New Virgin East Coast Website

[Scotty]

That's rather more effort than having it provided.

It's a simple solution that takes less than a second. I wouldn't say it requires much effort :roll:

 

[Deerfold]

It's a simple solution that takes less than a second. I wouldn't say it requires much effort :roll:

It's something you didn't need to do before. The first time you realise it's no longer provided in the e-mail header it's a surprise.

I don't think anyone is saying this is the biggest problem they have. It's just part of the list of backward steps.

 

[Deerfold]

Newcastle has free WiFi

Is that the list of decent stations?

I can't seem to find details for it. The National Rail site says it has public wifi, but the link it provides is to find BT Hotspots which may or may not be free.

 

[ainsworth74]

Newcastle has free WiFi

So out of the 2,500 stations in the UK we have one decent station? Good to know!

 

[westv]

So is the new website still pants or slightly less pants now?

 

[Griff]

I tried the new website (laptop version) during the recent seat sale and it's alright, but it'd be nicer if there was an option of saving a journey and coming back to it later.

 

[Deerfold]

So is the new website still pants or slightly less pants now?

Still pants. If any other site could do me a seat selection on East Coast I'd have no reason to use it at all.

 

[westv]

Still pants. If any other site could do me a seat selection on East Coast I'd have no reason to use it at all.

The last time I tried, even that was broken for me.

 

[Silver Cobra]

The last time I tried, even that was broken for me.

It seems to work fine now; I had no trouble using it during the last seat sale.

However, for some strange reason, the seat selector shows seats 35 and 36 in standard class coaches B, C, D and E on 225/Mk4 sets the opposite way round to what I remember them being. 36 is shown as the window seat while 35 is aisle. I recall it's actually the other way around, with 35 as the window and 36 as the aisle. All other pairs of seats in these coaches have the odd-numbered seat as window and the even as aisle; it's only this pair that are the other way around. The PDF seat plan also seems to shows them this way (picture of this here: http://i.imgur.com/b9KyQRT.jpg). Of course, they could now be this way around on the actual sets, but I expect it to be a mistake.

 

[westv]

It seems to work fine now; I had no trouble using it during the last seat sale.

.

No, just tried again and still doesn't work on my service.

 

[SaveECRewards]

No, just tried again and still doesn't work on my service.

Has anyone booked lately and so able to confirm whether the booking ref has made it into the subject line yet (as mentioned by WallsendMag)?

I have some tickets to buy and would rather book them on another site, but if I have to I will book them on VTEC to see if any improvements have been made.

 

[Hadders]

I used the site on Wednesday and the booking reference wasn't in the subject line.

 

[91109]

I used the site on Wednesday and the booking reference wasn't in the subject line.

I have been told they are returning in the next few weeks.

 

[47271]

I'm trying to book a ticket in early 2018. They claim a six month booking horizon, but I can't get the calendar to go beyond November.

What's wrong now for goodness sake?

 

[Deerfold]

I'm trying to book a ticket in early 2018. They claim a six month booking horizon, but I can't get the calendar to go beyond November.

What's wrong now for goodness sake?

It's working fine for me (well, as fine as it does).

 

[47271]

It's working fine for me (well, as fine as it does).

Thanks, I shifted from Chrome to IE and it worked. Groan.

 

[Deerfold]

Thanks, I shifted from Chrome to IE and it worked. Groan.

Odd. I was using Chrome (Mac).

 

[FQTV]

An email from Virgin Trains East Coast reaches FQTV Towers this morning:

We would love to find out more about the recent ticket purchase you made on our website. The survey will only take 3 minutes on average to complete; please start by answering the first question below. Thank you so much for your help!

Maybe a first sign that they want to find out what's not working out?

No.

Did you make a booking?
Why did you visit our website?
Have you travelled First Class before?

:roll:

 

[SaveECRewards]

An email from Virgin Trains East Coast reaches FQTV Towers this morning:



Maybe a first sign that they want to find out what's not working out?

