Thameslink refunds for Carnet tickets

gaillumley

When I was advised that I was returning to work on a 1 day a week basis I bought a book of 5 carnet tickets and used 1 of them before the advice from the Govt was that we should continue to work from home if we could. I have recently tried to get a refund from Thameslink who have refused to entertain a partial refund on the basis that it was purchased after the cut off date of the 7th (?) September. I have an underlying health condition which makes me vulnerable and am following Govt guidelines. I can ill afford to lose the £173 so wondered if anyone else has had this problem and whether they have successfully reclaimed a refund?

Westin

I am not familiar with the Thameslink carnet tickets rules but what would be to stop you just using the remaining 4 tickets at a later time post 2 December?

sheramber

The Government guidelines  for the current lockdown are that only  'clinically extremely vulnerable' need to shield.

mattyprice4004

This doesn’t automatically mean you’re entitled to a refund, no. 

gaillumley

Hi Everyone. Thanks for your responses. I have an underlying health condition which does not mean I have to shield but that I have to be careful. The Governments instructions are that if you can be at home then you should. The expiry date on these is 14th December and I will not be travelling in to London between 2nd and 14th December. The Thameslink refund rules after 7th September is that they will not refund partial tickets. Carnets are 5 or 10 return journeys which are open for travel either peak or off peak and on the day you use them you enter the date physically on the ticket so that it cannot be used again. Because you are buying a block of tickets up front they are slightly cheaper than buying on a daily basis. Prior to 7th September they would refund 'partial' tickets so in this instance when one ticket of 5 was used they would give you an 80% refund. I just needed to know whether anyone had managed to successfully to get a credit note or extension to cover the value they no longer refund?

Westin

I suspect the audience on MSE that have that direct experience with Thameslink carnet ticket purchases will be extremely limiting or non existent. Hope however to be proved wrong.

Have you actually tried asking Thameslink?  I would probably play down the shielding element and instead just ask them politely if that given the latest English restrictions on travel if they have a revised policy on extending the validity of the carnets. 

gaillumley

Hi Westin,
Yes I did ask Thameslink - both at the stations and on line. Their response was basically 'tough'. I have tried various approaches but I will raise another ticket and perhaps I'll get a different adviser who will be more lenient.

bradders1983

What is the journey in question? Why not try and sell the tickets on a local FB group, if you throw in a small discount you may recoup most of your outlay.

gaillumley

Hi Bradders1983. I have these advertised on my local FB group and in the freeads. There doesn't appear to be a commuter group presence online. I have reduced them by the price of one of the single journeys so £173 face value for £150. It is a well used commuter route but of course in the current climate there are less and less people travelling. If you've got any other ideas about where else I can advertise that would be welcome. Thank you for your advice