Problems with railcards on TheTrainline.com

hilbo_2

I used the trainline's website to book two tickets from Birmingham to Liverpool on Fri 20th returning on Sat 21st,at the same time as booking a hotel for the night as my son and his friend are going to a lunchtime match at Anfield.

I had checked the prices the previous evening and was quoted £14.95 each way for Advance singles, one with a 16-25 railcard and one without.

I suspected that the price might go up by the time I booked it on 2nd Dec, so was disappointed, but not surprised when the cheapest price going through the Train & Hotel tab came up at £18.00 each way. The website states - "we have preselected the cheapest travel on your chosen dates".

After checking that these were indeed the cheapest tickets offered on that page I booked and paid for the tickets. I then decided to check the individual prices so that my son and his friend could pay the correct amounts each. I was unable to check this via the hotel tab, so checked via the home page. This showed the ticket prices as £14.95 - £9.00 for the adult, £5.95 with a railcard.

I immediately emailed the trainline (not prepared to pay 10p per minute) and sent print screens of the various pages by a Word attachment. The first response at 01.02 am the following morning was "[FONT=&quot]I am unable to view the file attached to this e-mail therefore, I would request you to re-attach the file in JPEG format."

I resent it and received the reply at 01.33 am the next day:
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"I understand that while you were looking for ticket price they suddenly rose to £18.00 from £14.95 and I regret the inconvenience caused.

I need to inform you that these are Advance Single Tickets which are released in limited numbers, due to their economic rates they are get sold out rapidly. These tickets are subject to availability. Hence, you need to book it as soon as possible.

I see now the £14.95 tickets are back for sell as someone has cancelled their tickets which was booked in bulked hence, these cheaper tickets have come back for re-sell. As we are just ticket retailers, we do not have control over availability of tickets. Once tickets are sold out the same fare cannot be offered again. I would suggest that you book these tickets at the earliest to avoid further disappointment."

I was not impressed and asked for the exact time that these tickets supposedly came back on sale and that I wanted a refund as I know that I had input a railcard at booking.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"I have checked and can confirm that the tickets which you have booked online is without a Railcard discount and your re-checking the fares online with a Railcard discount hence, you are getting cheaper tickets for £14.95.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]1. Eg:- with 1 16-25 Railcard discount (tickets which your are checking online).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]2. Eg:- without Railcard discount (tickets which you have booked).[/FONT][FONT=&quot]"[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On 11.12.13 (as I had been rather busy) I checked their website by inputting the data into the train and hotel page, being careful to take a screenshot of every page, showing the railcard input, which again showed the hotel page charging £18.00 and the ticket page showing £14.95. I sent them this information asking again for a refund and to check their website for a problem:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"Please note that the tickets booked with us under the given reference number ** has been booked without the Railcard discount. Please note a valid Railcard would be necessary during your travel if the tickets have been booked with the Railcard discount. If a valid Railcard is not present during your travel then the tickets would be termed invalid if they have been booked using the Railcard option.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There is no fault with our website and our website has been designed to offer you a discount if you have correctly selected the Railcard option. The fares once selected would not change to £18. There is a booking fee that applies to all the transaction and this charge has been clearly mentioned on the Shoppers Basket page before you proceed to the payment page. The £1.50 booking fee would be added to the cost of your tickets.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You have been offered the best fare that was available when booking the tickets. Please also note that an Advance Single ticket is subject to availability and is also quota controlled. The price for an Advance ticket start at a very low price and then the price gradually increases as the tickets are sold out and the next fare which is slightly expensive than the previous one is made available.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There is no question of getting a refund for the difference of fares as your tickets have not been booked with the 16-25 Railcard discount. Please also note that a Railcard discount cannot be added to an already processed booking.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Please visit the Railcard website to know of the various type of Railcards available and the price for which they could be purchased. You also would have to qualify to purchase a 16-25 Railcard."[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]My son already has his railcard - he just wants to use it! By this time I was getting rather cross! I did the search with the print screens again (within 3 mins of one another). I know I definitely put in for a railcard discount and there seems to be a problem with their website, but the response today was:[/FONT]

" [FONT=&quot]The ticket you have booked is not a hotel booking.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Secondly if you had selected the Railcard option you would certainly have been able to get the discount. It is quite likely that the option was Railcard was not selected because of which you have been unable to get the discount.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The discount for Railcard cannot be added to an already processed booking. We are unable to assist you on this occasion."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have now sent them a copy of the hotel booking clearly showing The Trainline logo and telling them that they obviously do not want to accept that they have a problem. I also told them that I would be posting here and that I won't be using them again.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Has anyone else had a similar problem or can recommend a further course of action? I have better things to do with my time, but it is the principle here. There is obviously a problem with their website - I have the printscreens to prove it. We have already decided to drive to Birmingham from Suffolk, because the trains from here are much more expensive and less frequent, but if I had booked the full distance I would have lost out on far more than £6.10.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]GRRR!! :mad:
[/FONT]

agrinnall

I'm afraid I lost interest half way through your novel, but the most important point was towards the end:

"...and that I won't be using them again"

which of course is the correct decision, as it is always possible to get train tickets from somewhere else more cheaply than through thetrainline.

SimonSays

Give up. Stop trying to squeeze that bottom line

yorkie2

The fare would be £9 for a non-discounted one-way Advance ticket, for most trains. That means a total cost of £14.95 each way for 2 passengers, if 1 holds a Railcard.

If you have been charged £18 each way for 2 passengers, the most likely explanation is that a Railcard discount was not selected.

Furthermore, as you used thetrainline.com rather than the website of any Train Company, you have been further charged a £1.50 booking fee.

The lessons to be learned are:
1) Do not use thetrainline
2) When purchasing a Railcard discounted ticket, double-check the discount has been applied.

By the way, it does not cost much more for a Super Off Peak ticket, which is available from the ticket office immediately before travel. So, if travelling at a time when the Super Off Peak is valid, I would recommend purchasing that ticket instead of Advance tickets next time, as the very small extra cost is probably worth it for less hassle.

hilbo_2

My major point is that there is obviously an error on the trainline website - I did input a railcard and I have triple checked it since - the error still exists on the train & hotels page but not on the trains page. The trainline customer service agents don't believe the evidence I've given them and keep telling me that there is not a fault.

I know that it is only £6.10 - but if I had booked the full journey from Suffolk it would have been a lot more and I don't want other people to fall foul of this website problem.

I also don't appreciate effectively being called a liar - ie "there is no problem with the website", "you didn't book a hotel" etc.

I know that there is a booking fee and am prepared to pay that - just not to be overcharged because of a website fault.

yorkie2

Ah, I see. What link did you book through? I will take a look.


Best thing to do with complaints is to keep them clear and concise and be assertive.

hilbo_2

I know the inital post was rather long-winded - sorry about that. I was just so fed up with the Trainline Customer Service (or lack of it) at the time.

I booked on the Train & Hotel tab - input the relevant railcard and it ignores it when you press continue and gives you the price without railcard. If you enter exactly the same details from the home page, when you are just looking for train tickets it will give you the price for one with and one without the railcard.

I have just tried doing the same thing as if I was travelling directly from Suffolk and for the same time trains on the home page (train ticket only) it shows £184.25 (railcard discount for one ticket) but on the Train and Hotels tab it shows £198.20 - just two adult tickets no mention of a railcard discount, though the difference is not the full amount of the railcard discount in this instance. (It's not just the booking fee of £1.50 either).

Still seems to me that there is a problem somewhere on the website. I would just hate other people to fall foul of it too.