New Virgin East Coast Website

[Hadders]

Wasn't there a message on your change email confirmation saying that would be the case and only the email would reflect your new seat allocation .

The email says:

Hadders, just a quick one to say your change of reservation on your way from Newark North Gate to Doncaster has been sorted. Please carry this email with you as proof of your new reservation.

Your original seats have now been cancelled for this part of the journey, so if your tickets were already posted out or collected from the station before you changed your seats, ignore the old reservations printed on those tickets.

The tickets hadn't been collected when I made the seat reservation change so given the wording used it's not unreasonable to assume that amended reservation coupons would be issued.

 

[Wallsendmag]

The problem with that is NRS, if you can't get the same quota the ticket gets more expensive so the new site works the same way as WebTIS did.


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[alistairlees]

I wonder which 3rd party sites they are talking about? and under what circumstances? I'd be interested to know.

(if you or anyone else can find out but the company doesn't want to disclose this publicly, a PM would be appreciated)

You can see from the Twitter thread now that it was RedSpottedHanky.

https://twitter.com/virgin_trainsec/status/901079002277957633

I don't think the VTEC Twitter statement is true at all - it's just an easy excuse for someone who probably doesn't understand how the systems work (and is probably also very busy).

Looking at the RSH website, reservations are optional for this journey. So I suspect that Emma (the Twitter complainer) simply did not read that page and select reservations, instead assuming that she would get reservations. She may simply think that a train from London to Edinburgh is similar to a plane from London to Edinburgh - seats are guaranteed.

The RSH website behaviour is in fact as required by RSP - reservations are not automatically made for flexible tickets. This is to prevent reservations being made for trains when the customer doesn't want / need them (because they are not sure what train they are travelling on). You only have to leave Kings Cross on a VTEC service in the evening to see the problems this causes.

I can't work out how Emma claims to have a Super Off-Peak Return for £45 though.

 

[Wallsendmag]

I'll ask on Tuesday if I remember


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[John @ home]

I can't work out how Emma claims to have a Super Off-Peak Return for £45

She claims to have paid "£45 for a train ticket and no seat", but does not state that the £45 is for both legs of the journey. She also says "I booked 2 tickets and neither of us have a seat."

At the times when the Super Off-Peak Return is valid for this journey, any two adult passengers travelling together may buy a Railcard for each to use a £91.10 TWO TOGETHER RAILCARD SUPER OFFPEAK RETURN LONDON TERMINALS - EDINBURGH, paying £45.55 for each of the outward and return legs of the journey.

In this era of single-leg pricing by low-cost airlines, it is very common for rail passengers to speak of the price of rail tickets by quoting the amount paid for each leg of a return journey.

 

[Wallsendmag]

On a related note, may I ask for any advice here on the 'refundability' of the return/inbound portion of a Super Off Peak Return ticket boght for, say, King's Cross to Darlington?



I can see that the VTEC site will still sell this ticket with a Railcard discount, but the rules about refunding 'unused' portions seems very vague on the VTEC website, National Rail Enquiries and the brfares.com site.



If appropriate, responses by PM would be welcome.



Thank you in advance. (Well, in Super Off Peak anyhow )

If the return portion is used no refund for the outward portion. If the outward portion is used but not the return deduct the relevant single from the return price and then deduct an extra £10 admin fee


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[yorkie]

And is the relevant single the cheap online one, or the expensive version available singly? I suspect the latter, meaning no refund.

 

[FQTV]

And is the relevant single the cheap online one, or the expensive version available singly? I suspect the latter, meaning no refund.

That's my concern; though I was considering using - say - the West Coast website, which does offer the railcard discounted one-way ticket.

Thank you to the others who have also replied, even though I'm still not totally reassured given the above!

 

[cf111]

Who thought it a good idea not to include the ToD code in the confirmation email subject? Enough room for a wee party-popper emoji, right enough...

 

[Wallsendmag]

Who thought it a good idea not to include the ToD code in the confirmation email subject? Enough room for a wee party-popper emoji, right enough...

When did you book your ticket ? I thought it was in the subject line now.

 

[cf111]

When did you book your ticket ? I thought it was in the subject line now.

Last night.

 

[SaveECRewards]

When did you book your ticket ? I thought it was in the subject line now.

I guess it'll appear in the next release. Is it definitely the collection code and not the booking reference, now that these are different?

