Excessing Basingstoke-Waterloo season ticket to go to Reading

[kristiang85]

I am in possession of an annual season ticket from Basingstoke to Waterloo via Woking (plus zones 1-6). Lately I've had a couple of evenings in Reading, and the first time I went happened to be when I was renewing my season ticket. I asked for a day return to Reading, and I was told they just need to excess my season ticket for a nominal 20p and I could use that to go to Reading. I've done that twice now, and the Reading gate staff were always happy to let me through, as the excess tickets don't work the barriers.

So today I asked at the Basingstoke ticket office to excess my ticket, and the guy at the office said it couldn't be done. I said it had been fine before, but he said that the staff were in the wrong (even though it was different staff both times). I said the GWR gate staff at Reading were fine with it, but he said they were wrong too. So he said I could either buy a London excess at £12 and do a BOJ or just get a return to Reading on my gold card at £4.60, which I did.

He also asked me if I had any of the tickets from before and actually I did, so I gave them to him thinking he would see that it was actually fine. But instead he photocopied them and told me they were wrong again (I'm now worried he's going to get colleagues in trouble?).

Can I clarify if this is right? And if so why have other staff have been able to do it before, and why did the machine let them do it? Especially as I only actually ask for this ticket now because a member of staff told me I shouldn't be having to buy the full ticket with the season pass I have.

Thanks for advice, I just want to make sure I'm not overpaying.

 

[JB_B]

I am in possession of an annual season ticket from Basingstoke to Waterloo via Woking (plus zones 1-6). Lately I've had a couple of evenings in Reading, and the first time I went happened to be when I was renewing my season ticket. I asked for a day return to Reading, and I was told they just need to excess my season ticket for a nominal 20p and I could use that to go to Reading. I've done that twice now, and the Reading gate staff were always happy to let me through, as the excess tickets don't work the barriers.

So today I asked at the Basingstoke ticket office to excess my ticket, and the guy at the office said it couldn't be done. I said it had been fine before, but he said that the staff were in the wrong (even though it was different staff both times). I said the GWR gate staff at Reading were fine with it, but he said they were wrong too. So he said I could either buy a London excess at £12 and do a BOJ or just get a return to Reading on my gold card at £4.60, which I did.

He also asked me if I had any of the tickets from before and actually I did, so I gave them to him thinking he would see that it was actually fine. But instead he photocopied them and told me they were wrong again (I'm now worried he's going to get colleagues in trouble?).

Can I clarify if this is right? And if so why have other staff have been able to do it before, and why did the machine let them do it? Especially as I only actually ask for this ticket now because a member of staff told me I shouldn't be having to buy the full ticket with the season pass I have.

Thanks for advice, I just want to make sure I'm not overpaying.

I didn't think a season could be excessed in that way - what did the £0.20 excess say? I'd have thought the £4.60 day return was the appropriate ticket.

 

[Paul Kelly]

For the £36 difference in price is it not just worth changing your season over to an ANY PERMITTED one?! The price for a changeover is calculated pro-rata to the remaining time on the season so it would likely be less than £36 that you'd pay.

 

[bb21]

Season ticket needs to change over. It cannot be excessed. The first two ticket office staff were wrong.

 

[kristiang85]

I didn't think a season could be excessed in that way - what did the £0.20 excess say? I'd have thought the £4.60 day return was the appropriate ticket.

To be honest neither did I the couple of years I lived here! It was only because a member of sales staff offered the ticket to me, with no prompt from me asking for it, that I accepted it. And it was given to me on a following occasion by another member of staff. So obviously I thought this was quite standard.

It does make sense - if it is £36 extra as a season ticket to go via Reading as well as Woking (on a ticket that already costs £5432, so it is a nominal surcharge), and the standard season ticket number of return journeys is 232, then paying 20p for a one-off excess for an extension worth 14p a journey is seemingly legitimate when buying on a one-off basis (i.e. I can't ripoff the railway by doing it everyday)

The tickets I've had in the past just say "Basingstoke" "London Zones 1-6" "Any permitted - Excess" - 20p

For the £36 difference in price is it not just worth changing your season over to an ANY PERMITTED one?! The price for a changeover is calculated pro-rata to the remaining time on the season so it would likely be less than £36 that you'd pay.

I buy my season ticket on 1st Jan, so it's actually a much larger difference for me now at £188. I only go to Reading 3-5 times a year so that's not really worth it! It's just been unusual that I've gone so many times within a few weeks.

