Is my friend entitled to a Refund?

[mralexn]

I was talking to one of friends at work yesterday, and he said, he went to the train station, and bought a ticket from a fast ticket machine to go from Plymouth To Exeter St davids,
only to walk on to the platform after he bought the ticket and was told that the last train had left over an hour ago!
(duhhhhhhh) on his behalf i know,

but his argument was , why did the machine sell my a ticket when the last train had gone?, the ticket also had "that days" date on it too,

I know he was very stupid and should have checked the times / iphone app etc,

but he asked me, is there any change he can get a refund?

Personally, i do not think it would be possible, as it is a £8.20 ticket and would he have to pay a £10 admin fee anyway,

Just wondering what you all think about his situation

 

[GadgetMan]

Best thing to do is ring the customer service department of the TOC that runs the ticket office, explain the situation and ask very nicely if they will on this occasion be willing to waive the admin fee. If they say yes, take the person's name and send tickets in. If you don't ask you don't get.

 

[causton]

Remember TVMs are not connected to the timetable system in any way unfortunately even if they were, they could present issues with buying tickets for a train leaving at 0001 (the previous day's ticket would be valid on that train but the TVM could say "there are no more trains today" at 2345 etc)...

...I'd say, go to a ticket office/write a letter and try your luck

 

[blakey1152]

I personally believe that you should be able to get a refund for two reasons

Firstly, the train company concerned is unable to get you to your destination on the date on your ticket which although not their fault is not your friends either as he was obviously unaware the last train had already gone.

Secondly, as ticket machines seem clever enough that they refuse to sell an off-peak ticket until its actually off-peak then surely they can be programmed not to sell a ticket when you can't actually get to a destination (at least on a local basis)

I'd take the ticket back to the issuing office and see what they say.. certainly can't do any harm

Good luck!

 

[yorkie]

but his argument was , why did the machine sell my a ticket when the last train had gone?, the ticket also had "that days" date on it too,

That would be an absolutely nightmare to program, and prone to error. Would it have to check the timetable and perhaps the routeing guide too? What if you could get part-way and the customer wanted to go part way to do an overnight BOJ? It would also need to take into account possible delays. In short: it's a non-starter.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

TVMs will print ticket coupons that a customer has previously bought - and they will do this anytime; before the date of travel, on the date of travel, or after the date of travel (even long afterward). They are, in this respect, just printing machines, which print a record of a transaction which a person has chosen to transact (through several stages of dialogue and whether they are fully appraised of the circumstances or not).

 

[sonic2009]

What time did he try and catch the train? Did he miss the night Rivera?

 

[mralexn]

What time did he try and catch the train? Did he miss the night Rivera?

this was on a Saturday, and he thought that the Night Rivera ran on saturdays

 

[yorkie]

this was on a Saturday, and he thought that the Night Rivera ran on saturdays

I did wonder about that, but the mention of "yesterday" meant I dismissed it. This would have been easier to follow if the date of the event rather than the conversation was revealed

This problem sort-of happened to me, except I'm used to using decent ticket machines with an option to select a ticket for tomorrow, and it was just before midnight and I didn't realise... no-one was prepared to help me, the station staff and the guard were extremely unhelpful and incapable of showing common sense and I had to pay again. I couldn't be bothered to write and complain (against my own advice I know) as it was only a cheap ticket.

 

[WillPS]

Anybody can buy any ticket at any time if they so choose. I imagine if I wanted to buy a single from Denton - Reddish South valid this Tuesday I could buy the ticket (despite it being useless).

 

[34D]

this was on a Saturday, and he thought that the Night Rivera ran on saturdays

I see the last saturday train is a ridiculously early 21:15 - I would reasonably assume that on a main line the last train might be later than that (so don't really blame your friend).... Then again, on a saturday the last Newcastle to York (again, around an hour, between two cities on a major main line) is 20:42 (last up EC). Likewise on the west coast, the last Carlisle to Warrington is 19:59.

(All these saturday examples are based on next saturday, 21st Jan).

Do we think Saturday eve services are so poor because:
-no demand
-a wish not to operate trains that might be raucous?

Re the original question, the ticket purchased is unusable, so surely should be refunded (trading standards would back this up)?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Ticket machines should sell the ticket the customer asks for - the same as a ticket office. If the customer asks for an incorrect ticket then IMO that is their fault, however if you write very nicely to Customer Services they might refund you.

This is nothing to do with trading standards.

 

[Trainbuff]

You could argue that there should be no admin charge. The ticket is dated AND on the bottom right hand of the ticket is the time it was printed!

This should be an argument that you can use

 

[island]

You could argue that there should be no admin charge. The ticket is dated AND on the bottom right hand of the ticket is the time it was printed!

This should be an argument that you can use

What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? The admin fee is for the staff time and postage costs etc., not a way of discouraging people from fraudulent refunds.