FixMyTransport: Train their ticket office staff so they know company policy

Description

Ian Conway

Myself and three friends were refused a 'Group-save' when we tried to buy tickets at Bath Spa station on Sunday 22 July. The ticket offoce attandent told us "I am not allowed to sell you Group-save tickets if you have bicycles". I ended up having to pay £29.60, which incidentaly is £7 more than if I had had a few minutes spare to buy the ticket via a smart-phone app.

Is this a new policy with Great Western Trains? Never had this before.

Comment

Problem History

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1 Ian Conway reported the issue on FixMyTransport. close 08:23 26 Jul 2012 #
2 Ian Conway wrote to First Great Western Railway close 08:23 26 Jul 2012 #

Here is the letter that Ian Conway wrote.

Group-save with bicycles

Myself and three friends were refused a 'Group-save' when we tried to buy tickets at Bath Spa station on Sunday 22 July. The ticket offoce attandent told us "I am not allowed to sell you Group-save tickets if you have bicycles". I ended up having to pay £29.60, which incidentaly is £7 more than if I had had a few minutes spare to buy the ticket via a smart-phone app.

Is this a new policy with Great Western Trains? Never had this before.
3 First Group Response responded to Ian Conway close 08:27 26 Jul 2012 #

Thank you for contacting First Great Western. We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to forward a full response within 5 working days. If you have a more urgent issue that needs resolving please telephone on 08457 000125 where we will try to give a faster resolution.

Please note that you will not be able to reply direct to this email, however if you wish to contact us further by email then please use the address below.

[email address]

Thank you for contacting First Great Western. We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to forward a full response within 5 working days. If you have a more urgent issue that needs resolving please telephone on 08457 000125 where we will try to give a faster resolution.

Please note that you will not be able to reply direct to this email, however if you wish to contact us further by email then please use the address below.

[email address]
4 First Group Response responded to Ian Conway close 08:27 26 Jul 2012 #

Thank you for contacting First Great Western. We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to forward a full response within 5 working days. If you have a more urgent issue that needs resolving please telephone on 08457 000125 where we will try to give a faster resolution.

Please note that you will not be able to reply direct to this email, however if you wish to contact us further by email then please use the address below.

[email address]

Thank you for contacting First Great Western. We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to forward a full response within 5 working days. If you have a more urgent issue that needs resolving please telephone on 08457 000125 where we will try to give a faster resolution.

Please note that you will not be able to reply direct to this email, however if you wish to contact us further by email then please use the address below.

[email address]
5 FGW Customer Relations responded to Ian Conway close 14:31 09 Aug 2012 #

First Great Western
Customer Services Team
FREEPOST
SWB40576
Plymouth
PL4 6ZZ

Tel: 08457 000 125
Fax: 08456 008 363
[First Great Western Railway problem reporting email]

www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

Ref: FGW 6656993

Dear Ian

Thank you for your recent correspondence. I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

I was sorry to learn that you were unable to purchase the group save tickets that you were hoping to purchase when you and your friends were travelling from Bath Spa with your bikes on 22 July.

I would like to look into this matter further for you but in order to do so, I do need to know some further details.

Please can you tell me the journey that you were making and the time of the train that were intending to catch. It would also help me if you were able to send me the tickets that you purchased or the receipt for the same.

My address and contact details are at the head of this email and I would be grateful if you would mark your correspondence as 'Private and Confidential' for my attention and quote the reference number FGW 6656993 in any further correspondence regarding this particular matter.

I am grateful to you for bringing this to my attention and I look forward to hearing from you again soon to enable me to give you a full reply to your questions.

Yours sincerely

Mark Webber
Customer Relations Senior Officer

*** Your feedback is really important to us so we would be very grateful for a couple of moments of your time to complete our customer satisfaction survey. If you would like to participate, please click on the link below. ***

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1M...

First Great Western Limited. Registered in England & Wales No. 05113733.
Registered office: Milford House, 1 Milford Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 1HL.

First Rail Holdings Limited. Registered in England No. 5154485. Registered office: 50 Eastbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6LG.

This message is confidential. It may not be disclosed to, or used by, anyone other than the addressee. If you receive this message in error, please advise us immediately.

Internet email is not necessarily secure. First does not accept responsibility for changes to any email which occur after the email has been sent. Attachments to this email could contain software viruses which could damage your system. First have checked the attachments for viruses before sending, but you should virus-check them before opening.

For more information on our range of services or to book your tickets online, please visit:- http://www.firstgroup.com

First Great Western
Customer Services Team
FREEPOST
SWB40576
Plymouth
PL4 6ZZ

Tel: 08457 000 125
Fax: 08456 008 363
[First Great Western Railway problem reporting email]

www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

Ref: FGW 6656993

Dear Ian

Thank you for your recent correspondence. I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

I was sorry to learn that you were unable to purchase the group save tickets that you were hoping to purchase when you and your friends were travelling from Bath Spa with your bikes on 22 July.

I would like to look into this matter further for you but in order to do so, I do need to know some further details.

