Train to London - never again

dmg24

So really your only complaint is that the train was a mess? Not great, but you do seem to be making quite a fuss about it!

If you wanted to book a cheaper fare, why did you not book a train from 7pm onwards? I have not read the other thread, why do you not have a Disabled Persons Railcard?

wealdroam

21Twinkle wrote: »

It was Waterloo and we left at about 5pm - so no cheap fares !!
Singles cost £21 outwards and £42 home
The problem was that - if we had pre-booked an open return fare - it would have cost £84 each - as opposed to the £63 that we paid

You seem reluctant to tell us, but it looks very much to me that you travelled from Yeovil Junc or Templecombe to London Waterloo and back.

You used Advance Singles on a specific train at £21 each on the outward leg.

When returning from Waterloo, you purchased Off Peak Singles at £42.20 each.

Thus, as you say, around £63 each return.

I don't know where your £84 came from, but then again, I don't really know your journey.

I cannot understand why you didn't buy a Off Peak Day Return at £47.80. Valid on any train outward after 07:30, and on any train for the return leg.

So £47.80 is less than £63, I think.
Walkup fares that can be bought on the day of travel or in advance.

By the way, that cheap fare can be found on any rail website. I used Southern Railway's website.

Another point... with a Disabled Railcard the two of you could have done the return trip for £63.10. Around half of what you paid.
I repeat... that's the total for two people.

economiser

When I read threads like this I know why I never use trains. Why is it all so absurdly complicated? There was a time when you just turned up at the railway station and bought a ticket. One fare for one destination - so simple.

robt_2

economiser wrote: »

When I read threads like this I know why I never use trains. Why is it all so absurdly complicated? There was a time when you just turned up at the railway station and bought a ticket. One fare for one destination - so simple.

And that is exactly what the OP could have done, and it would have been cheaper. They ignored advice and made it complicated and more expensive all by themselves!

Altarf

economiser wrote: »

When I read threads like this I know why I never use trains. Why is it all so absurdly complicated? There was a time when you just turned up at the railway station and bought a ticket. One fare for one destination - so simple.

And I guess you don't use planes either, because they also don't have a single fare for one destination.

TwistedPsycho

An interesting thread.

Somerset. Most of Somerset is First Great Western terratory, so where you travelled from will influence some of the answers.

If you used a South West Trains service in its entirety (IE without changing at Salisbury) then although a mid-morning train should not be dirty there are occasions when it is impossible to avoid. Trains are only turned around relatively quickly at Exeter and Bristol with litter pickers doing as much as they can; trains are cleaned more thorougly at Waterloo and do bare in mind that these trains might have already been to London at least once in the peak that morning. I agree that toilets should not smell of urine but if it is not noticed it can not be dealt with (there is only 1 Driver, 1 conductor and occasionally one buffet steward on most trains run by SWT).

Not all the websites are run by South West Trains. In fact only the SW Trains one is and they outsource their ticket sales to another company if I remember correctly. I find that the most user friendly is Southern and they offer tickets for all companies as well as free 1st class delivery or Ticket on Departure (Not all stations UK wide have this yet though). Note: TrainLine and others charge booking fees, Southern DO NOT unless you want Recorded Delivery.

Now on to the real concern. As a former member of SWT Staff (as a Guard/Conductor) I can assure you that if you did not get tickets or more specifically a receipt for your card transaction then I can 99% assure you in my personal experience of customers with similar issues that your card will not have been charged, BUT DO double check.

I hope this helps

DCFC79

economiser wrote: »

When I read threads like this I know why I never use trains. Why is it all so absurdly complicated? There was a time when you just turned up at the railway station and bought a ticket. One fare for one destination - so simple.

using a train is easy, i got a train to london once and got a train out again(eventually) and i never had problems with nt buying a return ticket as i most likely bought an open or anytime return

50Twuncle

dmg24 wrote: »

So really your only complaint is that the train was a mess? Not great, but you do seem to be making quite a fuss about it!

If you wanted to book a cheaper fare, why did you not book a train from 7pm onwards? I have not read the other thread, why do you not have a Disabled Persons Railcard?

We left at 5pm because we couldn't hang around for 2 hours
And the railcard - Yes, I should have applied for one - but was not made aware of this medical appointment in time to get one (at least - I was not guaranteed to get one in-time) - I could have wasted another £18 if it did not arrive in time - and considering that the last time we used a train, before last month, was 5 years ago !!.

50Twuncle

TwistedPsycho wrote: »

An interesting thread.

Somerset. Most of Somerset is First Great Western terratory, so where you travelled from will influence some of the answers.

If you used a South West Trains service in its entirety (IE without changing at Salisbury) then although a mid-morning train should not be dirty there are occasions when it is impossible to avoid. Trains are only turned around relatively quickly at Exeter and Bristol with litter pickers doing as much as they can; trains are cleaned more thorougly at Waterloo and do bare in mind that these trains might have already been to London at least once in the peak that morning. I agree that toilets should not smell of urine but if it is not noticed it can not be dealt with (there is only 1 Driver, 1 conductor and occasionally one buffet steward on most trains run by SWT).

Not all the websites are run by South West Trains. In fact only the SW Trains one is and they outsource their ticket sales to another company if I remember correctly. I find that the most user friendly is Southern and they offer tickets for all companies as well as free 1st class delivery or Ticket on Departure (Not all stations UK wide have this yet though). Note: TrainLine and others charge booking fees, Southern DO NOT unless you want Recorded Delivery.

Now on to the real concern. As a former member of SWT Staff (as a Guard/Conductor) I can assure you that if you did not get tickets or more specifically a receipt for your card transaction then I can 99% assure you in my personal experience of customers with similar issues that your card will not have been charged, BUT DO double check.

I hope this helps

Thanks - so far only one debit - so I am assuming that you are correct....

50Twuncle

wealdroam wrote: »

You seem reluctant to tell us, but it looks very much to me that you travelled from Yeovil Junc or Templecombe to London Waterloo and back.

You used Advance Singles on a specific train at £21 each on the outward leg.

When returning from Waterloo, you purchased Off Peak Singles at £42.20 each.

Thus, as you say, around £63 each return.

I don't know where your £84 came from, but then again, I don't really know your journey.

I cannot understand why you didn't buy a Off Peak Day Return at £47.80. Valid on any train outward after 07:30, and on any train for the return leg.

So £47.80 is less than £63, I think.
Walkup fares that can be bought on the day of travel or in advance.

By the way, that cheap fare can be found on any rail website. I used Southern Railway's website.

Another point... with a Disabled Railcard the two of you could have done the return trip for £63.10. Around half of what you paid.
I repeat... that's the total for two people.

Yeovil Junction - but how did you find the off peak day return ?
When I put the details in to Trainlines website - It only gave me the option of either full price both ways or half price both ways (if we were willing to return after 7pm - which was too late)