Charged twice on EastCoast Trains

geerex

notakid wrote: »

Reading the OP it seems there was an misunderstanding.

The guard obviously thought that they had printed their tickets but not their bike res. It often happens as in many cases they are done separately.

So he allowed them on the train as he had seen the confirmation. However when he checked tickets he saw that that had'nt printed their tickets either.

He could only stretch the rules so far.

I can understand the OP not printing her bike tickets but don't understand why they didn't collect their tickets before boarding the train.

Because , as usual, people are either too stupid to read the rules, or are too arrogant to think they apply to them.
Oddly, it seems to be a bigger problem on the railway, as people don't tend to just turn up for any old flight at an airport.

Teapotalot

Dear All,

Thanks for all your responses and suggestions. Apologies in my delay to respond. Was a little overwhelmed by how helpful you all were plus also wanted to await a reply from East coast before getting too caught up in this too. The case has been settled and here's how we got on...

Although I held out little hope, I did follow your advice of at least starting by contacting the Customer Services team first.

They confirmed that they were correct to have charged us again, but also accepted that we were mislead by the Train Guard. I expected to be disappointed by the experience and at the very best hoped for perhaps a good-will gesture of a voucher for our unused tickets (totalling £100) - which wouldn't have been a terrible outcome. But to my utter surprise and their upmost credit they agreed to a full refund for the £250 we were forced to spend whilst on the train…just this once obviously. No quibbling, no back and forth.

I had a low opinion of train companies when it comes to stuff like this, especially East Coast, but have been taught to at least give them a chance…they may just surprise you! This has transformed from a relatively disastrous journey to an actually quite pleasant experience. It's a shame we had the bad experience at all, but I am thoroughly impressed and appreciative of how the Customer Services team have turned this around. And I have learnt a valuable lesson when it comes to printing tickets!

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to respond and also East Coast (if anyone there is reading this).

Many thanks,
Teapotalot

Voyager2002

Teapotalot wrote: »

Dear All,

Thanks for all your responses and suggestions. Apologies in my delay to respond. Was a little overwhelmed by how helpful you all were plus also wanted to await a reply from East coast before getting too caught up in this too. The case has been settled and here's how we got on...

Although I held out little hope, I did follow your advice of at least starting by contacting the Customer Services team first.

They confirmed that they were correct to have charged us again, but also accepted that we were mislead by the Train Guard. I expected to be disappointed by the experience and at the very best hoped for perhaps a good-will gesture of a voucher for our unused tickets (totalling £100) - which wouldn't have been a terrible outcome. But to my utter surprise and their upmost credit they agreed to a full refund for the £250 we were forced to spend whilst on the train…just this once obviously. No quibbling, no back and forth.

I had a low opinion of train companies when it comes to stuff like this, especially East Coast, but have been taught to at least give them a chance…they may just surprise you! This has transformed from a relatively disastrous journey to an actually quite pleasant experience. It's a shame we had the bad experience at all, but I am thoroughly impressed and appreciative of how the Customer Services team have turned this around. And I have learnt a valuable lesson when it comes to printing tickets!

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to respond and also East Coast (if anyone there is reading this).

Many thanks,
Teapotalot

I am delighted that you had such a good result, and grateful to you for sharing it with us all.

The outcome was a good deal better than you could reasonably have expected, and confirms my belief that (state-owned) East Coast is one of the better train operating companies in the UK.

geerex

Teapotalot wrote: »

Dear All,

Thanks for all your responses and suggestions. Apologies in my delay to respond. Was a little overwhelmed by how helpful you all were plus also wanted to await a reply from East coast before getting too caught up in this too. The case has been settled and here's how we got on...

Although I held out little hope, I did follow your advice of at least starting by contacting the Customer Services team first.

They confirmed that they were correct to have charged us again, but also accepted that we were mislead by the Train Guard. I expected to be disappointed by the experience and at the very best hoped for perhaps a good-will gesture of a voucher for our unused tickets (totalling £100) - which wouldn't have been a terrible outcome. But to my utter surprise and their upmost credit they agreed to a full refund for the £250 we were forced to spend whilst on the train…just this once obviously. No quibbling, no back and forth.

I had a low opinion of train companies when it comes to stuff like this, especially East Coast, but have been taught to at least give them a chance…they may just surprise you! This has transformed from a relatively disastrous journey to an actually quite pleasant experience. It's a shame we had the bad experience at all, but I am thoroughly impressed and appreciative of how the Customer Services team have turned this around. And I have learnt a valuable lesson when it comes to printing tickets!

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to respond and also East Coast (if anyone there is reading this).

Many thanks,
Teapotalot

Hopefully the next time you'll read the terms and conditions and pay attention. It's a hell of a waste of everyone's time, isn't it?

Good on East Coast though, they did a good thing. I hope they don't make a habit of it though.