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WARNING: Billed twice by Thetrainline.com

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yorkie

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Unfortunately Thetrainline.com have an error in their system that can cause them to bill you TWICE for the same ticket.

Obviously, if you buy expensive tickets (say for a large group) that could prove rather costly as it may cause you to be overdrawn.

In my case I was lucky that the amount was only £14.50.

I did not make an error, nothing went wrong with my PC and nothing apparently wrong at their end. I only got one confirmation, one reference number, yet they billed me TWICE.

I 'phoned them up, they confirmed one transaction had been made, but they claimed to be unable to confirm if I had been charged twice. I said that quite simply, I have! So I was told to send a copy of my bank statement. I said I'd do this as a file attachment as I do online banking. Fine I was told.

But now they demand that I send a paper copy of my statement to them in a letter. And yes, at my expense and time, and despite the fact I don't get paper statements.

I've instructed my bank to recover the debt.

It seems thetrainline.com:-
-treat it's customers with contempt,
- pass on all costs of their errors to their customers,
- while making it very difficult to get their contact details claiming everything can be done 'online', are actually living in the pre-Internet age when it comes to handling problems
- is unaware of it's own accounts - it has no idea who it has billed, and how much (apparently!)

Use thetrainline.com at your own risk!!!
 
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Ben

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i dont do online shopping

id rather just go to the ticket office/shop
 

jd

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Well I've never had any problems with thetrainline. I don't think this is a regular occurance.
 

Coxster

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jdan said:
Well I've never had any problems with thetrainline. I don't think this is a regular occurance.
Ditto. I've always found TheTrainline.com to be very reliable.
 

yorkie

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Coxster said:
jdan said:
Well I've never had any problems with thetrainline. I don't think this is a regular occurance.
Ditto. I've always found TheTrainline.com to be very reliable.
It is usually reliable, (although I have had 3 problems so far, but many more successful transactions), but the issue is not reliability but poor service when things do go wrong.
 

Guinness

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I've used Qjump and Virgin Trains online things and I've never had any problems.

If I had been billed twice for an expensive ticket I'd of march down to there HQ and throw the bank statement at there faces.
 

yorkie

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Chaz said:
I've used Qjump and Virgin Trains online things and I've never had any problems.

If I had been billed twice for an expensive ticket I'd of march down to there HQ and throw the bank statement at there faces.
I think they're based in Dingwall :lol:
 

Max

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When we buy from anywhere but the ticket office, we always choose GNER ticket hotline. We have found them to be very relaible, and the tickets have always come within a couple of days.
 

Julian G

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i've used Q-Jump to take me to York via Sheffield from St.Pancras for the RailFest
it costed £100 return for two people! :P
 

Met Driver

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1288gaje said:
it costed £100 return for two people! :P

£100! :shock: You could have done it for £60 with a family railcard - and even less if you booked in advance!
 

Julian G

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Seth said:
1288gaje said:
it costed £100 return for two people! :P

£100! :shock: You could have done it for £60 with a family railcard - and even less if you booked in advance!
i've booked it in advance 2 weeks before!
it was standard saver or something like that :?
 

yorkie

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1288gaje said:
i've used Q-Jump to take me to York via Sheffield from St.Pancras for the RailFest
it costed £100 return for two people! :P
£100? Oh dear! If you had bought a GNER advance off-peak ticket it would have been £19 each!

Also, if you're going for a day but can't book in advance you can get combinations of cheap day returns to do the journey for considerably less money.
 

yorkie

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1288gaje said:
i've booked it in advance 2 weeks before!
it was standard saver or something like that :?
That's not an advance ticket, it's a walk-on fare. There is no advantage to buying a walk-on fare in advance.

It's a good job you've since found this website, you wont be making mistakes like that again as you can ask for advice here! ;)

West Brompton-York 1 Adult 1 U16:-
£107.70 SVR :shock:

West Brompton-York 1 Adult 1 U16 FAM:-
£ 61.05 SVR 8)
A railcard costs £20.00 and is valid for a whole year, even adding that to the cost of that journey you're saving over £26.

Further savings could be made by purchasing a combination of tickets if you were going for a day trip.
Family travelcards (weekend) 1 adult + 1 child £3.60
Boundary Zone 6 to Grantham 1 adult + 1 child FAM CDR £19 Approx
Grantham to York 1 adult + 1 child FAM CDR £21.95
= Total £43 approx 8) , a further saving of £17

So you could have saved £43, and you'd have a railcard saving you more money for a whole year.