No.

Did you make a booking?
Why did you visit our website?
Have you travelled First Class before?

:roll:

I got that too.

All stuff they should be easy enough for them to work out without the need to send a survey (except the why did you visit the site, but then the webpage does have a purpose of booking question too).

 

[Deerfold]

Still people reporting waits of over an hour on their helpdesk. Did see the Twitter team saying they could sort out a bicycle reservation, which is something.

 

[westv]

Just sent another email to them about the missing seat selector map on my service. :roll:

 

[91109]

Still people reporting waits of over an hour on their helpdesk. Did see the Twitter team saying they could sort out a bicycle reservation, which is something.

Depends on which number they're calling. Queues on Web Support have come right down, however Customer Solutions are taking a battering now.

 

[yorkie]

The half-price Super Off Peak Singles appear to be working for London-York (but not for Railcard holders), but not for York-London. Or am I missing something?

Edit: it appears to be an undocumented booking deadline.

Edit2: or maybe just a bug

 

[Wallsendmag]

Strange I'll have a look when I get home


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[SaveECRewards]

Strange I'll have a look when I get home

I'm glad you're sticking around even though it must be disheartening at times as there's a lot of, understandable, frustration from many about the way this site was launched.

I know you're unlikely to be one of the decision makers on to when this thing went live and I know from personal experiences sometimes projects can massively overrun.

There are some questions you probably can't answer, even if you know them, although if anyone does know them and wants to let me know anonymously either by private message, Twitter DM or email then I'd be most interested to know

• I knew about this project in 2015, even went to a focus meeting about it. The site was supposed to be launched in 2016, but was launched incomplete in 2017. Was a different company contracted to produce the site and then replaced with a different one in 2016, meaning they had to start from scratch?
• Were cycle reservations forgotten about in the original spec and then only noticed during the beta phase? Is any progress being made in their implementation?
• Is 'Travel Buddy' always intended to be just a ticket wallet, with the rest of the app just links to the mobile site?
• Why did the new site launch with m-tickets and not e-tickets? e-tickets are more flexible as they can be added to Apple Wallet or just displayed in email
• As catering vouchers have still not been added online, from ticket machines and the page on the VTEC website mentioning which ticket offices they can be purchased from has been removed, if this a plan to phase them out due to lack of demand?
• Does anyone know why I was getting some odd results a few days ago? I was getting the occasional routing suggestion that made no sense, but when checking later it was OK.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Sorry I really can't answer most of those questions as I only joined the project in the last year. Apart from the fact that one of the third party systems that supplys prices and routes had a corrupt file downloaded last Saturday that has affected several of our new systems.

 

[SaveECRewards]

Sorry I really can't answer most of those questions as I only joined the project in the last year. Apart from the fact that one of the third party systems that supplys prices and routes had a corrupt file downloaded last Saturday that has affected several of our new systems.

Thanks for that, I can imagine that may have caused the weirdness that I saw.

I was getting some weird suggestions, but can't reproduce those now.

 

[Mojo]

Had a strange e-mail yesterday morning a few hours before my trip. I booked a walkon ticket but requested a reservation. The subject title just read "London Kings Cross! Today's travel info" but also contained the words " Oh, and just remember to get to the station at least 20 mins before your train leaves." Not quite sure why they wanted me to get to the station so early...

 

[Deerfold]

Depends on which number they're calling. Queues on Web Support have come right down, however Customer Solutions are taking a battering now.

What's normal? Had cause to call them twice yesterday and waiting around 20 minutes each time.

 

[Haywain]

Had a strange e-mail yesterday morning a few hours before my trip. I booked a walkon ticket but requested a reservation. The subject title just read "London Kings Cross! Today's travel info" but also contained the words " Oh, and just remember to get to the station at least 20 mins before your train leaves." Not quite sure why they wanted me to get to the station so early...

So that you wouldn't miss the train. Some people think that arriving at departure time is good enough, and then complain when they can't get the train.