Railcard replacement (Faded)

[johntea]

I bought a 16-25 railcard online, after pulling it out of my wallet and putting it back in several hundred times it has become rather faded and various station staff / train staff have mentioned the fact to me! Which probably means I need a replacement

If I go through the Lost / Stolen / Damaged area on the website will they replace free of charge waiving the administration fee as I don't see why I should pay to replace a faded card!

 

[trentside]

If the railcard has faded through no fault of your own, it should be replaced free of charge.

 

[ainsworth74]

Is it a station issued Railcard? If so I'd take it there and ask them to issue a replacement I doubt you'll be charged.

 

[swt_passenger]

Is it a station issued Railcard?

"I bought a 16-25 railcard online..."

That'll be a no.

 

[MKD]

Website FAQ
http://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/using-your-card/faqs/53/

What do I do if my Railcard is lost or damaged?
If you bought your Railcard online, you will need to get a replacement online. You can only apply for a replacement Railcard seven or more days after the date of original purchase...
To apply for a replacement Railcard, please login here and follow the instructions on screen.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Why can't the OP use a station even though it was bought on-line?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Why can't the OP use a station even though it was bought on-line?

The short answer appears to be "Beccause ATOC says so".

 

[CockneySparrow]

The short answer appears to be "Beccause ATOC says so".

Noticed on the posters that if you buy online its £3 cheaper than at a station

 

[CyrusWuff]

Noticed on the posters that if you buy online its £3 cheaper than at a station

Yup. It's on the leaflets too. Even cheaper if you're under 24 and can thus buy a three year one for £70, compared to £27/£30 a year.

 

[island]

There's a distinction between faded and damaged. You should not have to pay any fee to replace a faded Railcard but possibly you may need to phone up.

 

[VauxhallandI]

The short answer appears to be "Beccause ATOC says so".

Customer service alive and well.

 

[johntea]

I sent a fairly simple message :

Good afternoon

After a lot of use and pulling my railcard in and out of my wallet in order to present it to railway staff my railcard is becoming faded to the point where my photo is not recognizable.

Since this has happened through no fault of my own, would it be possible for a replacement to be sent out without having to pay the administrative fee?

Many thanks

I then got this reply a few days later which suggests they haven't actually read my message whatsoever!

Good Morning

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to hear that your Railcard has become damaged. Was your Railcard purchased at the Station or via our website?

If you originally ordered your original Railcard online, you can request a replacement card via our website. To do this simply log back into your online account, select ‘Lost or Stolen’ (the blanket reasons for replacements) to the right of your Railcard details and then follow the on screen instructions.

Please ensure that your address details are up to date under the ‘My Personal Details’ section prior to requesting your replacement.

A replacement Railcard would be £10 and continuing through this process will allow you to pay for and request your new card.

You may also resolve this by calling our customer support team, please call us on 08448 714036 between 7am to 10pm from Monday to Sunday and one our experienced agents will be more than happy to help you.


Kind Regards

 

[reb0118]

You may also resolve this by calling our customer support team, please call us on 08448 714036 between 7am to 10pm from Monday to Sunday and one our experienced agents will be more than happy to help you.

I think the above may be your answer here?

 

[Deerfold]

If the OP is allergic to phoning expensive 084x numbers they may want to try:

020 7841 8062 (curtesy of saynoto0870.com).

 

[Squaddie]

please call us on 08448 714036 between 7am to 10pm

Maybe I'm just pedantic, but that is such poor English: it should be between 7am and 10pm.

 

[Deerfold]

Maybe I'm just pedantic, but that is such poor English: it should be between 7am and 10pm.

It is dreadful - but not as bad as every map in the routeing (sic) guide referring to "Principle locations".

 

[Sammy h]

It is impossible for stations to replace online railcards as the layout/format is completely different.

Station railcards are on cardboard and the online ones are plastic. I must admit, it is very rare I come across faded online railcards? Used to happen quite a lot with the station ones, but the ticket stock was changed and I rarely see faded ones now. You do however still get some stations that manage to keep some of the old ticket stock....

