Changing an advance ticket woes.

[class303]

I'm off from London to Sheffield this weekend on a 1st class advance. I can't make the original train so wanted to change it to the one 2 hours later. £3 difference in price + £10 admin fee. simple.....or not.

Took it to my local Greater Anglia station today at 1.30pm when it's quiet. At first a stroppy lady said that they don't do it as it's another TOC's ticket. I said that's ridiculous & then another clerk picked up a staff memo on the subject. Fiddled around for ages and just couldn't do it, said "the train is full" so i showed him the available train and ticket on the GA website on my phone. At one point he even said "it wasn't his job" and I should take it to a travel centre where they have been trained. It took at least 30 mins before he completely gave up & he got quite annoyed with me. There were 2 windows open so I wasn't holding anyone up.

I got the tube to St Pancras EMT ticket office and the lovely lady that served me did the transaction in seconds.

It's a bit of a farce how complicated it all was. you'd think in this day and age when ticket offices may well be on the way out they'd be happy for any transaction? What if I lived somewhere where there is no EMT ticket office?

While I was waiting I didn't see a single non-oyster transaction at the other window, and I suspect that's part of the problem. sigh.

Is my experience normal?

 

[yorkie]

Is my experience normal?

No, but it's not as unusual as it should be, and several people have reported poor experiences at Greater Anglia stations.

You could write to them, and if they don't address your concerns, report the matter to London Travelwatch.

 

[maniacmartin]

I don't know which station you went to, but this matches the attitude to APs I experienced recently at Romford station

 

[class303]

It was Walthamstow Central. Can't imagine the situation getting any better when London Overground takes over. Although I'm glad to see the station is being gated (gates are in place on Northbound platform, just not in use yet), long overdue.

 

[dvboy]

Walthamstow Central don't like RTVs that don't look exactly like the ones in the manual.

 

[Mag_seven]

At first a stroppy lady said that they don't do it as it's another TOC's ticket. I said that's ridiculous & then another clerk picked up a staff memo on the subject. Fiddled around for ages and just couldn't do it, said "the train is full" so i showed him the available train and ticket on the GA website on my phone. At one point he even said "it wasn't his job" and I should take it to a travel centre where they have been trained. It took at least 30 mins before he completely gave up & he got quite annoyed with me. ?

People like that should just not be in customer facing jobs - even if for whatever reason they have to re-direct you elsewhere, being "stroppy" or stating that "it wasn't his job" is not acceptable behavior for someone in a customer facing role.

 

[Agent_c]

And here was me thinking it was the job of every rail network ticket office to issue any valid ticket... no matter the operator

 

[Edmondson]

And here was me thinking it was the job of every rail network ticket office to issue any valid ticket... no matter the operator

Quite a few stations that are run by the current keyholders of the Scotrail franchise are advertised as issuing tickets to Scottish destinations only.

 

[Be3G]

The irony is, I'll be sending a complaint to Greater Anglia later this afternoon about multiple inconveniences caused to me by ticket offices being closed during scheduled opening hours. (Once or twice I can understand due to sickness etc., but not repeated instances over a longer period of time.) It's almost as if they don't want us to buy tickets…

 

[hassaanhc]

I'm off from London to Sheffield this weekend on a 1st class advance. I can't make the original train so wanted to change it to the one 2 hours later. £3 difference in price + £10 admin fee. simple.....or not.

Took it to my local Greater Anglia station today at 1.30pm when it's quiet. At first a stroppy lady said that they don't do it as it's another TOC's ticket. I said that's ridiculous & then another clerk picked up a staff memo on the subject. Fiddled around for ages and just couldn't do it, said "the train is full" so i showed him the available train and ticket on the GA website on my phone. At one point he even said "it wasn't his job" and I should take it to a travel centre where they have been trained. It took at least 30 mins before he completely gave up & he got quite annoyed with me. There were 2 windows open so I wasn't holding anyone up.

I got the tube to St Pancras EMT ticket office and the lovely lady that served me did the transaction in seconds.

It's a bit of a farce how complicated it all was. you'd think in this day and age when ticket offices may well be on the way out they'd be happy for any transaction? What if I lived somewhere where there is no EMT ticket office?

While I was waiting I didn't see a single non-oyster transaction at the other window, and I suspect that's part of the problem. sigh.

Is my experience normal?

Reminds me of when at Stratford I attempted to get an excess from Super Off Peak to Off Peak. It was a LM-only ticket and they said I'd have to go to Euston for that, saying it could only be done by LM! Slight flaw: Euston ticket office is run by Virgin Trains, not LM . Wasn't in the mood to argue otherwise with her.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Reminds me of when at Stratford I attempted to get an excess from Super Off Peak to Off Peak. It was a LM-only ticket and they said I'd have to go to Euston for that, saying it could only be done by LM! Slight flaw: Euston ticket office is run by Virgin Trains, not LM . Wasn't in the mood to argue otherwise with her.

They were wrong, and could do it - however it is the case that there is a LM ticket office down the ramp by platforms 8-11 at Euston.

Neil

 

[causton]

I do wonder why some people refuse to sell such simple things as that... for example, I know one clerk who wouldn't issue me the new London Bus and Tram 1 day pass as "This is a train station, we don't do bus tickets" :roll: (they were suitably corrected eventually!)

 

[Agent_c]

Quite a few stations that are run by the current keyholders of the Scotrail franchise are advertised as issuing tickets to Scottish destinations only.

I'm aware of that at GLC, but that's because there is the Virgin run travel centre around the bend - to seperate the quick local walk up fares from the more complicated long distance ones.

 

[maniacmartin]

In the case of the scottish destinations only, I believe these exceptions are detailed in Schedule 17 of the TSA. However, these exceptions apply to a very small minority of stations!

 

[Edmondson]

In the case of the scottish destinations only, I believe these exceptions are detailed in Schedule 17 of the TSA. However, these exceptions apply to a very small minority of stations!

That is the very document I got my information from, but it is a lot more than just a very small minority. There are 142 Scotrail controlled stations listed, and 55 of them have the 'Scottish bookings only' marker.