Railcard Refund

mike_302

I purchased a railcard on 4 July. I activated it and used it within a few days.
I tried to use it again on 15 July, while travelling. It didn't load; there was a gltich with the Railcard app, and errors thrown at me. I took screenshots, and submitted to Railcard support team, but ultimately, as I was travelling on a train and a ticket inspector there, I had to quickly repurchase a card on the spot.
Railcard got back to me 10 days later and said "Sorry, we got your original card working again.".
I said, "Not good enough; it was faulty within 14 days of purchasing, I needed to buy a new one, refund me please."
Railcard said, "Nope, it's after 14 days now" (their fault for taking 10 days to respond, but hey!), also, they said "plus, you used your railcard once, successfully, in the 14 day period. So you don't have any right to refund."

Please advise. I think their refusal is absolutely incorrect. Railcard says their decision is absolute and there's no changing their mind. 

user1977

I suspect what you should have done is pay the non-railcard fare and then claim the difference back - did you ask for advice at the time?

mike_302

user1977 said:

I suspect what you should have done is pay the non-railcard fare and then claim the difference back - did you ask for advice at the time?

Not sure that was an option, as I was on the train already, with a ticket inspector there. I felt like the inspector was being generous, as the rules clearly state you need to have a railcard when you get on the train. I did, but couldn't access it because of a Railcard technical glitch. Railcard admitted fault on that matter.

JGB1955

I currently have a 'virtual' railcard but am going for a physical bit of plastic when it comes to renewal.... my phone was about to die and I was terrified the ticket inspector would want to see my Railcard... I was even looking along the carriage for someone with a Samsung charger.... it shouldn't have to be like that!

born_again

Not everything is covered by the 14 day online refund.

mattyprice4004

JGB1955 said:

I currently have a 'virtual' railcard but am going for a physical bit of plastic when it comes to renewal.... my phone was about to die and I was terrified the ticket inspector would want to see my Railcard... I was even looking along the carriage for someone with a Samsung charger.... it shouldn't have to be like that!

It doesn't have to be like that - knowing that you had a virtual railcard and that it was on your phone, the phone would ideally have been charged. 
Might be worth investing in a 'powerbank' to stop that happening again   

JGB1955

mattyprice4004 said:

JGB1955 said:

I currently have a 'virtual' railcard but am going for a physical bit of plastic when it comes to renewal.... my phone was about to die and I was terrified the ticket inspector would want to see my Railcard... I was even looking along the carriage for someone with a Samsung charger.... it shouldn't have to be like that!

It doesn't have to be like that - knowing that you had a virtual railcard and that it was on your phone, the phone would ideally have been charged. 
Might be worth investing in a 'powerbank' to stop that happening again   

I agree that it was PPP on my part...had a fully charged powerbank with me  just not the specific cable needed.to connect the two. The sooner there is only ONE USB ca be for all appliances  the better.

TadleyBaggie

I suspect that if the EU try to make Apple replace their Lightning socket with a USB-C on future phones, Apple will simply remove the socket entirely and only have wireless charging on future phones.

Ectophile

TadleyBaggie said:

I suspect that if the EU try to make Apple replace their Lightning socket with a USB-C on future phones, Apple will simply remove the socket entirely and only have wireless charging on future phones.

Which will, of course, be totally incompatible with everybody else's wireless charging stations.

mike_302

Looks like this got a bit off track    
I don't think there was a good conclusion here for me, other than a suggestion of what I might've done instead. But that option wasn't made available to me, and so I've been tricked into buying a second railcard, effecitvely. And although Railcard admit fault, they won't refund.

born_again

Did you explain the situation to the ticket person?