• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

The Train Line

Status
Not open for further replies.

EltonRoad

Member
Joined
2 Jun 2009
Messages
1,029
Location
Kendal
I too have found the same journey at different prices on different TOCs' web sites.

Recently I booked a First Advance from Euston to Lytham (near Blackpool South) which was some £25 cheaper on Virgin's web site than East Coast's. There was nothing to suggest it was a special offer, but I did notice some evening departures from Euston had £80 tickets on Virgin whereas they were all about £105 on East Coast.

I also agree with the above posts that I would never pay fees if there was a way of getting round it. This is part of my overall approach to managing my finances. It mounts up over time.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

cuccir

Established Member
Joined
18 Nov 2009
Messages
3,659
I too have found the same journey at different prices on different TOCs' web sites.

Recently I booked a First Advance from Euston to Lytham (near Blackpool South) which was some £25 cheaper on Virgin's web site than East Coast's. There was nothing to suggest it was a special offer, but I did notice some evening departures from Euston had £80 tickets on Virgin whereas they were all about £105 on East Coast.

I also agree with the above posts that I would never pay fees if there was a way of getting round it. This is part of my overall approach to managing my finances. It mounts up over time.

But this shouldn't be the case. Where it is, I suspect that you're perhaps looking at booking database errors as much as anything else.
 

Greenback

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
9 Aug 2009
Messages
15,268
Location
Llanelli
I have noticed different prices on different websites in the past, but on investigation this has been caused by different sites showing different routes or tickets as the default option. They were all there, but sometiems you needed to alter the settings to get them displayed.
 

jon0844

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Feb 2009
Messages
28,013
Location
UK
I can see how the Virgin site might be set to show Virgin tickets in preference to others, and vice versa. You'd expect that to be the case.
 

Greenback

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
9 Aug 2009
Messages
15,268
Location
Llanelli
I can't remember if the websites appeared to favour their own tickets or routeings, but I think if they had I would have taken notice and it would have stuck in my mind!
 

LexyBoy

Established Member
Fares Advisor
Joined
23 Jan 2009
Messages
4,478
Location
North of the rivers
Very odd lexyboy: how long ago was this? Sounds like you managed to break the booking engine somehow!

It was a couple of years ago. I did explain it to one guard, who said he'd check up on the booking reference, but then had to go and do something else and I didn't see him again.

Without knowing how the sites work exactly, I would guess that those tickets sold out just before I tried to buy them. If the sites are a bit behind, that would explain why the ticket showed up as available, but the booking engines - except one - failed when I tried to actually buy them. So it's definitely a bug with that site - maybe the others check that it's possible to make a reservation before the ticket is sold, whereas the buggy one does it afterwards - so if the quota's sold out it will still sell the ticket but then fail to attach the reservation.

Or something. :lol:
 

alloneword100

Member
Joined
3 Dec 2010
Messages
41
The problem is that IF you do get a problem with a remote ticket seller it becomes more difficult to resolve it.
Practically all my journeys are with FGW or SWT. I always buy my tickets from these two TOCs and usually collect from my local station (FGW managed). If I get a problem I can go and talk to the friendly and helpful staff at my station rather than sending e-mails to who knows where. !

Right, well... <(

Having had a look at individual TOC sites, I might well use them in future - one of the trips I sometimes make is up to the East Midlands, and I see I can not only save the booking fee, but also a further £1 per ticket by buying advance fares through them. But as for buying anything but a local ticket at the local station - never again. I have just come back from a thirty minute waste of my time by a completely incompetent sales person at Sutton station.

