| Re: Single bought, return journey made. Posted by Mark A at 11:48, 17th September 2025 |     |
Social Media feedback is split between "she should have got it right - no excuse" and "oh - for goodness sake ...". And we aren't told the story from the staff's viewpoint.
Social media feedback: an opportunity to express schadenfreude and worse? Making a portion of feedback from that source irrelevant to whatever situation's provoked it.
Mark
| Re: Single bought, return journey made. Posted by Ralph Ayres at 11:32, 17th September 2025 | |
Where would you draw the line though when applying discretion for a single instead of a return? 10p difference, 50p, £1? The assumption does also seem to be that the gateline staff should have known the passenger's full circumstances without so far as I can tell being on daily first name terms with her.
Going by the quoted 5p price difference between single and return she's travelling off-peak, and must have a Railcard. Based on the mention of paying over £1,000 a year for return journeys then possibly not quite often enough for even a flexi-season to be cost-effective as there's no Railcard discount for seasons, but it must be quite borderline. I don't use Trainline, but the most common complaint for mistakes in online ticket buying seems to be that the app defaulted to what was bought last time, which presumably wouldn't be the case here. A bit odd that it would randomly come up with a single if a return was requested. I suspect there's another side to this.
| Single bought, return journey made. Posted by grahame at 09:51, 17th September 2025 | |
A public post on Spotted Newton Abbott
I was really disappointed with the staff at Newton Abbot station today. I’ve been commuting to Totnes for years without any issues, but on my way back this evening (after a 45-minute delay of course) I realised my Trainline ticket had come up as a single instead of my usual return.
I approached the gate staff, explained it was an honest mistake, and asked if they could let me through just this once. Instead, they were dismissive and rude, and even implied I was trying to avoid paying, over a 5p difference between a single and a return! In the end I was forced to buy another ticket for £4.10 just to leave the station.
I fully understand they have rules to follow, but there was no need for the attitude. As someone who also works in customer service, I would never treat a regular, paying customer that way, especially not a young woman just trying to get home from work. After years of loyalty and spending over a thousand pounds a year on this commute, I certainly won’t be continuing to do so.
I approached the gate staff, explained it was an honest mistake, and asked if they could let me through just this once. Instead, they were dismissive and rude, and even implied I was trying to avoid paying, over a 5p difference between a single and a return! In the end I was forced to buy another ticket for £4.10 just to leave the station.
I fully understand they have rules to follow, but there was no need for the attitude. As someone who also works in customer service, I would never treat a regular, paying customer that way, especially not a young woman just trying to get home from work. After years of loyalty and spending over a thousand pounds a year on this commute, I certainly won’t be continuing to do so.
Where a single fare is just 5p or 10p less than a return, why would anyone want to buy a single if they were expecting to return - it strikes me that this can only have been an honest mistake - or am I missing something? Social Media feedback is split between "she should have got it right - no excuse" and "oh - for goodness sake ...". And we aren't told the story from the staff's viewpoint.
