East Coast Postage Fees

[Bozo]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone has had any similar experiences with East Coast postage fees being applied to a booking for no apparent reason. I did find a similar thread on these boards regarding the fees but it has been closed.

Basically, I've just made a booking for a single ticket from Keighley to London @ £10.70, but when I got to the delivery options I was offered A) Collect from a fast ticket machine B) First class post @ £1 or C) Special delivery at £5 (or thereabouts). However, my issue with this is that there is no fast ticket machine at the Keighley station, and when I clicked the "More Info" link against the first class post option it states:

First Class post is free to the value of £1,000 if neither a Self-service Fastticket machine nor Print@Home is available for your journey. Otherwise, there will be a £1 charge for First Class postal delivery.

So according to this the postage should be free - there are no disclaimers or get out clauses referred to on that page.

I travel down to London about 5 times a year and I haven't had this happen before, however I wondered if anyone else has had this experience?

Thanks
Lee

 

[GadgetMan]

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/kei/details.html

According to the above link it has a ticket office and self service machine.

 

[sonic2009]

Looking at the Keighley Information page here

It does have a ticket collection Machine inside the Booking Hall. So you can collect tickets at Keighley, but saying that National Rail are not always right

This is why you have been Charged the £1 postage fee i suspect. On another note i have just made a dummy booking, and yes i can see that Keighley is not in the list of available station to collect tickets from on the East Coast Website

Can i ask was the Print @ Home Option available to yourself?

and Bozo Welcome to the Forum.

 

[barrykas]

However, my issue with this is that there is no fast ticket machine at the Keighley station, and when I clicked the "More Info" link against the first class post option it states:

The page for Keighley on the National Rail site suggests there is a suitable machine at Keighley. It's not shown on the "Stations Made Easy" plan of the station though!

Cheers,

Barry

 

[sonic2009]

This is taken from Northern Rail's Website about Keighley's Ticket buying and Collection :

Ticket Buying and Collection

Prepurchase Collection No
Ticket Counter No
Ticket Machine No
Ticket Machine - Location
Booking hall
Ticket Machine - Self Service No

So i'd assume that National Rail are out of date. Again it all depends on Whether the Print @ Home Option was offered to you.

 

[Bozo]

Yes, the Keighley station does have a self service ticket machine, but it is not one of the fast ticket machines that you would normally use to pickup tickets from, it is only there for purchasing tickets there and then.

The collect your ticket from a fast ticket machine option on the East Coast website does not offer Keighley as location to pickup your ticket, I assume for the reason I listed above.

No print@home option was offered to me, I didn't even know there was such a service until I read about it in the details section that I listed in my original post.

 

[yorkie]

Yes, the Keighley station does have a self service ticket machine, but it is not one of the fast ticket machines that you would normally use to pickup tickets from, it is only there for purchasing tickets there and then.

Are you sure? Northern has introduced TOD facilities at a lot of stations recently. If that does not yet include Keighley it is possible that EC think it has already been done. Perhaps Northern gave them a list and have included stations before they have had the facility enabled.

No print@home option was offered to me, I didn't even know there was such a service until I read about it in the details section that I listed in my original post.

Print@Home is generally available if the entire journey is with EC (ie, route EC Only). It is not available where there is a 'connection' (ie, route EC & Connections).

 

[bluenoxid]

Keighley has one.

You should be able to get your tickets. If not, chat to the staff and contact whoever you booked them through.

 

[radamfi]

If you buy a ticket from Trainline powered sites, it does give Keighley as a place you can pick your ticket up from, as well as other recently installed machine locations such as Rochdale and Littleborough. The list of TOD stations on WebTIS sites, such as EC, do not include these stations.

 

[Furrball]

It appears that they cannot correctly apply their postage fees anyway!!

Free postage

£1 postage

 

[Lrd]

It appears that they cannot correctly apply their postage fees anyway!!

£1 postage
^^PIC FROM UP THERE^^

Do you not have to click 'Continue' to get through to 'Review Order'?

 

[LexyBoy]

Do you not have to click 'Continue' to get through to 'Review Order'?

I think the point is that free postage is offered for the train departing London but the delivery fee is charged from Aberdeen; ticket collection is available at both stations so the fee should be charged for both directions.

My guess is that the booking engine can't find "London Terminals" in the list TOD capable stations. Not sure why it's got London Terminals rather than Kings Cross though on what is presumably an Advance ticket.

