Appalled by thetrainline.com

[2Earlgreysplease]

I am so appalled by the service offered by the above company that I felt compelled to rejoin Mumsnet (children bit older now altho I've always lurked)
I bought a ticket to travel to destination A , then after chatting to my friend it was decided that it would be easier to travel to destination B.

It appears that it is not possible to change time and destination with cancelling the ticket and rebooking thus incurring a £10.00 admin fee. I am horrified by this, as in these days of button clicking, the admin here must be totally minimal compared with the paper trail involved in days of yore. There is no way of avoiding the £10.00 charge.

Not only this, but to be able to speak to a mere human, you are charged 13p a minute for the dissatisfaction of talking to a distant voice in a far off land.

Cannot express how livid I am at this total daylight robbery. It should be a simple issue to extend the journey or change the time of travel. Have vowed never to use this service again, and if I had time I would consult the rail network ombudsman.

Presumably all that was made clear in the t and c for the booking?

It is pretty common for their to be an admin fee if you make the choice to change the booking.

I've always found it fine, but then I've never changed my mind about where I'm travelling from.

How much is the ticket price difference?

I think you will find that all rail/ticket operators work in this way, not just the Trainline. Once you have booked your ticket, that is it - no amendments can be made without cancelling and rebooking.

Trainline is expensive ticket wise. Ive always founs cheaper to book direct. The same tickets are for sale on all the train company sites. Its the advertising and catchy name. Sadly its in the terms and conditions. Theres an admin charge to book too which what made me now book direct with the train company. Do see people trying to sell on tickets on fb because of this but not sure thats legal.

Tweet them they have a good customer service online if you don't want to ring but as others have said it will be in the terms and conditions so not that shocking really.

It's the same for anyone you book rail tickets with. It drives my company loopy because we need to book rail fares in advance to get the right price but often lose out on admin charge because in real life things change.

I agree though, with all the automation involved I think £10 is a disproportionate fee when no paperwork or people time has been used.

You changed your mind, that's your fault not theirs. They provided you with what you had booked.

Well you have to click that you agree with the terms and conditions before you can purchase a ticket, you must have done that?
I tend to be appalled by the abuse of children, famine etc not booking a bloody train ticket and then changing my mind! The fault is yours.

Just because something is in the terms and conditions (I mean, who reads them) doesn't make it right. Just been talking to a company that want a £30 cancellation fee and will hold on to my money for about 2 weeks. Rubbish! Unless people complain things will never change. Tweet them.

It drives my company loopy because we need to book rail fares in advance to get the right price but often lose out on admin charge because in real life things change.
Your company shouldn't book in advance, though. That's the whole point of cheaper fares - you don't change the plans.

Presumably you can avoid the £10 charge by just booking a new ticket and accepting the loss for the the original one?

If the ticket was substantially more than £10 then I'd just be grateful that you can amend it for a tenner!

This is standard ticket change admin charge for all train operators as far as I'm aware, including annual season tickets when you need to change your address.

Appalled and horrified?

Rather strong reactions to something irritating but common, you must lead a charmed life if this is such a big issue for you that you went to the trouble of re-registering, lucky you

Also, this is why advance fares are cheaper, because they're not flexible.

Like mackerel I think that's a pretty good service they're providing there. You can literally sort this all out without moving from your seat, can you, with nothing to pay for the first ticket but the tenner?

Appalled...livid...horrified?

Give your head a wobble.

£10 Admin fee to cancel a ticket is standard regardless of who you buy from as far as I'm aware? And presumably you bought an advance ticket in which case it's made pretty clear that the ticket is for the specific train you've booked, so if course you can't change the time.

Is there no way of contacting them other than phone? Can't be doing with paying for phone calls...

And don't use the train line in future. As far as I'm aware, they're the only company that charge a booking fee. Train tickets are the same price wherever you buy them from, so this means the trainline will always be more expensive. You're best using the national rail website to find the tickets you want and then clicking through to one of the various train company's websites to make the purchase.

But that's why advance are cheaper. You pay less as a sort of gamble that you don't want to change your mind. You want to be flexible? You pay more for the service.
Sounds perfectly reasonable. For most ticket things there isn't a "oops changed my mind" option - if I buy a ticket to the theatre and change my mind I've lost the money. If I wait until the day to check I can go, then they might have sold out. Same sort of thing.

This is bog standard.

BollardDodger it's policy and one of our personal objectives (reducing travel expenditure)

When the price difference is hundreds of pounds between an advance fare and an on the day fare it's hardly surprising they encourage us to book early.

I still maintain that a £10 admin fee for an automated process where tickets have not yet been issued is excessive.

yeah, they're rubbish OP. I had a really bad experience with them too.

I just buy tickets on the day now from the station. don't have to deal with this kind of nonsense now.

And agree with whoever said Trainline is expensive!!!! The reductions are minimal compared to the inconvenience.

I am horrified by this
Get a grip

How is this an issue for the transport ombudsman?

If anything it's for Trading Standards.

But it's perfectly clear in their terms and conditions. You tried to take advantage of a cheaper fare by prebooking. If you didn't do your research first, that's your problem!

Yeah, it's pretty much the same everywhere. And, the cheaper ticket you buy, the more restricted. As in not transferable to another service/not re-bookable. So I guess you bought cheap.
Them's the rules.

Modifying a ticket would cost you the same way regardless of how you had booked your ticket IF it was an advance ticket (and therefore cheaper).
Nothing to do with Trainline there. Sorry....

Interesting too that some people find the trainline expensive.
I've found that prices, for the journeys I'm making, are the same whether I'm using them or the plain national rail enquiry or the train station