AIBU to try get refund for £115 train ticket

[Deathbydolla]

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?

Good grief bearbehind, it doesn't take much to wind you up.

In some instances if you have to queue for more that 5 mins (in rush hour) that is a genuine reason not to buy a ticket before you travel and you can pay legit at the excess fare window (Cannon Street). I am not sure on East coast but that was the case for South East trains.

My point is if you have a genuine reason for being delayed the train companies are often reasonable.
I travel the East Coast very frequently and I see many people trying it on and they nearly always get charged. if you go to the ticket office before hand you get a permission to travel, you are never charged.

Simple! Not Entitled! Common Sense!

My point is if you have a genuine reason for being delayed the train companies are often reasonable.

And my point is thinking that having to queuing for 5 minutes to collect a prebooked ticket is 'a genuine reason for being delayed' makes you entitled.

I can see why a hotel booking is non refundable though - they could have resold the room. Whereas train companies will sell and sell and if there's no room on the train, tough!

If she'd missed the train and decided not to go after all (like that ever happens) that's one thing, but she bought a ticket for the next train so the company got two sets of money and she only got one service from them.

It not really about whether than can resell the room or ticket though, it about the fact you've paid less for the product so it comes with restricted terms.

”My railcard expired and i was forced to pay £60 single for a ticket i had paid £7 for. Its a disgrace and i was threatened with prosecution”

You weren’t “forced” to, because it was your fault. The difference between £7 and £60 is very hefty, yes. But it has to be, because it needs to be a genuine disincentive for people to risk travelling with an expired rail card. If the difference weren’t very much, loads of people would not bother renewing on the grounds that by just doing it a few times, they’d still be quids in if they get caught eventually.

Mookatron, they only have a small number of Advance tickets and they're for a specific journey. If you miss that journey, then why should you get an Advanced ticket which might've been sold out weeks ago? Don't buy a non refundable ticket if there's the slightest chance you might want a refund.

a lot of this boils down to 'your disorganisation is not someone else's crisis' Write a polite letter and consider it a bonus if you get a refund. And I'm afraid, get up earlier next time or book with sites that post you the tickets and pay a couple of quid extra. I also live many miles from a station and that's what you have to do.

although the shrieking 'jobsworth' about people who contaminate recycling, waste GP time, are abusive to people doing their job and so on does demonstrate why we head to lowest common denominator.

I always turn up for non-refundable journeys at least 40 minutes before travel to allow for delays along the way. Your schedule should not be so tight that a moments confusion with the machine means you've missed your train.

Agree with most other posters. You were happy to accept the discounted price to purchase the inflexible ticket but now you have missed your train, you somehow want your ticket to morph into the flexible ticket that you should have purchased originally if you knew there was even a small chance you would miss your train.

I understand why you're disappointed and annoyed, however I think you're wrong to direct these emotions at the train company, when in fact you would be better accepting this was your error and identifying what you could do differently next time in order to stop this happening again.

I don't think she should be refunded for the more expensive ticket - I think she should be refunded for the cheaper advance one. The train company still gets the money they've provided a service for. They decide how many cheap tickets they sell. I suppose the top limit is the number of seats on the train but that's not how they organise it and they would still sell you a ticket if you wanted to travel on that train.

Annoying for the person who might've bought the cheap ticket but that's not the train company's problem nor the OP's. It boils down to not running it like a business but like a public company because the OP can't take her business elsewhere. It's certainly not a moral issue though.

Makes me laugh how people ask for opinions and some say answers are being mean! How?! Blunt maybe, but not mean! Blunt because it does come across that way if you're being told, yes, YABU.
Sorry, Op but it's entirely your fault for not getting there on time. Non refundable means just that. You missed the train. If somebody was a few minutes late because they'd not rushed back from Starbucks or wherever in time, they'd be exactly the same. Late. Missing the train. Leave yourself more time next time.

I feel your pain!

I had to get a train from Newcastle to Edinburgh. I'd had a hellish day, having had some pretty invasive and unpleasant medical examinations, which took way longer than expected. Ran on to the platform, just as the train doors were closing. The conductor was on the platform, but wouldn't let me on. She smirked when she told me nothing could be done as the doors were now closed. The train sat for a further few minutes, so she could easily have allowed me on. Cost me £70 for another ticket, plus it was ages until the next train. I seriously wanted to punch her in the face but cried in the toilets instead

Oldandfedup - Oh how mean, you poor thing!

I think it's a bit mad that you couldn't pay a tenner and have the ticket changed. I understand there are chancers in life who might take advantage, but there are also a bloody ton of occasions where someone is running late or having problems through no fault of their own, and life would be so much better if people were charitable in those times.

