Northern stating (incorrectly) tickets ARE transferrable

[_toommm_]

Just been scrolling through Twitter and seen this on Northern's feed - drastically wrong information, which could leave the passenger's wife in a very sticky situation:

Passenger: Morning. I wondered if when I am not using my season ticket can my wife use it like unused single tickets? I can't find anywhere in your terms that says I can't, but she doesn't have a photo card. Can you point me to the t&C's that explain this.

Northern: Hi Christian, unfortunately your wife would need to have a valid photo card to be able to use a season ticket on our services. All information in regards to this can be found here: https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/faq/railcards-and-season-tickets I hope this helps and that you have a nice day ^CM.

Passenger: Just thinking if my wife wanted to use it on say the weekend she could use my already paid for ticket. I mean a standard ticket holder can do this so I assume a season ticket holder could too?

Northern: Hi Christian, if your wife wishes to use your season ticket for travel, there is no rule against this. As advised, she will first have to obtain a photo card from the ticket office.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

If the passenger buys a ticket on that basis, it's a contractual term as per Section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and as such, it's binding on Northern. Of course conductors etc. may not be happy with it, but they would be contractually obliged to accept it.

 

[_toommm_]

If the passenger buys a ticket on that basis, it's a contractual term as per Section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and as such, it's binding on Northern. Of course conductors etc. may not be happy with it, but they would be contractually obliged to accept it.

I'm amazed something so basic is seemingly out of reach of Northern...

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm amazed something so basic is seemingly out of reach of Northern...

Grossly incompetent. I'm amazed. Well, not that amazed.

 

[_toommm_]

I'm not one of those people who lurks on TOC Twitter accounts as if it was their job to reply to passenger, but I did feel the need to (politely) point it out on this occasion (via PM to avoid embarrassment/conflict):

'Hi, I was looking through your Tiwtter to try and find a certain tweet and came across this series of tweets. I feel you have a duty to correct yourselves on this as season tickets are NOT transferable. Each season ticket has a photo card number on, so even if the gentleman's wife was to get a photo card, the ticket would NOT be valid with it as it would be a different photo card number, rendering the gentleman's wife with an invalid ticket.'

and

'Heaven forbid if revenue inspection boarded the wife's train and caught her, as she would believe she was in the right as she was told by CM that season tickets are transferable...'

 

[robbeech]

I’m in no way surprised. Not even slightly. These are the people that tell you that overnight break of journey isn’t permitted on an SVR, that you must buy your ticket online if there is no ticket office and the machine is broken, that you aren’t entitled to delay repay if they cancel a service, that you aren’t entitled to delay repay on multimodal tickets, season tickets, advanced tickets for anything more than the northern leg, and countless other things. The only thing different about this thing is unlike most other things it actually gives MORE flexibility than allowed.

I AM one that will correct them frequently when they’re wrong, or remind customers of what they’re really entitled to when they conveniently give them bad advice or forget to tell them. Many people don’t like this but unfortunately I don’t like watching them get away with treating their customers so badly.

 

[_toommm_]

I’m in no way surprised. Not even slightly. These are the people that tell you that overnight break of journey isn’t permitted on an SVR, that you must buy your ticket online if there is no ticket office and the machine is broken, that you aren’t entitled to delay repay if they cancel a service, that you aren’t entitled to delay repay on multimodal tickets, season tickets, advanced tickets for anything more than the northern leg, and countless other things. The only thing different about this thing is unlike most other things it actually gives MORE flexibility than allowed.

I AM one that will correct them frequently when they’re wrong, or remind customers of what they’re really entitled to when they conveniently give them bad advice or forget to tell them. Many people don’t like this but unfortunately I don’t like watching them get away with treating their customers so badly.

I'm not normally one to intervene in a public setting such as Twitter - I'll argue all day long over email and over the phone when things go wrong and they're not getting put right, but this was the first time I was genuinely shocked that anyone could give such awful advice.

 

[robbeech]

As They are above the law it seems they’ll get away with hanging the person’s poor wife if she does what she has been told is ok to do. There doesn’t appear to be anyone to stop them.

 

[_toommm_]

Seems they've deleted the aforementioned tweets, and they've messaged me back thanking me for pointing it out and they've 'cleared up the confusion' as they put it.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Seems they've deleted the aforementioned tweets, and they've messaged me back thanking me for pointing it out and they've 'cleared up the confusion' as they put it.

One strongly hopes that they genuinely *have* contacted the original customer, rather than merely deeming deletion of the tweets sufficient to "clear up the confusion" - otherwise, if the incorrect advice is followed and revenue inspection picked up on the issue, the gentleman's wife will now be unable to prove that incorrect advice was given.

 

[davetheguard]

One strongly hopes that they genuinely *have* contacted the original customer, rather than merely deeming deletion of the tweets sufficient to "clear up the confusion" - otherwise, if the incorrect advice is followed and revenue inspection picked up on the issue, the gentleman's wife will now be unable to prove that incorrect advice was given.

And just as importantly, that "CM" has been properly briefed about tickets not being transferable, to stop such bad advice being given again. I always tend to lean towards "slip-up" rather than "conspiracy" in these circumstances, but TOC's really should ensure that staff answering ticket enquiries are properly & comprehensibly trained first!