Slightly annoyed, double cancellation charge for one journey

[JBuchananGB]

Hello

To save time and hassle at booking office on a Monday morning, I bought tickets for my wife to travel Billericay to London on Monday 30/10. I bought them on the Greater Anglia web site and already collected them. Travel to London at 7.40am, returning in the afternoon.

As she has a Senior Railcard, the site proposed an Anytime single full price one way and an Anytime Single discounted back. Total £22.10. Could have bought an Anytime return for £22.70.

Plans changed, trip no longer required. GA website will only refund me £3.30 because it wants £10 admin fee per single ticket. But these tickets were booked as one round trip on one booking reference. If I had booked the Anytime return it would let me have £12.70 back!

You learn some things the hard way.

 

[SickyNicky]

It pays to shop around, if you need to book in advance. TrainSplit, for example, will only charge one fee per booking reference however many tickets you buy.
But if you're buying straight (non-split) walk-up tickets and you don't need seat reservations, I would always suggest that you buy them on the day. That way, if you don't need them, you don't buy them in the first place.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or, if you can stand the horrible website and want reservations (the only reason to buy walk-ups in advance), buy them from Southern who will I believe refund fully with no admin fee if you don't collect.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Or, if you can stand the horrible website and want reservations (the only reason to buy walk-ups in advance), buy them from Southern who will I believe refund fully with no admin fee if you don't collect.

They do - they call it the "Money Back Guarantee" (was originally the "Rainy Day Guarantee" but as there was and is no requirement for it to be a rainy day in order to get a refund they changed the name).

I don't find the Southern website that bad! It had a few design changes made a few months back which I think are an improvement.

 

[paddington]

Isn't it a forum rule that thread titles should actually describe the issue...?

 

[trainophile]

Most people with senior railcards do want a seat reservation!

Do Southern refund Advance tickets in the circumstances described (only uncollected presumably?) for all train operators or just for their own?

 

[JBuchananGB]

Thread title improved. I disagree that the only reason to buy walk-up tickets in advance is when a reservation is needed. Monday morning at the Billericay booking office can be a bit of a zoo, and my wife doesn't want the hassle. Much rather turn up put ticket through gate and catch train. Unfortunately trip has been cancelled at 3 days notice just after I bought the tickets. What is annoying is that GA treat this one round trip, sold on one booking reservation, but issued as two singles as two tickets for cancellation purposes. £10 admin charge on both, so from £22.10 fare only £3.30 refund available.

Additional information. I phoned GA Customer Relations to discuss this situation, and they have agreed that if I deal with it through them, instead of through the web site process, they will refund £12.10. Let's hope it happens.

 

[RJ]

That is quite annoying. I work at a station ticket office and we're quite customer service oriented - normally we'd only charge one admin fee for multiple tickets or even waive it - but only if the tickets were bought at the station.

Caveat emptor and all that

 

[Joe Paxton]

Most people with senior railcards do want a seat reservation!

Do Southern refund Advance tickets in the circumstances described (only uncollected presumably?) for all train operators or just for their own?

Southern do not refund Advance tickets whatsoever, whether for journeys on their own services or those of other operators. The Money Back Guarantee only applies to Anytime, Anytime Day, Off-Peak, Off-Peak Day and Super Off-Peak tickets as per the information on the Southern website.

They did used to refund Southern Advance tickets (i.e. for journeys wholly on Southern), but stopped offering this in September 2014 (reference).

It's worth pointing out that refunds are not issued automatically if tickets are not collected, you need to actively apply for a refund via your Southern online account.

(Also, since Southern was rolled into the wider GTR franchise, the booking engines of the sister brands of Thameslink and Great Northern also offer the 'Money Back Guarantee' if you prefer their colours!)

 

[Joe Paxton]

That is quite annoying. I work at a station ticket office and we're quite customer service oriented - normally we'd only charge one admin fee for multiple tickets or even waive it - but only if the tickets were bought at the station.

Caveat emptor and all that

I wonder if different TOCs operate different policies, including locking down the TIS so booking office cannot override the admin fee?

 

[RJ]

They most likely do, but in some places I work, we have free will to offer a greater level of customer service. Other stations are more likely to stick to the official stances.

 

[PeterC]

I wonder if different TOCs operate different policies, including locking down the TIS so booking office cannot override the admin fee?

Locking down point of sale systems is common in retail so I don't see why TOCs would be different.

 

[JBuchananGB]

It sounds as though, if I had booked these tickets (Anytime Day Singles) through Southern, and had not collected them, I would have got a full refund, whereas I am now expecting a refund of £12.10 (i.e. ticket price less £10 admin fee) from GA Customer Relations. As I said originally, some lessons are learned the hard way. It would have seemed odd to book tickets for travel on GA on the Southern web site, but maybe it would have gained me a tenner!