National Express and Misleading Vouchers

[F Great Eastern]

Today I got sent a 30% discount voucher for National Express as compensation and this is the second time that I have been sent a voucher that does not allow me to use it on the advance online fares, despite the terms and conditions state it should.

This has happened twice now when I have got a voucher - I also have a birthday voucher for 50% off which I tried to use also today where there is the same problem - National Express tell me that the voucher cannot be used for advance bookings, yet the terms and conditions of the voucher say otherwise:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/prom...crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=birthday_50

This offer gives you 50% off the ticket price of one National Express journey (including our lowest online advanced fares) for up to four people

and

This offer gives you 30% off the ticket price of one National Express journey (including our lowest online advanced fares) for up to four people

The vouchers seem to work only for full price flexible fares which are the highest fares and in most cases even after a discount are more expensive than the advance fares.

Has anyone else had this issue and if so how did they resolve it? It seems blatant breaking of their own terms and conditions and misleading advertising.

 

[Bwsbro]

I got a free travel voucher last month as a birthday offer, however when I tried to book the ticket it wouldn’t allow me to book online when trying to book outside of office hours.

However surprisingly my ticket wasn’t meant to be valid on a Eurolines serivce however when I booked the journey planner booked me on a 880 Leeds - Dublin Service

 

[F Great Eastern]

Well I wrote to NX and they said to me that "lowest online advanced fares" are different to "funfares"

Clearly they're not complying with their own T+Cs no matter how much they try and fudge it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Well I wrote to NX and they said to me that "lowest online advanced fares" are different to "funfares"

Clearly they're not complying with their own T+Cs no matter how much they try and fudge it.

If that was via any form of advertising, the ASA might well be interested in such a thing.

 

[F Great Eastern]

I had two emails with it in as well as a web-page to redeem it on, the only terms and conditions are the same for both but different dates and percentage levels.

1) The offer is available online only
2) Offer is valid for bookings made before 28 February 2018 for travel until 31 March 2018.
3) You must book at least three days in advance of travel
4) Not valid for travel on Bank Holidays or on airport routes
5) This offer gives you 50% off the ticket price of one National Express journey (including our lowest online advanced fares) for up to four people
6) The return journey (if applicable) must be booked at the same time as the outward journey
7) No additional discounts, including Coachcard discounts, will apply
8) A £1 booking fee for each transaction will be added during the booking process
9) General terms and conditions of selected fare type will apply
10) If an amendment is made to the booking, a £5 amendment fee and any upgrade fee to the new fare will apply. The birthday discount cannot be used on any additional cost related to the new ticket price
11) Journeys as part of an event package or one of our event services are excluded from this promotion
12) This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional offer, any third party operated service, Eurolines or Kings Ferry
13) National Express reserves the right to withdraw or amend this offer at any time
14) Tickets are issued and all customers are carried subject to National Express' General Conditions of Carriage, available online and at all National Express outlets

See attached file for the options with the voucher versus without (first one is with, second without)

You can clearly see it only allows a discount on the full price fare.