Virgin (West Coast): Please quit with all the emails

[MKB]

Every time you travel with Virgin you get these over-excited emails counting down to the date of travel. Virgin make no differentiation between those who travel once a year, for whom this might be a special event, and those who travel routinely every week or more frequently. If you're the latter, these emails get quite tiresome.

I don't want to opt out of notification of promotions or confirmations of bookings. I don't want to set up rules to auto-delete, as you typically end up with a false positive and lose something important.

Please Virgin, stop sending out this spam, or give me an opt-out option.

And, if you can manage that, cutting down on the incessant and verbose on-board announcements, especially the flushing-down-the-toilet one that is only amusing the first time, would be nice too. Pretty please.

 

[nlogax]

Every time you travel with Virgin you get these over-excited emails counting down to the date of travel. Virgin make no differentiation between those who travel once a year, for whom this might be a special event, and those who travel routinely every week or more frequently. If you're the latter, these emails get quite tiresome.

I never get these emails and I'm no stranger to booking VTWC trips. These checkboxes in the Personal Details part of the website should sort it out.

 

[MKB]

I never get these emails and I'm no stranger to booking VTWC trips. These checkboxes in the Personal Details part of the website should sort it out.

You also don't get the promotional emails then, like the 20% off Advance fares code that I got yesterday. As I said in the OP, I don't want to opt out of those, so those checkboxes are no help.

 

[HowardGWR]

You also don't get the promotional emails then, like the 20% off Advance fares code that I got yesterday. As I said in the OP, I don't want to opt out of those, so those checkboxes are no help.

Why don't you email Virgin instead of us?

 

[Darandio]

Please Virgin, stop sending out this spam, or give me an opt-out option.

I'm confused. Are you wanting them to reply here?

 

[185143]

You also don't get the promotional emails then, like the 20% off Advance fares code that I got yesterday. As I said in the OP, I don't want to opt out of those, so those checkboxes are no help.

I want to opt out of the 20% off codes too. As a railcard holder they are nothing but a kick in the round objects...

They should know that 100% of my bookings are with a railcard really...

 

[GW43125]

I want to opt out of the 20% off codes too. As a railcard holder they are nothing but a kick in the round objects...

They should know that 100% of my bookings are with a railcard really...

I've moaned at them multiple times to no avail...

 

[nlogax]

You also don't get the promotional emails then, like the 20% off Advance fares code that I got yesterday. As I said in the OP, I don't want to opt out of those, so those checkboxes are no help.

If you really want that level of granularity re. Virgin promotional opt-outs, why not contact them directly? Or adjust your spam filters.

 

[northwichcat]

You also don't get the promotional emails then, like the 20% off Advance fares code that I got yesterday. As I said in the OP, I don't want to opt out of those, so those checkboxes are no help.

A lot of companies are like that - eBay are worst for it. If you want the discount codes you have to put up with the emails trying to sell you a First Class upgrade, wifi codes, trying to get you to book again etc.

 

[Flying Snail]

I want to opt out of the 20% off codes too. As a railcard holder they are nothing but a kick in the round objects...

They should know that 100% of my bookings are with a railcard really...

It's a kick in the ***** that other people may be getting a discount every now and then that is less than the discount you get on all fares?

Now I feel like kicking you in the ***** too.

 

[Wombat]

Virgin Holidays used to be terrible for this. I received one breathless email that said (from memory) something like: "We're all so excited about your holiday next month!". I used to fondly imagine everyone at Virgin HQ jumping up and down with anticipation and eagerly discussing the details of my holiday with each other, with the Chief Exec demanding hourly updates on its progress. They seem to have calmed down a bit in the last couple of years.

 

[dvboy]

I got a text Sunday to say the 18:20 I was planning to catch was nearly ready, to head to the concourse and they would text the platform number shortly. They never did.