As already mentioned though, it should be replaced FOC.

 

[Deerfold]

It is impossible for stations to replace online railcards as the layout/format is completely different.

If it's being replaced why should that matter? The holder may need to provide a new photo though.

 

[Sammy h]

If it's being replaced why should that matter? The holder may need to provide a new photo though.

Good question. If I'm honest, I have never had to deal with a faded online railcard, as they don't fade. I have never seen them fade anyway...

 

[CyrusWuff]

If the OP is allergic to phoning expensive 084x numbers they may want to try:

020 7841 8062 (curtesy of saynoto0870.com).

That number is ATOC's general public enquiry number and they will probably be unable to assist with the OP's request as Online Railcards are handled by Journeycall in Laurencekirk.

 

[suley]

Hey guys for once i might be usefull and be able to advise. I have one of these and my pass faded out earlier in the year, initally my local station went and used some kind of stamp for it to show an imprint of the original dates, when that went away they said they could still tell the date as they knew it was me. I told them i was going to london so could i have a reprint, the lady was a little lazy and decided it was easier to stamp the back and put her initals and the date it expires. I have used it now many times and just explain when asked to show the pass they have validated it on the back.

So in simple go to your local station just explain its faded away, say u need a replacement or can they validate the date for u on it and stamp it on the back.

 

[reb0118]

I have one of these

Hi suley, did you have a paper/card one issued at a booking office or a plastic one issued online? I would think it difficult to stamp the plastic version - but I may be mistaken.

 

[maniacmartin]

suley, did you have an online-issued railcard? They are made from plastic, so I imagine that a station stamp would smudge very quickly.

 

[suley]

It was the paper version, I got it from the station. Ive attached a quick pic i took to show you how it was done. From the front you can see its now fully faded away

 

[Downtheline]

I currently work in a ticket office.

Assuming it's the card based 1 year 16-25 railcard that is faded then issuing a new one at the station is no problem.

The staff should fill in a replacement railcard form with you, it's tailored for lost/stolen but we put n/a and write "faded ink" on it.

If the date is still just legible then all is good, failing that we can read the ticket through the STAR printer and get a date, failing that (strip corrupted) then a mutually agreed start date is determined with the holder, eg "I bought it just before I started uni so it would have been early Sep", "ok shall we say Sep 1st".

Then a few key strokes on the system and we print you out a brand new one.
The old one is retained, the form signed for receipt and all gets sent off to Swindon and I assume on to ATOC.

I'd insist it is replaced this way rather than written on/stamped as that is not totally legit.
Fair enough, given a long queue at peak times and I know most window staff would not be massively chuffed to be given that task, but call in on te way home and they'll be happy to replace it. It's a common issue with the card ones, I reckon the 16-25 ones see a few journeys in a washing machine per year !

 

[transportphoto]

I currently work in a ticket office.

Assuming it's the card based 1 year 16-25 railcard that is faded then issuing a new one at the station is no problem.
[...]

Would you do this for online issued railcards?

TP

 

[Downtheline]

Would you do this for online issued railcards?

TP

No, sorry, I assumed it was a ticket office issued one, I've only ever seen plastic online ones and we can't do re-issue/prints of those.

 

[maniacmartin]

Can you not reissue a railcard that was originally plastic, with the replacement being paper? Or is that forbidden?

 

[Downtheline]

Can you not reissue a railcard that was originally plastic, with the replacement being paper? Or is that forbidden?

well, on the STAR system we can only do 1 year railcards. I've only ever seen 3 year plastic ones so would have no way of replacing it on card.

If i understand correctly, the op has a 1 year card one, so ticket office should be able to replace it.

 

[trentside]

Online issued Railcards can be done for 1 or 3 years, there are also variants issued by banks that last 4 or 5 years.

To clarify, an online issued railcard (if lost or damaged) must be dealt with online if a replacement is required.