With the £43 saved you could, have done the above combination again and gone TWICE, for the same money!
 
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Tom

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Should've got a travelcard, and got a boundary zone 6 to wherever yorkie says.
 

Met Driver

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tubechallenger said:
Should've got a travelcard, and got a boundary zone 6 to wherever yorkie says.

More to the point, he should have got a railcard!
 

yorkie

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Seth said:
tubechallenger said:
Should've got a travelcard, and got a boundary zone 6 to wherever yorkie says.

More to the point, he should have got a railcard!
Yep, he should have done both.

Also if he went from St Pancras it would have taken all day to get there and back :lol:
 

yorkie

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I forgot to mention earlier, my bank recovered the money for me on Friday :)

Meanwhile, thetrainline.com are still unaware of their accounts and this morning asked me to send my (non-existent) paper statement to them. :lol:

Just to clarify, I'm not saying "Don't use thetrainline.com", I am however saying be on the lookout for problems like this. If such a problem does occur then contact your bank to recover the debt for you. :)
 

Julian G

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yorkie said:
Seth said:
tubechallenger said:
Should've got a travelcard, and got a boundary zone 6 to wherever yorkie says.

More to the point, he should have got a railcard!
Yep, he should have done both.

Also if he went from St Pancras it would have taken all day to get there and back :lol:
it only took 4 hours to get there :)
09:25 from St.Pancras to Chesterfield
arrive at Chesterfield 11:47 {11:48}
wait for Voyager {11:54} seems to be delayed!! :x {12:36} Cancelled at 12:00
so wait for the 12:54 to Newcastle <D
 

jd

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yorkie said:
West Brompton-York 1 Adult 1 U16:-
£107.70 SVR :shock:

West Brompton-York 1 Adult 1 U16 FAM:-
£ 61.05 SVR 8)
A railcard costs £20.00 and is valid for a whole year, even adding that to the cost of that journey you're saving over £26.

I had that, we wanted to get to Gatwick, and found that the tickets (Virgin Value 14 day advance) were £65 without a railcard, but £29 with one..... so add the £20 for the railcard and that's £49, which is £16 cheaper.
 

yorkie

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1288gaje said:
it only took 4 hours to get there :)
09:25 from St.Pancras to Chesterfield
arrive at Chesterfield 11:47 {11:48}
wait for Voyager {11:54} seems to be delayed!! :x {12:36} Cancelled at 12:00
so wait for the 12:54 to Newcastle <D
You waited 1 hour 7 mins at Chesterfield?! :shock: :shock:
Bad move! There are far more trains from Sheffield. Here's a list (off the top of my head):-

- The hourly Voyager via Doncaster (okay this was cancelled on this occasion)
- The hourly Voyager via Leeds (takes longer but better than waiting an hour! Does NOT call Chesterfield).
- Occasional non-stop Voyagers (at the extremes of the day, or due to engineering work, or due to delays to make up time).
- Various local and Traspennine Express services to Doncaster (Some take no longer than the Voyagers), then up to 2 GNERs per hour from Doncaster to York. (Even if there's no GNERs when you get there at least you don't lose out as there's always the hourly Voyager via Doncaster)
- Various local trains via Leeds (stoppers and semi-fasts) and then local or TPE trains to York (Generally not recommended as going via Doncaster will be quicker except for unusual times such as during engineering works or at the extremes of the day or due to severe cancellations).
- The (irregular) Dearn Valley service that runs direct (the shortest route in fact) on what used to be the old Midland Railway's main line to York, via Pontefract.
- Many other routes, too numerous and not fast enough, to mention.

Did you get the one and only direct train via Chesterfield on your way back (the Scarborough to St Pancras train)? if so you got the same train as Jamie C. Steee (if you went on the same day that is! We went on the opening day - I think?).

Also note that when a train is 'Cancelled' it's not necessarily cancelled altogether - it may have been diverted away from your station via an alternative route to save time. This can happen on Virgin XC due to trains that are severely late getting further delayed by stoppers if they stick to their booked route.

By the way, did you see much freight at Chesterfield? you should have seen some (on the adjacent avoiding line at least).
 
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