Unused Advance Tickets - Refunds?

[thewolf]

Hi all,

Was planning on having a day in London today and booked onto the 0854 from Stoke down to Euston. Thing is, my housemate managed to fall down the stairs this morning, breaking his ankle in the process. I decided to go off to A&E with him, missing the booked train (and another 5), as we were up there til 1pm or so.

By this time it was pretty much a waste of time trying to get a later train, as I'd have pretty much ended up coming straight home. The T&Cs say that the tickets aren't refundable, but was just wondering whether its worth sending a letter off to London Midland, in the hope of getting at least a partial refund?

 

[yorkie]

After the time of departure the ticket is worthless.

Before departure you may have been able to get a refund minus a £10 admin fee. So if the ticket was £20, you'd have got £10 back.

Of course £10 is unreasonable as an admin fee, but unless someone has plenty of cash to take the TOCs to court, they'll continue to get away with it (and many other unfair practices).

By the way, technically it's "Up" to Euston

Next time, it may be better to get an Off Peak Day (£30.00 Return or £29.90 single) or an Off Peak (£32.00 Return), which is valid for any train due to arrive into London at or after 1000 and can be purchased immediately before travel. Return travel is on any train after 0845.

 

[Old Timer]

Of course £10 is unreasonable as an admin fee, but unless someone has plenty of cash to take the TOCs to court, they'll continue to get away with it (and many other unfair practices)..

Unreasonable in "your" opinion perhaps. What was it under BR, which presumably would have been "reasonable" ?

And you do not need to go to Court, go to the OFT, as you keep preaching.

As for unreasonable fees, I think you will find that bank overdraft charges were not found to have been unreasonable and they do not represent anything like the admin that is needed to process refunds.

 

[CheapAndNerdy]

Of course £10 is unreasonable as an admin fee, but unless someone has plenty of cash to take the TOCs to court, they'll continue to get away with it

The only "reasonable" justification I can think of is to deter companies from buying several advanced tickets, covering a range of days and times, and then obtaining refunds on the ones they end up not needing, effectively turning a cheap inflexible fare into a cheap walk-on fare.

But you're quite right, £10 is far too much to charge for a genuine refund. I suspect it also puts people off getting a refund on even a £15 ticket.

By the way, technically it's "Up" to Euston

DOWN

 

[Deerfold]

Unreasonable in "your" opinion perhaps. What was it under BR, which presumably would have been "reasonable" ?

I don't remember that, but I do remember it going up from £5 to £10 under NXEC. Was there a sudden increase of 100% in the costs to NXEC?

 

[455driver]

DOWN

It is always UP to London, if you disagree well that is your prerogative but it doesn't change the fact that it is UP!

 

[Old Timer]

I don't remember that, but I do remember it going up from £5 to £10 under NXEC. Was there a sudden increase of 100% in the costs to NXEC?

I had a feeling that it was £10 under BR some years back, but I could be wrong.

Given it was presumably £5 then, given inflation, this would have made the BR admin charge proportionally higher.

 

[CheapAndNerdy]

It is always UP to London, if you disagree well that is your prerogative but it doesn't change the fact that it is UP!

I'll see your prerogative and raise you an indignation

Getting back to the topic, maybe there's scope for a sliding scale of charge, based on when a refund is requested, relative to the travel date.

I wouldn't compare this fee to bank charges though, as there is an element of penalty in the latter (writing a cheque without sufficient funds to cover it, or going beyond an agreed overdraft limit). This is more of a restocking fee. Having said that, it is clearly mentioned before purchase so I guess it's a case of take it or leave it.

Swapping my moaning head for my gratitude head, I should point out that the cost of the cheapest ticket I can buy when visiting my family is actually lower now than 10 years ago.

 

[thewolf]

After the time of departure the ticket is worthless.

Before departure you may have been able to get a refund minus a £10 admin fee. So if the ticket was £20, you'd have got £10 back.

Ah, never mind. I only paid £9 for the ticket anyway (if I'd paid a decent amount, I'd of sent the silly bugger up the hospital on his own and carried on with my trip ), so I'd have been a quid out of pocket if I'd refunded it haha

I've still got £20 of rail travel vouchers to use by the start of July, so I can go down in the next few weeks without being out of pocket as such...

By the way, technically it's "Up" to Euston

Technically, yes. Geographically, no. I'll confuse myself otherwise

 

[yorkie]

Ah, never mind. I only paid £9 for the ticket anyway (if I'd paid a decent amount, I'd of sent the silly bugger up the hospital on his own and carried on with my trip ), so I'd have been a quid out of pocket if I'd refunded it haha

Yes, there are probably some people who are so anti-customer that they consider you a criminal if you do not pay the railways £1

Technically, yes. Geographically, no. I'll confuse myself otherwise

Nope, geographically it is down. Manchester is higher above sea level than the Euston area!

Of course, I know you mean the fact that modern maps generally put North at the top of a map. But that doesn't mean that North really is 'up' any more than Europe is in the 'centre' of the world. Maps show whatever we want them to show!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8654102.stm
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I don't remember that, but I do remember it going up from £5 to £10 under NXEC. Was there a sudden increase of 100% in the costs to NXEC?

Of course not, the increase was because Passenger Focus decided to persue an agenda of "simplification" at ANY cost. They got their way, and it led to huge price rises on some services under the excuse of simplification, and it caused a rise in some "admin" fees. There is less "admin" work in refunding a ticket than there would be for someone doing, say, York to Plymouth splitting at Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Taunton and Exeter. Yet someone who creates all that extra work gets to pay a lower price.

You couldn't make it up if you tried!

It's all done to extract money out of us, and the excuses they give cannot be taken seriously.

Some of the anti-customer brigade go on about how the TOCs deserve to make a profit, while ignoring the HUGE subsidies that they get from taxpayers (approx three times the subsidy under BR)