Dear First Great Western ...

[Richard Tarleton]

I was given a voucher for about £12 by First Great Western after I got on at Port Talbot with a reservation in the quiet carriage, only to find a hen party in full swing there. They were going well considering they could only have started at Swansea, 18 minutes beforehand. The guard was clearly terrified as he didn't stir from his cubbyhole (at the far end of the quiet carriage) the entire way to Paddington (he was there, he made announcements from there) - so I wrote in to complain. I received an apologetic letter. The voucher sat in a drawer, forgotten, until it was out of date.

[zola]

I work in a train company ticket office ( not FGW ) I have no axe to grind for the train companies or FGW but just to state a few facts as to how things are. This is a standard procedure as laid down by ATOC ( Association of Train Operating Companies ) It is not specific to FGW. Is it legal ? Probably since it is long established and has either not been challenged or survived any challenges. Is it ethical ? Borderline, though I suspect it is not sharp practice so much as administrative convenience. Is it good customer service ? Not great but on a par with most major industries in this country if one has the misfortune to fall into a dispute with them.

As for the vouchers, to confirm...they can be used by anyone in possession of them up to the expiry date. They can be used for any journey at any train company ticket office, not just FGW. They do not have change given for them if they are an overpayment but can of course be part payment.

It is always worth writing to customer service again if one is not satisfied, though perhaps the best that can be expected is to receive further vouchers as a gesture of goodwill !

A final point. The ticket vending machines are a hybrid of relatively sophisticated software and relatively crude mechanics and one can sometimes sabotage the other. They remain a work in progress along the route of an unstaffed railway system.

[Sir Velo]

I was given a voucher for about £12 by First Great Western after I got on at Port Talbot with a reservation in the quiet carriage, only to find a hen party in full swing there. They were going well considering they could only have started at Swansea, 18 minutes beforehand. The guard was clearly terrified as he didn't stir from his cubbyhole (at the far end of the quiet carriage) the entire way to Paddington (he was there, he made announcements from there) - so I wrote in to complain. I received an apologetic letter. The voucher sat in a drawer, forgotten, until it was out of date.

I sympathise entirely with you here RT. The problem with "Quiet Carriages" is that while they need little or no enforcement the majority of the time while there are reasonable people in the carriage,the moment there is an issue with person(s) flouting the regulations, there seems to be absolutely no will on the part of the rail operators to do anything about it.

The response from the train company was risible. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get any kind of satisfaction is to shame them on social media or through letters to the press or to the regulator. Public opprobrium is the only way to get things done.

[jean]

...The ticket vending machines are a hybrid of relatively sophisticated software and relatively crude mechanics and one can sometimes sabotage the other. They remain a work in progress along the route of an unstaffed railway system.

I've always avoided them, but recently I found I'd asked to have pre-booked tickets delivered that way, by mistake. The machine refused to accept my credit card as identification even though I'd used it without problems just before and did again afterwards.

Fortunately the Virgin Trains office was able give me the tickets. Just as well it was open.

[jean]

...The voucher sat in a drawer, forgotten, until it was out of date.

To be fair, I think that was probably your fault rather than theirs.

[Sir Velo]

To be fair, I think that was probably your fault rather than theirs.

I think RT was getting at the fact that the rail companies cynically know that most of these "goodwill" vouchers never get used, and hence cost them nothing. Cash refunds, on the other hand.....

[jean]

Not sure how they 'know' this - I'm not so well-off that I can afford to forget mine.

But I do think there's a clear distinction between cases where a refund is appropriate, and those where you should be grateful for the goodwill gesture (and remember where you put it).

[amateur51]

In the light of poor Tesco's current trials & tribulations about their 'aggressive accounting', I wonder where in their accounts Gt Western puts french frank's vouchers? - and where would they put a cash refund?

