Senior Railcard renewal

[Chris116]

About a week ago I received an email from Network Rail regarding renewal of my Senior Railcard. Having checked that the email really had come from who it claimed I clicked on the link and renewed my Senior Railcard.

 

Having paid the system then confirmed the details with the new card starting from five days later instead of three and a half weeks later when my current Railcard expires! I therefore contacted Network Rail who have responded that I have bought a new Railcard rather than renewing the current one. The link I followed did not give me any option on what date the card should start and gave no clue that I was doing anything other than renewing the Railcard.

 

I immediately emailed Network Rail asking them to sort out the problem and they have now replied saying that I used the wrong link and they do not alter the dates on a Railcard. In my view they have conned me out of three weeks validity and then had the cheek to say they hoped I enjoyed my new Railcard.

 

For anyone else renewing their Railcard I would just say don't trust the link Network Rail send you as it could sell you short.

[andyman7]

Can't be Network Rail - they are the infrastructure provider. I assume you mean 'National Rail' branded sales which are done on behalf of the TOCs by the Rail Delivery Group. However this is an unimpressive outcome, and if you have the appetite you might want to escalate it - maybe a letter to the Chief Executive of RDG? Details can be found online.

[Mallard60022]

36 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

About a week ago I received an email from Network Rail regarding renewal of my Senior Railcard. Having checked that the email really had come from who it claimed I clicked on the link and renewed my Senior Railcard.

 

Having paid the system then confirmed the details with the new card starting from five days later instead of three and a half weeks later when my current Railcard expires! I therefore contacted Network Rail who have responded that I have bought a new Railcard rather than renewing the current one. The link I followed did not give me any option on what date the card should start and gave no clue that I was doing anything other than renewing the Railcard.

 

I immediately emailed Network Rail asking them to sort out the problem and they have now replied saying that I used the wrong link and they do not alter the dates on a Railcard. In my view they have conned me out of three weeks validity and then had the cheek to say they hoped I enjoyed my new Railcard.

 

For anyone else renewing their Railcard I would just say don't trust the link Network Rail send you as it could sell you short.

Did they ask for a Photo?

P

[Chris116]

19 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

Did they ask for a Photo?

P

Yes, it says you now have to supply a photo that will appear on the new Railcard. What I found rather silly was that you had to prove your age after having had a Senior Railcard for six years. Almost as if they think you might have ceased to be over 60.

[Chris116]

24 minutes ago, andyman7 said:

Can't be Network Rail - they are the infrastructure provider. I assume you mean 'National Rail' branded sales which are done on behalf of the TOCs by the Rail Delivery Group. However this is an unimpressive outcome, and if you have the appetite you might want to escalate it - maybe a letter to the Chief Executive of RDG? Details can be found online.

Oops, I meant National Rail and typed Network Rail. I have sent a reply saying that if their link sends me to the wrong place then they should sort their system out and that I consider them guilty of fraud. I await their reply.

[stewartingram]

Another related thing if you are renewing your Grumpy Old Git Railcard?

If like me you wear hearing aids,(and TBH this does apply to younger people too), apply for a Disabled Railcard. You need proof of the disability (yes, honestly, they class hearing aids as a disability), and a hearing test result suffices. You get the same discount as a Senior Railcard, with the added advantage that your other half can travel with as a carer (without checking, I think also at the discount rate). Trouble is, when I renewed my Senior, I forgot I was going to change it to a Disabled - doh!

When I was still working (I retired at 70) I had my original Senior card which I recently renewed. However, one of my workmates (he was in his 40s) had hearing aids and he applied successfully with no hassle. He was ex-army, his hearing was poor due to gunshot noise.

[The Stationmaster]

Renewing a Senior Railcard would appear to be a pretty transparent exercise -

 

https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/renewing-your-railcard/

[Wickham Green too]

AH - but it starts with the usual stumbling block "Log into your account" ........ an account you've not gone anywhere near since you last renewed several years ago - so you've got absolutely no idea what the password should be !

