London Buses Saver Tickets

mexicano

About 18 months ago I won a competition on BBC London and received 50 of these saver ticket booklets. Yesterday TFL announced that they were replacing the old tickets at the end of June because of forgeries in circulation. Because of work and other things I have only had the chance of using about 25 of these booklets.

My question is, can I have these replaced with the new ones or do I lose them? There is now way that I will be able to make 150 journeys in 4 months!!!

I can't even find someone at TFL to talk to about my little problem.

Any help or ideas will be very appreciated.

M_Thomson

Ebay them?

dzug

From what I have read on another travel web site you will not be able to exchange them.

As the poster above says, e-bay would be one outlet

[Deleted User]

hi mexicano. I have a similar problem with unused bus saver tickets. I bought 65 six-packs of them back in december 2004 just before a inflation busting price increase of nearly 43%. Yes; they went up from £4,20 to £6,00 a six-pack! As I don't travel on buses every day, I still have 18 remaining six-packs. Two weeks ago I emailed TfL explaining my situation but they haven't bothered to reply. I asked them about refunds or replacement of unused tickets. If you managed to sell yours on ebay, please let me know.

mexicano

travellingbum wrote: »

hi mexicano. I have a similar problem with unused bus saver tickets. I bought 65 six-packs of them back in december 2004 just before a inflation busting price increase of nearly 43%. Yes; they went up from £4,20 to £6,00 a six-pack! As I don't travel on buses every day, I still have 18 remaining six-packs. Two weeks ago I emailed TfL explaining my situation but they haven't bothered to reply. I asked them about refunds or replacement of unused tickets. If you managed to sell yours on ebay, please let me know.

I phoned them and I was told that they will not give me a refund but I went back and queried why they wouldn't give me a refund and I got this reply from TFL last week:

As my colleague has inferred previously we cannot alter our Conditions of Carriage. The tickets you possess were obtained through a competition and were not purchased by yourself, although you are now the owner of these tickets Transport for London (Tfl) simply cannot undertake to alter policy because of this situation, Tfl cannot accept responsibility for your current situation.

I don't think that selling them on ebay would be worth it. As I won these in a competition I guess I shouldn't expect anything. I will use as many as I can then chuck the remaining tickets. I will give some to my friends and family too. I still have until the end of June. I am just worried about my poor bum, having to sit on several buses a day and only on the weekends

[Deleted User]

Hello again mexicano. TfL is ignoring my emails about compensation or replacements. I can't be bothered anymore. Instead I've been selling the bus saver tickets I don't need in a market nearby where I live. If your explain your predicament, people can be quite understanding. I've sold them off for 70p each, the same price I paid for them before TfL's ripoff back in January 2005. By selling them this way, it saves me from getting a sore bum travelling on buses non-stop! I will go abroad next week and will only return to London in the end of June just before tickets expire. So don't get mad, get even!!

Pricey

When I've bought bus saver tickets, I've been told that they never expire. I think Transport for London are using the ticket redesign to 'expire' existing tickets. If TFL are unfairly changing the terms of their contract, shouldn't Trading Standards be making an issue of this, and at least forcing them to do a 'like-for-like' swap of old design bus savers for new ones?

Also, isn't this being done rather quietly? There must be a lot of people who have stockpiles and are going to get a shock come July.

londonsaver

I've been trying to contact TfL about this as well! It's on my mother's behalf, as she's not keen on using Oyster and has about 10 old Saver booklets left.

I found this information hidden away on the TfL website:

"We will be happy to exchange tickets for the new style after 30 June 2007, subject to authentication. Please be patient as this may take some time, depending on volume of requests received."

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/singlefares/2904.aspx

BUT I emailed them to ask how and where I should get them exchanged, and they replied:

"Any tickets that require a refund can be sent to:

Carol McCoy, Surface Customer Services, 5th Floor, 84 Ecclestone Square, London, SW1V 1PX

Please supply the receipt along with the tickets"

Of course, most people won't have a receipt as they tend to be bought from newsagents who rarely supply them! I wrote again to TfL about that, but they said that was the only way that a refund/exchange would be permitted.

I think my mother's going to pass as many as she can onto work-mates. But it still seems a sneaky way of going about things - especially since the big adverts about the change make no mention of the fact that old-style tickets will be exchangeable.

mexicano

Just a further note if anyone is still following this thread. If you look at TFL's website they now say they will exchange the old style bus saver tickets, and without proof of purchase. I have just received my replacement tickets by return post. It took about 3 weeks but I got them.
All you have to do is list the ticket numbers on a piece of paper giving them your name and address.

Here is a quote from the website:

'If anyone has any red tickets left at home that they wish to replace for the new design they should contact TfL - however, this process is likely to take some time as our anti-fraud teams will have to check for counterfeits.'

Anyone with queries about leftover red Bus Saver tickets should contact London Buses Customer Services Limited by calling 0845 300 7000 or writing to London Buses Customer Services, 84 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PX.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/5400.aspx

I hope this helps someone

Lugh_Chronain

Hi mexicano, I tried to start a thread on this here but unfortunately only 38 people took notice.

Strangely enough, considering that I post the thread in May, I've only managed to get round to sorting this. I take it too that you have to write every number of every ticket you have as I have over a dozen, I stopped using them when I got a bike.

By the way the geographic number for London Buses Customer Services is 020 7227 7886.