Getting A Refund on unused rail tickets

zachwinsley

Hi there,

I've had a scan around the forum for any advice etc on how to get tickets refunded & couldn't find anything that helps my situation, which is as follows & abit complicated so please bear with me.

On Christmas eve we booked some tickets online to travel from Yeovil to London on the 27th December via first great westerns website. The plan was to pick up the tickets from Truro station (we live about 10miles from there) on Boxing Day on the way up to my girlfriends parents who we were visiting for a few days. This was the fatal flaw in the plan as Truro Station was closed & their fast ticket machine is situated inside their ticket office (we know now...).

We thought so the first thing we try is to call the FGW helpline. They have an automated messge telling us their office is closed until 8am on the 27th, our train was due to leave Yeovil at 6.20am. The next thing we try is to speak to National Rail Enquiries helpline who are actually there, we explain the situation but they say there is nothing they can do.

So we arrive at Yeovil hoping they might have a fast ticket machine, but they dont they do however at least have someone in their ticket office who says there is nothing he can do as we booked with FGW & this station is operated by south west trains & the service we are travelling on is SWT. The only option left to us is to purchase 2 new return tickets for a grand total of £77.60 when the original tickets cost us £48.00.

So we have since spoken to FGW who have said the tickets are non refundable & that the tickets are non refundable, & that the fast ticke machines are operational 24/7 I explained to the person on the other end of the phone that all I want is a refund as it was impossible to collect the tickets as the only way to get them would've been to break in to the station. She has given me an address to write to for a refund.

Anyway... what I want to know is what are my chances of actually getting any money back? & what to write in a letter? most companies these days you can do everything either via the web on phone... but not the stupid outmoded inefficiently run rail services.

miamidice

I don't think you've got much chance. Often people travel on trains and their tickets don't get checked and stamped, so there is no way to tell if you've actually used them or not. Good luck, buy I very very much doubt you'll get anything

hstudent

As you could have collected your tickets on any day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day then you're very unlikely to get a full refund. (A standard refund before the date shown on your ticket would have incurred a £7 admin charge.)

However, if the operator is feeling generous they may in the circumstances give you rail travel vouchers for a future train journey.

ukgolfer92

Advance tickets are now non-refundable after the date of travel. As the previous poster has suggested, if you write a smpathetic letter to FGW they may reply with some rail vouchers as a gesture of goodwill!