Online Booking Confirmation not received

[davowolf]

If you don't get an email back after booking online, to confirm your booking, you could be in trouble. You need the booking reference to punch into the concourse machine to get your tickets. Two things on this occasion got me out of jail: 1. I'm not travelling till December 4th and 2. I had the foresight to write down the code before leaving the screen. Pity anyone who is travelling 'tomorrow' and didn't make a note of the number.

 

[Romilly]

I agree about not leaving the booking site until either I have noted down the booking reference or I have seen the confirmation email arrive.

Just one other thought: have you checked your Spam folder/label for the confirmation email?

 

[theblackwatch]

The other place you should be able to retrieve the booking details from is by going to 'my bookings' or similar in you account on whatever website you are using.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or failing that phone the company with whom you booked. It's not a "send once and delete" thing. Provided you can give them enough information to find it and confirm who you are, it shouldn't be hard to find it out.

 

[SickyNicky]

I agree with all of the above. When making a booking online it's best to:

1) Take a screen shot of the confirmation page, which will include the reference number and itinerary, along with any ticket restrictions.

2) Save the email somewhere safe. If you don't receive an email, it's usually because your email provider has rejected it as spam without your permission. It happens all the time, and I frequently have to look at logs to prove this was the case.

3) If you receive neither of the two, or you lose them, please give us (or whoever you bought the tickets from) a call. For example, we're always happy to answer the phone and chase up any missing reference numbers. We always keep them on file here.

4) If something goes wrong during the collection, ring us (or whoever you're using). Most of the time it's a problem with the machines, but we'll talk you through the process and make sure you don't lose out financially.

5) If everything goes wrong, and it's not your fault, and you can't get hold of anyone, buy some new tickets there and then and we'll make sure you son't lose out financially. But that wouldn't cover you just forgetting the booking reference. But even then, you could still get a refund on the original tickets, and we would often waive the refund fee (depending on circumstances).

 

[gray1404]

Am I correct that using Trainsplit you do not pay any additional fees or booking fees? If so, I know a lot of people who I could have switch to buying tickets from yourselves.

 

[maniacmartin]

Trainsplit only charges a percentage of any saving that the site finds compared to buying through tickets.

 

[IanD]

Am I correct that using Trainsplit you do not pay any additional fees or booking fees? If so, I know a lot of people who I could have switch to buying tickets from yourselves.

Trainsplit only charges a percentage of any saving that the site finds compared to buying through tickets.

That's a long way of saying "No".

 

[snail]

The other place you should be able to retrieve the booking details from is by going to 'my bookings' or similar in you account on whatever website you are using.

Most of the TOC phone apps will give you the booking reference under My Tickets, including ones ordered through the TOCs website.

 

[yorkie]

That's a long way of saying "No".

We get a lot of people visiting this forum through Google searches, so it's useful for a complete answer to be provided, to avoid any possible confusion

 

[davowolf]

Thanks all for that.... As the OP, I just looked at the TOC web site again from which I originally booked (https://www.southwesttrains.co.uk). I can't immediately see where I can log into an account in order to see a 'My Tickets' section.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks all for that.... As the OP, I just looked at the TOC web site again from which I originally booked (https://www.southwesttrains.co.uk). I can't immediately see where I can log into an account in order to see a 'My Tickets' section.

Awful website, I can't see any such option either. I'd avoid it!

 

[Puffing Devil]

The free version of Evernote with the Web Clipper plugin is great for saving confirmation screens at the click of a mouse.

 

[davowolf]

I'm afraid talk of 'Trainsplit', 'Evernote' and 'Web Clipper' is all news to me. In defence of SWT, their customer service did reply to an email, confirming that my booking ref was valid. I'm holding my breath for December 4th 2016 when I travel, that it works at the machine. But they didn't at first offer any apology or explanation of no email Booking Confirmation, until I prompted them for one. Only then did they admit it was their error.

 

[maniacmartin]

You don't need to wait until the day of travel. You could pick up the tickets now if you wanted.

 

[londonbridge]

Whenever I book anything online I print the confirmation screen with the booking reference as a pdf and save it in a folder I've labelled as 'pdfs, ticket confos and receipts', then I've got an offline copy as well as the email. I keep the pdf copy until after the ticket has been used or I've received and checked the item(s) purchased before deleting it.

