East Coast Postage charges

[theblackwatch]

Oddly, when I try booking an identical journey to that which I did at 15.25 today, I find that I am now asked to pay £1 postage!

 

[142094]

I had a feeling that there would be a way round it (booking for Poppleton) when I was reading the first page.

Only thing I can see that it may affect is PlusBus for the origin - on my normal journey I will buy a PlusBus as well if I get the post for free, but if I had to pick up at the station it would be no point buying the PlusBus to use on one journey.

 

[yorkie]

What's the cheapest ticket that you can put in your basket to get postage free?

I thought of a LIC - LTV child single, which is 20p, however there are collection facilities at Lichfield so that doesn't work.

I'm sure we can find one not much more than that!

Note that the dud ticket may have to be for a date before the other ticket(s). I tried adding a York ticket for Dec, and a Poppleton for Jan, and it wanted me to pay or collect (on the basis that I'd be able to collect the Poppleton ticket at York presumably).

The cheeky sods are not getting away with this! (although it's probably better to boycott them and use London Midland most of the time, but not when you want the 10% off)

Golf Street - Barry Links is 40p, surely we can do better

 

[Greenback]

Well, I'll either boycott EC or use Pembrey & Burry Port to get fre postage. The fares are usually the same from there, although of course I might get into trouble if I buy an advance ticket from there and get on at Llanelli!

EC are within their rights to charge whatever they like for postage, just like the Trainline, but I am within my rights not to use them as a result, again, just like TTL!

 

[jkdd77]

What's the cheapest ticket that you can put in your basket to get postage free?

I thought of a LIC - LTV child single, which is 20p, however there are collection facilities at Lichfield so that doesn't work.

I'm sure we can find one not much more than that!

Note that the dud ticket may have to be for a date before the other ticket(s). I tried adding a York ticket for Dec, and a Poppleton for Jan, and it wanted me to pay or collect (on the basis that I'd be able to collect the Poppleton ticket at York presumably).

The cheeky sods are not getting away with this! (although it's probably better to boycott them and use London Midland most of the time, but not when you want the 10% off)

Golf Street - Barry Links is 40p, surely we can do better

Devonport (DPT)- Dockyard (DOC) child CDS is 35p. According to the National Rail Enquiries website, there are no self-service ticket machines at Devonport.

 

[bnm]

What's the cheapest ticket that you can put in your basket to get postage free?

I thought of a LIC - LTV child single, which is 20p, however there are collection facilities at Lichfield so that doesn't work.

I'm sure we can find one not much more than that!

Note that the dud ticket may have to be for a date before the other ticket(s). I tried adding a York ticket for Dec, and a Poppleton for Jan, and it wanted me to pay or collect (on the basis that I'd be able to collect the Poppleton ticket at York presumably).

The cheeky sods are not getting away with this! (although it's probably better to boycott them and use London Midland most of the time, but not when you want the 10% off)

Golf Street - Barry Links is 40p, surely we can do better

Lostock Hall (LOH) - Bamber Bridge (BMB), Child SDS 30p.

 

[Failed Unit]

I suppose £1 is a small fee to pay for piece of mind.

This sceniro is real and I am sure it has happened to lots of people.

Order ticket (Scottish Exec pack)- go to station to collect - the ticket machine is not accepting credit cards (the station is closed so glad I didn't go on the day of travel)
Back to station and go to clerk (Station is ran by Scotrail), Clerk prints of tickets but their is a mistake (no meal voucher or upgrade coupon) so not everything on the order is present. Clerk double checks and phones East Coast they tell me to go to Waverley to sort it out.
Waverleys staff are not interested saying that Scotrail own the TVM so it is not interested, join train staff use discression as they know that the ticket entitles you to a first class upgrade even if the coupon hasn't printed. Buy meal and ask for refund by east coast.
East Coast blame scotrail, scotrail say legally my issue is with east coast as the east coast website was used to purchase (I agree)

East Coast and Scotrail continue to argue - something that should not concern me but still not happy, so getting the tickets by post at least means that the contract is totally with east coast and if they mess up then they sort it!

So East Coast if you are going to charge for postage, I hope that your process to deal with problems is robust.

Another example - You travel from say Linlithgow - Doncaster. You want to get the train at 0626 arriving at Waverley at 0650, connection leaves at 0700. All valid and good. The TVM doesn't print your ticket, I understand Scotrail would let you go to Waverley to sort the issue out, but could you board the east coast train at 0700? Or should you go to the ticket office and sort it? If you then missed it would your AP be valid on the next train?

I feel to be safe with TVM's you need to go to the station in advance to collect, it is too risky on the day of travel if the ticket office is likely to be closed (ie early morning) Doing that will cost more than £1, I guess it is the balance of what is going to cost more the loss of the £1 postage or the 10% discount.

 

[Greenback]

I wouldn't wait until the date of my journey to collect my tickets, unless I had a few hours to spare before I set off! Your post illustrates how the complex system of TOC's and ticketting in the privatsied railway world can cause great difficulties for passengers.