Because I had some travel vouchers to cash in, I looked up the journey online, and knew exactly what trains and advance tickets I wanted. The price according to EMT's site should have been £73. I told said salesperson that I wanted advance tickets, and precisely which dates and times I wanted. In succession, I got:
  • told that the price was £120
  • after explaining again that I wanted advance tickets, told that the price was £180...
  • having finally got the right price and had the vouchers deducted, told that he had put the transaction through with a cash balance rather than card (when I had said I would pay the balance by card), and that he had to start again
  • having been through the whole transaction again, was handed tickets without reservations
  • when I said I needed reservations for advance tickets (as it says on the top of them...) I was 'reassured' that no, there were no reservations with these tickets, until I insisted he called someone else over
  • started the process for the third time, to find that the price was £2 higher (I suspect he had picked up the EMT discounted fares orignally)
  • waited still longer while they worked out how to transfer the money I had paid already over to the right transaction

His colleague, to his credit (thank you Syd) , was professional and eventually sorted it out, but the person initally dealing with me (who I will grit my teeth and not name) was just entirely incompetent, and had made such a mess that his colleague had difficulty sorting it out. To cap it all, on asking to speak to a supervisor, I was told there is one who deals with the whole line down to Dorking, who therefore was not present.

As I originally said, well worth an extra £6 a year to have trainline get it right than have this appalling service. But I will try the TOC sites in future.
 

jon0844

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Feb 2009
Messages
28,013
Location
UK
The experience you get at a station can vary a lot, and I've had far too many similar experiences given the few times I actually buy tickets (having a season ticket).

I also like to go at quiet times so not to annoy those rushing to get the train coming in a few minutes, but find that at off-peak times you can have the worst staff (especially agency staff) and so you end up having no choice but to go in the peak where the most knowledgeable ones work.

Buying online certainly does seem like the best option, but I would like to see staff keeping their jobs so would prefer to buy in person (seeing as I am travelling anyway, so it's not out of my way). The same reason I try never to use self-checkouts, despite staff encouraging me to do so, as ultimately these are replacing staff.
 

moonrakerz

Member
Joined
10 Feb 2009
Messages
870
Right, well... <(

I have just come back from a thirty minute waste of my time by a completely incompetent sales person at Sutton station.


Sounds as if you drew the short straw there ! My local station staff (Warminster) are excellent. On two occasions, with problems that I considered to be outside of their remit, I have written to FGW in Plymouth. On both occasions I got a personal letter back, NOT factory produced "waffle" (SWT take note !!!) and some rail vouchers. No complaints at all there.
Front line staff are good, CS staff are good - just want some longer trains (not sixth hand 150s !) to make me completely happy :D
 

LexyBoy

Established Member
Fares Advisor
Joined
23 Jan 2009
Messages
4,478
Location
North of the rivers
Sounds as if you drew the short straw there ! My local station staff (Warminster) are excellent. On two occasions, with problems that I considered to be outside of their remit, I have written to FGW in Plymouth. On both occasions I got a personal letter back, NOT factory produced "waffle" (SWT take note !!!) and some rail vouchers. No complaints at all there.
Front line staff are good, CS staff are good - just want some longer trains (not sixth hand 150s !) to make me completely happy :D

I agree that station staff vary a lot. I think in general (sub)urban stations are less used to complicated requests, but there are a lot of very competent staff too (one chap at Herne Hill I remember was very helpful).

In some cases the station staff will get you better tickets that can be found online (at least without knowing some tricks). One time I was in Penzance and had looked at tickets for my return to Stroud about a week before, but didn't buy for some reason (think I hadn't decided when I was coming back). All the Advance tickets for the return were around £30 or more from looking online. When I asked at the PNZ ticket office a couple of days before, I was served by a very helpful woman who initially couldn't see any Advances, but delved a bit deeper and after about 10 minutes found me a ticket for £12.50 (I think...), much cheaper than I could find online even a few days earlier.

Best part was that it was routed "Virgin XC & Connections" - and the only VXC part was Bristol-Gloucester :lol: Which, predictably, was cancelled, so the entire journey was on Sprinters, stopping everywhere. Fun days...
 

Mojo

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
7 Aug 2005
Messages
20,382
Location
0035
I went to three different ticket offices yesterday to try and get, what I thought was a simple request, sorted out. I had no success.