[Chris116]

2 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Renewing a Senior Railcard would appear to be a pretty transparent exercise -

 

https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/renewing-your-railcard/

Yes, very simple if the link they send you to renew your Senior Railcard doesn't decide you are buying a new card without telling you until after you have made payment.

[roythebus1]

Forget the computer, go to your local station and give the ticket clerk something to do. I've recently renewed my senior card, no photo required. The more you buy online, the more you do someone out of a very useful job. I always buy my advance tickets from the station (AFK) where the ticket clerks are most helpful outside busy times and even beat the National Rail site for good fare deals, including ticket splits. :) Certainly cheaper than ticketysplit and trainline dot com.

[Chris116]

I normally did buy all my tickets from my local station ticket office for exactly the reasons you give and also that I was in the ticket office at West Brompton when it was closed. Sadly just before Covid my local ticket office would not sell me advance tickets for a number of journeys claiming they were sold out but upon checking my phone they were still available and the clerk told me that if I was so clever I should stop wasting his time. Since then I have followed his advice and renewing my Railcard is the first problem I have had.

[Andrea506]

If they really wanted people to travel by rail instead of driving this sort of stupidity just wouldn't happen, just saying........

[The Stationmaster]

17 hours ago, roythebus1 said:

Forget the computer, go to your local station and give the ticket clerk something to do. I've recently renewed my senior card, no photo required. The more you buy online, the more you do someone out of a very useful job. I always buy my advance tickets from the station (AFK) where the ticket clerks are most helpful outside busy times and even beat the National Rail site for good fare deals, including ticket splits. :) Certainly cheaper than ticketysplit and trainline dot com.

Regrettably Grant Shapps (now departed) seems to have shouted louder than you with the result that numerous ticket offices have been closed this year.  This includes the one at our local branch terminus and at busy times in the morning the Conductor doesn't have time to get through the train while not everyone bothers with the ticket machine (not that there is one of those at the two intermediate stations on the branch anyway).

 

Now I'll freely acknowledge that it is over 50 years 😮 since I relieved in that booking office and I only worked a short morning peak turn because I had another job to do during the day.  But the number of people coming to the ticket window then was little different for the busier morning peak trains than I have observed in recent years.  So I wonder how much revenue will be lost due to closing the office compared with the cost of manning it?  a nd how many prospective travellers will be put off because they are unable to use it to make enquiries etc?

[Bill Radford]

Renewing my GOG card (I definitely was one at the end of the proceedure) resulted with me using the East Midlands Trains facility as NR decided I did not exist!!

[Wickham Green too]

Ticket machines would be OK ( when they work ) if they were standardised across the industry .............. but can be damned confusing when travelling outside familiar territory.

 

Moreover, they don't necessarily offer everything one might desire : those of us who live in the Metrolopis might habitually carry a Travelcard for a number of fare zones but no ticket machine I've met offers tickets from zone boundaries to destinations beyond. 

[Bernard Lamb]

After a period when the local ticket office was often closed it has recently become fully staffed and open for much longer hours. If you get there around 09.30 for the first off peak train at 09.35 the security staff will ask you what sort of ticket you want. If it is a simple job on the machine they will esort you out of the queue and take you to the machine. It does clear the waiting people and get everyone on the first train, but it will defeat those who want to use the ofice and have personal service. The security people are usually vey good and knowledgeable. 

Benard

[Chris116]

3 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Ticket machines would be OK ( when they work ) if they were standardised across the industry .............. but can be damned confusing when travelling outside familiar territory.

 

Moreover, they don't necessarily offer everything one might desire : those of us who live in the Metrolopis might habitually carry a Travelcard for a number of fare zones but no ticket machine I've met offers tickets from zone boundaries to destinations beyond. 

Totally agree, it is a farce that they don't all do things the same way.