I prefer to have the tickets posted to me. That way I can check the tickets and I have time to contact the vendor if there is something wrong. However, I am not going to use any website that makes a charge for pstage when others do not! I hope East Coast are reading this - I used to buy a lot of tickets through them, but they have now lost most, if not all, of my business!

 

[Failed Unit]

I wouldn't wait until the date of my journey to collect my tickets, unless I had a few hours to spare before I set off! Your post illustrates how the complex system of TOC's and ticketting in the privatsied railway world can cause great difficulties for passengers.

I prefer to have the tickets posted to me. That way I can check the tickets and I have time to contact the vendor if there is something wrong. However, I am not going to use any website that makes a charge for pstage when others do not! I hope East Coast are reading this - I used to buy a lot of tickets through them, but they have now lost most, if not all, of my business!

Yep that is a big problem, people just don't trust the system to buy the ticket and collect on the day - which is mainly based on experience.

I am looking forward to mobile ticketing and print at home, but still a long way to go on this yet. For example east coast don't offer it on the iPhone yet so even if it was offered on my route I couldn't use it!

 

[richw]

Devenport (DPT)- Dockyard (DOC) child CDS is 35p. According to the National Rail Enquiries website, there are no self-service ticket machines at Devenport.

also 35p with a new deal photocard whatever that is!

 

[shinkansen1966]

The £1 postage thing sounds like the thin of the wedge. Expect others to follow suite.

Live in London, for the last year or more, have opted for ticket by collection at TVM.

What I would really like to see is a national scheme of advanced purchase tickets delivered by email or delivered to (smart) phones. Other countries do it, and so could we.

 

[142094]

also 35p with a new deal photocard whatever that is!

It's a railcard for the unemployed, not sure what the criteria is to get one or if they are still being produced.

 

[philjo]

I noticed on the EC site today an announcement that they now provide a print at home facility for tickets booked on their website. (you get a PDF to print)
This will also be the default delivery option.

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/about-us/Latest-News1/PrintHome/

 

[Failed Unit]

I noticed on the EC site today an announcement that they now provide a print at home facility for tickets booked on their website. (you get a PDF to print)
This will also be the default delivery option.

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/about-us/Latest-News1/PrintHome/

That is intesting a may give it a try, the link doesn't really tell you much.

I don't know for example how they will prevent me from printing off more than one ticket if it is a saver. (It may only be offered on AP's but this isn't stated). Likewise I don't know if catering vouchers will be printed at home and if EC have a way of making sure they are only used once.

I will also see if they allow the option if you use connecting trains.

Come on East Coast get mobile tickets on the iPhone

 

[Lad Brookes]

I've just been offered Print@Home for a journey next week involving two Advance singles.
Tried again for the same journey but with a Super Off Peak- Print@Home wasn't offered. TOD was the default delivery option- but First Class Post was a no-cost option. The first leg of the journey started from Kings Cross, so collection on departure was always an option.

 

[Failed Unit]

I've just been offered Print@Home for a journey next week involving two Advance singles.
Tried again for the same journey but with a Super Off Peak- Print@Home wasn't offered. TOD was the default delivery option- but First Class Post was a no-cost option. The first leg of the journey started from Kings Cross, so collection on departure was always an option.

That makes sense, At least with AP's the train crew can have a list of ticket numbers and just tick them off. I guess it may result in people needing to sit in thier allocated seat no-matter what to make life easier for the train crew. If you are not it will ask two question, who is and are they using a duplicate ticket (stop 2 people getting on and both sitting away from the reserved seat in the hope the train crew doesn't notice it is the same ticket.)

I know catering vouchers the number is put into the system so maybe this is good enough to reduce fraud here.

 

[Lad Brookes]

Will the tickets be barcoded? If they are and on board staff have bar code scanners, then once they are scanned, the machine might recognise if it has scanned that barcode before, and give an error message.

 

[button_boxer]

(It may only be offered on AP's but this isn't stated).

It is stated on the FAQ page:

"Print@Home is available for travel on East Coast Advance fares, on East Coast trains across the route."

This is not at all surprising, as to offer it for flexible tickets would require all operators to use the same (or a compatible) system and the system would need to be able to check the ticket code against a central database online in real-time to be sure the same ticket has not been used more than once. With single-operator advances the guard simply needs a paper list of the relevant tickets for that journey, and can cross them off as they are checked.

 

[Deerfold]

Will the tickets be barcoded? If they are and on board staff have bar code scanners, then once they are scanned, the machine might recognise if it has scanned that barcode before, and give an error message.

Yes, the tickets are barcoded (2D-barcodes so it's a box full of dots) - and staff have the equipment to read them from what I've seen. I'm not usually offered them as I have a Northern connection on my usual journey - I have been offered them on a London - Doncaster ticket.

 

[Mainliner]

Just printed AP tickets for Newcastle-KX and return.

Do ECML barrier machines have a scanning facility, or will tickets have to be shown to a member of staff, who will open the barrier?

 

[Deerfold]

Just printed AP tickets for Newcastle-KX and return.

Do ECML barrier machines have a scanning facility, or will tickets have to be shown to a member of staff, who will open the barrier?

A far as I know they have to be shown to staff.