Rail Company won't refund on Duplicate Season Ticket

cjbessex

Hi - I'm looking for some advice.

I have an annual train season ticket. I lost the ticket earlier this year and got a duplicate. I am now changing jobs and will no longer be using the train to get to work.

When I took the season ticket to apply for a refund, apparently the 'small print' states that the rail company does not refund on duplicate tickets (but does on original tickets).. as my ticket has 5 months left to run, this means I lose about £1,700. :mad:

Can anyone give me any advice on steps I can take?

Many thanks.

jkdd77

cjbessex wrote: »

Hi - I'm looking for some advice.

I have an annual train season ticket. I lost the ticket earlier this year and got a duplicate. I am now changing jobs and will no longer be using the train to get to work.

When I took the season ticket to apply for a refund, apparently the 'small print' states that the rail company does not refund on duplicate tickets (but does on original tickets).. as my ticket has 5 months left to run, this means I lose about £1,700. :mad:

Can anyone give me any advice on steps I can take?

Many thanks.

Try a "changeover" instead- find the cheapest annual season ticket anywhere on the network (Devenport- Dockyard is cheap, but may not necessarily be the cheapest), state you are changing jobs (which is true enough) and ask to exchange your old ticket for the "new" ticket (which you won't use), plus a refund of the difference.

rdwarr

Ask the experts at http://www.railforums.co.uk/

Livingthedream

Another cheap season ticket to exchange for is an annual Ryde Pier Head to Ryde Esplanade @£232 ,you also get a Gold card with that Season ticket which is very useful if you live in the South East.

wealdroam

Livingthedream wrote: »

Another cheap season ticket to exchange for is an annual Ryde Pier Head to Ryde Esplanade @£232 ,you also get a Gold card with that Season ticket which is very useful if you live in the South East.

And a Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St Johns Road is only £148 and you still get a Gold Card.

But not much beats the already mentioned Devonport to Dockyard(Devonport) at £96, if you don't need a Gold Card.

Livingthedream

wealdroam wrote: »

And a Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St Johns Road is only £148 and you still get a Gold Card.

But not much beats the already mentioned Devonport to Dockyard(Devonport) at £96, if you don't need a Gold Card.

I knew as soon as I posted I'd got the wrong Ryde stations

It's a shame you don't get the Gold Card for the Devonport ticket as at £96 it's a steal.

prowla

cjbessex wrote: »

Hi - I'm looking for some advice.

I have an annual train season ticket. I lost the ticket earlier this year and got a duplicate. I am now changing jobs and will no longer be using the train to get to work.

When I took the season ticket to apply for a refund, apparently the 'small print' states that the rail company does not refund on duplicate tickets (but does on original tickets).. as my ticket has 5 months left to run, this means I lose about £1,700. :mad:

Can anyone give me any advice on steps I can take?

Many thanks.

I've previously had to get a duplicate ticket because the original one stopped working - nobody mentioned to me that it would remove my entitlement to a refund if required.

It seems to me that that may be a mechanism they've put in place to try and stop people getting a duplicate, then getting a refund, and then continuing to use the original (or passing it to someone else to use).

I'm not sure how to go about pursuing it, but it seems inappropriate to me.

That said, years back I changed job with a couple of months to go on my annual ticket and by the time they'd done the calculations it wasn't worth bothering about the refund.

Axial

prowla wrote: »

I've previously had to get a duplicate ticket because the original one stopped working - nobody mentioned to me that it would remove my entitlement to a refund if required.

What you had was an Encode Exchange rather than a duplicate. This is where the original ticket has faded or stopped working barriers, you can have refunds on Encodes as they are the original ticket. You can have as many of these as you want, as you surrender the original ticket which is being replaced.

That is different from a Duplicate, where the ticket has been lost and been replaced (for a £20 fee), you can have one of these in a 12 month period

It seems to me that that may be a mechanism they've put in place to try and stop people getting a duplicate, then getting a refund, and then continuing to use the original (or passing it to someone else to use).

Spot on.

My advise to the original poster is that if you had a duplicate for £20 then yes, there is no refund on this. This is stated on the form filled in to get a duplicate.
The best way would be to do as per above and have a changeover for the lowest priced season ticket available.

dt3887

and then sell the one that has been changed i presume? dont know if you can or not, but if yo ucan, worth considering

wealdroam

dt3887 wrote: »

and then sell the one that has been changed i presume? dont know if you can or not, but if yo ucan, worth considering

No, just realise you will lose the £96 instead of the £1700 that the OP otherwise stands to lose.

In other words, effectively get a refund of £1600+.

Out of interest, how many people do you think might want to buy a Devonport to Dockyard Devonport annual season ticket?
Google Maps suggest it is a eleven minute walk.
I wouldn't mind betting that every one of those sold is just to get some sort of refund on another season ticket.
(And this is totally ignoring the legality of selling train tickets. )

Axial

No, you cannot sell railway tickets onto another person.

Also a season ticket is linked to a photocard and can only be used by that person, the photocard is also linked to a database entry via the photocard number