Raileasy: Missing ticket types and wrong T&Cs

[maniacmartin]

Hi all,

I normally buy from Southern or the TOC I travelling with if buying an advance which is discounted on the TOC's own site.Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the £20 cashback from Raileasy pointed out by johnnycache.

Raileasy's site first finds the fastest itineraries and then on the next page allows you to choose from the applicable ticket types for the trains it has found. I searched for a return from London Euston [EUS] to Birmingham Stations. It only found the Virgin Trains itineraries as they have the fastest trains, so on the next page it was then impossible to buy a LDN MIDLAND ONLY ticket.

Never mind, as I actually wanted to buy ticket from London Marylebone [MYB] to Birmingham Stations. I entered this, and went paid for the ticket. Note that there is a £1 booking fee and an additionalfee of either 75p or 90p depending on which type of card you pay with. The payment page expects you to type in your details very quickly, or when you go to the next page you find that your session has timed out

After paying, the confirmation page has a section as shown in my attachment. It's got my my reservations correct, but in the terms it's claiming that both tickets are Off peak day ticket to London Marylebone. I wouldn't class a Super Off-peak return as day tickets, and they aren't both to London Marylebone.

It also states Break of Journey: No. The ticket that printed was a London Terminals to Birmingham Stns OPR Rte: Chiltern Trains only with Y-P, whose restriction code (confirmed by NRE) is PU. PU doesn't mention any restriction on BoJ. It then goes on to mention times of validity, but gives totally differently times to those stated for PU on NRE and BRfares.

It appears to have given me the restrictions for a totally different ticket from the one it's sold me. Has anyone else experienced this?

Needless to say, their shoddy site, booking fees, premium rate hotline, £10 admin fees for everything and £1.90 booking fees mean I won't be buying from them again.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Not excusing the general shoddiness of the site, but to be fair to Raileasy, at least they do make an attempt to let you know what the break of journey restrictions are. According to the data schema in the electronic fares data supplied to booking engines by ATOC, break of journey either is or isn't restricted according to the ticket type and it has nothing to do with the restriction code. The fact that break of journey for off-peak and super off-peak tickets may be restricted in the restriction code only came in with fares simplification in 2008, and there is nothing in the computer-readable data about it - you need to read through the human-readable restriction text to check.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the electronic data still contains the old blanket no-break-of-journey restriction on the outward portion for the OPR ticket type, although that doesn't excuse Raileasy getting it wrong for the return journey, where it would have always been allowed, but as you said it seems to have got a bit confused between the outward and return journeys anyway.

 

[snail]

Good luck with the cashback. All sounds a bit too dodgy for me!

 

[maniacmartin]

Good luck with the cashback. All sounds a bit too dodgy for me!

I know, but I live to take a gamble now and then! I've sent the paperwork in by Recorded Delivery
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I've edited my post as I've now collected the tickets, and it's a Rte: Chiltern Trains only (still PU validity code). Also came with "Coach 0 Seat 0" reservations

 

[causton]

While we're in a thread about Raileasy, this doesn't deserve a thread of its own but this is what Raileasy have sent me when I asked for a travelcard to take advantage of this offer:

 

[maniacmartin]

Funny Travelcard

Is this a totally made-up ticket type?

 

[causton]

Is this a totally made-up ticket type?

I have no idea. The printed confirmation receipt, 'sales voucher' which came from the TIS that issued it, and email confirmation do not mention anything out of the ordinary...

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Is it valid?

 

[Chouette]

Is it valid?

Only if you board wearing a red nose and really big trousers

 

[wintonian]

If I was a guard I would seriously consider withdrawing that for investigation.

 

[causton]

If I was a guard I would seriously consider withdrawing that for investigation.

I have no idea of using it for that exact reason. I am considering asking Raileasy for a new one and hoping they don't ask for the original back so I can keep it!

 

[wintonian]

I have no idea of using it for that exact reason. I am considering asking Raileasy for a new one and hoping they don't ask for the original back so I can keep it!

I'm more interested to know how that got sent out, where it came from and if there are others, assuming it is invalid.

If it is valid I would like to know who cacked up and if this was a poor attempt at humour.

Mind you you could use it and see what happens and report back - I suggest playing dumb for added amusement.

 

[causton]

I'm more interested to know how that got sent out, where it came from and if there are others, assuming it is invalid.

If it is valid I would like to know who cacked up and if this was a poor attempt at humour.

Mind you you could use it and see what happens and report back - I suggest playing dumb for added amusement.

The only thing would be that I would be instantly disappointed - as I would probably pass through every barrier and train fine and un-checked! (Presuming the ticket is encoded correctly and all!)

If there were more people with them I would expect at least one more person to have noticed and to have posted it on the Internet somewhere (google results show only my experience at the moment!) but I am perhaps overestimating the amount of people using raileasy and their competence at computers considering they used raileasy (!)
...

I am considering whether to email them and what to say!

 

[maniacmartin]

It's now been 26 days since Royal Mail's tracking indicates that my cashback claim was received by raileasy's cashback partner, L-EV8 Marketing Ltd t/a Great British Discounts. As predicted, I haven't heard a thing back in return - no cashback, and no confirmation that my free trial with Great British Discounts has been cancelled prior to the first billing cycle, despite explicitly requesting confirmation. According to their own T&Cs I should receive it within 28 days, so this upcoming Monday is the absolute latest it can arrive.