Please can you tell me the journey that you were making and the time of the train that were intending to catch. It would also help me if you were able to send me the tickets that you purchased or the receipt for the same.

My address and contact details are at the head of this email and I would be grateful if you would mark your correspondence as 'Private and Confidential' for my attention and quote the reference number FGW 6656993 in any further correspondence regarding this particular matter.

I am grateful to you for bringing this to my attention and I look forward to hearing from you again soon to enable me to give you a full reply to your questions.

Yours sincerely

Mark Webber
Customer Relations Senior Officer

*** Your feedback is really important to us so we would be very grateful for a couple of moments of your time to complete our customer satisfaction survey. If you would like to participate, please click on the link below. ***

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1M...

First Great Western Limited. Registered in England & Wales No. 05113733.
Registered office: Milford House, 1 Milford Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 1HL.

First Rail Holdings Limited. Registered in England No. 5154485. Registered office: 50 Eastbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6LG.

This message is confidential. It may not be disclosed to, or used by, anyone other than the addressee. If you receive this message in error, please advise us immediately.

Internet email is not necessarily secure. First does not accept responsibility for changes to any email which occur after the email has been sent. Attachments to this email could contain software viruses which could damage your system. First have checked the attachments for viruses before sending, but you should virus-check them before opening.

For more information on our range of services or to book your tickets online, please visit:- http://www.firstgroup.com
6 Ian Conway commented close 00:30 07 Sep 2012 #

I had a reply from First Great Western 14 days after my reporting the problem. Mr Mark Webber, Customer Relations Senior Officer, requested that I send him details and the tickets I travelled with which I did on the same day as his letter. Todate I have not heard anymore from First Great Western (29 days later). I will be sending Mr Webber a reminder email.
7 Ian Conway wrote to FGW Customer Relations close 00:34 07 Sep 2012 #

-----Original Message-----

First Great Western
Customer Services Team
FREEPOST
SWB40576
Plymouth
PL4 6ZZ

Tel: 08457 000 125
Fax: 08456 008 363
[First Great Western Railway problem reporting email]

www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

Ref: FGW 6656993

Dear Ian

Thank you for your recent correspondence. I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

I was sorry to learn that you were unable to purchase the group save tickets that you were hoping to purchase when you and your friends were travelling from Bath Spa with your bikes on 22 July.

I would like to look into this matter further for you but in order to do so, I do need to know some further details.

Please can you tell me the journey that you were making and the time of the train that were intending to catch. It would also help me if you were able to send me the tickets that you purchased or the receipt for the same.

My address and contact details are at the head of this email and I would be grateful if you would mark your correspondence as 'Private and Confidential' for my attention and quote the reference number FGW 6656993 in any further correspondence regarding this particular matter.

I am grateful to you for bringing this to my attention and I look forward to hearing from you again soon to enable me to give you a full reply to your questions.

Yours sincerely

Mark Webber
Customer Relations Senior Officer

*** Your feedback is really important to us so we would be very grateful for a couple of moments of your time to complete our customer satisfaction survey. If you would like to participate, please click on the link below. ***

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1MYjF0kJVkeM0_2fyAP79_2feA_3d_3d

First Great Western Limited. Registered in England & Wales No. 05113733.
Registered office: Milford House, 1 Milford Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 1HL.

First Rail Holdings Limited. Registered in England No. 5154485. Registered office: 50 Eastbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6LG.

This message is confidential. It may not be disclosed to, or used by, anyone other than the addressee. If you receive this message in error, please advise us immediately.

Internet email is not necessarily secure. First does not accept responsibility for changes to any email which occur after the email has been sent. Attachments to this email could contain software viruses which could damage your system. First have checked the attachments for viruses before sending, but you should virus-check them before opening.

For more information on our range of services or to book your tickets online, please visit:- http://www.firstgroup.com

Mr Mark Webber,

Sir, It is now a month since I replied to your request for travel details and the ticket I used to travel home with. Please let me know if you have looked into this matter more closely as you said you were going to.

Yours sincerely
Ian Conway
8 First Group Response responded to Ian Conway close 00:40 07 Sep 2012 #

Thank you for contacting First Great Western. We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to forward a full response within 5 working days. If you have a more urgent issue that needs resolving please telephone on 08457 000125 where we will try to give a faster resolution.

Please note that you will not be able to reply direct to this email, however if you wish to contact us further by email then please use the address below.

[email address]

Thank you for contacting First Great Western. We confirm receipt of your e-mail and aim to forward a full response within 5 working days. If you have a more urgent issue that needs resolving please telephone on 08457 000125 where we will try to give a faster resolution.

Please note that you will not be able to reply direct to this email, however if you wish to contact us further by email then please use the address below.

[email address]
9 Ian Conway commented close 00:17 19 Oct 2012 #

So three weeks ago i received a letter from FGWR asking me to send them my ticket/details. I can only assume that they have lost the ticket & info i sent them months ago. This really is so shoddy, but not at all surprising.