[Travel] Can someone explain train fares

[Durlston]

They or one person working at HH?

A short little man with his mate backing him up at the dreaded barriers at the bottom of a slope. Now this was Valentine's Day so he obviously was a single man who felt unloved. The big fella had a bit of heart when he said "it won't go to court". Oh yes it f****** did pal and I got the details through the post three months later. I had to get a solicitor. Just crazy for £1.20 saved to Burgess Hill!

Even if it means missing a train to London I now always make sure I get the correct ticket because it was such a bloody traumatic few months. Didn't Ernest (who has completely disappeared from NSC) work on the railways?

 

[wellquickwoody]

Maybe you should go and work in their country and take calls from the xenophobes in their language and then come back with your question

What a complete judgemental bunch of arse. Should a helpline operative not be a able to give a relevant answer?

 

[carlzeiss]

Last time I purchased a day return ticket from Worthing to Victoria it was only 3 quid

 

[wellquickwoody]

I have the OP on ignore but took a peek.

What a

And thick, too. I can navigate between offpeak, super offpeak and split fares. The fair structure is idiotic, but the staff will sort you out if you ask sensible questions, and don't act like a prick

And that's before we even begin to turn to the racism.

What a plum.

Sometimes you are sharp, other times you are funny, on this occasion you are far too judgemental as you very often are.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Sometimes you are sharp, other times you are funny, on this occasion you are far too judgemental as you very often.

I have a low threshold when it comes to casual racism. I don't feel a need to apologize for that (and I would if I did, as I do, often, because, as you imply, I can get things wrong).

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

What a complete judgemental bunch of arse. Should a helpline operative not be a able to give a relevant answer?

Blimey.

Isn't that Far Too Judgemental?

The OP's post is out of order. Masking his own incompetence by blaming someone for being foreign. He deserves pelters, yet the comment to which you reply is mild by comparison. Why the outrage?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Last time I purchased a day return ticket from Worthing to Victoria it was only 3 quid

You should get out more.

 

[pure_white]

Last time I purchased a day return ticket from Worthing to Victoria it was only 3 quid

Apart from games at the Amex where like thousands of other I'm snookered into the train (as well as paying for it in my ticket) I will be using the train far less now it's become unreliable. I am finding I cant plan too far ahead because you never know when the next strike will happen. Spoke to a friend recently that went to Carlisle and it was cheaper to fly to Scotland and take the shorter journey south then to Carlisle.

 

[Acker79]

I just looked on a fare splitting website and found a return from London Vic to Worthing next Tuesday for 14.50.

I suspect they'll want to come down earlier than that. If they set off just before three, they wouldn't get down to Worthing until 16:30 ish, then wouldn't have much time before all the shops close.

 

[Happy Exile]

As others have said split ticketing both makes it much cheaper in many cases, and demonstrates what a nonsense pricing is at the same time. I'm back to London one day a week for work which means 4 on peak returns costing £200+ (even more crazy that a monthly on peak season ticket is not much over £400). Split ticketing via one of the several websites that offer it saves me 30-40% each time. Same trains, just much cheaper.

 

[drew]

Blimey.

Isn't that Far Too Judgemental?

The OP's post is out of order. Masking his own incompetence by blaming someone for being foreign. He deserves pelters, yet the comment to which you reply is mild by comparison. Why the outrage?

How would you describe the situation he was in then with regard to the call centre?

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

How would you describe the situation he was in then with regard to the call centre?

Even the greatest linguist might be more than a little confused by the question "can I use a ticket from Worthing to Victoria to go from Victoria to Worthing?"

Edit: I've misunderstood exactly what he was asking as well, which at least somewhat illustrates the point

 

[jordanseagull]

I have the OP on ignore but took a peek.

What a

And thick, too. I can navigate between offpeak, super offpeak and split fares. The fair structure is idiotic, but the staff will sort you out if you ask sensible questions, and don't act like a prick

And that's before we even begin to turn to the racism.

