Strange e-mail from VTEC

[Harlesden]

I had complained about my Nectar voucher not being deducted from the cost of the booking I had made online. This was their explanation. The rail ticket purchased was an Advance ticket.

Dear Mr Maynard,

Thank you for your email dated 15/02/2016.

I can confirm that from looking at the booking the reason why the e-voucher wasn’t taken off the booking was because the E-voucher can only be used on Advanced purchased tickets as you have a plus bus pass on there it won’t allow you to use the e-voucher.

I hope this information helps.

Kind regards

 

[pemma]

I think I've seen something before that they can only be used for tickets sold for use solely on VTEC services, so presumably as VTEC don't run buses adding a Plusbus prevents it being a journey solely on VTEC.

 

[Clip]

I think I've seen something before that they can only be used for tickets sold for use solely on VTEC services, so presumably as VTEC don't run buses adding a Plusbus prevents it being a journey solely on VTEC.

Yup

2.Vouchers cannot be used to purchase any tickets or products other than Virgin Trains East Coast Advance tickets at virgintrainseastcoast.com. The voucher can only be used against bookings made on the desktop version of the Virgin Trains East Coast online booking engine (currently not the mobile retail site).

As its not their product you cant use them

 

[oldman]

Does anyone know if this is a policy (in which case a bit petty) or a feature of the IT system which makes it technically impossible?

 

[pemma]

Does anyone know if this is a policy (in which case a bit petty) or a feature of the IT system which makes it technically impossible?

Could it be a deliberate feature of the site to prevent you using £20 worth of Nectar points to buy a £8 Advance single + £12 All zones London travelcard or similar?

 

[Agent_c]

Does anyone know if this is a policy (in which case a bit petty) or a feature of the IT system which makes it technically impossible?

Its a policy/cost related thing. On a non VTEC ticket VTEC are only getting the commission as a profit, whereas on a VTEC only advance ticket they get the commission element and the profit element on the journey itself.

If I can use some made up numbers to highlight what I'm talking about, lets say an advance ticket for a journey between Alpha and Beta costs £10. The cost to run the service amortises to £5 per ticket, and the comission element is 10% of the end selling price (so £1).

If the ticket is a VTEC ticket, the actual cost to VTEC if you pay with your £10 voucher is £5, whereas for a non VTEC ticket is £9.

 

[Harlesden]

This was a £15.20 VTEC Advance booked on the VTEC website with the entire journey being made on a VTEC service - with the added PlusBus being only £2. The option to add PlusBus is right there on the website with no hint that exercising the option will result in a Nectar voucher not being accepted for any part of the booking.

 

[gordonthemoron]

surely you can just buy the PlusBus ticket at a ticket office later?

 

[Tetchytyke]

TThe option to add PlusBus is right there on the website with no hint that exercising the option will result in a Nectar voucher not being accepted for any part of the booking.

Not quite true. The bottom of the right-hand yellow column, under payment, lists whether the voucher has been applied to the booking or not. Always best to check this before hitting submit.

 

[Scotty]

surely you can just buy the PlusBus ticket at a ticket office later?

Not with a Nectar voucher