And I say this as someone who is always at the train station a paranoid amount of time early!

The whole train ticket pricing structure is a joke. I actually got a refund in similar circumstances by writing a letter pointing out that rail companies often aren't penalised until delays are over 30 minutes, so it's somewhat unfair that a customer missing their advance ticketed train by 2 minutes is penalised so much.

I hope the review of train pricing will improve things but I'm not holding my breath, but as a basic rule I think split tickets should never be cheaper than buying a single ticket taking the exact same train and it should never be cheaper to buy 3 advance tickets on consecutive trains (as I've done when returning after a flight) than one single flexible ticket!

When you say you fumbled at the machine, was it because there was an issue with it? If so you can ask them on that basis

Op the problem with saying this (OR by lying and saying that there was a long queue) is that obviously rail companies can check this and verify that you’re lying. If there have been no other reports of issues with that machine on the day/time of travel then they will be suspicious of your claim that the machine wasn’t working - especially as you left it very late to collect your tickets. Same with lying and saying that there was a long queue - they can check cctv, ask staff etc. In fact if there genuinely was a massively long queue and only the one ticket machine, station staff would have given you an ‘OK’to board and authorised your travel so you don’t miss your advance train. The fact that you ended up buying a second ticket CONFIRMS that there wasn’t a long queue as station staff would have made adjustments for you if you missed your train as a result of a long queue

Advance tickets are cheaper for a reason. Why on earth did you leave it so late to make your train when you don’t have a flexible ticket? When i travel long distance on an advance ticket I aim to get to the station in good time (eg 30 minutes early) so that I can collect tickets if neccessary, get a drink/refreshments, locate my platform, maneuver luggage, say goodbye to my close ones etc.

They should privatise the railways - that would sort it all out.

I really don't get why people think the OP should be entitled to a refund,.Whats to stop everybody booking an advance ticket, deciding on the day they fancy travelling a bit later then claiming the refund? That would be a quick way to ensure advance tickets are scrapped and everybody has to pay the full amount.

Of course YABU.

But for that price, I'd try for a refund too! 😂

I think it's a bit mad that you couldn't pay a tenner and have the ticket changed. I understand there are chancers in life who might take advantage, but there are also a bloody ton of occasions where someone is running late or having problems through no fault of their own, and life would be so much better if people were charitable in those times.

I think the issue is that this would need to be fairly applied across the board or not put in place at all. You can't allow one customer to do this and not another, and a train company simply doesn't have the time or inclination to draw up a list of 'valid' reasons to allow someone this flexibility, let alone police it. Where would the line be ? Relative dying and you're late because you said goodbye? Fair enough. Late because you have anxiety and it took you ages to get out of the door? In theory fair enough, but anyone could claim it and then you'd be in weird murky waters where people are providing medical proof from a GP to get a ticket refunded back. It's just not workable at all. People are chancers and will lie to get what they want, as evidence by PP suggesting OP lie to customer services to get her money back.

The way it is now is fair: you agree to T&Cs when you buy the ticket, you get a cheaper price in exchange for agreeing you will buy that journey whether you take it or not, those who need more flexibility to show up whenever or decide on the day pay more for that privilege as it could go either way with the train company ending up with a sale or not.

The company doesn't exactly hide that it's non refundable.

Where has OP gone?

If they allowed you to pay the difference and upgrade the advance to the walk on/flexible ticket with a small admin fee there'd be no incentive for anyone to do it other than genuine cases.

It'd be fairly easy to implement, if you are at the ticket office within 30 minutes of scheduled departure you can upgrade your advanced ticket to a flexible ticket on paying the fare difference plus say £5/£10

Ah, I see what you mean soulrider.

You're right, it wouldn't benefit the chancers but could add a bit of flexibility. Though it wouldn't be useful for people who just didn't bother arriving on time!

If it’s Virgin they might refund you, did me when I was late before and ticket machines were out of order (long queue then at counters). They did say that if it happens again I could just show the email with booking ref on to board the train

Do you need to have a printed ticket for the trains? Can't you just show the text or email or tablet, or the page in the app? I never take long distance trains (too expensive), but I know that when DD1 travelled down from Glasgow to Borth to join us on holiday there, I just paid for her ticket via Trainline and had her access it on the app on her phone. No printing needed.

I meant text or email on a phone or tablet.

What abysmal service did you experience? Perhaps not refunding tickets that don't deserve refunding will help pay for more staff.

This would help the abysmal service nowadays?