Bait and switch?

[Peter Connors]

Anyone else experienced this apparent ripoff?
Having set upon the 6th June for my journey to Penzance to commence my
LEJOG, I went to book a ticket on the Virgin website and found that I
could take the 10.35 from Stockport via Brum and Plymouth for £42.50,
but there was no provision for bicycle reservations.
Reverting to the telephone I went through a voice synthesised multiple
choice maze to reach a human being - who told me that not only was the
only available ticket £94 but that I would have to set off at noon.
"OK", says I, "thank you but I'm going back to olden times."
So I rode down to the station, where a real live face to face human
being spent ten minutes or so trying to get his computer to accept a
reasonably priced booking, all the while muttering darkly about what
'they' had done to the computer system.
The upshot is that I now have a £42.50 ticket with a bicycle
reservation as far as Plymouth but I could have been over £50 the
poorer. OTOH Plymouth may be the edge of the world for bicycle
reservations: anyone know what I can expect on the 15.50 Plymouth to
Penzance?

Pete

 

[Mark Hewitt]

"Peter Connors treme@ntl world.com>" <mono<deletethisandthis> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> Anyone else experienced this apparent ripoff?
> Having set upon the 6th June for my journey to Penzance to commence my
> LEJOG, I went to book a ticket on the Virgin website and found that I
> could take the 10.35 from Stockport via Brum and Plymouth for £42.50,
> but there was no provision for bicycle reservations.
> Reverting to the telephone I went through a voice synthesised multiple
> choice maze to reach a human being - who told me that not only was the
> only available ticket £94 but that I would have to set off at noon.
> "OK", says I, "thank you but I'm going back to olden times."
> So I rode down to the station, where a real live face to face human
> being spent ten minutes or so trying to get his computer to accept a
> reasonably priced booking, all the while muttering darkly about what
> 'they' had done to the computer system.
> The upshot is that I now have a £42.50 ticket with a bicycle
> reservation as far as Plymouth but I could have been over £50 the
> poorer. OTOH Plymouth may be the edge of the world for bicycle
> reservations: anyone know what I can expect on the 15.50 Plymouth to
> Penzance?

Never put down to malice what can be explained by incompetance.

 

[Not Responding]

People's experience booking, or attempting to book bikes seem to vary
wildly. I'd read posts such as yours and was deeply cynical when I
picked up the phone to Virgin last year. To my astonishment, it took
about three minutes to book me in and take my card number and two days
later the tickets showed up.

More locally, I use the feared SWT services and have never had a
problem. Even the guards on trains listed on the Info Screens as "bike
reservations" have not batted an eyelid at my unbooked bike.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[Peter Connors]

On Fri, 20 May 2005 15:10:11 +0100, "Mark Hewitt"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Peter Connors treme@ntl world.com>" <mono<deletethisandthis> wrote in
>message news:[email protected]...
>> Anyone else experienced this apparent ripoff?
>> Having set upon the 6th June for my journey to Penzance to commence my
>> LEJOG, I went to book a ticket on the Virgin website and found that I
>> could take the 10.35 from Stockport via Brum and Plymouth for £42.50,
>> but there was no provision for bicycle reservations.
>> Reverting to the telephone I went through a voice synthesised multiple
>> choice maze to reach a human being - who told me that not only was the
>> only available ticket £94 but that I would have to set off at noon.
>> "OK", says I, "thank you but I'm going back to olden times."
>> So I rode down to the station, where a real live face to face human
>> being spent ten minutes or so trying to get his computer to accept a
>> reasonably priced booking, all the while muttering darkly about what
>> 'they' had done to the computer system.
>> The upshot is that I now have a £42.50 ticket with a bicycle
>> reservation as far as Plymouth but I could have been over £50 the
>> poorer. OTOH Plymouth may be the edge of the world for bicycle
>> reservations: anyone know what I can expect on the 15.50 Plymouth to
>> Penzance?
>
>Never put down to malice what can be explained by incompetance.
>
>
OTOH the profit motive provides a credible alternative to both

Pete

 

[Peter Connors]

On Fri, 20 May 2005 15:14:47 +0100, Not Responding
<[email protected]> wrote:

>People's experience booking, or attempting to book bikes seem to vary
>wildly. I'd read posts such as yours and was deeply cynical when I
>picked up the phone to Virgin last year. To my astonishment, it took
>about three minutes to book me in and take my card number and two days
>later the tickets showed up.
>
>More locally, I use the feared SWT services and have never had a
>problem. Even the guards on trains listed on the Info Screens as "bike
>reservations" have not batted an eyelid at my unbooked bike.
>
>Maybe I'm just lucky.

I must admit I was perfectly happy with the alacrity with which Virgin
could book me through with a bike. It was the inexplicable fare rise
and retiming that me at a loss, but your experience with SWT is exacty
what I wanted hear. I shall travel in hope.

