I referred to this matter about 3 weeks ago in another thread title, but in view of what happened this morning, I raise it here with its own thread title.
Again, my wife decided to travel to London this morning from Rhyl on the 0549Virgin train, a Virgin train throughout and direct to London Euston, with her Senior Railcard.
She only decided about 10pm last night to travel, so, contrary to what I said earlier about booking her a ticket online and picking it up from the station beforehand in future, she had to resort to buying it again on the train, as the TVM and booking-office in Rhyl are both situated in the entrance hall, which does not open until 0620, 30 minutes after her train has departed
Again, she asked the conductor for an Off-Peak return with her Senior Railcard, expecting to pay £51.35p, and, again, the conductor initially refused to sell her one. Again, she had to argue with him in front of all the other passengers, and, again, she stood her ground. Eventually, he rang his Headquarters, and with bad grace, sold her the requested ticket. Again, there was no apology - just a surly comment "You must buy it in advance next time" - which is blatantly incorrect as it is a "walk-up and go" Off Peak ticket and not an Advance one.
She is getting tired of having to tell the conductor about this easement and having to argue in front of the other passengers. She is also tired of being patronised when the conductor realises he is in the wrong and tries to justify himself by giving her incorrect information. She may have a Senior Railcard, but she is not senile.
So - another email has been sent to Virgin Customer Care to join the last one of three weeks or so ago complaining of the very same thing - ie incorrect training and briefing of their conductors.
You may remember after the last time, I emailed Virgin, asking for something on headed notepaper confirming this particular easement, as I can find nothing in writing on their website or publicity material - an easement of which the knowledgable ATW man in Rhyl booking-office is aware, and happily sells the ticket [when his office is open!], and of which the East Coast website is also aware and will sell me with no problems, and from where I would have bought it last night had she had access to the Rhyl TVM this morning. It's rather ironical that both ATW and EC are aware of this Virgin easement, but some Virgin staff themselves do not appear to be.
However, I don't hold out much hope of any reply to this second email to Virgin, for, apart from the computer-generated automated announcement, I've yet to receive a reply to my last one!
Again, my wife decided to travel to London this morning from Rhyl on the 0549Virgin train, a Virgin train throughout and direct to London Euston, with her Senior Railcard.
She only decided about 10pm last night to travel, so, contrary to what I said earlier about booking her a ticket online and picking it up from the station beforehand in future, she had to resort to buying it again on the train, as the TVM and booking-office in Rhyl are both situated in the entrance hall, which does not open until 0620, 30 minutes after her train has departed
Again, she asked the conductor for an Off-Peak return with her Senior Railcard, expecting to pay £51.35p, and, again, the conductor initially refused to sell her one. Again, she had to argue with him in front of all the other passengers, and, again, she stood her ground. Eventually, he rang his Headquarters, and with bad grace, sold her the requested ticket. Again, there was no apology - just a surly comment "You must buy it in advance next time" - which is blatantly incorrect as it is a "walk-up and go" Off Peak ticket and not an Advance one.
She is getting tired of having to tell the conductor about this easement and having to argue in front of the other passengers. She is also tired of being patronised when the conductor realises he is in the wrong and tries to justify himself by giving her incorrect information. She may have a Senior Railcard, but she is not senile.
So - another email has been sent to Virgin Customer Care to join the last one of three weeks or so ago complaining of the very same thing - ie incorrect training and briefing of their conductors.
You may remember after the last time, I emailed Virgin, asking for something on headed notepaper confirming this particular easement, as I can find nothing in writing on their website or publicity material - an easement of which the knowledgable ATW man in Rhyl booking-office is aware, and happily sells the ticket [when his office is open!], and of which the East Coast website is also aware and will sell me with no problems, and from where I would have bought it last night had she had access to the Rhyl TVM this morning. It's rather ironical that both ATW and EC are aware of this Virgin easement, but some Virgin staff themselves do not appear to be.
However, I don't hold out much hope of any reply to this second email to Virgin, for, apart from the computer-generated automated announcement, I've yet to receive a reply to my last one!
Welshman: If you can PM me with a snail-mail address, I'll post you a spare copy.