The point is...
- Why was I offered the 20p excess by railway staff twice on the sale point, and accepted on the checking point, if it was invalid?
- Why did the iPad system accept the fare, even though they inputted all my existing season ticket details into it when selling it to me on both occasions as part of the process?

And, more worryingly, why did the guy photocopy the ticket - as I said I hope it is not to get anybody into trouble.

 

[yorkie]

(I'm now worried he's going to get colleagues in trouble?).

They are indeed going to be given words of advice so that they don't offer you these excesses again.

- Why was I offered the 20p excess by railway staff twice on the sale point, and accepted on the checking point, if it was invalid?

Because training offered to ticket office staff at many TOCs is very poor indeed. This often works against customers, but on this occasion it worked in your favour.

- Why did the iPad system accept the fare, even though they inputted my ticket details into it quite thoroughly when selling it to me?

Because staff followed the wrong procedure (systems cannot always prevent people doing the wrong thing; there are only so many limitations you can introduce to a system).

When the system asks for a ticket number that services no actual purpose other than to allow staff who inspect tickets to cross reference it against the original ticket.

 

[bb21]

The point is...
- Why was I offered the 20p excess by railway staff twice on the sale point, and accepted on the checking point, if it was invalid?

Because they misunderstood excess fare procedures? Perhaps they didn't know it well enough but made up their own rules to the passenger's benefit?

- Why did the iPad system accept the fare, even though they inputted my ticket details into it quite thoroughly when selling it to me?

Because there is no way to reference the actual ticket through a database. It just calculates the difference between the fare input manually against the new price.

 

[kristiang85]

They are indeed going to be given words of advice so that they don't offer you these excesses again.

Because training offered to ticket office staff at many TOCs is very poor indeed. This often works against customers, but on this occasion it worked in your favour.

Because staff followed the wrong procedure (systems cannot always prevent people doing the wrong thing; there are only so many limitations you can introduce to a system).

When the system asks for a ticket number that services no actual purpose other than to allow staff who inspect tickets to cross reference it against the original ticket.

OK fair enough, I won't argue against it next time. But it just seems bizarre in a railway system that is usually anti-customer, that I had the same benefits from two different members of SWR staff three weeks apart that told me I could get a decent fare that was mathematically correct ,without prompting from myself.

It is even more bizarre that GWR's staff accepted it as well...

 

[yorkie]

OK fair enough, I won't argue against it next time. But it just seems bizarre in a railway system that is usually anti-customer, that I had the same benefits from two different members of SWR staff three weeks apart that told me I could get a decent fare that was mathematically correct ,without prompting from myself.

It is even more bizarre that GWR's staff accepted it as well...

Yes that is rather unusual, though in many cases mistakes in customers favour seem logical and sensible so may go unnoticed.

For example LNER accidentally told someone an Off Peak fare was valid at an invalid time recently, but the customer didn't realise because it seemed logical that the fare would be valid.

It can take an eagle eyed knowledgeable person to realise something is actually incorrect.

The best way to find the correct position is by asking the experts on this forum. You can't match that expertise anywhere else.

I personally wouldn't trust anything any ticket office says, that I was unsure about, without verifying it myself or asking my contacts.

 

[kristiang85]

Thanks Yorkie, I suspected so That's why I asked here and not customer services, as I trust this place more than I do the TOCs! I just don't want to get into unnecessary arguments with people doing their job, so thanks for clarifying.

Thinking about it, the first time was during the strikes and the second time was on a day of disruption on SWR's lines so maybe they thought they were doing me a favour, even though I was clear Reading was my destination not London? But then again if ticket acceptance was in place they sohuld have charged me nothing, not 20p?

 

[Paul Kelly]

I buy my season ticket on 1st Jan, so it's actually a much larger difference for me now at £188.

No, changeovers are calculated with reference to the prices in force on the date the ticket was sold. So if you do the changeover to start tomorrow you will only have to pay 11/12 of whatever the price difference was on 1st January.

 

[kristiang85]

No, changeovers are calculated with reference to the prices in force on the date the ticket was sold. So if you do the changeover to start tomorrow you will only have to pay 11/12 of whatever the price difference was on 1st January.

Oh that's useful to know, thanks!

 

[Wallsendmag]

The best way to find the correct position is by asking the experts on this forum. You can't match that expertise anywhere else.
.

I'd like to think that the LNER Retail Systems team would be up there as well surely.