trainline.co.uk rip offs

mdean

Cannot see any other threads on this - but these greedy buggers have started to try to rip people off big style

1) A 1.50 credit card surcharge. This is happening more and more and should be stopped, exposed and resisted. It is not justified, at more than £100 quid for some tickets the protection of a cc is essential

2) Sneakily adding insurance as a default addition to the bill when you are buying a train ticket. You can delete it, frankly who on earth needs insurance for a train ticket - never been offered to me at the counter by a rail company. They are clearly hoping that people will click through and buy stuff they don't need so they can trouser the commission.

I will make a point of checking out the position direct with the rail companies next time

daveboy

Insurance on the trains in this country isn't such a bad idea.....only a matter of time before the next big crash.

I fully understand your point on the credit card charge - it'll only be a matter of time before everywhere charges for their use - I always have to double check now for a charge, whereas not that long ago there was no point.

It may actually be Visa and Mastercard who are to blame though - if we were running a business we wouldn't want to absorb the cost either.

AP

mdean wrote:

Cannot see any other threads on this - but these greedy buggers have started to try to rip people off big style

1) A 1.50 credit card surcharge. This is happening more and more and should be stopped, exposed and resisted. It is not justified, at more than £100 quid for some tickets the protection of a cc is essential

2) Sneakily adding insurance as a default addition to the bill when you are buying a train ticket. You can delete it, frankly who on earth needs insurance for a train ticket - never been offered to me at the counter by a rail company. They are clearly hoping that people will click through and buy stuff they don't need so they can trouser the commission.

I will make a point of checking out the position direct with the rail companies next time

Try: http://www.chester-le-track.co.uk/

I believe they do sell train tickets (including season tickets) and will also advise you on the cheapest option, including those not widely advertised - e.g. buying a combination of tickets for your journey instead of one to save money or buying a ticket to a station further than you travel which could turn out to be cheaper! They even have a callback facility if you leave your number on their contact form.

Jonapet

I've put a couple of warnings about trainline on the main sticky train thread.

Some problems are:
1) They don't have the full ticket availability - particularly when there are the low-price value fares, you could be missing out on a real bargain

2) Usually you can get a ticket refund at a station. With trainline, you need to send the ticket back by post. It can be a tortuous process if there are any complications. If it involves a substantial sum, be prepared to be out of pocket for a while.

3) Unless it has changed recently, they do not have uptodate info about timetable changes and bus substitutions due to engineering works. Stations do.

4) Trainline won't give you helpful tips on the cheapest way to make a journey. Station staff sometimes do.

5) Ticket conditions are in the small print on trainline. At a station they are explicitly explained to you if important - e.g. if a ticket has no changes or refunds as a condition, this is important to know.

Sometimes the internet is not the best way to buy things.

Money_Man_Steve

AP wrote:

Try: http://www.chester-le-track.co.uk/

I believe they do sell train tickets (including season tickets) and will also advise you on the cheapest option, including those not widely advertised - e.g. buying a combination of tickets for your journey instead of one to save money or buying a ticket to a station further than you travel which could turn out to be cheaper! They even have a callback facility if you leave your number on their contact form.

I'm confused! The 'buy tickets' link on this website links to a search box from the trainline.com, so isn't it the same thing? Or am I (quite possibly) missing something?!

pompeyrich

The buy ticket link does go to the trainline.com site. It seems Chester le street prefer to talk to purchasers on the phone to determine exactly what the customer wants, click on "telephone bookings" for their explanation.
There are so many combinations of fares that it is probably worth giving them a ring or at least reading up on their site, especially for long distance, or peak time journeys.
Sometimes it works out cheaper to buy a return and not use part of it than get a single, other times 2 singles work out cheaper than a return, if travelling from London to Newcastle, it can be cheaper to buy a ticket to Scotland but get off at Newcastle, the list of anomalies is endless so expert help from someone like Chester Le Street is worth considering in my opinion.

samedan_2

I have used insurance for train journeys. At £1 per trip it is good value when you look at what is covered; if you are doing a straight A to B journey it is probably not worth it but if you miss a connection and then miss an appointment as a result, the cover is worth while. I don't know the rules about mentioning firms on this board but the cover is offered by a frim named after the Spaniard who went to America!