Changeover to a very cheap season ticket instead of refund

awidgery

Dear all,

I have recently been made redundant and am looking for the most cost-effective way to refund my annual season ticket. Today (30th April 2012) is the last day I want my season ticket.

The ticket is:
Oxford to Tilehurst, 12 month, £2096.
Valid 9th August 2011 - 8th August 2012

By my calcs if I go for a straight refund I will get about £293 back - I have used 266 days of the ticket, which would be a 6 month, 2 x 1 month, 3 x 7 days, plus 2 x Anytime Returns.

Based on this thread at RailUKForums (I can't post links - Google "Season Ticket Changeover calculations railforums") I am looking at a Changeover to a very cheap season ticket - eg Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour (£148 now, would have been £140 last year). By my maths if I did a Changeover I would be entitled to a £530 refund - much better!

Two questions:
1) Is the ticket office in Oxford likely to do this? If so, what's the best way to go about asking for it? I can't tell from the literature if a) you have to keep either origin or destination the same, or b) you have to prove a change of workplace or home address.
2) Does anyone know of an even cheaper season ticket in the Network Rail area that I could Changeover to?!

Ridiculous that I have to do this - would be much better if they allowed pro-rata refunds with evidence of redundancy...

Thanks for your help.

Humphrey10

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/season_tickets/season_ticket_conditions.html
Just the expiry date has to be the same as your current ticket, it looks like.

I assume you mean Network Railcard Area, for a Gold Card?

The RailUK forums would be a good place for you to ask, there are lots of knowledgeable people who post there.

Livingthedream

awidgery wrote: »

Ridiculous that I have to do this - would be much better if they allowed pro-rata refunds with evidence of redundancy....

Unfortunately, train companies are here to make a profit, there not interested about your redundancy (sorry to hear about that by the way:() ,therefore, will try their best to make a refunds difficult but not impossible.

Humphrey10 wrote: »

The RailUK forums would be a good place for you to ask, there are lots of knowledgeable people who post there.

Strange I would have said the same, the OP's been on that website, might have been easier just to post on there?

awidgery

All done - I posted to both as similar questions had previously been asked here too.
I went yesterday and did a Changeover to a Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour season ticket - and was refunded £533 - almost £300 more than I would have got had I done a straight refund!

Lady at Oxford station was very helpful and didn't query or argue at all.

I did need to dig out the original card I paid on to get the refund though.

Thanks for your help