 

[JohnB]

"Peter Connors treme@ntl" wrote:
>
> On Fri, 20 May 2005 15:14:47 +0100, Not Responding
> <[email protected]> wrote:

> >More locally, I use the feared SWT services and have never had a
> >problem.
>
>.... but your experience with SWT is exacty
> what I wanted hear. I shall travel in hope.

Hahahahah.

Take my trips for cycle-training this weekend...

Today I learned I need to go to Winchfield tmorrow, a two train journey.
I cannot book on the first train as my station closes at midday and
refuses to do bookings less than 24 hours ahead anyway.
If I turn up on spec, the two-car train will only have two bike spaces
which will be full of standing passengers or luggage.
My choice is to take a folder - not very suitable for my purposes at the
other end - or ride the 45 miles round trip.

On Sunday I need to go to Netley.
What ho!, no trains between Basingstoke and Winchester - yet again.
And once again I cannot book on the round the houses route via Salisbury
and cannot take the risk of not getting a space.

So it looks like another bike ride - this time a 70 mile round trip,
same as last week.

I hope the weather's nice this weekend.

John B

 

[Amos E Wolfe]

"Peter Connors wrote:

> Anyone else experienced this apparent ripoff?

> The upshot is that I now have a £42.50 ticket with a bicycle
> reservation as far as Plymouth but I could have been over £50 the
> poorer. OTOH Plymouth may be the edge of the world for bicycle
> reservations: anyone know what I can expect on the 15.50 Plymouth to
> Penzance?

If you repost this same question to news://uk.railway they will probably be
able to tell you half a dozen ways to save money in the future, where to
stand on the platform, the type of train, and the answers to several more
questions you probably never thought of asking!

-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-

 

[Pete Connors]

On Fri, 20 May 2005 11:25:50 GMT, Peter Connors
<mono<deletethis>treme@ntl<andthis>world.com> wrote:

>Anyone else experienced this apparent ripoff?
>Having set upon the 6th June for my journey to Penzance to commence my
>LEJOG, I went to book a ticket on the Virgin website and found that I
>could take the 10.35 from Stockport via Brum and Plymouth for £42.50,
>but there was no provision for bicycle reservations.
>Reverting to the telephone I went through a voice synthesised multiple
>choice maze to reach a human being - who told me that not only was the
>only available ticket £94 but that I would have to set off at noon.
>"OK", says I, "thank you but I'm going back to olden times."
>So I rode down to the station, where a real live face to face human
>being spent ten minutes or so trying to get his computer to accept a
>reasonably priced booking, all the while muttering darkly about what
>'they' had done to the computer system.
>The upshot is that I now have a £42.50 ticket with a bicycle
>reservation as far as Plymouth but I could have been over £50 the
>poorer. OTOH Plymouth may be the edge of the world for bicycle
>reservations: anyone know what I can expect on the 15.50 Plymouth to
>Penzance?
>
>Pete

It becomes clearer: more detailed investigation reveals that Plymouth
to Penzance is actually Wessex Trains rather than SWT. Wessex have a
'two bikes, first come first served' policy on the non-reservable
train that I will be travelling on.
The 12.04 service that Virgin wanted to book me on at £94 is Virgin
all the way. Funny, that ;-|

 

[Al C-F]

On Fri, 20 May 2005 22:30:05 +0100, JohnB <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Sunday I need to go to Netley.
>What ho!, no trains between Basingstoke and Winchester - yet again.
>And once again I cannot book on the round the houses route via Salisbury
>and cannot take the risk of not getting a space.
>
>So it looks like another bike ride - this time a 70 mile round trip,
>same as last week.
>
>I hope the weather's nice this weekend.

Thunderstorms are forecast. Better fit mudguards.

 

[JohnB]

Al C-F wrote:
>
> On Fri, 20 May 2005 22:30:05 +0100, JohnB <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >On Sunday I need to go to Netley.
> >What ho!, no trains between Basingstoke and Winchester - yet again.
> >And once again I cannot book on the round the houses route via Salisbury
> >and cannot take the risk of not getting a space.
> >
> >So it looks like another bike ride - this time a 70 mile round trip,
> >same as last week.
> >
> >I hope the weather's nice this weekend.
>
> Thunderstorms are forecast. Better fit mudguards.

I've just got back home from today's session. I got drenched :-(

I hope tomorrow's better.

John B

 

[Al C-F]

On Sat, 21 May 2005 12:42:00 +0100, JohnB <[email protected]> wrote:

>> >I hope the weather's nice this weekend.
>>
>> Thunderstorms are forecast. Better fit mudguards.
>
>I've just got back home from today's session. I got drenched :-(
>
>I hope tomorrow's better.

Thunderstorms tomorrow, today's forecast was just for rain.

(BBC, forecast for Southampton).

 

[Tony Raven]

Al C-F wrote:
>
>
> Thunderstorms tomorrow, today's forecast was just for rain.
>
> (BBC, forecast for Southampton).

We've had multiple thunderstorms rolling through here (Cambridge) since
mid morning despite this morning's BBC forecast having only an hour of
showers mid afternoon.

--
Tony

"A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought" Lord
Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers)