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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to try get refund for £115 train ticket

111 replies

Deathbydolla · 15/05/2018 08:58

I ordered an advance non-refundable ticket for £99. Fumbled with the machine this morning and missed my booked train. The desk operator said that there was nothing they could do, and I ended up having to pay another £115 for a single.

I totally get that it was my fault I missed my train, but I feel £115 is extortionate, especially with the abysmal services on offer nowadays. Anybody ever managed to get a refund or mitigation for this kind of thing?

OP posts:

CFTrollsSmell · 15/05/2018 09:32

YABU to try! However I don’t think it will work.

lecossaise · 15/05/2018 09:33

You would likely have been able to get away with getting on the next train and saying your last one was late - they've often turned a blind eye to me in that case when a connection genuinely was late (they don't check), but now that you've bought the second ticket I think you've no chance of a refund. But it wouldn't hurt to write to them anyway, recognizing you're at fault and asking nicely.

CFTrollsSmell · 15/05/2018 09:33

Aghhh sorry .. I meant to say YANBU to try

onalongsabbatical · 15/05/2018 09:33

You will have ticked the box saying you agreed to the 'terms and conditions', or you wouldn't have been able to buy the ticket, right? So you have agreed to their rules and now you want them to bend the rules because you didn't allow yourself PLENTY of time?
Knock yourself out, as they say.

viques · 15/05/2018 09:36

sorry OP, but this is the same train system that doesn't hold up a train for someone who has stopped off at the coffee stall for a latte and an apricot Danish........... They run the trains ( other opinions are available !) that is their part of the deal, yours is to get yourself and your ticket ON the train before it starts.

Kazzyhoward · 15/05/2018 09:36

This is why public transport doesn't work as a private company imo. If the refund policy of, say, a supermarket was so inflexible you'd just shop somewhere else and complain on Twitter or something.

That's a joke right? I take it you've never suffered the jobsworths employed in the public sector who seem to take great delight in offering zero customer service? Doctors' receptionists? Hospital appointment clerks? HMRC? Local councils? Putting your bin out too early or mistakenly putting a non recyclable plastic carton in with the recyclable bottles? Jobsworths and petty rules infest the public sector. Why on Earth would you think the railways wouldn't make you comply with ticketing regulations if they were fully back in public sector ownership?

Mookatron · 15/05/2018 09:38

No, but it would probably be cheaper.

Bluelady · 15/05/2018 09:39

That's what she said - they're private companies but behave with the inflexibility of the public sector.

Mookatron · 15/05/2018 09:40

There is no properly functioning model of competition when there's only one product you can choose and the ticket sales are profit not reinvestment. No incentive for good customer service. I'm not saying public services have good customer services but there are other advantages.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 15/05/2018 09:41

they've often turned a blind eye to me in that case when a connection genuinely was late (they don't check),

I suspect they do know if a connection is late, train companies get hefty fines if they are late, and also often have to pay for cabs for customers if it means they are going to have to wait a long time for another connection. You have probably been lucky to get a conductor who was more relaxed about the rules if the connection wasn't late.

dailymailsucksbigtime · 15/05/2018 09:41

What train company?

If it is virgin east coast they will refund minus £10 if you send it in as there new IT is so rubbish that you cant change tickets in advance.

WowserBowser · 15/05/2018 09:42

I know it is a lot of money - I would be gutted. But you can't agree to t&cs and then change your mind. They are there for a reason - it is why you get the discount

mumeeee · 15/05/2018 09:43

You can try but I'm pretty sure you won't get a refund as it was your fault you missed the train.
We always pick up advanced tickets a couple of days early in case of any trouble with the machine.

ajandjjmum · 15/05/2018 09:43

What train operator? Virgin are totally inflexible. Travelled on Arriva Wales at the weekend - they were brilliant.

VivaKondo · 15/05/2018 09:43

Tbh this was your fault for being so tight with time.

You can try and ask and hope they will be generous. But I wouldnt expect it iyswim

bearbehind · 15/05/2018 09:44

You can only get a refund on Virgin if you send the ticket in before the train departs. If they let you do it after everyone would send tickets back!

OP, you didnt allow enough time to get your tickets, why should you get any refund?

sweeneytoddsrazor · 15/05/2018 09:45

IT is so rubbish that you cant change tickets in advance.

But OP didn't want to change tickets, they just missed the train and had to pay for the next one.

lidoshuffle · 15/05/2018 09:46

I spent six months, eventually the rail regulator or whatever had to intervene, to get a refund on a journey I couldn't do BECAUSE THE TRAIN COMPANY WAS ON STRIKE. So good luck with trying to get your money back for something that was your own fault.

dailymailsucksbigtime · 15/05/2018 09:48

But OP didn't want to change tickets, they just missed the train and had to pay for the next one.

So east coast say that i you want to change trains- as you can for a fee up to the second of departure- to just buy a new ticket for the train that you want and send both in with the right form and they will refund the original minus £10.

When it was obvious that the Op was not going to get the train she then wanted to change trains.

dailymailsucksbigtime · 15/05/2018 09:49

You can only get a refund on Virgin if you send the ticket in before the train departs. If they let you do it after everyone would send tickets back!

Not with Virgin East Coast. You buy a new ticket and then they refund the original, right up to the point of travel.

JacquesHammer · 15/05/2018 09:50

@lidoshuffle

I hear you. I’ve just had hell on trying to get a refund on a ticket I had to purchase because the tickets I got from the machine (pre-booked) were incorrect in that they printed two outward journeys and no return. 😂

bearbehind · 15/05/2018 09:56

Not with Virgin East Coast. You buy a new ticket and then they refund the original, right up to the point of travel.

Eh? That's what I said - you can get a refund up to the point of travel but after the train you were booked on has departed, you can't get a refund.

newlabelwriter · 15/05/2018 09:57

I did actually get a full refund in similar circumstances. I bought a ticket using Paypal to buy a ticket from trainline which cost £5. When i got there on the day the card I had on me to put in the machine couldn't give me my tickets so I had to end up buying a much more expensive new ticket.

I tried to call them but I was put on hold ( I think is where things differ) and they asked me to send over a screenshot to prove I had called them and couldn't speak to any one in time. Once they'd seen this they refunded the full amount, which I have to say, I was surprised about, but pleased. Obviously.

mydietstartsmonday · 15/05/2018 09:58

What you should have done is gone to the ticket office after you missed your train. Say you had to queue to get the tickets for too long and the machine was playing up and they would endorse the ticket for you to travel on another train.
Companies are reasonable if they feel you have a genuine reason.

bearbehind · 15/05/2018 10:02

Say you had to queue to get the tickets for too long

This kind of entitled behaviour really winds me up.

What is the definition of 'queuing for too long'?

Do you think there should be an empty machine available at all times just in case you need to get tickets?

If you pre-book tickets you allow enough time to collect them, and factor in the fact that you are not the only person in the world who wants to use the machine.

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