The great ticketing claims con.

[markskoda]

I've tried them all. Trainline, Redspottedhanky, Crosscountry to name but three. I have not yet found any saving whatsoever on standard fares compared to the National Rail Enquiries site or on the day purchase at my departure station. Some booking services claim savings of up to 51% in adverts, another 43%. I've tried booking well in advance on routes from the West Country to London and East Anglia. Also to Blackburn and Manchester. Preston too. Plus lots of routes out of London.

The only savings I have ever achieved have been with web offers from Chiltern Mainline and their new service to London Marylebone from Birmingham Moor Street. Also London Midland into Euston. Both direct with the company.

Does anyone know on what basis these claims for large percentage savings are made? I was successful recently in getting 1000 loyalty points awarded to my account with Redspottedhanky. An email confirmed this. I found out about the scheme from Martinsmoneysaver website (or similar name). On attempting to book Liverpool Street to Clacton on Sea and return about two weeks in advance, not only was the ticket price identical to an on the day purchase at Liverpool Street, but my 1000 points worth £10 were nowhere to be seen in my account.

It looks to me that this is all part of the grand plan of ticket price obfuscation and therefore disingenuous at the very least and deliberately dishonest at worst.

 

[lemonic]

1. Not all routes (especially short distance) have Advance tickets. For example, there are no Advance tickets from London to Clacton.

2. You need to be careful not to book too far in advance! Advance tickets are released up to 12 weeks in advance, but often less, especially at the weekend. If you look at the latest date you can book for on a ticket website, I doubt Advance tickets will be available for that date yet.

3. Advance tickets are generally not available on the busiest trains (or cost a lot more than the minimum price).

 

[yorkie]

I've tried them all. Trainline, Redspottedhanky, Crosscountry to name but three. I have not yet found any saving whatsoever on standard fares compared to the National Rail Enquiries site

There isn't a saving as such as the National Rail site does not sell tickets

or on the day purchase at my departure station.

I see you're talking about walk-on tickets. In that case, you're absolutely right!

Some booking services claim savings of up to 51% in adverts, another 43%.

They're examples that may bear no relation to the journey you make and the ticket(s) you book.

I've tried booking well in advance on routes from the West Country to London and East Anglia. Also to Blackburn and Manchester. Preston too. Plus lots of routes out of London.

You should get long distance routes cheaper in advance. I get York to London fares very cheaply by booking them online on the day they go on sale. I could get the same fare (plus 10% as I'd lose the online discount) by going to the station, but that is not as convenient as booking online for me.

The only savings I have ever achieved have been with web offers from Chiltern Mainline and their new service to London Marylebone from Birmingham Moor Street. Also London Midland into Euston. Both direct with the company.

Depends how you define a saving, if you mean purely an online saving then most TOCs do not offer fares cheaper online than at the station. I am fortunate that East Coast do!

Does anyone know on what basis these claims for large percentage savings are made?

Give me an exact claim and I may be able to work it out. Sometimes they compare an Advance fare for a train at a non-busy time with the full-fare Anytime ticket, which would never be required for such a train. That sort of comparison is unfair and should be against trading standards, but I think they can get away with it.

I was successful recently in getting 1000 loyalty points awarded to my account with Redspottedhanky. An email confirmed this. I found out about the scheme from Martinsmoneysaver website (or similar name).

That's Moneysavingexpert. I am Yorkie2 on there. The level of advice isn't as good there as it is here, and all the best experts (in railway ticketing) on that site are here too, plus there are alot more here who don't post or aren't registered over there.

On attempting to book Liverpool Street to Clacton on Sea and return about two weeks in advance, not only was the ticket price identical to an on the day purchase at Liverpool Street,

That'll be an Off Peak Return then probably. The Advance fares may have sold out for this journey.

but my 1000 points worth £10 were nowhere to be seen in my account.

You may want to take that up with RSH.

It looks to me that this is all part of the grand plan of ticket price obfuscation and therefore disingenuous at the very least and deliberately dishonest at worst.

I think that it is true to say that some companies do exaggerate the savings that can be made online and/or in advance, and they do cause confusion among many customers who are not familiar with the system. I think it's not unreasonable to suggest that some of them may be misleading customers, and I suspect some do so knowingly and deliberately, but they'd never admit that.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Yorkie knows his stuff, basically....as do some others here too.
But, yes, I agree, they are not really comparing like with like.

As for the specific example you cite (London to Clacton) I don't think there are generally any cheap advance fares available on that route.

You *can* get cheap advance tickets from London to Colchester (valid only on a specific train), when can then be combined with an off-peak return from Colchester to Clacton. If you're lucky (or book well in advance) you could bring the total return fare down from about £29 to about £20, but I'm not sure you'd be able to reduce it further easily, if at all.
And needless to say it makes absolutely no difference, in the vast majority of cases, which of the various ticket-selling sites you buy your tickets at. Just avoid those that charge for postage.

Naturally split-ticketing like this is not advertised anywhere, but it perfectly legit and above board.

 

[wintonian]

For an example of how some sites do mislead customers with these claims see the Advertising Standards Authority .

 

[yorkie]

As for the specific example you cite (London to Clacton) I don't think there are generally any cheap advance fares available on that route. .

Indeed, there are none, they simply do not exist! I originally misread [London] Liverpool St as Liverpool Lime St, sorry

 

[mallard]

Of course the "savings" are a con/lie/whatever. Barring a few TOC-specific offers only available on their websites, all the sites (and stations) sell exactly the same range of products at exactly the same prices.

The only saving you can make is to buy from a TOC website that doesn't charge a booking or collection fee. I'd recommend East Coast.

 

[snail]

You may want to take that up with RSH.

You should definitely take it up with them instead of simply complaining on here. They add these loyalty points manually, and are prone to making (and admitting to) the odd mistake. You never know, you may get an extra voucher or an attractive Red Spotted Hanky (really - I got both when I commented on their service!).

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Of course the "savings" are a con/lie/whatever.

I think the term you are looking for is 'advertising spin'

 

[dzug2]

The savings that are claimed usually relate to the reduced price of advance purchase tickets over tickets bought on the day - no more and no less

The same savings are of course available through other purchase outlets - they are not unique to these particular sources

 

[Bungle73]

Was this the Daily Telegraph offer? You have to wait a while before the £10 voucher is credited to your RSH account (I forget exactly how long). Once it is it should be listed under the "eVoucher Details" section. Then when you book a ticket there will be a tickbox to say you wish to use the voucher with the transaction.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....Some booking services claim savings of up to 51% in adverts, another 43%....

....Does anyone know on what basis these claims for large percentage savings are made?....

The companies look at the prices of advance tickets they have sold and compare them to the price of a ticket they could buy on the day at the station for the same journey. They then work out the average amount that each person had saved in that comparison. In the case of thetrainline, they claim the average saving includes any charges they add to the sale.

IMO, this is still not made clear enough (and I have noted the changes made to thetrainline adverts), but as long as the ASA are happy and people who use the site are happy to do so thinking they are being smart, they will keep doing it.

Modern advertising seems to be about being as dishonest as possible without actually telling porkies.