Why is it so hard to buy an excess?

[Wallsendmag]

What’s a ops ?

 

[OscarH]

What’s a ops ?

Super Off-Peak Single, as used by Chiltern.

 

[Krokodil]

Definitely think you should just be able to scan the E-Ticket and have it prefill most of the fields that it can from the barcode payload. Requiring manual data entry is a waste of everyone's time for this, really.

That would make life so much easier. It's particularly annoying when you have multiple passengers in the same group and have to individually type in the details of every single ticket.

 

[yorkie]

Single fare pricing gets rid of the vast majority of it because you just buy what you want once you have decided.

Ah yes, like on LNER, where they halved all fares, without abolishing some ticket types, without any nasty price hikes, and also halving the shorter distance fares, right? Err...!

In the real world, we are not going to get true single leg pricing; bringing it up in multiple threads does NOT mean it is going to happen!

 

[Watershed]

Response to complaint:


She had the original ticket fulfilled by the online retailer (PDF). It was not a screenshot or photo, nor would that make any difference whatsoever.


If they do it a lot, I would have thought they knew how to switch the mTIS from paper ticket number -> UTN entry.


I did not tell the staff they needed more training at any point in the interaction. I was frustrated for sure, given what I was being told but the extent was that I reiterated multiple times that they could issue an excess - regardless as to whether it was purchased online, and showed them the iKB article in an attempt to show that I wasn't simply talking nonsense. I never raised my voice at any point in the exchange.


The staff were rude, frankly, and couldn't have shown less interest in trying to do what I asked them to do. I dispute that I was "extremely rude".


I did not ask the staff this - I already knew that it was the case, did not think I'd get any further with the staff - and simply told my partner that that was the best course of action.


I said nothing about Chiltern's employment of these staff when leaving the counter.


The staff certainly embellished their account of what happened.


10.1.3 specifically says:

>You travel on a train service at a time when your service-specific Ticket is not valid (unless Condition 9.4 applies); or
It was not an Advance ticket.

An appalling but unsurprising response. "Differences in accounts" are why I would always start (discreetly) making an audio recording in the event of a discussion like this; that way the 'least credible' witness can very quickly be identified.

Unfortunately as there was (presumably) no material loss and given the well-known qualities of the Ombudsman I wouldn't hold out much hope of a decent outcome here.

 

[Adam Williams]

An appalling but unsurprising response. "Differences in accounts" are why I would always start (discreetly) making an audio recording in the event of a discussion like this; that way the 'least credible' witness can very quickly be identified.

Unfortunately as there was (presumably) no material loss and given the well-known qualities of the Ombudsman I wouldn't hold out much hope of a decent outcome here.

No material loss, indeed. If nothing else, I intend to exhaust what's left of the various complaint processes. They've wasted enough of my time, said a bunch of disparaging and untrue things about me - and it's far from the first issue with this station. Some of my colleagues have had poor experiences too.

Customer service aside, I hope their revenue team have a better understanding of when a PF can and can't be issued than everyone I've spoken to so far. It's .. quite something that three different people have now got this completely wrong.

Ultimately, I think the real answer here though is an RSPA2006 amendment to officially permit excesses fulfilled as E-Ticket, and let these be sold once the journey has started, by an online retailer. One that doesn't treat its customers like Chiltern do. I'm not sure it'd be hugely commercially viable, but there'd be maybe dozens of us who'd find it useful

 

[Watershed]

but there'd be maybe dozens of us who'd find it useful

Indeed, there are dozens of us. Dozens, I tell you!

 

[Adam Williams]

We have raised this to our Retailing Manager and The Revenue Protection Team and they have confirmed that a penalty fare would not be issued for this situation. Therefore, I sincerely apologise for the misinformation provided in previous responses. We will ensure that the knowledge gap is addressed with members of staff and that our advice is correct going forwards.

However, please note, if a customer refuses to pay the excess fare or if there is reason to believe that the customer is knowingly travelling with an invalid ticket to avoid the correct rail fare, details can be taken and they could be reported for further investigation/prosecution.

Eventually got an apology, which I think Chiltern deserve some credit for.

It's entirely correct, of course, that further action may be taken if a customer refuses to pay an excess (though actually paying for the bloody excess was what I'd been trying my best to do this whole time!)

I had said in my initial complaint email that there are a great deal of knowledgeable staff at Chiltern who do understand how this stuff works and I do stand by that 100% - some of the queries we've had at work about routeing guide easements have been given excellent responses by Chiltern staff which are better than I've received from any other operator - but it does feel like they work quite far away from the customer-facing staff at times.