Great Western Coffee Shop

I've just put myself into a predicament.

Bought tickets online from SN last week, to make a journey from MKC into FGW land.  Collected them and have them in my hand now.  Tickets include a combination of four advance fares, an off-peak return and a single ... all with a railcard discount.

Problem is, my railcard expired on Monday.  I ordered a new one online at the weekend (for the 10% discount), expecting it to arrive yesterday.  Guess what?  Hasn't come yet.

As I need to travel tomorrow, I wondered what the policy was in this case?  I assume the SVR and SDS can be excessed, but not sure about the advances.  If I buy a new railcard at MK Central, I'll then end up with two railcards valid for the same period.

I'm confused.  Can anyone shed some light on what I should do?

It's almost certainly coming 2nd class mail - these things do generally.

Suggest you call whatever helpline there is for railcard online ordering?....

You certainly don't have a claim against either the ticket retailer or the railcard people because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't guarantee delivery within a couple of days if you order online at a weekend. As you say, you may be able to excess the SDS/SVR (not 100% sure) but I'm pretty sure the advance tickets are toast.

I guess the way I'd look at it is this: assuming you can't excess the advance tickets, work it out and see what you'll end up spending if you buy an additional railcard versus what would happen if you ditched the Y-P tickets and bought everything again. My guess is that an extra railcard, pointless as it may seem, would probably end up as the cheaper option.

you may be able to excess the adv tickets provided you do it prior to travel and will be subject to a ^10 admin charge, if you board the train with current tickets you could be issued a Penalty fare to next stop + full open fare to destination.

Thanks for all the responses.

The website says the railcards are sent by first class post.

Four lots of admin charges are more than the railcard cost, so I can't excess the advances.

I'll be calling the railcard helpline first thing tomorrow.  They close at 5pm today and I'm stuck here until five.

Unless it comes first thing tomorrow, I think that another railcard will be the cheapest option (as the advs have increased in price).  I'll see if they'll accept a return on the online railcard (I wonder if the Distance Selling Regulations apply?)

...Good idea.  I don;t see why the distance selling regulations will not apply.  You ought to be able to quote that to the Railcard people.  Presumably if the railcard never arrived you would get a refund?  From your credit card company?

first class is now 1-3 days, partly to push sales of special delivery and also to allow for third party couriers like tnt to offer the service ... basically royal mail are the best at delivery but their main cost and problem area was collections.... thats why its cheaper to send letters threw tnt/dhl/citylink because they collect and deliver into the rmc's then royal mail only handle a local sort and delivery.... this takes an extra day because it also has to go threw the carriers network

Well, that was peculiar.

Shortly after my last post, I received an email from the university internal postal service saying there was an item for me but no delivery point mentioned (i.e. did I want it sent to my residence or to my work place).  The whole university has the same postcode, including all the residences and departments.  It is paramount that the first line (i.e. the building number) appears in the address, otherwise the post won't reach the correct place.  Anyway, I ran over to their office and collected the letter.  Turned out to be my railcard.  They (or I) had missed out the first two lines of the address (i.e. building name and the university name).

As for DSRs, I assume the railcard is a "personalised good" as it is printed with a photo.  I never thought of the credit card company ... I knew there was a reason I use a credit card (other than the cashback)!

Next challenge: Euston to Paddington in 25 minutes, including a trip to the ticket office to get my new railcard loaded onto the Oyster.  You know that poster about slips and trips...

No chance at this time of night....

Sorry, meant tomorrow during the day.  Will be a push, but I'm pretty sure it will be possible.

Def doabke during the day

Speaking personally I would accept a print out of the online order for the railcard, along with some other form of ID in the same name.
Seems an honest mistake and the new railcard was ordered before the old one expired.

readytostart, if only all guards and RPIs were as reasonable as you then the railway would be a MUCH more customer-friendly place! :)

True...to a point.  The other side of the coin is the hundreds of scams involving Rail Cards and 'Proofs' of every kind, which are perpetrated on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, the innocent tend suffer along with the guilty and to present a Rail card discounted ticket without supporting card is to risk sanction, however unreasonable that may seem.

Agree there too. But at least its a rule pax CAN understand, unlike a load of others....

If I were only travelling on the one train, I'd probably just try the printout and make myself known to the guard before boarding.  However, doing this on at least six trains, including several ticket gates (including Victoria where SN advance tickets don't go through the barriers), there would be too much hassle and risk.

Fortunately, as the railcard arrived, the journey went very well.  Made the London connection, but the queue at Euston ticket office was slower than expected.