The most efficient way to buy tickets?

[DeeGee]

Normally I get all my tickets online, get to see what I want and get cashback and points. Perfect.

However, I had a RTV from a Customer Charter refund so I needed to buy tickets from a Ticket Office.

Admittedly, it was my bad to select 11am, the final weekend of the school holidays, but I can only go when I'm available.

I'd done the donkey work beforehand using NRE and this forum. I wanted four advance tickets which together would make one single journey. Had the timings and the fares written down and just asked the clerk to "book me those tickets". He double checked with me that if the timings and fares matched he could just book them and I said yes.

Anyway, the whole process took about 10 minutes, then he took the RTV scanned it and the computer went mad and tried to refund the value of the RTV minus the cash difference between RTV and total fares payable.

So he had to void the lot and do it again.

Finally printed tickets, paid with voucher and card, took tickets, left the window and checked. By this stage the queue was out of the station.

Of course, the date was wrong on one of the tickets, so I had to join the queue again, to have that ticket voided and reissued!

What I'm wondering is, if ever I get RTVs again, should I save them for a straightforward ticket, or only use them at a mainline travel centre instead of my little 2-window provincial outpost? It can't be convenient to have people buying complex fares at a ticket window, even without the IT issues.

Or is there a way for me to prepare well in advance to make the transaction as smooth as possible?

 

[maniacmartin]

I find that RTVs are easier saved for walk-up tickets. APs with their quotas are a bit of a faff to book, regardless of the number of open windows the office has. I also try not to do complex transactions at a small station where there is a bigger inconvenience to other passengers.

Credit to the clerk though, a lot in the London area refuse to do APs even if they can!

 

[Be3G]

I think the only time I've ever purchased an Advance ticket from a station (not that I buy them often) was when I too had a voucher to use. I ended up just going to the nearest station to me that has an open ticket office in the afternoon, told the lady the exact time train I wanted, and she booked it without a fuss – although I think it took her a couple of minutes to find the ticket. (I seem to recall that at first she was only looking for walk-up tickets.) This was just a small suburban London station.

 

[bb21]

Depends on what your travel habits are like.

For me, I tend to save them up for Rangers/Rovers as these mostly cannot be bought online, and those that can, require notice and are a bit of a faff. The same applies to special offers that must be bought in person, such as Red Dot Days and Northern £10 Rangers.

Another use for them is Oyster PAYG top-up, if you go to London often.

 

[Hadders]

I use RTV's for purchasing railcards and boundary zone tickets. SailRail and sleeper reservations are also things that are best done at a station in my experience which means RTV's can be used (although the knowledge of some clerks in these matters can be variable. Thankfully the EC travel centre at my local station (Stevenage) is generally excellent).

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I just keep any RTV's I get in my wallet for occasions when I may have to take the train home from school after staying behind (not detention ). As none of them usually hold much value, I just use them for the cheap fare home. I don't think I've ever used one anywhere else other than Port Sunlight station to be honest! And as with Merseyrail staff, I don't have to mention the difficulty in using them mind.

 

[island]

It is reported that FGW accepts RTVs via telesales, although you need to pay the full amount of your purchase by credit or debit card and get the value of the RTVs refunded when they are received.

 

[DeeGee]

Are there any other telesales which do this?

 

[maniacmartin]

East Coast accept them, but they hold onto the tickets until the RTVs have arrived

 

[DeeGee]

No, I reckon I might try the station ticket office again.

I've printed out the full itinerary, it's one-way only.

 

[erk]

East Coast accept them, but they hold onto the tickets until the RTVs have arrived

Please can you tell more (i.e. how does one go about using an RTV on-line)?

Sorry, I realise the question was about telesales, not on-line sales.

East Coast's FAQs aren't much help:

You can use the vouchers towards the cost of tickets purchased at any manned station. The vouchers can also be used on-board to purchase items from the buffet car.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....What I'm wondering is, if ever I get RTVs again, should I save them for a straightforward ticket, or only use them at a mainline travel centre instead of my little 2-window provincial outpost? It can't be convenient to have people buying complex fares at a ticket window, even without the IT issues....

To be honest, using travel vouchers doesn't take that long, the time consuming bit is usually doing reservations, so extra bad if you want three or four separate ones. Most offices have a 'quiet period', but when this is varies by office, and exactly how quiet is another matter.

Larger stations will have more staff or dedicated travel centres, but this doesn't mean they can do it any quicker.

....Or is there a way for me to prepare well in advance to make the transaction as smooth as possible?

I think you did more than most and I suspect the clerk would have been a little thankful that you had done that much. IME, a lot of passengers requiring Advance tickets come up with little or no idea of what they want, often saying something like "I'm going to Scotland sometime next month, what's the cheapest ticket?".