As the first billing date of the Great British Discounts scheme is approaching, it will be interesting to see if they take payment from my credit card. Does anyone have any ideas on where I go from here? I only bought from raileasy, and paid their high booking fees, because of the cashback offer, and I notice that they are still advertising the £20 cashback on their site

 

[northwichcat]

I have no idea. The printed confirmation receipt, 'sales voucher' which came from the TIS that issued it, and email confirmation do not mention anything out of the ordinary...

Did the ticket barriers accept it?

 

[snail]

As the first billing date of the Great British Discounts scheme is approaching, it will be interesting to see if they take payment from my credit card. Does anyone have any ideas on where I go from here?

You could try claiming a chargeback from your credit card company by disputing the transaction on the basis that you have cancelled the agreement. They should refund the charge then contact the merchant. If they say the payment is valid there isn't much more you can do outside of the small claims court.

One of the problems in authorising continuous payment with a credit card is that it has to be cancelled through the merchant, unlike a direct debit where you can instruct the bank not to pay.

 

[maniacmartin]

I know. I always thought it was totally stupid that continuous payments can only be cancelled by the merchant. Admiral car insurance don't play by the rules in that respect either. You can pay online for someone else's car insurance, and the website makes it quite clear that you are only authorising a one-off transaction for 12 months insurance, then after a year passes they just rebill you card if the policyholder agrees to renew. Their callcentres refuse to talk to anyone who isn't the policyholder, and my bank refused to chargeback as I apparently did authorise a continuous payment authority.

Me: So you refuse to cancel the continuous payment authority on my card as I am not the policyholder, even though I am the cardholder?
Admiral: We only talk to the policy holder.

Anyway, back to raileasy... I'm glad I sent the letter signed for so have some evidence of them receiving it.

Regarding Small Claims Court or Moneyclaim Online, if they decide not to dish up the cashback, I would want my booking fees refunded, as the cashback was the sole reason I used raileasy. I would have otherwise have used a WebTIS site. It is a bit more complex however, as L-EV8 Marketing Ltd are incorporated in the Republic of Ireland (no 491718). Would that put them outside the jurisdiction of a UK court, or does trading from a London address mean they could be sued? Perhaps raileasy would be an easier target.

 

[Paul Kelly]

If you want to contact Raileasy, you could try sending a PM to Mike@Raileasy (he is a co-owner of Raileasy I think, and has been helpful on the forum in the past).

 

[island]

One of the problems in authorising continuous payment with a credit card is that it has to be cancelled through the merchant, unlike a direct debit where you can instruct the bank not to pay.

That's not correct. It changed a couple of years ago due to a new EU law.

 

[snail]

That's not correct. It changed a couple of years ago due to a new EU law.

So it did. This is probably the clearest piece of advice on the subject if a card issuer is uncooperative...

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/103/103-ask.html

If the bank makes payments under a continuous payment authority after the consumer has cancelled it, the rules say that the bank will generally be liable to return those payments.
[...]
it makes sense for a consumer to cancel a continuous payment authority with both the bank and the supplier – to minimise any chance of problems later on. The purchase agreement that the consumer signed with the supplier may also require some form of notice or cancellation before they can stop it. So just cancelling the payments with the bank may not be enough to stop the consumer being liable to pay (for example, there may be a minimum contract period). This means it's always wise to check first.

 

[island]

Quite correct. I had to bring this to the OFT's attention at one point.

 

[yorkie]

Did the ticket barriers accept it?

It's not yet 28th November.

 

[causton]

It's now been 26 days since Royal Mail's tracking indicates that my cashback claim was received by raileasy's cashback partner, L-EV8 Marketing Ltd t/a Great British Discounts. As predicted, I haven't heard a thing back in return - no cashback, and no confirmation that my free trial with Great British Discounts has been cancelled prior to the first billing cycle, despite explicitly requesting confirmation. According to their own T&Cs I should receive it within 28 days, so this upcoming Monday is the absolute latest it can arrive.

As the first billing date of the Great British Discounts scheme is approaching, it will be interesting to see if they take payment from my credit card. Does anyone have any ideas on where I go from here? I only bought from raileasy, and paid their high booking fees, because of the cashback offer, and I notice that they are still advertising the £20 cashback on their site

As an aside, I cancelled via email and got a confirmation the same day

 

[maniacmartin]

My cashback card arrived this weekend Its a payzone worldwide money Pre-paid Mastercard (issued by Banque Invik, Luxembourg).

Once you receive the card, you need to register online on that website (and be sure to select United Kingdom in the top-right drop-down menu before you click any other links). You need to provide either driving license or passport number. The accompanying letter states that the £20 will be loaded within 24 hours of registering the card. I registered on Saturday morning and the funds were loaded on Monday afternoon, so allow a few days and check your balance on the website before trying to use the card to avoid potential embarrassment!

Payzone's website details some transaction fees, but after making a transaction on my card, I checked my balance online and no fees were deducted. Transaction fees appear to be deducted the day after the transaction. Whether that means you'll be able to spend the full £20 or only £19.61 I'm not sure.

The card itself has no cardholder name on the front, the card number is flat and it is marked "Electronic Use Only". There is a blank space on the back where a CVV code would be, but it appears that you can generate one-time CVV codes through the website. Although it has a PIN number, there is no Chip, so all transactions must use the magnetic swipe. I used it no problem today at Sainsbury's and wasn't asked for my PIN, but instead asked to sign a receipt, and unlike before Chip+PIN was rolled out, checkout staff now actually compare your signature with the one on the card. It felt strangely nostalgic.

Once the £20 credit runs out, I suspect the default card transaction and loading fees may start being levied, so it will probably not be worth using the card any more.

It was a bit of a wait, but Raileasy's promotion worked out well in the end.