Not sure if this is the right area - please move if necessary.
I have just had the most ridiculous response ever from Customer Relations at West Midlands Trains.
I split my time between South Yorkshire and Northants - in Northants my nearest station is Long Buckby (LBK) which in what seems forever has never had the ticket office open even at advertised times. I have plenty of options when I'm back up north to spend them but I wanted to find out how I was ever supposed to use them should I wish to travel from LBK so I phoned WMT to ask. Long story short I got a completely unhelpful response which was basically go to Rugby as Avanti normally open their ticket office there. Never try to board a WMT train without a ticket first I was told clearly. To be fair if they were WMT vouchers they would cash them for me I was told. Mine are from a variety of TOCs - and I know there is differing opinions on here with others not liking RTVs - I tend to give them to friends family etc to use
So not happy with this as LBK will not re-open for the forseeable future I escalated my issue - and this is the farcical response I have received:
Seriously how are ordinary customers who know little about the railway expected to deal with this rubbish?
I have removed the names of the staff in case anyone is from LNR
I have just had the most ridiculous response ever from Customer Relations at West Midlands Trains.
I split my time between South Yorkshire and Northants - in Northants my nearest station is Long Buckby (LBK) which in what seems forever has never had the ticket office open even at advertised times. I have plenty of options when I'm back up north to spend them but I wanted to find out how I was ever supposed to use them should I wish to travel from LBK so I phoned WMT to ask. Long story short I got a completely unhelpful response which was basically go to Rugby as Avanti normally open their ticket office there. Never try to board a WMT train without a ticket first I was told clearly. To be fair if they were WMT vouchers they would cash them for me I was told. Mine are from a variety of TOCs - and I know there is differing opinions on here with others not liking RTVs - I tend to give them to friends family etc to use
So not happy with this as LBK will not re-open for the forseeable future I escalated my issue - and this is the farcical response I have received:
Dear Garry,
Thank you for your email.
I understand you have Rail Travel Vouchers and are wondering how to use them. My colleague XXX was correct - they cannot be used in place of a ticket. They are to be exchanged for tickets at a ticket office.
You mentioned you had them by different train companies, this is where it becomes a little more confusing so bear with me. The rail vouchers can only be exchanged for a ticket in a station owned by that train company. So, if you have Avanti rail vouchers, you can only exchange them at an Avanti station. The same for Chiltern, CrossCountry, and London Northwestern.
As Long Buckby station is currently unstaffed, your nearest exchange point for London Northwestern vouchers will be Northampton station. If you have Avanti vouchers, your nearest exchange point is Rugby.
I understand this is complex and long winded. The rail industry is working for more cohesion, and this being one of those points needed.
I advise you to look at your vouchers of origin and find your nearest stations by selecting them below:
Station information | LNR | London Northwestern Railway
Train Station Information | Station Facilities | Avanti West Coast
Our stations | Chiltern Railways
Train Station Information and Route Maps | Great Western Railway (gwr.com)
Stations | CrossCountry (crosscountrytrains.co.uk)
If the company you need isn't on here, just search 'Company name, Stations'
Kind regards,
XXX
Customer Relations Advisor
Seriously how are ordinary customers who know little about the railway expected to deal with this rubbish?
I have removed the names of the staff in case anyone is from LNR
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