First station I went to was Cannon Street (Southeastern). Asked for a cycle reservation, told him the date and time of the train and he mumbled something. Asked him to speak up and he told me he couldn't do it. I asked him why, and told him that I'd got it done at other stations, and after much persuasion he decided he'd attempt to do it. I spent about 10 Minutes at his window, crouched down as for some reason every single window at Cannon Street is "accessible" (or the person who designed the ticket office was vertically challenged). He did attempt to do it, but his machine wouldn't let him so I walked away empty handed. During the 10 Minutes I was there I had to ask him to speak louder and repeat himself at least fifteen times as he insisted on talking really quietly and wouldn't put the microphone on (despite the fact his colleagues were happy to use theirs).

Next was West Hampstead (NLL station; LOROL). Guy was very happy to help, genuinely interested and needed no prompts about what to do. He consulted the "Cycling by Train" leaflet and started tapping away on his machine. Spent about 10 Minutes there too, during which time I could see he was really trying to help. He said his machine also wouldn't let him do it, but suggested I try the Thameslink station. I said not to worry as I'd call Telesales and do it over the telephone.

I was then leaving Finchley Road & Frognal station and whilst walking past saw a guy in the ticket office (I didn't go here initially because National Rail said it was closed at this time). So I walked up to the counter and looked at the guy there. He just ignored me. So I asked him if he was open and he looked at me like I was an idiot. I asked him if he would do it, and he rolled his eyes and looked at me like I was something he had just stepped in. I asked him to confirm what he just said and he refused to speak to me, he didn't say anything at all to me the whole time I was there. I thought I'd give him some polite advice as I was leaving that looking at customers like they are something they had just stepped in and then walked off. As I left the station I saw a senior LOROL manager walking past. Oh how I wish I could have got there 10 Seconds later.
 

moonrakerz

Member
Joined
10 Feb 2009
Messages
870
had looked at tickets for my return to Stroud

That reminds me: a couple of years back my daughter who lives in Kent asked for a ticket to Strood (at Salisbury). He gave her the ticket and her change, as it seemed an "odd" figure my daughter carefully checked her ticket - it was to Stroud !
It wasn't a case of mishearing her as he seemed to be completely unaware that there was a place called Strood when she went back to query it.
Wonder what the ticket inspector on the train would have made of that ?
 

alloneword100

Member
Joined
3 Dec 2010
Messages
41
An update on my experience as posted above. I copied the posting into a complaint to Southern on the same day, 10th Feb. They say they will deal with complaints within 48 hours. It took a further chase and a copy to London TravelWatch to get any response. I then got two responses, separately written so far as I can see - one to the original complaint and one from 'SR_VIP' in respect of the forward from LTW, both arriving two weeks after the original complaint.

I was told that the line manager would be made aware of my comments, and that they 'have recently designed and implemented an enhanced training process for all of our staff in Customer Care'. Personally I would have thought it would be better to teach people to sell tickets correctly, but what do I know...?

I was told that I could not be given details of the outcome because of confidentiality. I understand this, but pointed out that they have not solved the problem yet, they have simply set out a process for solving it, and suggested they talk to LTW about the outcome. Answer came there none.

In the meantime I realised that the £35 or so amount taken on my credit card had not been transferred as it should have been to the new booking, it had been repaid. I told them I was happy with this as a financial settlement, and they replied 'I am pleased to read that your refund was processed for you efficiently.' Efficiently is not perhaps the right word, 'with fortuitous appropriateness' might suffice...

Then finally, the best of all. Remember that the point was that I was asking for particular trains at particular times, and clarified (at least after the first price was given me) that I wanted advance tickets. This, in total, is what the email said about this point:

'All advanced tickets bought online are cheaper than at stations.'

???!!!***

I'm going to give up at this point, and say to LTW if they want to take it further they can, but that I've lost the will to live. Meanwhile, so far as I am aware, the person who served me is still selling tickets at Sutton, and I have no idea whether he has now taken another module of their enhanced Customer Care training process, much less whether he has been taught to sell tickets correctly. Caveat emptor.
 

Clip

Established Member
Joined
28 Jun 2010
Messages
10,822
I will admit to telling people on other (non-rail related) forums to avoid the TTL, and use TOC or booking offices instead. I think a recent survey last year showed that 70% of people (or something close to that) preferred buying via staff than online...

