Great Western Coffee Shop

For the last year, I have been making my online ticket purchases on the First Transpennine Express site.  I chose this because I get 1.01% cashback with Topcashback, 1% of the ticket price back as Nectar points and because there are no booking fees or postage fees. 1% cashback, 1% back in Nectar points and 1% back from using a rewards Anex card, gets me an effective 3% discount on train tickets. 

The Topcashback arrangement alone "earned" me about ^40 which is better than a poke in the eye - although they sometimes took up to 9 months to pay out.  This has now come to an end and I see that there are various alternative ticket vendors available on TopCashBack.  I wondered it the forum had any collective wisdom on which might be good to use.

Any credit card or booking fee is a no-no, which rules the likes of Trainline.com out.  I'd prefer to have free postal delivery, but could live with free station pickup. 

Thanks

Without knowing which vendors you see listed on TopCashBack, it's quite hard to post any opinion :-)

I use First Hull Trains through Quidco for 2% (Topcashback restricts it to Hull Trains' bookings only) & the aforementioned nectar points, but they seem even slower than Topcashback (generally I prefer Topcashback over Quidco anyway as you can pay out in Clubcard points depending on the merchant which can then be doubled and used at Redspottedhanky. Despite its ^1 booking fee it can work out OK on larger/multiple transactions).

Of those available on topcashback, the best currently appears to be Virgin Trains. Although I'm not a fan of their booking engine layout.

Thanks everyone. 

I thought Virgin trains looked OK, so BNM's recommendation is helpful.

As for cashback payment delays, I just think that that is par for the course with cashback sites.

 

Thanks for the tip BNM, I agree regarding the layout (I am more used to the "mixing deck" style websites). I also forgot that trainline back end ones do a separate booking reference even if tickets are added to the same basket; oh well that's going to be the person behind me's problem!

I buy through GWR's site, no matter which operator I am travelling with, and thus get Nectar points. These alone are not to be sniffed at, as my wife has just demonstrated during a "doubling up" period in the shops, coming home with all manner of decent swag paid for largely in accrued points.

I then pay for my ticket with my Santander 123 credit card, which gives me 3% cash back on, for example, my first class ticket from Bristol Temple Meads to Crediton (£6.60 with my newly-acquired Senior Railcard). Other cash-back credit cards are available (I have three others for where Santander isn't the best deal), and probably a cash-bach for west of the Severn Tunnel.

I love a bargain!

I use Hull Trains, through whichever cashback site is offering the best rate at the moment.  Nectar points are also earnt.

3.1% at imutual (http://www.imutual.co.uk/first-hull-trains) - they're a much smaller site with more personal service.

Certain operators e.g. VTEC, offer cheaper tickets on their own AP tickets by a few %, so it's worth using them if you ever use the East Coast (or at least did last time I used them). They also offer Nectar points.

There have been some reviews on Topcashback and Quidco regarding Virgin Trains declining purchases recently for no reason and I recently had a large purchase track then immediately decline.

I will probably go back to using one of the First branded websites.

It's always worth checking prices on the TOCs own website if looking for offers/Advance tickets as they sometimes offer a few % off these prices themselves. Then go to website of choice to compare prices/buy if the prices are the same.

I've had a couple of Virgin cashback's decline on TCB.  It seems to be when I book tickets to collect from a machine and then delay in picking them up.  Submitting a claim for this has always been successful.