Couldn't buy ticket I wanted to

[karo]

Hiya - travelled from Reading to Reading Green Park today, but I couldn't buy the Reading - Reading Green Park off peak day return that I had intended to.

At the TVM, when I selected Reading Green Park, it just terminated the vending process.

When I tried to buy it on the GWR app, it just told me that an error had occurred.

When I tried to buy it on the GWR website, it seemed to only think that some earlier services were stopping there (which had already departed), but claimed there were no later trains so it wouldn't let me buy a ticket.

I probably could've gone to the ticket office, but there was a bit of a queue and the train was gonna leave soon, so I just bought a ticket from Reading to Mortimer (the stop after Reading Green Park).

Do you reckon there's any chance I could get a refund for the price difference between the Reading-Green Park return and the Reading-Mortimer return, seeing as I didn't actually travel to Mortimer, and the only reason I bought it in the first place was because I couldn't buy the ticket I wanted to?

Or am I just gonna have to suck it up?

 

[bcarmicle]

You can try to claim under GWR's Ticket Machine Price Guarantee (https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket) assuming your Mortimer ticket was bought through a TVM (though I imagine they are likely to refund the difference regardless of method given the issues you faced and the relatively small value).

 

[MotCO]

Were you changing at Reading? I think most tickets to Reading also include Reading West; maybe you can / should buy Reading West To Green Park?

 

[karo]

Were you changing at Reading? I think most tickets to Reading also include Reading West; maybe you can / should buy Reading West To Green Park?

No, I was starting at Reading

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 May 2023 ==

You can try to claim under GWR's Ticket Machine Price Guarantee (https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket) assuming your Mortimer ticket was bought through a TVM (though I imagine they are likely to refund the difference regardless of method given the issues you faced and the relatively small value).

Thank you

 

[swt_passenger]

We need to remember this station has taken 14 years to get from idea to reality.

Actually having to add suitable fares for it has probably come as a complete surprise to the people responsible.

But as a side point I think someone mentioned that from Mortimer it is the same fare as Reading, but as it’s only a little more than half the distance from Mortimer to Reading, wouldn’t people from Mortimer expect it to have it’s own slightly reduced fare?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What should the Reading -> Reading Green Park Off Peak Day Return fare be? Something like £3.10 (before any railcard discount).

P.S. One for the fares experts... Is there possibly some problem in the fares data, if the TVM is using 0403 (Reading or Reading West) as the origin code, as this then returns no fares as available to/from Reading Green Park (0996)?!

(Using 3149 (Reading) or 3160 (Reading West) as origin code does, however, result in appropriate fares being shown to/from Reading Green Park (0996)).

 

[Haywain]

What should the Reading -> Reading Green Park Off Peak Day Return fare be? Something like £3.10 (before any railcard discount).

P.S. One for the fares experts... Is there possibly some problem in the fares data, if the TVM is using 0403 (Reading or Reading West) as the origin code, as this then returns no fares as available to/from Reading Green Park (0996)?!

(Using 3149 (Reading) or 3160 (Reading West) as origin code does, however, result in appropriate fares being shown to/from Reading Green Park (0996)).

If the machine (at Reading)was only using 0403 as the origin it almost certainly wouldn't be able to sell a ticket to Reading West. I would have expected that to have been noticed and rectified. What happened suggests no fares were found for some other reason, possibly an omission in not setting them up for sale at unstaffed sales points.

 

[father_jack]

0403 (Reading group as was) should be deleted by now with separate flows for Reading, Reading West and Reading Green Park. Green Park was felt to be too far out of Reading for being part of the "Reading" cluster. Seems it hasn't communicated down to S & B who supply the TVMs. Selecting "Tickets from another station" and putting Reading as the origin rather than letting the TVM select the origin automatically as it does would get around the issue.

 

[MrJeeves]

Two of my friends managed to purchase Reading - RGP on Saturday at Reading station from the TVMs and online as an e-ticket fine, and I also managed to do so at a GTR TVM earlier in the morning. Very strange!

 

[karo]

You can try to claim under GWR's Ticket Machine Price Guarantee (https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket) assuming your Mortimer ticket was bought through a TVM (though I imagine they are likely to refund the difference regardless of method given the issues you faced and the relatively small value).

Unfortunately they don't seem to want to.

Thank you for your prompt response back to me. I have now looked into your case and I am able to see that we will not be able to issue you any compensation this time for this matter. I am sorry I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for however due to there not being any issues with the services that ran and you managed to travel there is not compensation due.

I understand this is annoying as you had to spend an extra £1.00 to travel however the pricing is uncontrollable as it is calculated due to demand of the service you were boarding.

 

[alistairlees]

Unfortunately they don't seem to want to.

Dear oh dear. Their response rather misses the point, doesn't it?

 

[karo]

Dear oh dear. Their response rather misses the point, doesn't it?

I know right - sounds like they're describing the differences in prices of advance tickets!