Railcard not arrived what are my options

[Daisygirl]

Hi, I am looking for some advice please, my disabled railcard hasn’t arrived yet and I’ve bought split tickets from Raileasy website, thinking my railcard would have arrived by now. What are my options if it doesn’t come tomorrow? (I am travelling early on Saturday), can I buy a ‘top up’ return ticket so paying an extra amount as if I didn’t have a railcard, or change the date of travel to next weekend? I’m option to any advice, or would showing my website railcard order suffice? I forgot to say that it is an advance return ticket. Thank you for your help

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Hi, I am looking for some advice please, my disabled railcard hasn’t arrived yet and I’ve bought split tickets from Raileasy website, thinking my railcard would have arrived by now. What are my options if it doesn’t come tomorrow? (I am travelling early on Saturday), can I buy a ‘top up’ return ticket so paying an extra amount as if I didn’t have a railcard, or change the date of travel to next weekend? I’m option to any advice, or would showing my website railcard order suffice? I forgot to say that it is an advance return ticket. Thank you for your help

Showing the order would probably not suffice, although if you asked the guard in question before boarding, they may "let you off".

There is also no entitlement to a Railcard "excess", however if you ask in advance (and possibly at a few different ticket offices if you cannot get such an excess at the first ticket office you try) you may be able to get one.

You can definitely change the date of your ticket; there is a standard £10 fee (plus or minus any increase in price) for doing this.

I'm afraid to say booking tickets with a Railcard discount before you have the Railcard is risky, and it's possible it won't have paid off here!

If the worst comes to the worst and you cannot get a Railcard excess and you don't want to change the date of the ticket, you can always get a refund on any walk-up-ticket element of your tickets (less the usual £10 fee).

 

[BlueFox]

it is an advance return ticket

Do you mean it's a return ticket you've bought in advance, or that it is two Advance single tickets, one for each direction?
There's no such thing as an Advance return ticket.

 

[FQTV]

Hi, I am looking for some advice please, my disabled railcard hasn’t arrived yet and I’ve bought split tickets from Raileasy website, thinking my railcard would have arrived by now. What are my options if it doesn’t come tomorrow? (I am travelling early on Saturday), can I buy a ‘top up’ return ticket so paying an extra amount as if I didn’t have a railcard, or change the date of travel to next weekend? I’m option to any advice, or would showing my website railcard order suffice? I forgot to say that it is an advance return ticket. Thank you for your help

Call the Railcard helpline in the morning on 0345 3000 250.

They open at 0700.

 

[MikeWh]

You can definitely change the date of your ticket; there is a standard £10 fee (plus or minus any difference in price) for doing this.

Has this changed? My understanding is that you don't get anything back if the new tickets are cheaper.

 

[_toommm_]

Has this changed? My understanding is that you don't get anything back if the new tickets are cheaper.

Not that I'm aware of either...

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Has this changed? My understanding is that you don't get anything back if the new tickets are cheaper.

Ah, sorry, my bad!

 

[BluePenguin]

Although rules are rules, it really makes my blood boil how you are forced to pay the £10 fee as well as having to pay to excess your tickets. If you leave a reasonable amount of time for your railcard to arrive when booking your tickets then surely the discression should be shown!

Ultimately the only reason you buy a railcard is to save money and if you have to pay full price for a set of tickets because it has not arrived yet, then not only are you out of pocket for the difference on those tickets but also will get less value from it, having saved less money during the duration or the railcards validity then you could have.

 

[Darandio]

Although rules are rules, it really makes my blood boil how you are forced to pay the £10 fee as well as having to pay to excess your tickets. If you leave a reasonable amount of time for your railcard to arrive when booking your tickets then surely the discression should be shown!

Was there a reasonable amount of time in this case? We actually don't know. Railcard discounted tickets should only really be bought when you have the railcard. That way this can never happen.

 

[30907]

Was there a reasonable amount of time in this case? We actually don't know. Railcard discounted tickets should only really be bought when you have the railcard. That way this can never happen.

Bit unfair if you are a new user and want an Advance though.

 

[Clip]

Bit unfair if you are a new user and want an Advance though.

From the website

Allow 10 working days* for your Railcard to be delivered

 

[Harpers Tate]

I have thought along that what should happen in any case where
- a railcard discounted ticket is held of any type
- and the railcard is not present whether through oversight, loss or (as here) not yet delivered
- and the customer presents themselves BEFORE attempting to travel
that one should be permitted to pay up the difference to the same ticket, undiscounted, without fee or penalty.
In fact, I don't see why this isn't routinely offered. It makes perfectly good business sense, never mind anything else.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What would make sense would be to do what SBB, DB etc do and give you a barcoded print-at-home temporary Railcard lasting maybe two weeks to account for delivery time.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I have thought along that what should happen in any case where
- a railcard discounted ticket is held of any type
- and the railcard is not present whether through oversight, loss or (as here) not yet delivered
- and the customer presents themselves BEFORE attempting to travel
that one should be permitted to pay up the difference to the same ticket, undiscounted, without fee or penalty.
In fact, I don't see why this isn't routinely offered. It makes perfectly good business sense, never mind anything else.

But that would make far too much sense for the fragmented, anti-passenger railway of today! There is more short term profit in making such passengers pay again entirely.

