South West Trains Free weekend travel vouchers for gold card customers

[infobleep]

What are the chances of the free weekend travel vouchers, issued to annual Gold Card season ticket holders, no longer being valid come August when First / MTR take over from South West Trains?

I have some I've never got round to using yet. I suspect now will be the time to use them or lose them. Be good to here people's views.

 

[Wookiee]

That's a good point. I've got 15 of these gathering dust...

 

[bakerstreet]

Yes me too. I wonder if the new firm might offer a similar rewards programme. I'd love for the Chiltern style free travel at weekends across the network. Does First GWR offer anything to season ticket holders? Re the weekend tickets I would hope that if they did not decide to continue with the programme they would give a 12 month grace period. Perhaps longer. If they did not, then this would be a good way of immediately hacking off your most loyal/captive customers from Day 1!

 

[matt_world2004]

I would have thought they had to honour all ticketing obligations of the previous franchisee. It doesnt mean they have to issue any more though

 

[bb21]

I would have thought they had to honour all ticketing obligations of the previous franchisee. It doesnt mean they have to issue any more though

They don't, as they are outside the scope of the TSA, although they would be pretty stupid not to honour existing ones.

 

[sushiuk]

...and will SWT keep issuing the free tickets until the end of their franchise? My Gold Card is due for renewal in May.

 

[infobleep]

If it is to close I'll just arrange a gathering with friends and we will go somewhere to use them up.

 

[Fiyero]

I hope they do continue
If they don't when / where should I look for an annoucment? I am sure I can use all mine by August but won't rush if I don't need to

 

[some bloke]

South Western Railway will accept South West Trains Gold Card free passes.

First Group replied:

...the free weekend travel tickets that were issued to you as a purchaser of the Gold Card will still be valid for travel after 20 August, however will still expire on the anniversary of issue as per the original t’s and c’s of the offer.

I have asked them to clarify the second part.

 

[bakerstreet]

As I understand the t's and c's - there is no expiry date. so long as you have an in date gold card you can use previous years'. Having said that they are probably free to withdraw but good PR not to and just let the tickets wither on the vine as people's stocks run out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[infobleep]

South Western Railway will accept South West Trains Gold Card free passes.

First Group replied:



I have asked them to clarify the second part.

It was my understanding they only expire once you don't have a gold card. Perhaps they don't know that. The franchise is new to them.

It is a welcomed move.

 

[Clip]

It was my understanding they only expire once you don't have a gold card. Perhaps they don't know that. The franchise is new to them.

It is a welcomed move.

Tehre doesnt seem to be any definitive information on their website about it either. But it would be sensible to think that it would be from the date the GC was issued.

 

[[.n]]

I have loads of these too, and am fairly certain they have no expiry, in fact if you still have older ones, these don't (from my recollection) have your photocard number pre-printed on them.

 

[Dougal2345]

Tehre doesnt seem to be any definitive information on their website about it either. But it would be sensible to think that it would be from the date the GC was issued.

Perhaps they are thinking they have a year's validity, and thus they'll give up accepting any of them a year after SWT send out the last few.

Of course, we don't know for sure that they'll not be issuing their own versions when they take over, do we?

 

[some bloke]

On the validity of old free passes with new season tickets




May 2017, emails:


First: "the free weekend travel tickets...will still expire on the anniversary of issue as per the original t’s and c’s of the offer."

Me: "could you please clarify the part where SWT notified passengers of the expiry?"

First: Silence.


................


August 2017, South Western Railway customer forum:


SWR: "the same terms and conditions apply for the free passes so yes you will need to use them before your season ticket expires"

Me: "The original terms allow passengers to use old passes with new season tickets."

SWR: Silence.


https://forum.southwesternrailway.com/updates-and-news/f/announcements/16/free-weekend-tickets

...


There has been more discussion in the thread below but the above may summarise. The latest version of their FAQ (quoted in the forum discussion) does not obviously support the SWR statement above.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=3100252#post3100252

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you printed a copy of the FAQ no Court would ever prosecute for following it, therefore you would be pretty safe doing so. If it got as far as a PF and the appeal failed for any reason, you could simply refuse to pay it then when the summons turned up go and laugh them out of Court. Very unlikely it'd get that far though.

 

[James Wake]

I have a few left carried over from when I was unable to have any more as my Gold Card was for two different operators. As far as I'm concerned, I will make sure I've used them by 19th August next year. My season is due for renewal in November and I will be getting another Gold Card then.

 

[some bloke]

If you printed a copy of the FAQ no Court would ever prosecute for following it, therefore you would be pretty safe doing so. If it got as far as a PF and the appeal failed for any reason, you could simply refuse to pay it then when the summons turned up go and laugh them out of Court. Very unlikely it'd get that far though.

Yes.


The situation might be read as:

- they said "no you can't" and that has appeared in the media,

- then they changed the FAQ to say yes, and

- now they are leaving the "no" answer in their forum.


We might be confident but some passengers may be misled.


I realise they are voluntarily letting us use the passes.

 

[Fiyero]

I just want to know! I have 4 left to use and could rush to use them by my renewal date (in a month) but would much rather not have to rush (upon purchase of another Gold Card on SWR).

