Phantom rail card.... refund?

[dan2cv]

Last week I bought a return ticket on the East Midland Trains website from London to Milton Keynes. My trip there was ok, but on the way back, to my surprise, the conductor told me that I had a ticket that was only valid with a Network Card, and told me i had to pay the difference.

 

I was surprised because I didnt remember ticking any boxes that said that I had a railcard. I even had a receipt in my email that made no reference to it. the only indication that the ticket required a card was the fact that it said 'NSE' on it, and that could have meant anythiing.

 

Therefore I decided that I would pay for a ticket for a new ticket and contest it.

 

I was really annoyed because I feel like I was mis-sold the ticket, and wasnt travelling with the ticket that I thought I had bought. I actually had a look at the East Midland website, and I would have to have clicked three separate boxes to get a travel card discount on there,which i am 100 per cent sure that I didnt do. Also, once you do click for the discount, it doesnt make any reference to it whatsoever until someone translates the NSE code on the ticket!!

 

Does anyone think that I have any chance of getting my money back?

[SRPO]

Does anyone think that I have any chance of getting my money back?

 

Cant see it happening, they will just say you must have clicked the button when you ordered it.

They will also say it is your responsibility to ensure you have a valid ticket before travelling.

Not much help im afraid.

[UNDERGROUND]

NSE translates to Network South East - Pre 1996 this was the collective name for London and the South East's commuter routes.

 

The code is still used on tickets to signify a Network Railcard discount has been applied.

 

As SRPO says there's probably little chance of obtaining a refund, but you might as well try, what have you got to lose?

 

Regards

UNDERGROUND

Edited April 21, 2009 by UNDERGROUND

[dan2cv]

Thanks for the responses. I see what you mean, but surely as a consuimer I have some statutary rights, and to some degree the ticket issuer has to take some responsibility for making sure that I knew what I was buying. I am absolutely sure that I did not click those buttons, and without investing in a book of train codes, i think that I can prove that I was sold that ticket without any indication that I needed a network card. Is there not some other area of consumer law outside of railway regulations that can help me?

Dan

[Old-CodJA]

Thanks for the responses. I see what you mean, but surely as a consuimer I have some statutary rights, and to some degree the ticket issuer has to take some responsibility for making sure that I knew what I was buying. I am absolutely sure that I did not click those buttons, and without investing in a book of train codes, i think that I can prove that I was sold that ticket without any indication that I needed a network card. Is there not some other area of consumer law outside of railway regulations that can help me?

Dan

 

 

I am sure that the record of your on-line transaction will show whether you selected the discount option, whether by accident or not.

 

It will not make any difference if you did so accidentally, because the last instruction before selecting 'buy ticket' will invariably be a prompt for you to check that you have read the terms & conditions of issue and correctly selected the ticket you wanted.

 

As others have said, I doubt that you have any chance of a refund, but you lose nothing by asking.

 

In short, the answer to your other question is no so far as I can see.

 

You were not mis-sold a ticket if you fail to comply with the instructions on screen when making a self-service purchase.

 

You haven't said which service provider you used to buy your ticket, but most have a 'Railcard discount' option and in selecting that, you will be prompted to choose the specific card from a drop down menu of several types.

 

The default setting is always Single, Adult, Full Fare ticket.

 

The operator always has to make deliberate press button choices to get anything cheaper or discounted in any way.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Old-CodJA