[Dave2002]

The ones I get from East Coast are useable by anyone
even though they say "not transferable" there's nothing to say who they apply to



Why ?
They wont read it
It will go straight in the bin
and you will have wasted time and money

but if it makes you feel better then a good idea

You may be right. I have just put in a substantial claim to East Coast - will see what they do next. I did check on the names of relevant senior staff, and mentioned them in my letter. It wasn't just the monetary aspect which was of concern, but the fact that two people - let's call them heroes - were left to deal with a situation of a broken down train following a chunk of material falling from a tunnel and breaking the driver's windscreen. One was a member of railway staff who did his best to cope, though he was given wrong information, and the other was a replacement bus driver who drove a heck of a long way late at night to get us to our next (not necessarily final) destination. Scotrail, which managed to get a train through did not help, even though their service had also been disrupted by the problem with the tunnel. Not their problem - different company! A few minutes additional delay to one or two Scotrail trains would have solved most - probably 95% of the problems and got most of the passengers to where they needed to be. Very little coordination between companies - poor management. However, a couple of guys on the ground did a great job, no doubt for a fraction of the pay of the senior staff, who may not even have had their evening or sleep disturbed by the incident.

Could not ff buy tickets for board members in return for appropriate recompense? Don't know if that would work.

I once had a dispute with South West trains. The machine at our local station took £20 and didn't issue a ticket or change. This was just before I had to go away for several weeks. I did eventually get something back from SW, but they claimed that they had heard that £20 had been "lost" in the machine (I had told our very friendly ticket collector, now retired) but that they had already paid out the £20 to someone else. Basically they accused me of lying and trying to defraud them. However, as a 'gesture of goodwill' they did pay, IIRC. They usually try to wriggle out of paying. I have had a few other "issues" with SW, relating to last trains and claims for compensation and taxis. They usually claim it's possible to go via Timbuktu, or wait until the first train next day at 00.50 or some such garbage, and that any practical decisions one takes for travel "are your at own initiative and responsibility."

I think ff should be able to press for a cash/monetary refund.

So far I have found East Coast to be very good, but I'll wait to see how they respond.

[Sir Velo]

Not sure how they 'know' this

Those little barcode thingies. You have heard of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) haven't you?

[Honoured Guest]

Not sure how they 'know' this.

Either by a simple comparison of the values of vouchers issued and vouchers redeemed, or by looking at the details by serial number of vouchers issued and redeemed.

[french frank]

Regardless of any restrictions which the vouchers carry, I think many/most businesses would recognise that if a customer is forced to pay twice for the same product (rather more the second time: £20.80 instead of £11.75) a cash refund is more appropriate than a voucher which has to be spent on another, similar product.

[gurnemanz]

Regardless of any restrictions which the vouchers carry, I think many/most businesses would recognise that if a customer is forced to pay twice for the same product (rather more the second time: £20.80 instead of £11.75) a cash refund is more appropriate than a voucher which has to be spent on another, similar product.

I wanted to go to from Swindon to Bath on Tuesday. The counter clerk warned me about delays due to the suicide at Slough, but I bought the ticket anyway. When I got to the platform the delays and cancellations appeared to be far worse than I had imagined so I decided to abandon the non-essential trip. I asked for my money back, not sure what they would say and half expecting to get a voucher. I was given a cash refund without query. I don't know what the rules are.

[mercia]

I guess if I was 100% sure that I wouldn't be using the vouchers in the 12-month period I would throw them away now, to save cluttering the drawer

[zola]

I wanted to go to from Swindon to Bath on Tuesday. The counter clerk warned me about delays due to the suicide at Slough, but I bought the ticket anyway. When I got to the platform the delays and cancellations appeared to be far worse than I had imagined so I decided to abandon the non-essential trip. I asked for my money back, not sure what they would say and half expecting to get a voucher. I was given a cash refund without query. I don't know what the rules are.

It is easy to do an immediate refund to cash or card if the ticket is in date and not used. In French Frank's case the clerk would not have been able to do that since advance fares are no longer available on the ticket office system when they are no longer "advance" i.e. when you turn up to actually travel. And he / she would have been unable to refund at that point since the accounting information would be on a different system and there would be no fare available at that price on the station system. Hence the referral to customer services who have the ex gratia option.