Someone this morning was unhappy that the add to calendar feature uses the booking reference and not the collection code

 

[47271]

When did you book your ticket ? I thought it was in the subject line now.

I made a booking on Saturday and there was no collection reference in the subject line then.

I might be wrong, but I think the collection reference might be more prominent within the body of the email now.

 

[FQTV]

I made a booking on Saturday and there was no collection reference in the subject line then.

I might be wrong, but I think the collection reference might be more prominent within the body of the email now.

Nothing in the subject header for bookings made (grudgingly ) on Sunday.

 

[cf111]

I made a booking on Saturday and there was no collection reference in the subject line then.

I might be wrong, but I think the collection reference might be more prominent within the body of the email now.

It's right under the header in big red writing, so it's not difficult to find but still less user-friendly than ScotRail & VTWC who use the same system as each other and have the ToD ref in the subject header. It's not the end of the world but it does mean an extra tap on my phone when I'm collecting the ticket.

 

[rmt4ever]

Despite the fact that the "sale" ended at midnight last night. As of 0740am today this is still the front page of the website

 

[Deerfold]

It's right under the header in big red writing, so it's not difficult to find but still less user-friendly than ScotRail & VTWC who use the same system as each other and have the ToD ref in the subject header. It's not the end of the world but it does mean an extra tap on my phone when I'm collecting the ticket.

And means it's unaccessible if you've not got a signal.

 

[SaveECRewards]

Despite the fact that the "sale" ended at midnight last night. As of 0740am today this is still the front page of the website

I noticed that this morning too. Couldn't find any discounted tickets though, so not sure whether the availability was still there.

I used to find the opposite with the Hot Cake sales (old site) if you had the sale page open after the sale expired you could still book the next day but the page itself would get taken down promptly.

 

[Scotty]

And means it's unaccessible if you've not got a signal.

Take a screenshot when you do have signal...

 

[Wallsendmag]

Good Job most decent stations have free WiFi then


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[IanXC]

Good Job most decent stations have free WiFi then


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So presumably Berwick, Durham, Darlington, Wakefield Westgate, Retford, Grantham and Peterborough are not 'decent stations' then?

 

[FQTV]

Off again tonight, presumably to blast off the awesome new living the 22nd century dream free range, organic celebrity chef pages from red hot Ceefax News, beamed onto the disabled toilet 'occupied' signs which have been surplus to requirements since 2015.

A sneak preview here:


http://www.pagesfromceefax.net

Marketing jibberish twaddle announcement here:

 

[BlueFox]

So presumably Berwick, Durham, Darlington, Wakefield Westgate, Retford, Grantham and Peterborough are not 'decent stations' then?

Berwick, Wakefield and Darlington have Wifi. If you stand next to the first class lounge.

 

[IanXC]

Berwick, Wakefield and Darlington have Wifi. If you stand next to the first class lounge.

But are their respective ticket machines also near the first class lounge?!

 

[BlueFox]

But are their respective ticket machines also near the first class lounge?!

No. And that might be a problem if the ticket gates at Darlington are in use.

 

[SaveECRewards]

Spotted a bug today that might explain why more people than usual insisted they reserved over the weekend but their reservation was missing.

It seems like if you 'upgrade' from an advance to a super off-peak (using the "would you like to upgrade" box rather than selecting the fare yourself) it doesn't allow you to reserve the upgraded (in flexibility, not class of service) leg.

http://saveecrewards.co.uk/web-feedback/reservation-upgrade-bug

I'm curious whether anyone else has encountered that specific reservations bug, it may have been introduced with todays update, but if it's been around a while could have caused the problems people have been seeing.

--

There's also this bug, that I've mentioned before on numerous channels but have been ignored! It affects accessibility of the site for the visually impaired. Their 'accessible booking tool' is actually a link to the Great Northern website

http://saveecrewards.co.uk/web-feedback/accessibility-bug

 

[Deerfold]

Take a screenshot when you do have signal...

That's rather more effort than having it provided.

 

[Deerfold]

Good Job most decent stations have free WiFi then


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What part of the world are you in? I don't know of any local stations that have wifi.

 

[FQTV]

What part of the world are you in? I don't know of any local stations that have wifi.

VTEC Bunker World, I fear.

 

[Wallsendmag]

What part of the world are you in? I don't know of any local stations that have wifi.

Newcastle has free WiFi