 

The machines at Wimbledon will serve me a ticket from boundary zone 6 to Alton. You just ask for tickets from another station. But I have come across others around London that do not have that facility and at Liverpool Street when I asked how I could buy an extension for my Freedom Pass to Rye House I was told to use the ticket office or get out at the boundary station. The ticket office was closed due to staff sickness and there was no way I was going to take an extra half hour on my journey. Result loss of fare for the railways from someone who always pays. After that incident I made sure I used the machine at Wimbledon to buy the ticket.

[Wickham Green too]

Thanks, I've never met a machine that would give me the option of a ticket from A.N. other station - or at least not conspicuously. The other problem with 'boundary' tickets is when you buy on line and your Advance ticket is for a specific train that doesn't actually stop at the boundary station ........................ but we're getting a little off topic here.

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 07/09/2022 at 19:47, Chris116 said:

Almost as if they think you might have ceased to be over 60.

I had a member of staff who had lost a leg in an industrial accident. Each year he would bring me a form from DHSS or whoever it was in those days to certify that there was no change to his condition and he was still minus one leg due to an accident at work, therefore still entitled to disability benefit.

[Mallard60022]

Received my Renewal TC today and having faffed with getting my mush looking slightly less 'orrible for the Photo and then faffing to get it sized ready for the application Form, the Card has no Photo! Hey, that was fun!

Maybe I was misreading the Application Form? Who knows? Who cares?

Phil

[Michael Hodgson]

33 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

 the Card has no Photo!

 

No much point really - one grumpy old git looks much the same as another ! 

 

I still haven't renewed mine, which conveniently expired at the start of lockdown.  I was going to renew, so I could take my Ukrainian guest and my partner to see Big Ben and Buck House (a couple of days before the Queen died).  Somehow it worked out cheaper buying 3 tickets than it would have been to buy two and use railcard for my own ticket.  I don't understand how that worked out, but it saved me about a quid.

 

[roythebus1]

An interesting aside, but connected, i've been driving tram replacement buses between Eccles and Media City in Manchester during the current closures. The first couple of weeks people just got on and we didn't bother to check tickets. some people volunteered tickets, others offered to pay but we had no ticket machines. Fast foward to the second stage of closures, Metro (the tram operator) asked for ticket machines and we asked to see tickets when people boarded, then press the pass button on the ticket machine.

Week 3, ask for tickets, those without direct them to ticket machine at tram station. Lots of Metro revenue staff at tram stations to show people where the ticket machines are. It was surprising how few people knew where the machines were..

They found that during bus replacements, ridership was down 60%, but in week 3 revenue was up 80% on what it would be had the trams been running!! It goes to show how many were riding for free until Metro decided to check. TfL are now insisting rail replacement bus users tap in with their Oyster cards. I found it surprising how many got off again when asked to tap on! No more free rides. Maybe the big railway and the Transport Minister could learn from this.

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, roythebus1 said:

... TfL are now insisting rail replacement bus users tap in with their Oyster cards. I found it surprising how many got off again when asked to tap on! ....

Not so bad if the bus stops somewhere near the Oyster reader thingy ........... I've never been asked to show a ticket or pass on a replacement bus and wouldn't be primed to expect it - so I wouldn't naturally tap-in when starting a journey on one !

[roythebus1]

Be warned then, mot TfL planned rail replacements are now tap-inn-able! It charges you the single bus fare.

 

The Manchester Metro you need to show the bus driver a valid ticket or proof that you have tapped in on the tram station or your mobile device.

Edited September 16, 2022 by roythebus1

[Wickham Green too]

Occurs to me that the only rail-replacement journey I've made within London of late was from the bus stop opposite my local station - a good fifty yards from the nearest Oyster reader, across a dual carriageway - to four stops up the line where the bus stop was in a residential street at least a hundred yards from a reader ..... not conducive for tapping in or out at either end but, needless to say, my old farts card was not checked at any point.