 

[Furrball]

I think the point is that free postage is offered for the train departing London but the delivery fee is charged from Aberdeen; ticket collection is available at both stations so the fee should be charged for both directions.

My guess is that the booking engine can't find "London Terminals" in the list TOD capable stations. Not sure why it's got London Terminals rather than Kings Cross though on what is presumably an Advance ticket.

London Terminals is selected as I simply did London in the search.

That is correct - if you select London Kings Cross then the postage fee is £1.00. So, if you want your tickets posting and are travelling from London choose London as your start location - does not seem to alter the prices that are returned.

 

[Deerfold]

I suspect that the reason the East Coast does not list Keighley is that TOD is not available from the machine when the booking office is closed but it is still classing it as being there when calculating postage.

 

[Bozo]

Well I'll wait and see what East Coast say, I can't see how they can charge me for postage because my station apparently has a ticket machine, but then not offer that station as a collection point.

Plus, is there any reason why I shouldn't be offered the print@home option? that would seem to be easiest thing all round.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....My guess is that the booking engine can't find "London Terminals" in the list TOD capable stations. Not sure why it's got London Terminals rather than Kings Cross though on what is presumably an Advance ticket.

The ticket will be from London Terminals (even as an advance) the reservation will say Kings Cross.

 

[Deerfold]

Plus, is there any reason why I shouldn't be offered the print@home option? that would seem to be easiest thing all round.

You should be offered that if you've booked on the daily direct service.

Northern do not accept them so they won't be offered if you're connecting.

 

[Bozo]

You should be offered that if you've booked on the daily direct service.

Northern do not accept them so they won't be offered if you're connecting.

It would be a connection from Northern as I'm travelling in the evening, the direct service only runs once a day at about 6am. That explains that anyway.

 

[yorkie]

Well I'll wait and see what East Coast say, I can't see how they can charge me for postage because my station apparently has a ticket machine, but then not offer that station as a collection point.

The list is out of date, but selecting any station will do, you can still collect it. They will probably apologise for having an out of date list and add it.

Plus, is there any reason why I shouldn't be offered the print@home option? that would seem to be easiest thing all round.

Was the journey entirely on the EC (ex-Skipton) service?

 

[Bozo]

I got a very short response from Eastcoast saying Keighley does have a fast ticket machine, and I should have been offered the print@home option.

However, as Deerfold as posted above the print@home option would not be offered because the Keighley to Leeds section of my journey is with Northern and they would not accept the print@home ticket.

Anyway, I have replied to Eastcoast basically saying I agreed with what they have said, but their website does not reflect that, and I have included the necessary screen grabs to illustrate the fact that neither collection from Keighley or print@home are available options on their website for this journey.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The list is out of date, but selecting any station will do, you can still collect it. They will probably apologise for having an out of date list and add it.


Was the journey entirely on the EC (ex-Skipton) service?

The journey is Keighley to Leeds with Northern & Leeds to London Kingscross with Eastcoast.

That would be great for future bookings if they add it, however I have still asked for a refund for this booking.

 

[Deerfold]

It would be a connection from Northern as I'm travelling in the evening, the direct service only runs once a day at about 6am. That explains that anyway.

Ah if only it was about 6am - that would make my life so much easier - as it is it's at 0707 and gets into London at 1002, about half an hour too late to be of any use to me (though my wife uses it from time to time).

Just to confirm - TOD from Keighley seems to work just fine - I've just picked up 7 journeys over 2 bookings.

Comments are - I'd do what I did and hang on if there's a train about to go - the system is not quick for pick up and there's only one machine.

The system always needs the code - and the keyboard layout on-screen is dire compared with the machines at Leeds or Kings Cross - with letters on the left of the screen and numbers on the right, both ordered from top to bottom then left to right.

A H O V 1 6
B I P W 2 7
...

 

[Bozo]

Well East Coast have replied and said they will refund me with an eVoucher :roll:

God knows how long it will take them to add Keighley to the list of available stations for ticket collection on their website.

However, I've decided that in future I think I will book all my tickets from Cononley to Kings Cross, as Cononley is just a few stops before Keighley and they don't have a ticket machine so free postage is still available.

 

[button_boxer]

However, I've decided that in future I think I will book all my tickets from Cononley to Kings Cross, as Cononley is just a few stops before Keighley and they don't have a ticket machine so free postage is still available.

This will only work for Anytime and Off-Peak tickets, as Advance tickets do not permit break of journey. Break of journey includes "starting short", i.e. you are not allowed to start your journey at Keighley on an Advance ticket from Cononley to London.

