To be annoyed that it's impossible to buy a senior railcard

[GCMM]

You have to buy them online (which is an accessibility issue in itself, especially for the senior railcard) but the system is broken, has been for while, people are complaining about on twitter. They have a customer service number, but nobody ever answers the phone.
It's infuriating that it's such poor customer service. It costs so much more to buy train tickets without the railcard and I have a trip I need to take next week. Has anyone else experienced this?

What’s broken? Their website only says allow 5 days processing time and allows you to proceed.

I agree that in person should be possible for accessibility.

Whilst it’s annoying if they can’t process at the moment, a discount card isn’t a god given right, just a commercial offering… so if they can’t get the staff for the call centre, it’s not like it’s an essential service.

Can you not just use the rail card app and upload your pic etc on there ?

Can you buy it through the trainline website? I wanted a different railcard and tried a dozen times on the proper website. It doesn’t work at all. Went on to the Trainline website and did it in 5 minutes. Not sure if it’s the same for senior ones though.

Also do you not get discount train travel with your senior bus pass? My MIL just goes into the bus station, pays an extra £10 and train travel is added to her bus pass

What’s the deal with not being able to do it in person? Their website says you can rock up and do it same day.

Trainline railcard page www.thetrainline.com/trains/great-britain/railcards/senior-railcard

must have changed since March, it took me about 5 mins if that to sort it then buy tix

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/05/tech-error-leaves-train-users-unable-to-buy-or-renew-railcards/

I’ve found an article, they’re quoted as saying it’s a technical issue affecting a small number of people. They suggest re-installing latest app, doing it at the station or - for some cards including Senior - you can use a third party seller, whose website doesn’t have their technical issue.

Third party - use one of the Train Operating Company websites, like LNER.

It's not broken, worked for me recently

I bought one at my local railway station last week. They only do the 12 month one though, not the 3 year one.

We always buy our's via the Tesco club card web site and use our club card points towards them. Worked fine the other week.

@GCMM are you coming back?
I hope this helps you as you’ve got multiple other methods to your card now.

Thanks for replies and tips. I will try via trainline or local train company app. I have Tesco clubcard vouchers, so I am not sure if I could use those at a train station....the website I looked at did say you had to apply for the senior railcard online, so I am glad to hear that isn't the case. Worse case scenario I can ditch the club card vouchers and buy in person at a station.

Good luck with it! I found the solution with a Google search that took less time than typing your post 😉 so I think you just the gun a bit criticising the Senior card provider!
Enjoy your trip 👍🏻

My mum bought one in person on Tuesday.

I’m glad you’ve found a solution, OP, but I do question your statement that making Senior Railcards available online is ‘an accessibility issue’. Railcards become available at 60; most 60 year olds without significant physical or cognitive issues have been using the Internet for at least half their lives - and even the cheapest phone is likely to have Internet accessibility.

I do appreciate that an online application may be more difficult for anyone without functional English language comprehension - who may prefer to use another method.

I’m just a little surprised / alarmed to see people of my own age being labelled as probably incapable - through age - of doing this particular thing.

(FWIW it took me a few minutes to buy mine online a few weeks ago.)

I have just turned 60 . I’m a university professor, so hardly incapable and I have been flummoxed by trying to do this online!

I just go to my local railway station with proof of age - last did it in April. My sister did the same a couple of days ago, after giving up on the website.

In the OPs defence, the railcard website is unusable. I filled in the form at least a dozen times on both an iPhone and a laptop only to get to an error message at the end each time. Maybe it works for some people but there are a lot of online reviews where people have had the same issue.

That usually covers you only for train travel locally, not all over the country. For example I live in Greater Manchester and I can use trains as well as trams in Greater Manchester as well as buses. If my journey goes outside Greater Manchester I have to pay from the last station within the boundary. I don't pay the extra £10 though as I hold a disabled bus pass.

Clearly I was lucky to get in before the website broke!

Really? I bought a network railcard a few weeks ago and found it very straight-forward. However, I did it on a laptop and ordered the card to come through the post - so maybe it's more difficult if you try to use an app? I generally always find things easier on a laptop as you have a proper keyboard.

In the OPs defence, the railcard website is unusable. I filled in the form at least a dozen times on both an iPhone and a laptop only to get to an error message at the end each time

this. Railcard are having tech issues and many people can’t purchase online.

i gave up after a week of error messages and went to purchase full price tickets via trainline- which is how I found out you can buy railcards via the app with none of the tech issues.

I tried about 20 times over a two-week period. Each time I got so far as the payment stage & then an error message appeared. In the end I had to buy a one-year card at my local station instead of the discounted three-year one I wanted. It’s utterly ridiculous that a website serving a major national organisation is in such a shambolic state.