 

[some bloke]

I just want to know! I ...would much rather not have to rush.

I'm not surprised!

I've now called them on the phone and been given a third version - they will accept them with a renewed season ticket up to 18th August 2018.

I suggested they make the position clear on the web, and pointed out that if the intention is to stick with the original terms that would mean no time limit.

 

[bb21]

Giving people a year's notice is perfectly fair imo. Next August is when everything ticketing-wise associated with the old franchise would expire, and anyone who still have valid free tickets would have already renewed in the meantime so would have been informed of the changes. It seems a good time to withdraw these offers.

They cannot last forever. How long do some people think these should last? 5 years? 10 years? Eternity? A line has to be drawn somewhere.

 

[some bloke]

Giving people a year's notice is perfectly fair imo.

I agree.

I made the point as a kind of "technically..." point after First and SWR emphasised that they were continuing the same terms.

I said to the lady at the same time that I was grateful they were letting us use the passes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Giving people a year's notice is perfectly fair imo. Next August is when everything ticketing-wise associated with the old franchise would expire, and anyone who still have valid free tickets would have already renewed in the meantime so would have been informed of the changes. It seems a good time to withdraw these offers.

They cannot last forever. How long do some people think these should last? 5 years? 10 years? Eternity? A line has to be drawn somewhere.

It's actually odd that SWT did leave them open ended. It's very poor business practice to create an open-ended liability for your business. They really should have put a date on them, even if it was just the end date of the franchise (which is what is on the freebie day ticket I have for LM).

 

[some bloke]

It's actually odd that SWT did leave them open ended. It's very poor business practice to create an open-ended liability for your business. They really should have put a date on them, even if it was just the end date of the franchise (which is what is on the freebie day ticket I have for LM).

Also, judging by stories of unused tickets over years, it may be helpful to some customers to have an end date to prompt them to use free stuff, and then be glad they did!

 

[43096]

It's actually odd that SWT did leave them open ended. It's very poor business practice to create an open-ended liability for your business. They really should have put a date on them, even if it was just the end date of the franchise (which is what is on the freebie day ticket I have for LM).

It's not really a liability though, is it? It doesn't cost them anything - no extra trains are run or other costs incurred as a result.

Frankly I think it sends a poor message that the first thing ticketing wise the new franchisee does is to withdraw something from people who pay high fares (and subsidise the rest of the railway as a result). Now THAT is poor business practice.

 

[some bloke]

It's not really a liability though, is it?

Technically either company could withdraw the scheme at any time.

It doesn't cost them anything

Free tickets might cost companies money, if people use them for journeys they would otherwise pay for.

Also they have to make sure staff know how to deal with the passes, and get it right enough not to jeopardise goodwill.

I think it sends a poor message that the first thing ticketing wise the new franchisee does is to withdraw something from people who pay high fares (and subsidise the rest of the railway as a result). Now THAT is poor business practice.

Maybe people's expectations vary a lot when franchises change. Perhaps as with other aspects of the railway, people have different ideas about how much decisions are, or should be, under government control as a public service.

SWR decided not to continue the scheme for new season tickets, particularly affecting people whose ticket was going to run out soon - apparently without warning.

They wrongly said this was in the original terms.

Conceivably, someone who has a lot of passes might on the basis of the current FAQ ("as long as you maintain a Gold Card season ticket for a SWR route") use them in September next year and, because the staff have been told the third version, get into an argument on their special day out - and someone else is on the basis of the media report, the SWR forum or maybe the old FAQ, putting 15 valid passes into the bin today.


.

 

[Wookiee]

Giving people a year's notice is perfectly fair imo. Next August is when everything ticketing-wise associated with the old franchise would expire, and anyone who still have valid free tickets would have already renewed in the meantime so would have been informed of the changes. It seems a good time to withdraw these offers.

They cannot last forever. How long do some people think these should last? 5 years? 10 years? Eternity? A line has to be drawn somewhere.

I agree. Some of mine have reached three years old, but that's only because I've known that there was no limit and wasn't in any hurry to use them. I can't see anything unreasonable about a new franchisee imposing a deadline.

 

[some bloke]

How long do some people think these should last? 5 years? 10 years? Eternity?

Who said they should last longer than a year, apart from SWR?

"as long as you maintain a Gold Card season ticket for a SWR route"

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/faqs

 

[43096]

Free tickets might cost companies money, if people use them for journeys they would otherwise pay for.

Such a loss of revenue would be absolutely minute, especially compared with the goodwill gained from it. It's a no-cost "thank you" to their most loyal customers - those who use their service almost every day.

It's a shockingly bad way for First to start in terms of the way to treat your regular customers.

 

[LA50041]

Such a loss of revenue would be absolutely minute, especially compared with the goodwill gained from it. It's a no-cost "thank you" to their most loyal customers - those who use their service almost every day.

It's a shockingly bad way for First to start in terms of the way to treat your regular customers.

But absolutely no different to virgin taking over east coast and closing the rewards program and withdrawing all cheap advances on ex londo. Trains before 0908