Tickets not collected from Fast ticket machine

[Conorpw]

On the 30th and 31st I booked four lots of train tickets through Virgin Trains to be collected using the Fast Ticket at Leeds which for various reasons I never printed out.
I phoned Virgin to try and get a refund but was told there would be a £10 fee for each of the bookings, as each of the bookings was just under £10 this would mean that I would get nothing back, effectively meaning that I have paid out nearly £40 for tickets that I never received for a journey that I never made.
I have 2 questions:
1) Have I technically complteted the purchase of the tickets since I never printed them out?
2) If so does anyone have experience of Virgin's customer relations, I am going to ring them tomorrow and ask if they can treat the 4 bookings as one and just charge me £10 for the refund.
Any help or advice would be gratefully received!

 

[lyesbkz]

1) Have I technically complteted the purchase of the tickets since I never printed them out?

Yes.

effectively meaning that I have paid out nearly £40 for tickets that I never received for a journey that I never made

Why did you purchase tickets which you did not intend to use? Anyway, you chose to collect the tickets when you could just as easily have had them posted to you. Sadly, if the terms and conditions of each ticket you purchased specify that a £10 fee will be charged on refunds, there is probably very little you can do (although I haven't dealt with VT's customer relations, so perhaps somebody will advise differently!)

 

[transportphoto]

I doubt that you will proceed anywhere, when you book you ticket a box accepting various documents (Terms and Conditions, the NRCoC among others) these state that refunds will be subject to an admin fee per ticket. It is the same situation as to buying a ticket from a station, then going back to there asking for a refund, if it is just for a general reason, there will be an admin fee applied of no more than £10.

Please see page ten of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage, available here: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/misc/NRCOC.pdf for more details.

TP

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I agree with lyesbkz and transportphoto that the sale took place when you booked the tickets on-line and at the same time you accepted the Terms & Conditions by ticking a box to confirm that. The date of printing the tickets is immaterial.
Can we assume that these tickets were for travel on a specific date that has now passed? If they are for travel on a future date, then they may still have value.

I'm sorry that this is not what you want to hear, but strictly speaking you chose to buy something which later you decided not to use and the Railways are entitled to keep the payment you made to them.

The £10 admin fee is a matter of Policy - the Companies' contracts allows them to charge up to £10 though they all seem to have forgotten the "up to". I know that someone else will have more specific experience of Virgin's Customer Relations, but I'm not hopeful that they'll waive the £10 admin fee even, if you pointed out that it is a discretionary amount up to £10.

 

[34D]

If you only booked them on 30th Dec then could always go collect them (doesn't have to be Leeds) and give to family.

Note it is against the T&C to sell them on

 

[steffo]

I recently had dealings with Virgin Trains in respect of a claim when the WCML was down at Penkridge (6th Dec)

I sent my claim which they received on the 9th. I called them on 23rd December to see how it was progressing. They said they were very busy, to which i replied that is not my problem! They then said they can take up to six weeks to effect refunds.

I replied tounge in cheek that if (she) had a nice pair of shoes for xmas which she didn't like she could change them or get a refund on boxing day. I also stated that i booked the tickets 12 hours before travelling and that the money would be in Virgin's account two days later........

She then put the claim in the 'Urgent' pile. But then stated if they had to issue a cheque it could take a further two weeks!!!!

I thanked her and added that next time i book with Virgin trains i can pay 28 to 42 days after i travel.................?

Sir, it doesn't work like that.......click

 

[wintonian]

I recently had dealings with Virgin Trains in respect of a claim when the WCML was down at Penkridge (6th Dec)

I sent my claim which they received on the 9th. I called them on 23rd December to see how it was progressing. They said they were very busy, to which i replied that is not my problem! They then said they can take up to six weeks to effect refunds.

I replied tounge in cheek that if (she) had a nice pair of shoes for xmas which she didn't like she could change them or get a refund on boxing day. I also stated that i booked the tickets 12 hours before travelling and that the money would be in Virgin's account two days later........

She then put the claim in the 'Urgent' pile. But then stated if they had to issue a cheque it could take a further two weeks!!!!

I thanked her and added that next time i book with Virgin trains i can pay 28 to 42 days after i travel.................?

Sir, it doesn't work like that.......click

I don't know about tickets but for goods returned the retailer is supposed to refund as soon as possible and not more than 28 days of recipt of the goods back.

 

[bb21]

I recently had dealings with Virgin Trains in respect of a claim when the WCML was down at Penkridge (6th Dec)

I sent my claim which they received on the 9th. I called them on 23rd December to see how it was progressing. They said they were very busy, to which i replied that is not my problem! They then said they can take up to six weeks to effect refunds.

I replied tounge in cheek that if (she) had a nice pair of shoes for xmas which she didn't like she could change them or get a refund on boxing day. I also stated that i booked the tickets 12 hours before travelling and that the money would be in Virgin's account two days later........

She then put the claim in the 'Urgent' pile. But then stated if they had to issue a cheque it could take a further two weeks!!!!

I thanked her and added that next time i book with Virgin trains i can pay 28 to 42 days after i travel.................?

Sir, it doesn't work like that.......click

Are you talking about compensation for the delay on the 6th? If so, I fail to see the relevance of your shoe example.