railcard + excess ticket charge- will i get my money back?

yorkie2

eskimo26 wrote: »

I have terrible short term memory because of my disability....

Are you eligible for a Disabled Railcard? If so, you won't require a photocard with that type of Railcard.

eskimo26 wrote: »

I don't understand why when every other major company gives you a real plastic card the rail company can get away with two pieces of cardboard....

If you want a plastic 16-25 Railcard, purchase your next Railcard online.

eskimo26

yorkie2 wrote: »

Are you eligible for a Disabled Railcard? If so, you won't require a photocard with that type of Railcard.

If you want a plastic 16-25 Railcard, purchase your next Railcard online.

Unfortunately not, in the UK they are playing politics with my particular disability to make it ineligible for DLA etc. and save themselves a packet... but apparently they were happy enough to give me a disabled bus pass.

Even if ESA made me eligible they cut it when I started college so i'm in a benefits vacuum, instead of moving out of my parents and getting a 16 hour job to claim disabled tax credits, claim HB and every other thing going I decided to better myself and got punished for it.

It's worth it though, just got back from cardiff and UEA uni interviews and will be overt the moon to get a place.

Appreciate the help though.

an_ecunemical_matter

To be honest from the start- I sell tickets/ railcards for a living.

I'm not entering the war wholesale here.

Fact- you hadn't both parts of the railcard.

Therefore you had NO railcard- and your ticket had NO validity whatsoever so an entirely new one should have been sold. Example- a £12.20 advance from London to Cardiff with 16/25 discount where a railcard is not held means a new Anytime single gets sold for £109......

You've said you had to pay an "excess". Sounds not likely. Sounds like you were sold a Super Off peak or Off peak by the guard onboard. Actually incorrect but reasonable customer service.....

The only refund you could get is on the technically "unused" ticket or portion of. If it was Advance as in my example above it would be non-refundable anyway.

Go into a ticket office and show all the tickets you have (ask for a supervisor if necessary) and let them work out what you might be entitled to.

For info only Crosscountry trains have different rules other than a new full rate single. The charge you 34% extra onboard and let you apply (on sending a copy of the valid railcard) to customer relations to have the extra refunded in rail travel vouchers.

eskimo26

an_ecunemical_matter wrote: »

To be honest from the start- I sell tickets/ railcards for a living.

I'm not entering the war wholesale here.

Fact- you hadn't both parts of the railcard.

Therefore you had NO railcard- and your ticket had NO validity whatsoever so an entirely new one should have been sold. Example- a £12.20 advance from London to Cardiff with 16/25 discount where a railcard is not held means a new Anytime single gets sold for £109......

You've said you had to pay an "excess". Sounds not likely. Sounds like you were sold a Super Off peak or Off peak by the guard onboard. Actually incorrect but reasonable customer service.....

The only refund you could get is on the technically "unused" ticket or portion of. If it was Advance as in my example above it would be non-refundable anyway.

Go into a ticket office and show all the tickets you have (ask for a supervisor if necessary) and let them work out what you might be entitled to.

For info only Crosscountry trains have different rules other than a new full rate single. The charge you 34% extra onboard and let you apply (on sending a copy of the valid railcard) to customer relations to have the extra refunded in rail travel vouchers.

It says EXCESS on the ticket in big capitals and she told me to keep the original ticket as well. Money wise it was the difference between the full the cost of the ticket and discounted cost of the ticket. In other words she gave me something that took the price up to what it would have been if the railcard discount had never been applied.

I thanked her for using her discretion and not fining me but I also made it very clear I wasn't happy.

But it was from the station we had just passed to my destination, I guess that's the only way she could do it?

Also I actually had the same bag with me traveling to cardiff as I did when I bought the travel card so I actually got home and found I'd never taken it out of the bag and had it with me the whole time.

I was just exhausted and was sure i'd left it at home with my receipts. Live and learn but those pieces of card are pathetic and no one has yet answered why you need two [the convenience of losing them and bumping up rail profits aside].

joeyjimbles

eskimo26 wrote: »

Live and learn but those pieces of card are pathetic and no one has yet answered why you need two [the convenience of losing them and bumping up rail profits aside].

Perhaps that question would be better asked to National Rail as they are the ones who provide the card(s).

For what it's worth, I imagine that its done on card as that is the facility that they have at the station to provide you with the convenience of getting your card(s) immediately. My son has a Photo-ID and Season Ticket and that is given as two parts of card always.

I hope Customer Services are able to assist you: I have found them to be very fair and even sympathetic on the rare occasion that I have had to use them.

lammy82

eskimo26 wrote: »

Live and learn but those pieces of card are pathetic and no one has yet answered why you need two [the convenience of losing them and bumping up rail profits aside].

You have a Railcard and a Photocard. The Photocard is free of charge and it has a unique number which identifies you. It says "Photocard" on it.

The Railcard is what you have paid for. It says "Railcard" on it. This is personal; it can be used only by you. So, when you use it you have to show the corresponding Photocard.

Photocards are also used by season ticket holders. Season tickets are also personal, so holders need to prove that they have not lent the ticket to someone else. It works the same way.

Railcards and Season tickets have an expiry date, but when you buy another one, you can re-use your existing Photocard by writing its number onto the new Railcard or Season ticket. There's no need to produce a new Photocard at each renewal.

Railcards, Season tickets, normal tickets, and payment/collection receipts can all be printed by the same printer using similar/common ticket stock, so they do all look vaguely similar at first glance. I'm afraid you have to read what it says on the card to determine what it is and what it is valid for.

I hope this explains why you have got two cards and what they are used for.

spiro

eskimo26 wrote: »

No other big company issues a printed piece of cardboard and calls it a 'card'. They are all plastic.

Have you ever seen an annual train ticket? They are only the same thin card and those who commute into London often have to put the ticket through 4 barriers a day (excluding tube), so no not all companies issue plastic cards. My local bus company issues paper monthly tickets that they stick on a thin piece of card.