Tranline cheapest same day tickets guarantee

[TUC]

Trainline is running an advertising campaign guaranteeing to have the cheapest same day tickets or that they will refund the difference. How are they achieving this in practice? I know they offer split ticketing, for example, but so do several other ticket retailers. Are there any additional factors they include which makes them confident to make this guarantee?

 

[AdamWW]

Presumably this is like the "nothing acts faster" painkiller adverts (because the competing products act in exactly the same time).

They're selling the same tickets as everyone else so it's unlikely anyone can find something cheaper without splits or a TOC special offer.

Is it cynical to suggest that they don't have to actually be confident it's true - just have made the descision that having to pay out on occasion if someone does do better is worth it to be able to run their campaign (consider it as part of the advertising budget)?

After all how many people will check to see if they can get a better deal elsewhere, then go and buy with Trainline and try to get the difference back?

Or, having bought a ticket, after the event then decide to see if they should have gone elsewhere?

And of course it's possible to be a bit inefficient in dealing with people attempting to get a refund.

 

[Adam Williams]

How are they achieving this in practice?

From the terms: https://www.thetrainline.com/information/best-price-guarantee

Better splits are excluded by virtue of:

• Tickets must be valid for the same train journey
• Tickets must be valid for the same train operator
• Tickets must have the same code*
• Tickets must have the same restrictions (e.g. Thameslink only)

CPAY is also explicitly excluded.

Even promotional fares that are cheaper are excluded by virtue of the "Tickets must have the same code" requirement.

I guess you could use it against a Trainpal discount voucher or something, but little else.

My own view is that these "guarantees" aren't worth the paper pixels they're written on, but they look shiny.

 

[yorkie]

If it fails on some of those grounds, then it has failed to obtain the cheapest ticket, yet falls outside the scheme.

Someone asked yesterday if trainline was a "scam"; it isn't a scam website, however this particular campaign is a scam

scam noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of scam noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

a clever and dishonest plan for making money

It is dishonest because the claim doesn't match the reality.

 

[Wallsendmag]

From the terms: https://www.thetrainline.com/information/best-price-guarantee

Better splits are excluded by virtue of:


CPAY is also explicitly excluded.

Even promotional fares that are cheaper are excluded by virtue of the "Tickets must have the same code" requirement.

I guess you could use it against a Trainpal discount voucher or something, but little else.

My own view is that these "guarantees" aren't worth the paper pixels they're written on, but they look shiny.

I wonder if i could claim against our staff sales, they meet all that criteria but have a discount on them.

 

[Adam Williams]

I wonder if i could claim against our staff sales, they meet all that criteria but have a discount on them.

Ha, only one way to find out