 

[DarloRich]

Every time you travel with Virgin you get these over-excited emails counting down to the date of travel. Virgin make no differentiation between those who travel once a year, for whom this might be a special event, and those who travel routinely every week or more frequently. If you're the latter, these emails get quite tiresome.

I don't want to opt out of notification of promotions or confirmations of bookings. I don't want to set up rules to auto-delete, as you typically end up with a false positive and lose something important.

Please Virgin, stop sending out this spam, or give me an opt-out option.

And, if you can manage that, cutting down on the incessant and verbose on-board announcements, especially the flushing-down-the-toilet one that is only amusing the first time, would be nice too. Pretty please.

might it be better to contact Virgin directly with a complaint? That or just change your preferences to opt out?

 

[GW43125]

It's a kick in the ***** that other people may be getting a discount every now and then that is less than the discount you get on all fares?

Now I feel like kicking you in the ***** too.

A lot of those people with railcards are students who have negligible income. That is why it's a kick in the crotch. Even with a railcard, they're still incredibly expensive. The strength of a kick increases with knowing that people only a year or two younger than you get to pay half the advertised sale price!

 

[crosscity]

It's all part of the broad-brush marketing style that Virgin likes - sometimes it will hit the mark, sometimes not. And Virgin isn't the only one.

A couple of months ago redspottedhanky emailed me to say that I had a £10 voucher that was about to expire in the next couple of days. I had forgotten about the voucher and so the email was a nice surprise. I immediately spent it by buying three day returns for the local journey to Birmingham New St to connect with some cheap Advances I'd booked a long time ago.

A couple of days before each journey I received emails wishing me a fantastic time in Birmingham with lots of ideas about what I could do when I got there. A couple of days after each journey I received more emails asking how my trip was. All rather irritating as I have lived in Birmingham for more than 35 years, so my excitement about the city has waned a bit. Judicious use of the 'Delete' key on my laptop removed the offending emails.

I sympathise with the OP if he/she books many journeys with Virgin. But for me with roughly a couple of journeys a month I'll just put up with this modern day annoyance and not get worked up about it. Besides, as others have said, one day one of these emails might have a useful offer.

 

[185143]

It's a kick in the ***** that other people may be getting a discount every now and then that is less than the discount you get on all fares?

Now I feel like kicking you in the ***** too.

You mean the discount I've paid £70 to get?

 

[GW43125]

It's all part of the broad-brush marketing style that Virgin likes - sometimes it will hit the mark, sometimes not. And Virgin isn't the only one.

A couple of months ago redspottedhanky emailed me to say that I had a £10 voucher that was about to expire in the next couple of days. I had forgotten about the voucher and so the email was a nice surprise. I immediately spent it by buying three day returns for the local journey to Birmingham New St to connect with some cheap Advances I'd booked a long time ago.

A couple of days before each journey I received emails wishing me a fantastic time in Birmingham with lots of ideas about what I could do when I got there. A couple of days after each journey I received more emails asking how my trip was. All rather irritating as I have lived in Birmingham for more than 35 years, so my excitement about the city has waned a bit. Judicious use of the 'Delete' key on my laptop removed the offending emails.

I sympathise with the OP if he/she books many journeys with Virgin. But for me with roughly a couple of journeys a month I'll just put up with this modern day annoyance and not get worked up about it. Besides, as others have said, one day one of these emails might have a useful offer.

Reminds me of the time I booked the ticket form my home station to Birmingham with Chiltern, then the one back with Virgin. Virgin spent a week preparing me for what to do when I got home!

 

[boxy321]

Just got a tweet from VTWC about some beardless hipster working on the train from Edinburgh. Mac book and no socks with canvas shoes. Yeah, I'm like creative, man!

 

[Kite159]

Just got a tweet from VTWC about some beardless hipster working on the train from Edinburgh. Mac book and no socks with canvas shoes. Yeah, I'm like creative, man!

Probably the sort who will attempt to take over an entire table and moan when someone dares sit opposite.

