Bug on National Rail Enquiries

[emorris]

The other day when I bought a couple of advance tickets for a trip later this month, I came across a bug on nationalrail.co.uk, which contributed to me purchasing a ticket for the wrong day. Obviously it is primarily my fault as I should have checked on the results page and the TOC booking page, but foolishly I just assumed that it had picked the day I had entered. But I was wondering whether it would be worth contacting NRE about this?

Basically, when you go on the NRE homepage, it always puts a time in by default. In this case it was 00:00. But I chose "first train" on the drop-down, which normally means this is ignored. But in actual fact, with it set to "first train" and time 00:00, it will actually show the first trains from the day before.

 

[34D]

But I was wondering whether it would be worth contacting NRE about this?

I would do so, yes. I'd also be tempted to forward your message to the TOC you booked with, in case they can do a goodwill gesture. A polite email, describing exactly what you were doing, explaining (as you've done here) that you trusted the site rather than checking every page, may well help you.

 

[island]

If you haven't already gone and bought new tickets, perhaps it's helpful to know that Advances can be changed for £10 plus fare difference.

 

[LexyBoy]

If you haven't already gone and bought new tickets, perhaps it's helpful to know that Advances can be changed for £10 plus fare difference.

Or if your ring the TOC whom you bought them from and explain, they may waive the £10 fee. Virgin in particular are reportedly good on this.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Normally when I am putting in train times for around that time I purposely put 2359 or 0001 so there is no confusion.

 

[34D]

Normally when I am putting in train times for around that time I purposely put 2359 or 0001 so there is no confusion.

Quite, however let's recall that our man didn't input 00:00 - it was there as a default and he simply chose a date then clicked 'first train' - presumably wanting something around 6am?

Can anyone else replicate this error, out of interest?

I've tried it myself just now (on my phone) but the mobile site defaults to the current date and (I think) the nearest future quarter hour (ie now at 09:50 it defaults to 10:00).

 

[MikeWh]

Can anyone else replicate this error, out of interest?

I've tried it myself just now (on my phone) but the mobile site defaults to the current date and (I think) the nearest future quarter hour (ie now at 09:50 it defaults to 10:00).

You'll probably have to try between 23:45 and 00:00.

 

[emorris]

Thanks for the replies. I will send an e-mail to NRE and copy it to East Coast to see what happens.

The ticket was less than £10 so at the time I just bought a new ticket there and then.

I've been playing around with the site (full version, not mobile) and providing you put in 'tomorrow' or later, as long as you have the time as 00:00, it will bring up the previous day. Routes and railcards don't seem to affect the outcome.