Possibly overcharged at ticket office?

[Temple Meads]

Hi, I'd like some advice about the following situation, I'm not sure whether I'm at fault, or the railway is!

Today I went to the ticket office at Exeter St Davids to purchase some tickets for a Tiverton to Swindon journey on 9th May...

I requested travelling on the 10:37 XC service from Tiverton to Bristol Temple Meads, then changing for the 12:00 service from Temple Meads to Swindon, I was quoted a price of £16.10, I was slightly surprised about this, as it was £10.15 for my chosen journey when I'd checked on NRE the previous night.

I asked the clerk to try via Bristol Parkway (the route the journey planners normally suggest, as it's quicker), but I was told the price was the same. I quickly came to the conclusion that the advance tickets on the leg(s) to Swindon must have sold out for that date - maybe not my finest moment in hindsight - so I bought my original choice of ticket, however when I got home this evening, I thought I'd check NRE again and much to my annoyance the £10.15 fare is still being offered for both via Bristol Parkway, and via Bath.

Did I make a mistake somewhere in my request, or was it an error on either the clerks or their computer's side? Do I have a leg to stand on if I contact FGW?

PS: not seen a 'blank' reservation coupon before.

NRE screenshots from tonight, plus a picture of my tickets, attached.

 

[bb21]

I see that you were sold two tickets instead of a through one.

It is difficult to say what had happened exactly. Some of the XC AP flows do not appear to be available from all retailers, notably some cheaper tiers being online only. There is no pattern to it as the same tier for some flows may be available from the ticket office but not for others.

So it is possible that the ticket office could not find that particular fare, but it is also possible that your request was mishandled and never fed into the computer as one through journey.

Not sure what the best way forward is. It may be worth sending a complaint to both XC (who price the £10.15 fare) and FGW, and see whether availability was indeed restricted to online bookings only or whether there were other causes.

 

[MichaelAMW]

Hi, I'd like some advice about the following situation, I'm not sure whether I'm at fault, or the railway is!

Today I went to the ticket office at Exeter St Davids to purchase some tickets for a Tiverton to Swindon journey on 9th May...

I requested travelling on the 10:37 XC service from Tiverton to Bristol Temple Meads, then changing for the 12:00 service from Temple Meads to Swindon, I was quoted a price of £16.10, I was slightly surprised about this, as it was £10.15 for my chosen journey when I'd checked on NRE the previous night.

I asked the clerk to try via Bristol Parkway (the route the journey planners normally suggest, as it's quicker), but I was told the price was the same. I quickly came to the conclusion that the advance tickets on the leg(s) to Swindon must have sold out for that date - maybe not my finest moment in hindsight - so I bought my original choice of ticket, however when I got home this evening, I thought I'd check NRE again and much to my annoyance the £10.15 fare is still being offered for both via Bristol Parkway, and via Bath.

Did I make a mistake somewhere in my request, or was it an error on either the clerks or their computer's side? Do I have a leg to stand on if I contact FGW?

PS: not seen a 'blank' reservation coupon before.

NRE screenshots from tonight, plus a picture of my tickets, attached.

The booking clerk has issued it as two tickets and, given they have done so, the price is correct. However, it's not obvious why they have done so. Perhaps they didn't realise there is an "XC & Connections" route available and thought they were doing you a favour by booking a nice cheap Advance to Bristol and another ticket on to Swindon.

 

[sheff1]

I leave it to others to suggest what to do with the tickets you already have, but for the future I suggest that if you find a fare you like online then book it online. That way you get exactly what you want.

 

[Temple Meads]

I leave it to others to suggest what to do with the tickets you already have, but for the future I suggest that if you find a fare you like online then book it online. That way you get exactly what you want.

Yes, I would normally, just happened to be passing St Davids, and it didn't seem *too* unusual!

 

[Starmill]

Counted Place reservation with a walk-up ticket?

'Sounds like there have been some cowboys in here'!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Did the clerk think you wanted split tickets? Did you tell them that it was £10.15 on NRES?

The fare you wanted appears saleable on my STAR machine so it should have been available from Exeter St Davids.

Options for what to do next would either be (1) take them back to try to get them changed, or (2) go to customer services and see what they say.

starmill - Booked place reservations are very possible with a walk up fare, but we are not supposed to issue them (they are for Advance fares only). The problem is that the clerk may not know it is booked place only until it is reserved, or sometimes even until the machine prints it out. On some machines, if the two reservations are issued in one transaction, it is then impossible to cancel one without cancelling the other, and if you cancel the Advance reservation, you have to cancel the fare as well.

 

[RJ]

The fare is definitely still available. Odd that a split ticket would be issued instead.

 

[snail]

The fare is definitely still available. Odd that a split ticket would be issued instead.

Could that be that what the OP asked for? Risking putting words in their mouth, "I want to go from Tiverton to Bristol on the 1037 then Bristol to Swindon on the 1200"

Is the ticket office obliged to check the through fare if someone appears to want two specific journeys starting from a different station?

 

[RJ]

Could that be that what the OP asked for? Risking putting words in their mouth, "I want to go from Tiverton to Bristol on the 1037 then Bristol to Swindon on the 1200"

Is the ticket office obliged to check the through fare if someone appears to want two specific journeys starting from a different station?

In my experience, quite a few staff seem to think the only permitted journeys are whatever the journey planner chucks out after selecting just the origin and destination. Putting in Bristol Temple Meads as a "stop at" station and extending the changeover time to 37 minutes to suit the passenger's needs wouldn't cross their minds.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Could that be that what the OP asked for? Risking putting words in their mouth, "I want to go from Tiverton to Bristol on the 1037 then Bristol to Swindon on the 1200"

Is the ticket office obliged to check the through fare if someone appears to want two specific journeys starting from a different station?

Retailling guidelines are based around the average passenger wanting to make one journey. Instructions I was given when training were that if two journeys are being made, these should be treated as two enquiries.

 

[Temple Meads]

Thanks for the replies, most helpful

Could that be that what the OP asked for? Risking putting words in their mouth, "I want to go from Tiverton to Bristol on the 1037 then Bristol to Swindon on the 1200"

To be honest that was pretty much how I worded it, and I probably should have been more clear that it was a through ticket (I didn't mention the £10.15 bit to the clerk).

Anyway, I contacted FGW and XC customer services, and FGW have offered to make up the difference in the ticket prices

 

[RJ]

Retailling guidelines are based around the average passenger wanting to make one journey. Instructions I was given when training were that if two journeys are being made, these should be treated as two enquiries.

I think it's most important to ask the passenger questions in order to sell the appropriate ticket, rather than stick to a rigid reading of guidelines. I don't think the seller here did as well as they could have - unless the OP specifically requested split tickets, which they don't appear to have.

In this case, a passenger has asked for specific trains along an obviously permitted route, with a wait time that hardly suggests that it should be considered as two separate journeys, though it would be pertinent to ask. As such, had I been approached by the OP, the only thing that I'd be asking is if they were intending to break their journey at Bristol. Splitting the ticket wouldn't even cross my mind for any other reason given there's a through fare available.

I'm glad the TOC has offered to refund the difference.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Every clerk is different and will assess what is said differently, it's why guidelines tend to be guidelines. You might have asked more questions, I might have assumed it was one journey based on the connection time, but that clerk obviously made their assessment based on what actually occurred and what they evidently thought was best, or being asked for.