, and book from there

Is there a reason for that, other than no queues?
Am I missing some special deal? Is it like Tescos, where if you go at 7pm on a Tuesday you can usually get a whole roast goose for 7p or something?

 

[rail-britain]

I go to Glasgow Central an hour before closing, simply as I can then spend time purchasing the ticket and then checking what seats are still available

 

[digitaltoast]

Having got no-where except some lovely vouchers from National Express, I wrote to toothless watchdog Passenger Focus and here's what I got back yesterday, by letter (they don't seem to "do" email!) - remember, it's been nearly FOUR MONTHS since I first told NXEC about this (yes, over QUARTER OF A YEAR of overcharging people - that's gotta be some truly crappy software company they use!).

Thank you for your call on 31 July [note: 3rd call to chase PF] regarding your complaint about the inability to select a Network Railcard discount on the NXEC website. I'm sorry to hear that you have been unable to purchase tickets as a result and can fully understand your frustration with this.

I have discussed this issue with the customer relations manager at NXEC who in turn has investigated this problem with their web development team. It appears that there is a fault with the booking engine as clearly this discount should be available to Network Railcard holders wanting to purchase tickets for this route. This has been escalated to the supplier of the software for the website so that the problem may be resolved.

Unfortunately I am unable to give an exact date for when this will be resolved as this incorporates an outsourced supplier with NXEC. Nevertheless, I have asked that I be kept informed on the progress of this and will continue to press for a speedy resolution.
*
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Your comments will prove invaluable to supporting our work with NXEC to erradicate such issues.

 

[djw1981]

There is an issue with upgrading software which is in customer contact - unless NXEC had built 'downtime' into the ATOS Origin contract - for info on ATOS Origin and their software, read a few Private Eye columns about government / public sector computer systems. Just be thankful that EDS didn't get that contract

 

[digitaltoast]

I don't pretend to understand any of that! However, if all the others can do it, why is it taking NXEC over quarter of a year to sort this out?!

I still can't believe it's perfectly OK for them to charge the incorrect railcard fare (when a railcard is something you pay for!) That's shocking.

 

[will1337]

djw1981 was pointing out how hopeless the government and it's relations are at anything IT related.

 

[don24]

Anyone having problems with purchasing a ticket on their wesite using a Solo card? It appears to reject it. I now have to use my credit card

 

[Mojo]

Anyone having problems with purchasing a ticket on their wesite using a Solo card? It appears to reject it. I now have to use my credit card

As far as I am aware, none of the Railway Company websites which sell the standard range of tickets accept Solo or Visa Electron, except for Print@home or Megatrain.

 

[Pumbaa]

I've used electron before with NatEx website, and some trainline powered ticket sites as well.