What a plum.

What an absurd, frankly disgusting reply. Noting the inability to obtain help (on a helpline) due to language barriers is a common issue these days due to UK companies offshoring for cheap labor. If he was ringing a Japanese company in Japan and complained they couldn’t understand him, it’s be a different matter.

As for being ‘thick’, it’s a ‘fare’, not a ‘fair’, you silly plonker. Think before you open your mouth, unfounded accusations of racism should be looked at far more often by the mods, they can really affect innocent people.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Blimey.

Isn't that Far Too Judgemental?

The OP's post is out of order. Masking his own incompetence by blaming someone for being foreign. He deserves pelters, yet the comment to which you reply is mild by comparison. Why the outrage?

He is not blaming someone for being foreign, just complaining that their communication skills are not conducive to the role that they are attempting to perform.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

How would you describe the situation he was in then with regard to the call centre?

He was in a situation of being in receipt of inadequate information as a consequence of his lack of clarity about when he was traveling owing to his having asked for a specific type of ticket rather than explain what times he would be travelling, or asking how best to obtain the cheapest option.

The problem is that the ticket types are complicated. The best way for me to travel to London if I am leaving before 9 is an ordinary single, and a super off peak return with added discount from my senior railcard (and I usually upgrade this return part, which includes a needless and unusable outward bound ticket, to First Class). It took my white female assistant 20 minutes to work this out the first time I bought one.

When I asked a white male assistant for the same combo a few weeks later he started arguing with me and it took 10 minutes to get what I specifically asked for, and not till after he made repeated mistakes while muttering with incredulity at my weird request. Tremendous customer service, but not really his fault.

If I am leaving between 9 and 10 the ticket combination is different. If I leave after 10, it is different again, and all I need is a super off peak return (with the discount, and the first class upgrade).

If I need to travel up or back on the high speed, the ticket combinations are different, and are priced differently.

Altogether there are SIX cheapest ticket options depending on the time of day of travel, and whether I need the high speed to Kings Cross or not.

In addition there are at least six other combinations of ticket that are not the cheapest.

Any lack of clarity from the customer may create confusion.

Of course I blame the ****ing French owners.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He is not blaming someone for being foreign, just complaining that their communication skills are not conducive to the role that they are attempting to perform.

"unfortunately, the operative had English as a second language and didn't seem to understand the question"

No, no of course he isn't blaming someone for being foreign. Not at all.

I don't blame the OP for not knowing how to obtain the cheapest fare. But I am fair to note that he's being an arse by blaming the assistant for their language skills, when it was his own (understandable) ignorance that was at fault. It's pure Basil Fawlty.

 

[Weststander]

"unfortunately, the operative had English as a second language and didn't seem to understand the question"

No, no of course he isn't blaming someone for being foreign. Not at all.

I don't blame the OP for not knowing how to obtain the cheapest fare. But I am fair to note that he's being an arse by blaming the assistant for their language skills, when it was his own (understandable) ignorance that was at fault. It's pure Basil Fawlty.

top sarcasm

 

[Stephen Seagull]

The comment "unfortunately, the operative had English as a foreign language" is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the conversation at all, I have no idea what you were trying to "gain" from that comment.

As someone who lives abroad and speaks multiple tongues I can confirm it is difficult to communicate in a second language at times, especially in a business environment where language is extremely specific when compared to conversational language and the flexibility it offers.

My children have English as a second (foreign) language, does that mean that they simply would't understand you if you asked them a "simple question"?

 

[pastafarian]

Modern day woke cretin thinking

Call a helpline, person at other end does not have English as a primary language, difficult conversation, no resolution to question via helpline

Caller = casual racist

God help us.

 

[pastafarian]

The comment "unfortunately, the operative had English as a foreign language" is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the conversation at all, I have no idea what you were trying to "gain" from that comment.

Try reading what was actually written instead of inventing the wording yourself

unfortunately, the operative had English as a second language