 

[dvboy]

Well East Coast have replied and said they will refund me with an eVoucher :roll:

God knows how long it will take them to add Keighley to the list of available stations for ticket collection on their website.

However, I've decided that in future I think I will book all my tickets from Cononley to Kings Cross, as Cononley is just a few stops before Keighley and they don't have a ticket machine so free postage is still available.

Or book it with someone who doesn't charge postage.

 

[island]

Well East Coast have replied and said they will refund me with an eVoucher :roll:

God knows how long it will take them to add Keighley to the list of available stations for ticket collection on their website.

However, I've decided that in future I think I will book all my tickets from Cononley to Kings Cross, as Cononley is just a few stops before Keighley and they don't have a ticket machine so free postage is still available.

You could just use RSH.

 

[Bozo]

This will only work for Anytime and Off-Peak tickets, as Advance tickets do not permit break of journey. Break of journey includes "starting short", i.e. you are not allowed to start your journey at Keighley on an Advance ticket from Cononley to London.

I thought that only applied to the part of the journey that is with East Coast, I thought I would be able to break the portion of the journey that is with Northern?

As regards buying the tickets from another website that doesn't charge postage, that seems to be a waste of time as the tickets are more expensive e.g. I can get a Keighley to London ticket on the East Coast website for £10.70, however the same ticket on other websites is £12, So I may as well just pay for the postage on the East Coast website.

 

[button_boxer]

I thought that only applied to the part of the journey that is with East Coast, I thought I would be able to break the portion of the journey that is with Northern?

By the letter of the rules no, Advance tickets do not permit any break of journey. If your ticket were inspected on entering Keighley station, you would not be allowed to travel. If you were inspected when leaving Keighley station on your return journey with an Advance ticket to a destination other than Keighley then you would be liable for the difference between the price of the Advance and the price of a walk-up single ticket for the journey you actually made.

Whether you would get away with it on any given occasion is a different question, but those are the rules and we can't recommend you break them.

 

[Bozo]

By the letter of the rules no, Advance tickets do not permit any break of journey. If your ticket were inspected on entering Keighley station, you would not be allowed to travel. If you were inspected when leaving Keighley station on your return journey with an Advance ticket to a destination other than Keighley then you would be liable for the difference between the price of the Advance and the price of a walk-up single ticket for the journey you actually made.

Whether you would get away with it on any given occasion is a different question, but those are the rules and we can't recommend you break them.

I regularly buy tickets from Keighley-London and 90% of the time I get on the train at Crossflatts, which is one stop further down the line. Mainly this is because if I can get someone to drop me at the station, it's easier to go to Crossflatts rather then head into town. However, when I'm buying tickets 3 months in advance, I don't always know if I can a lift, so I might have to get a taxi, in which case it's cheaper to go to Keighley.

Saying that though, I most probably get away with doing this because the conductor can't get round to check everyone's ticket between the two stations. Whereas if I bought a ticket starting at Cononley station, it would probably be noticed that I didn't get on there.

Most likely in future I'll just end up paying the postage, as there's only one ticket machine at Keighley, and I've read peoples horror stories about trying to get their tickets when the machine has been out of order.

 

[Deerfold]

I regularly buy tickets from Keighley-London and 90% of the time I get on the train at Crossflatts, which is one stop further down the line. Mainly this is because if I can get someone to drop me at the station, it's easier to go to Crossflatts rather then head into town. However, when I'm buying tickets 3 months in advance, I don't always know if I can a lift, so I might have to get a taxi, in which case it's cheaper to go to Keighley.

Saying that though, I most probably get away with doing this because the conductor can't get round to check everyone's ticket between the two stations. Whereas if I bought a ticket starting at Cononley station, it would probably be noticed that I didn't get on there.

Most likely in future I'll just end up paying the postage, as there's only one ticket machine at Keighley, and I've read peoples horror stories about trying to get their tickets when the machine has been out of order.

I've been told by one guard that they didn't care about the destination so long as I wasn't over-riding when I asked if I could get off at Keighley on a Steeton & Silsden ticket. Obviously these are only the views of one guard.

Of course there are times when the quickest way from Steeton and Silsden to Leeds is to get the Bradford train and change at Keighley onto a service from Lancaster or Carlisle.

 

[island]

Most likely in future I'll just end up paying the postage, as there's only one ticket machine at Keighley, and I've read peoples horror stories about trying to get their tickets when the machine has been out of order.

Why not use a site that offers free postage?