Season ticket renewal - obtaining discount for train time performance

[whole diary]

[gpn01]

Have just tried to find out how much a season ticket renewal is (Maidenhead-Paddington) using the online FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service.  It seems that the price is the same irrespective of whether I enter my details as a new season ticket or as a renewal.  I though renewals benefit from a discount based on FGW's previous year's performance.  Has the performance really improved so much ?  Also seems that it doesn't matter if I ask for the start date to be 31 Dec (when my current ticket expires) or 12th January (i.e. a gap).  I thought that the new fares apply from 1st january so am again surprised that there's no chnage in the prices.

Alternatively does anybody know what the season ticket phone number is at FGW so that I can speak to somebody (the ticket office is always closed at Maidenhead when I'm on my way home).

Cheers
Gary

[inspector_blakey]

Can't help you with how to obtain your discount on the season ticket renewal, but I can help you out with the fare change.

The annual fare change on 01 Jan only applies to tickets purchased after that date. So, buy your season ticket starting on 12 Jan now and you'll get it at 2008 fare. Buy it on or after 01 Jan and pay 2009 fares, even though the start date is the same. Likewise if you purchase an advance/off-peak/anytime ticket before 01 Jan for a journey that you're making in the new year, you'll pay the 2008 fare.

[super tm]

This is no longer true.  With the old ticket system fares in ticket machine would change overnight so what you say was true.  However with more modern computers more fares can be held in the memory so it is now possible to put the new fares in and tickets dated after 01 Jan CAN be sold at the higher price.

Notice I say CAN because not every system works in this way so some will sell tickets at the old price and some at the higher price.  Both are valid and the price you pay will depend where you buy them.

[vacman]

Can't help you with how to obtain your discount on the season ticket renewal, but I can help you out with the fare change.

The annual fare change on 01 Jan only applies to tickets purchased after that date. So, buy your season ticket starting on 12 Jan now and you'll get it at 2008 fare. Buy it on or after 01 Jan and pay 2009 fares, even though the start date is the same. Likewise if you purchase an advance/off-peak/anytime ticket before 01 Jan for a journey that you're making in the new year, you'll pay the 2008 fare.

Not true, if you pre date a fare in avantix it shows the new fare if applicable

[tramway]

Rather than take up ticket office staff time renewing at the station I also tried the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website as I thought it would be more convenient, unfortunately it didn't match the discount price I was given when I enquired, so I had to resort to using the office and building up a nice queue of annoyed customers.

Looks like there is a glitch in the online renewal system.

[paul7575]

A number of discussions have taken place about fares change dates have taken place in uk.railway over the last couple of years, I think the concensus view from those in ticket sales would be that the new fares appear in all the on line systems and journey planners about 3 weeks before the change date. Any tickets bought after that date (-approx 3 weeks) for journeys commencing after the change date will be priced at the new rate. If the outward date of an Anytime or Off Peak return is before the change it will remain at the old price.

AFAICT^▸ ('as far as I can tell') to get the benefit of an annual season at 'last years price' it would have to run from a date in December or the first week in January, but you would have to renew before that -3 week period?

The 3 week 'overlap' was also used (as described in Newsrail Express) back in April concerning all the changes to 'Advance' Terms and Conditions. Tickets bought after something like 24th April for travel after 18th May were under the new T&C and restrictions.

Paul

[devon_metro]

Some nasty rises coming up then. Paignton - Westbury is going up by ^2!

[tramway]

Still doesn't explain the ^400 difference in renewal price between online and at the office.

[inspector_blakey]

Sorry if I was wide of the mark with information re the annual fare change. A year or two ago I remember FGW^▸ (First Great Western) issuing a press release around the time the fare changes hit the news pointing out that it would be possible to advance-purchase tickets for the following year at the previous year's prices until 01 Jan. Clearly this policy no longer applies.

Having said that, there are two good examples here of the mess that rail fares can sometimes be. Firstly, it appears from the rail staff posting in this thread that the price you pay for an advance-dated ticket for next year might be the 2008 price or the 2009 price at the moment, more or less at random depending on where and who you buy it from. From the customer's point of view this is shoddy.

Secondly it does not appear that online season ticket renewal services offer the correct discounts. Again, shoddy service to the customer who may well not know what discount they're entitled to and so be diddled out of it because they chose to renew online rather than at a booking office.