Gold Card on Virgin ticket machines

[moogal]

I've always previously been able to select my Gold Card discount on Virgin's ticket machines at Euston, but yesterday afternoon while trying to buy a ticket to Northampton, the machine listed almost every other type of railcard but that. When I queried it with a member of staff, he told me "oh, that's because Virgin don't accept Gold Cards on their services" - obviously a Northampton ticket would be for a London Midland service though.

In the end I went to the ticket office which was thankfully quiet and they had no problem issuing the correct ticket.

It struck me as odd as a) I'm certain I've been able to buy such tickets in the past, and b) what happens then at stations run by Virgin but have services calling which do accept them (e.g. Rugby)?

 

[Hadders]

That's typical Virgin.

They have opted out of accepting Gold Cards on their trains but they still should offer it on the railcards screen for journeys made on non-Virgin services.

To be fair I can see why Virgin have done this - consider a passenger who buys a ticket from Euston to Milton Keynes Any Permitted from a Virgin TVM with a Gold Card discount. This wouldn't be valid on Virgin Trains but can you imagine the argument - 'well your ticket machine sold it to me...'

What's really needed is a warning to flash up on Virgin TVM's when a Gold Card discount is selected.

 

[jon0844]

Or just accept the card for discounts? If I can't get a cheap advance on Virgin, I'll travel on LM instead as the difference in price is even more incredible with one giving me a discount and the other not.

Or maybe VT doesn't want me using their trains?

 

[A1]

Saw this a couple of months ago. It's not new. Annoyingly, you have to queue, and last time I was then issued the wrong ticket (Railcard discount, not Gold) and had to requeue.

 

[JaJaWa]

Buying on a FirstGroup app and then collecting on the machine straight away may be a solution (I recommend this rather than the Virgin app as that's powered by the train line which has a delay up to 2 hours).

 

[Hadders]

Or at Euston you could always use LM's ticket office or one of their TVM's which presumably offer Gold Card discount as an option.

 

[jon0844]

All machines should have the same facilities (IMO) and also a standardised user interface. It's like at King's Cross where only certain machines have the ability to buy a ticket starting from another station (including boundary extensions).

I'm not against branding (logos, colour schemes) or promoting certain tickets, but all tickets and discounts should be on all machines.

 

[Merseysider]

Or at Euston you could always use LM's ticket office or one of their TVM's which presumably offer Gold Card discount as an option.

On a side note, Virgin effectively lose their 9% revenue or whatever percentile it is by passengers having to buy from LM.

So the lack of Gold Card discount is of disbenefit to both Virgin and their passengers. Seems illogical to me.

 

[Hadders]

But Virgin won't want to give London-Birmingham passengers a third off given the extended area. Although they could have stuck with only allowing Gold Cards to be used to Milton Keynes in a similar way to what Cross Country have done north of Banbury.

 

[Stats]

Virgin are not the only one that do this. Gold card has not been an option on EMT TVMs at St Pancras for many years.

 

[moogal]

Or at Euston you could always use LM's ticket office or one of their TVM's which presumably offer Gold Card discount as an option.

Problem is LM only have a few ticket machines split between the main ticket hall and the entrance to platforms 8-11 (and in my experience a queue at the windows), whereas Virgin have about 30.

The Virgin-operated ticket office had no problem issuing the ticket, just seems to be their machines where it's been removed.

 

[A1]

Saw that the virgin branded machines at King's Cross do offer Gold Card discount....

 

[cool110]

Saw that the virgin branded machines at King's Cross do offer Gold Card discount....

That's because it's Virgin East Coast, this is about Virgin (west coast).

 

[yorkie]

Are Virgin complying with consumer law (see code of practice) by ensuring there is there clear signage on the machines stating that the full range isn't available and that passengers should visit the ticket office or use an LM ticket machine to get a wider range?

 

[A1]

That's because it's Virgin East Coast, this is about Virgin (west coast).

I know what this thread is about. My point was they manage to load Gold Card discounts on their Kings Cross machines ( VEC) yet can't on VWC.

 

[yorkie]

I know what this thread is about. My point was they manage to load Gold Card discounts on their Kings Cross machines ( VEC) yet can't on VWC.

Oh it's absolutely possible, but Virgin West Coast are choosing not to offer the full range.

That said VTEC were not - when I last checked - offering the full range of fares from their own machines, for example no GroupSave offered for a journey such as London King's Cross to Stevenage.

Not offering the full range is (sadly) considered acceptable but only if the machines make it absolutely clear the full range isn't available and what customers can do to obtain the full range. If they do not make it clear and there is evidence of a breach of the code of practice, then the matter should to be referred to the ORR to investigate a possible breach of consumer law.

 

[bb21]

I know what this thread is about. My point was they manage to load Gold Card discounts on their Kings Cross machines ( VEC) yet can't on VWC.

I suspect that they have been there since East Coast days, rather than the (Stagecoach) Virgin company having done anything in particular.

But as yorkie says, even the VEC/EC machines aren't angels themselves.

 

[jon0844]

It's out of order not to offer the full range of tickets, and the new message on GTR machines looks like there's a pop-up banner on the screen from a distance and at first I thought it meant the machine was out of order!

It looks like something that replaces the usual ticket purchasing options, and could have been done so much better.

If a TVM is the only way to buy a ticket, it's even more annoying. Do you buy the next best ticket and attempt a refund?

Sometimes there are of course more tickets if you manually select the station, but how many people think to do that? They select a local station (or London) from the quick fares.

I've long thought that you could have quick fares, but also allow for you to select other fares for the same destination when you've pressed.. rather than realise it's not the one you want, cancel, start over, not find what you want, get confused and annoy those waiting behind.

But then I think TVM software is incredibly unintuitive and it's a farce that there's at least two systems with a totally different interface.