 

[D6975]

Whenever I book anything online I print the confirmation screen with the booking reference as a pdf and save it in a folder I've labelled as 'pdfs, ticket confos and receipts', then I've got an offline copy as well as the email. I keep the pdf copy until after the ticket has been used or I've received and checked the item(s) purchased before deleting it.

I do a similar thing, I print the webpage to pdf (this doesn't produce a print, it saves the webpage as a pdf document). I put this in my bookings and orders folder, where I also put things like hotel reservations, Amazon purchases etc. I also pick up rail tickets well before the date of travel just in case of any problems extracting tickets from the machines.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Whenever I book anything online I print the confirmation screen with the booking reference as a pdf and save it in a folder I've labelled as 'pdfs, ticket confos and receipts', then I've got an offline copy as well as the email. I keep the pdf copy until after the ticket has been used or I've received and checked the item(s) purchased before deleting it.

I do a similar thing, I print the webpage to pdf (this doesn't produce a print, it saves the webpage as a pdf document). I put this in my bookings and orders folder, where I also put things like hotel reservations, Amazon purchases etc. I also pick up rail tickets well before the date of travel just in case of any problems extracting tickets from the machines.

Evernote will do this for you - page clipped and stored in the cloud for future use with a single click.

 

[IanD]

Whenever I book anything online I print the confirmation screen with the booking reference as a pdf and save it in a folder I've labelled as 'pdfs, ticket confos and receipts', then I've got an offline copy as well as the email. I keep the pdf copy until after the ticket has been used or I've received and checked the item(s) purchased before deleting it.

I do a similar thing, I print the webpage to pdf (this doesn't produce a print, it saves the webpage as a pdf document). I put this in my bookings and orders folder, where I also put things like hotel reservations, Amazon purchases etc. I also pick up rail tickets well before the date of travel just in case of any problems extracting tickets from the machines.

I get a pencil, write it on a post-it note, fold it over and put it in my pocket.

 

[maniacmartin]

I get a pencil, write it on a post-it note, fold it over and put it in my pocket.

Me too! But I check the email has arrived first before closing the web page.

 

[davowolf]

True MM but wasn't planning a trip to Waterloo from Chesham just to get the tickets.

 

[philthetube]

lovely walk through the woods to Gt. Missenden, calling at the Red Lion at Lt. Missenden for roast Lamb shoulder.

 

[swt_passenger]

The other place you should be able to retrieve the booking details from is by going to 'my bookings' or similar in you account on whatever website you are using.

A good reason not to book with SWT, who appear (to the best of my knowledge) to have dropped the idea of an online account completely.

 

[bb21]

True MM but wasn't planning a trip to Waterloo from Chesham just to get the tickets.

You don't need to go to Waterloo. You can pick it up from any convenient National Rail station with collection facilities.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

A good reason not to book with SWT, who appear (to the best of my knowledge) to have dropped the idea of an online account completely.

The new website is a nightmare to navigate around.

 

[CheesyChips]

I get a pencil, write it on a post-it note, fold it over and put it in my pocket.

Pencil? Never heard of an app with that name

 

[davowolf]

Ahhh bb21 (and MM), forgive me for being inexperienced in these things I'm only an occasional traveller. So could I pick the tickets up at, say, Amersham rather than Waterloo from where I'm travelling on December 4th ?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Ahhh bb21 (and MM), forgive me for being inexperienced in these things I'm only an occasional traveller. So could I pick the tickets up at, say, Amersham rather than Waterloo from where I'm travelling on December 4th ?

Unfortunately not, as Amersham is operated by London Underground, thus doesn't have the facility to collect prebooked tickets.

The nearest alternative stations that offer ticket collection are Berkhamsted, operated by London Midland, and Beaconsfield or Great Missenden, both operated by Chiltern Railways.

 

[davowolf]

Thanks CW.... thats really useful info. I'll get to Berko on my way to skiing at HH next week. It'll avoid the problem I had with the same journey this time last year with SWT; Waterloo to Southampton (R). You all might like to read about it on My Profile/Statistics.... Its a horror story. Maybe worth highlighting on a separate thread even.