Out of curiosity, what is the station featured on the advert, it doesn't look very British (the stock definitely ain't), I originally thought Nottingham for the concourse, but I swear one of the departure board reads 'Edinburgh'!

i think its actually filmed in Wellington in New Zealand.. it looks very very familiar
 

Mojo

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
7 Aug 2005
Messages
20,382
Location
0035
I just saved 28% by NOT booking my tickets through theTrainline :smile:
 

Fred26

Member
Joined
5 Mar 2010
Messages
1,107
My girlfriend books her tickets through Trainline and manages to get them cheaper than from TOC websites. I don't know how, but I have checked a few of her journeys myself and it was true. I don't know how that can be - surely, barring special offers, all websites should be the same?
 

jon0844

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Feb 2009
Messages
28,013
Location
UK
Yes, but some sites don't always offer every ticket option without customising the search parameters (or perhaps going into advanced search). I would hope, and expect, all of the tickets are available through the other sites too.

East Coast seems a very easy site to use, at least once you find the advanced 'tabs' down the left hand side. Without those settings, you can miss tickets (like when I was looking for tickets to Heathrow, via Heathrow Connect).
 

Mojo

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
7 Aug 2005
Messages
20,382
Location
0035
My girlfriend books her tickets through Trainline and manages to get them cheaper than from TOC websites. I don't know how, but I have checked a few of her journeys myself and it was true. I don't know how that can be - surely, barring special offers, all websites should be the same?
Can you give any examples? As there should not be many cases where this is the case where the exact same journeys are displayed.

Common reasons are different journey planners showing different connecting trains and also, when you select a ticket on one website it will remove it from the system, so by looking at and then adding a ticket to your basket on theTrainline and then looking on another website it may have been the last ticket and thus no longer shown. XC also only offer their cheapest tickets through their own website, and these are occasionally shown on theTrainline (but with extra fees).

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42163 is the list of websites which sell the cheapest tickets.
 

Yew

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2011
Messages
6,538
Location
UK
I generally use TTL for planning journeys, although sometiems it cna eb a bit stupid in route planning (lincoln to brighton, Lincoln=> Nottingham=>East Midlands Parkway=> Kings cross=>Brighton, whereas you can Get direct to Kings X from Lincoln)
 

Greenback

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
9 Aug 2009
Messages
15,268
Location
Llanelli
Yes, but some sites don't always offer every ticket option without customising the search parameters (or perhaps going into advanced search). I would hope, and expect, all of the tickets are available through the other sites too.

East Coast seems a very easy site to use, at least once you find the advanced 'tabs' down the left hand side. Without those settings, you can miss tickets (like when I was looking for tickets to Heathrow, via Heathrow Connect).

Correct. you sometimes have to tweak certain websites in order to get the results you want. I can't remember any specific examples, unfortunately!
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,542
Location
Redcar
I generally use TTL for planning journeys, although sometiems it cna eb a bit stupid in route planning (lincoln to brighton, Lincoln=> Nottingham=>East Midlands Parkway=> Kings cross=>Brighton, whereas you can Get direct to Kings X from Lincoln)

Currently there are no direct trains between Lincoln and Kings Cross, after the May timetable change there will be one per day each way. There is currently one train per day each way between Lincoln and St Pancras. In fact I wonder if you are getting confused between Kings Cross and St Pancras seeing as you mention a route from East Midlands Parkway to Kings Cross and there are no train that run on that route or from Kings Cross to Brighton. But there are plenty of services on that route serving St Pancras.
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
31,271
In fact I wonder if you are getting confused between Kings Cross and St Pancras seeing as you mention a route from East Midlands Parkway to Kings Cross and there are no train that run on that route or from Kings Cross to Brighton. But there are plenty of services on that route serving St Pancras.

Ah, but this is a very easy mistake to make:

Network Rail's completely useless press office said:
Thameslink: Due to significant work on the new station at Blackfriars, Thameslink services will be terminating at King’s Cross or London Bridge.

From: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/11287.aspx
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top