 

[Haywain]

I have thought along that what should happen in any case where
- a railcard discounted ticket is held of any type
- and the railcard is not present whether through oversight, loss or (as here) not yet delivered
- and the customer presents themselves BEFORE attempting to travel
that one should be permitted to pay up the difference to the same ticket, undiscounted, without fee or penalty.
In fact, I don't see why this isn't routinely offered. It makes perfectly good business sense, never mind anything else.

This is certainly routinely offered by LNER, and possibly by some other operators. Unfortunately it isn't a 'normal' excess and some TOCs seem to have increasing difficulty with any sort of excess fare.

 

[Hadders]

I agree about excesses in general. At Kings Cross a couple of weeks ago a clerk tried to tell me that there is no such thing as a change of route excess. Thankfully we got there in the end....

 

[Daisygirl]

Thanks for your replies - update is that my railcard arrived yesterday - BUT, my train was cancelled this morning because of the weather conditions - so now the question is, do I still have to pay the £10 fee when I send my tickets back and I need to rebook for next weekend, because there was no train for me to catch?

 

[Puffing Devil]

Thanks for your replies - update is that my railcard arrived yesterday - BUT, my train was cancelled this morning because of the weather conditions - so now the question is, do I still have to pay the £10 fee when I send my tickets back and I need to rebook for next weekend, because there was no train for me to catch?

You are entitled to a full refund, with no admin fee.

 

[Daisygirl]

You are entitled to a full refund, with no admin fee.

Thanks, I’m sending my tickets back to Raileasy, with a claim due to cancellation due to bad weather, hopefully they’ll refund all my journeys, as I don’t think the return one has been cancelled?

 

[Haywain]

I agree about excesses in general. At Kings Cross a couple of weeks ago a clerk tried to tell me that there is no such thing as a change of route excess. Thankfully we got there in the end....

I despair of people who may be my former colleagues.

 

[Puffing Devil]

You're entitled to a refund for the entire journey, it's one of the passenger rights in the National Conditions of Travel. Also, Raileasy/Trainsplit have been known to frequent this place so will be well placed to help

 

[Hadders]

I despair of people who may be my former colleagues.

On the positive side the team at LNER’s Stevenage Travel Centre are excellent. When Nigel retired I wondered if his replacement would be as knowledgable but he does seems to know his stuff. I’ve managed a couple of excesses and other reasonably complex transactions without any problems

 

[ess]

I thought the Railcard app on mobile devices allows for a railcard to be downloaded without needing a physical 'card'?

 

[_toommm_]

I thought the Railcard app on mobile devices allows for a railcard to be downloaded without needing a physical 'card'?

It does, but you need to select that as the delivery method at the time of purchase. You can have either or, not both a physical and a digital.

 

[Daisygirl]

Ok I’ve got an email saying my refund has been accepted, now for a silly question!
I’m booking split tickets again, and I want to return from a station on from the one from my outward journey, so in effect, booking a return journey but on the return journey, getting on the train one station on from the station I’m booking the return journey to - I’m paying one station worth of journey extra on the return. It’s just doing 2 separate journeys is £12 more which seems ridiculous, is it ok to do this?! The reason for getting on a different station coming back is because of going to a cat cafe with my daughter! (Time booked) and I wouldn’t have time to go to the other station in the time I’ve got to get back.

 

[BlueFox]

Ok I’ve got an email saying my refund has been accepted, now for a silly question!
I’m booking split tickets again, and I want to return from a station on from the one from my outward journey, so in effect, booking a return journey but on the return journey, getting on the train one station on from the station I’m booking the return journey to - I’m paying one station worth of journey extra on the return. It’s just doing 2 separate journeys is £12 more which seems ridiculous, is it ok to do this?! The reason for getting on a different station coming back is because of going to a cat cafe with my daughter! and I wouldn’t have time to go to the other station in the time I’ve got to get back.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say here. If you could tell us the exact journey you're making, including times and dates, I'm sure someone will be able to advise the best way to do it.

 

[Daisygirl]

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say here. If you could tell us the exact journey you're making, including times and dates, I'm sure someone will be able to advise the best way to do it.

Sorry, I know I didn’t explain very well, I’m doing a return to Bristol Parkway, but on my return journey I’m getting on at one station nearer home (Bristol Temple Meads) so is this ok to do?, but it’s booked from Bristol Parkway. It’s return on the same day

 

[_toommm_]

Sorry, I know I didn’t explain very well, I’m doing a return to Bristol Parkway, but on my return journey I’m getting on at one station nearer home (Bristol Temple Meads) so is this ok to do?, but it’s booked from Bristol Parkway. It’s return on the same day

As long as these tickets aren't advance tickets - if it's an advance the barriers won't accept it at BTM and you may be charged again if somehow you so get through the barriers and are caught. If it's just a regular return - that's fine. There are no problems 'starting short' as it's known

 

[Daisygirl]

No it just says off peak day return, there are seat reservations, and on the part of the journey in question, there’s a seat reservation covering both Bristol stations (from Bristol parkway to Taunton)

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

No it just says off peak day return, there are seat reservations, and on the part of the journey in question, there’s a seat reservation covering both stations (from Bristol parkway to Taunton)

In that case it is quite alright: if you are in any way unsure you can always click on the link (either at the basket stage or in the confirmation email) which explains the ticket conditions. This will make clear that "break of journey" - which is what you want to do - is permitted on an Off-Peak Day Return. In fact, it is permitted on almost all tickets other than Advances.