Virgin WC advance ticket changes

[The Snap]

Hi all,

I recently booked a First Advanced on Virgin WC's website. Since then they have upgraded their website and now offer the option of changing or refunding tickets in the My Account area. I was able to change my First Advance to a different date and time, and it stated the a refund would be processed minus a £10 admin fee. The website stated that my new ticket would be sent out by post (after paying the £1 delivery charge), and my refund would be processed upon their receipt of the original ticket by post.

As far as I knew, Advance tickets were non-refundable and non-transferable. So, why did Virgin's website allow me to make this change? I have a horrible feeling they're going to reject my refund request stating "it is an advance, therefore non-refundable".

Any ideas?

 

[142092]

I changed two East Coast Advanced tickets @ £10 each on the phone some months back.
Like you I was confused. What technically happens is they cancel them, charge you a tenner, and you start again. I seem to think this actually involved the funds being refunded and them a new charge made.

 

[yorkie]

Hi all,

I recently booked a First Advanced on Virgin WC's website. Since then they have upgraded their website and now offer the option of changing or refunding tickets in the My Account area. I was able to change my First Advance to a different date and time, and it stated the a refund would be processed minus a £10 admin fee. The website stated that my new ticket would be sent out by post (after paying the £1 delivery charge), and my refund would be processed upon their receipt of the original ticket by post.

As far as I knew, Advance tickets were non-refundable and non-transferable. So, why did Virgin's website allow me to make this change? I have a horrible feeling they're going to reject my refund request stating "it is an advance, therefore non-refundable".

Any ideas?

This is not a refund and you are not transferring it.

What refund are you expecting? I'm confused.

 

[The Snap]

This is not a refund and you are not transferring it.

What refund are you expecting? I'm confused.

Apologies for not being clear. The site basically charged me for a new ticket at the same price I paid for the original, then said the original ticket must be returned to them by post. Upon receipt of the original, they will refund the original cost of the ticket minus £10. So, in total I will have paid circa £124 (2 x £62), and they will refund me the original £62 minus £10, so £52.

All a bit confusing, considering I thought Advance tickets were non-refundable, which is what they appear to be doing.

 

[najaB]

All a bit confusing, considering I thought Advance tickets were non-refundable, which is what they appear to be doing.

They are not refundable, but they are changeable for a fee. This is what they are doing. If you didn't already have the tickets in your possession then they could do it all 'on the system', but since you have the tickets they require you to buy new tickets and then return the original ones to them.

If they just issued you with new tickets then you could say that the originals were 'lost in the post'.

 

[bb21]

They are effectively changing your Advance ticket, which is allowed, but instead of doing a straight change and charge the difference + admin, they are doing it in two steps. Financially it will work out the same as a change and it is a workaround.

 

[The Snap]

They are not refundable, but they are changeable for a fee. This is what they are doing. If you didn't already have the tickets in your possession then they could do it all 'on the system', but since you have the tickets they require you to buy new tickets and then return the original ones to them.

If they just issued you with new tickets then you could say that the originals were 'lost in the post'.

They are effectively changing your Advance ticket, which is allowed, but instead of doing a straight change and charge the difference + admin, they are doing it in two steps. Financially it will work out the same as a change and it is a workaround.

Thanks for clarification, all is clear now.

 

[fandroid]

Just to make it absolutely clear. You can change Advance tickets up to the time of the booked train. After that there are no changes and no refunds. A 'normal' non-Advance ticket can be refunded after the date on the ticket, minus the admin charge.

 

[Brucey]

Apologies for not being clear. The site basically charged me for a new ticket at the same price I paid for the original, then said the original ticket must be returned to them by post. Upon receipt of the original, they will refund the original cost of the ticket minus £10. So, in total I will have paid circa £124 (2 x £62), and they will refund me the original £62 minus £10, so £52.

All a bit confusing, considering I thought Advance tickets were non-refundable, which is what they appear to be doing.

Just seems to be a different way of changing the ticket.

Southern's website makes you enter the ticket number, charges you the fee and they post out an Excess Fare. I imagine Virgin don't trust their customers to enter the correct number on the website, so insist of doing things differently.

 

[Hadders]

In my experience Webtis based sites allow you to make change to Advance tickets by logging into your account, as long as you haven't collected your ticket.

Trainline based sites require you to purchase a new ticket, collect and send in the old tickets for a refund.

 

[najaB]

Trainline based sites require you to purchase a new ticket, collect and send in the old tickets for a refund.

We use TheTrainline business portal at work and can change Advance tickets without collecting them.

 

[causton]

We use TheTrainline business portal at work and can change Advance tickets without collecting them.

Sometimes I guess you can. We get a lot of people here (relatively speaking, two or three a month) who pick up tickets then have to post them off for a refund rather than just getting the system to delete it!

 

[yorkie]

In my experience Webtis based sites allow you to make change to Advance tickets by logging into your account, as long as you haven't collected your ticket..

They do allow this, but if you don't want Print@Home you have to effectively pay £11 per ticket, and it is possible if the tickets have already been collected.

 

[najaB]

Sometimes I guess you can.

I guess it helps that I work for a larger company and we spend a lot on train tickets. Well over £1M per annum.

 

[gray1404]

I imagine Virgin don't trust their customers to enter the correct number on the website, so insist of doing things differently.

How do you mean, the customer entering the "correct number?" what number?

 

[Brucey]

How do you mean, the customer entering the "correct number?" what number?

The ticket number. Normally advance ticket changes are issued as Excess Coupons labelled "Valid Only With Ticket Number 12345".

 

[gray1404]

The ticket number. Normally advance ticket changes are issued as Excess Coupons labelled "Valid Only With Ticket Number 12345".

Oh I see, so if the customer has collected the ticket already then they would need to imput the ticket number. ITs a shame this isnt allowed as the onus would be on the customer to enter the correct number otherwise its invalid.