I am soooooo furious. I have just had a really bad experience with an online train ticket provider, whose ( lack of)service has resulted in me having to purchase a last minute and much more expensive fare. I have tried to contact the customer service line for this company to get resolution, but three phone calls have resulted in three very disparate and unhelpful answers.



Is there a consumer watchdog that I can make a consumer complaint to regarding this problem? I have checked on the web and phoned a few places, but its hard to find out who the right body ( if any) would be to complain to. Perhaps I should make a call in to a soliciter and go that route ato determine if I have compensation claim. :-s

I cannot even say how furious I am. I rarely get mad about things, but this takes the biscuit!

You could try writing to the Guardian's Money section. They love stories of institutional incompetence, and the rail system in this country is a shining example. It sucks.

I will have a look at that option. I am also going to see if I can get a consultation with a soliciter and see if I have any consumer rights protection as a result of the botched transaction. I did a websearch on line regarding other problems that people have had with this company, and I appear to be in a large crowd. I will never do business with this company again, but in the meantime, I am going to pursue my claim as far as I can do. The absolutely foul "customer service" has not helped my view on anything.

What do offices of Trading Standards do?? Do they handle consumer complaints? It looks as if they might be a government body with which I can make a complaint. In which case I shall certainly call round and do so.

The US has something called the Better Business Bureau that takes consumer complaints on businesses, maintains a rating system on businesses, and becomes involved in trying to resolve consumer disputes.

Might the Trading Standards office have a similar function? Oh, what a way to get educated about consumer protection!

Olivia, I don't know if either of these are of any use. The first is a consumer group and the second is the regulator for the rail industry but I don't know if ticket agents would come under that. Good luck. I get very annoyed when organisations screw up and then won't listen to or deal with complaints.

http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/

Yes, get in touch with Trading Standards - I've always found them to be very helpful.

Hi Olivia, welcome to my world! Regarding your irritation (no doubt highly justified if they're anything like my rail provider), I wouldn't bother with a solicitor - it'll cost you more than it's worth. You're best bet is a strongly worded letter to the chief exec outlining your grievance and what you want by way of restitution.
Should that fail, may I suggest the Office of Fair Trading.
Have fun!

Thanks all for the information and suggestions. I will follow up and see where this gets to!

Knowing the great British rail company staff, don't hold your breath. What annoys me (in particular) is it costs me £290 PER MONTH to get to work in London from Surrey/Sussex border. It only costs £180 to Croydon, which is 15 minutes longer on the train. And I can't get a student discount because I'm not 18-25 or wish to arrive at work after 10am. B*st*rds! Thieving, rotten, corporate fat cat, b*st*rds! I hope their chief execs choke on their Remy Martin.

I have trouble with trains all the time, I regularly travel to Leeds, Durham, London and Edinburgh on the train and over the past 4 months I have had no end of trouble with them.. That was until yesterday, my journey was seemless, despite them expecting major delays due to the weather. I find it ironic that when they tell you they will be delayed then the trains run on time!

Anyway, in my experience if you write a letter to the ticket provider (I tend to use GNER which is now National Express), explain what problem you have had they will refund you any money owed. I once had to buy a full fare ticket because my order wasn't on the ticket collection machine and they refunded it without any problems at all. It always helps to mention that any staff you dealt with were rude/useless for added impetus.

Oh and yeah I wouldn't bother with the solicitor, it would most likely end up being extremely expensive. You could try the citizen's advice bureau http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ who offer free advice on things like this.

@hypothesis

You can get a young persons railcard if you are over 25 when you are in full time education. You just need to get your uni to stamp the application form to verify that you are a student.

hypothesis, my ticket into zone 6 costs me 90.-/month, for the rest of the journey i get a 6-zones student oyster season ticket (120.-/month).
like you, i am really annoyed: the trains give student rebates on single tickets only, not on season tickets. TFL on the other hand gives student rebates on season tickets only, not on single tickets. meaning that the cheapest way to get to uni is by getting single train tickets and a TFL season ticket. but then, the rebates are only valid after a certain time, so all in all, i end up paying nearly exactly as much as anybody else. they talk alot about student rebates but actually, it's hard to really pay less. you can pay less if you sleep till lunchtime every day. now doesn't that reinforce negative stereotypes of student life.