Or in accordance to the Mac Book rules, have the MacBook on display on the table and not actually using it (i.e. reading a magazine/book or playing with their phone)

Yep, the Virgin emails are annoying, I just delete them. Booking.com is getting the same way, sometimes you can deselect the "send me information about the town/city you are staying in" box, sometimes you can't and you get sent random "things to do in..." emails [again for me mostly go into the bin]

 

[boxy321]

Probably the sort who will attempt to take over an entire table and moan when someone dares sit opposite.

Or in accordance to the Mac Book rules, have the MacBook on display on the table and not actually using it (i.e. reading a magazine/book or playing with their phone)

Someone who shares my thoughts...

I deliberately bought a Lenovo Yoga Book a few weeks ago so if I do any typing on the train (this is rare) it's silent - the keyboard is an illuminated virtual thing that doubles as a tablet surface.

I had a keyboard warrior bashing out what seemed like Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor yesterday morning. More irritating than loud headphones to me.

 

[tiptoptaff]

Booking.com is getting the same way, sometimes you can deselect the "send me information about the town/city you are staying in" box, sometimes you can't and you get sent random "things to do in..." emails [again for me mostly go into the bin]

I recently paid for a night in Swindon (between 12hour days as the Mrs will have the car to visit the inlaws) and one in Minehead, and one for next year in London. I now get ridiculous emails trying to link what I've booked to where I "want to book next"

Delete....delete...oooh 25% off...Delete.... etc etc

 

[HowardGWR]

I recently paid for a night in Swindon (between 12hour days as the Mrs will have the car to visit the inlaws) and one in Minehead, and one for next year in London. I now get ridiculous emails trying to link what I've booked to where I "want to book next"

Delete....delete...oooh 25% off...Delete.... etc etc

Even dafter is their stupid programme they use for deciding which adverts to show you on the news sites. You book a hotel and then they spend the next 3 months trying to sell you the room at the hotel you just booked.:roll:

 

[shredder1]

Virgin seem to be the only company that don`t allow you to flush goldfish down the tolilets

 

[GW43125]

Virgin seem to be the only company that don`t allow you to flush goldfish down the tolilets

SWT don't let you do it either on their 450s.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Is there any difference in the email addresses each type of email uses? If there is, what about setting up some folders in your email inbox and some filtering rules?

 

[Andyh82]

I don't travel with VTEC very often so when I received a set of these emails for a recent leisure trip, I actually found it ok and added to the excitement.

When booking is there an option to tick if the journey is business or pleasure, because if it was a flying visit on business it might not have worked out as well.

I can't remember which operator it was, but at least VTEC have realised that two advances go together, and not to send the same set of emails for the return, I once had one saying if I was excitedly ready for by trip back to my origin station!

 

[pdeaves]

SWT don't let you do it either on their 450s.

And EMT, I believe. Must be cross-pollination via Stagecoach!

 

[Deafdoggie]

Virgin seem to be the only company that don`t allow you to flush goldfish down the tolilets

You can certainly flush them with CrossCountry. Might even improve the smell of the voyagers!

 

[Bertie the bus]

I got a text Sunday to say the 18:20 I was planning to catch was nearly ready, to head to the concourse and they would text the platform number shortly. They never did.

I’m assuming you mean the 18:20 Euston – Birmingham New St service. Why would you want a text telling you which platform the train is going to depart from? There are massive departure screens at Euston. Has it got to such a stage that people are so unaware of their surroundings that if their mobile phone doesn’t tell them something they can’t function?

 

[nlogax]

I’m assuming you mean the 18:20 Euston – Birmingham New St service. Why would you want a text telling you which platform the train is going to depart from? There are massive departure screens at Euston. Has it got to such a stage that people are so unaware of their surroundings that if their mobile phone doesn’t tell them something they can’t function?

This is supposed to provide departure platform info before it makes it to Euston info screens. How well that works in practice, I don't know. The RTT app always seems to do the job well enough for me.