Tickets being Posted by First Class post

[anthony263]

I just wanted to let people know that it seems you can now have your tickets which you purchase online to be sent to you buy first class post free of charge.

 

[wibble]

If you're buying your tickets through a TOC's website, they will be posted free of charge. TOCs cannot charge customers for postage or charge a booking fee as part of their franchise terms.

Websites like trainline.com can charge a booking fee as they are not a TOC.

 

[Dreadnought]

If you're buying your tickets through a TOC's website, they will be posted free of charge. TOCs cannot charge customers for postage or charge a booking fee as part of their franchise terms.

Websites like trainline.com can charge a booking fee as they are not a TOC.

Are you certain of that because last time I bought tickets from XC they wanted to charge a £1 for postage, so instead I collected them from a TVM. VT do the same as well as discussed here http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32407

 

[fairlie]

IME some charge for postage and some don't. Arriva Trains Wales didn't charge for first class post last time I bought tickets from them - indeed on that occasion I started out on the XC website and changed because it wanted to charge me postage.

 

[rail-britain]

If you're buying your tickets through a TOC's website, they will be posted free of charge. TOCs cannot charge customers for postage or charge a booking fee as part of their franchise terms

You would need the copy of that TOC franchise agreement to check that term
The only reference I can find is that staff fares are exempt from postage charges (privilege fares)

Perhaps a list of those that "charge" should be compiled :

Cross Country charge £1.00 for "First Class" postage
London Midland offer "First Class Recorded", the option is £2.00

 

[Mojo]

I just wanted to let people know that it seems you can now have your tickets which you purchase online to be sent to you buy first class post free of charge.

You've always been able to do that? :-?

 

[wibble]

It's not unreasonable for TOCs to charge for postage now, especially as you can collect tickets from TVMs. That's more secure than relying on the post.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

And if you really don't want to pay for postage, use East Coast (their booking engine is streets ahead of anyone else's anyway!)

 

[Greenback]

I would not use any website that charges for postage, or for using a credit card. As my typical transaction is in the region of £60-£80, the TOC can bear the postal costs from their 9% commission, for which they, as a bulk user, will pay less than you and I when we buy a stamp.

 

[First class]

If you're buying your tickets through a TOC's website, they will be posted free of charge. TOCs cannot charge customers for postage or charge a booking fee as part of their franchise terms.

Websites like trainline.com can charge a booking fee as they are not a TOC.

Sadly that's not true.

A TOC can charge a booking fee and postage costs if they want to, (Merseyrail do, for example).

However in a competitive market, most of the TOCs won't charge a booking fee.

 

[Deerfold]

It's not unreasonable for TOCs to charge for postage now, especially as you can collect tickets from TVMs. That's more secure than relying on the post.

It'd cost me over £6 in train and bus fares and take 2 hours for me to get to (and back from) the nearest TVM which will issue pre-bought tickets. Not that handy.

Or I could pick them up part-way through the journey I'd be making and I'd have to set off 30 minutes earleir to allow time to pick them up (I normally have 12 minutes with an advertised 10-minute connection time) and pay about £3 more for the journey.

 

[London_Midland]

I would not use any website that charges for postage, or for using a credit card. As my typical transaction is in the region of £60-£80, the TOC can bear the postal costs from their 9% commission, for which they, as a bulk user, will pay less than you and I when we buy a stamp.

Incidentally, commission for online sales is actually 5.5% for train operators, not 9%.

Whilst we don't charge for first class post, we allow 'ticket on departure' at every one of our staffed stations: if there's no ticket machine, you can pick it up from the ticket
office (although that's probably only worth doing for Advance tickets!)

And obviously, ChrisTheRef, our booking engine is much better than East Coast's

 

[Greenback]

I stand corrected! But I stand by my principle! A TOc that doesn;t charge for postage will get my money, out of which they still make a profit, whereas those that do will not get my order and not get any money at all.

Ticket on departure works for some people. The problem with it is what happens if something goes wrong. How long does it take to sort out, and can it be sorted out?

 

[455driver]

our booking engine is much better than East Coast's

Of course that is a completely un-biased view .

Next time I need to book tickets I will give you a go, might be a while though.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

And obviously, ChrisTheRef, our booking engine is much better than East Coast's

Ahh yes, but you get paid to say that

Actually I think they're identical so I might give you a chance next time :P

 

[bb21]

I tend to use London Midland engines more as nowadays on my way into the capital I tend to venture via Nuneaton if time is not an issue to take advantage of the cheap returns.

To be fair in my experience they do seem to reply to complaints and issue refunds faster than many other TOCs I'm aware of, and you can do it online without having to wait for your tickets to be posted there so well done i say