Irish Rail - ticket not working, and have they removed services?

Africa

I often patrol this forum and see what other people have had issues with, but today I have my own...

I have been using the Student Bus and Rail Short Hop ticket for about 7 months now to get to and from college. However, the amount of times I have had to have this ticket replaced is ridiculous. In October alone, I had to replace the ticket 4 times in the space of 2 weeks, and would probably have replaced it again if I hadnt been informed of one of the most incomprehensible things Ive ever heard.

That tickets cannot be replaced after the 15th cause of the ticket machines rolling over. Are you kidding me? I have a ticket that cost €96 that does NOT WORK and it cannot be replaced??? I was informed if I just show it then it will be ok. Fine in theory, but I have missed many trains because the station master was not in the booth or near the gates, and it has also caused issues on buses.

I cannot exchange it anywhere but Pearse or Connolly it seems (more crap) and even then only between 9am and 5pm, which are not good enough as I have lectures and cannot be any where near those for those hours. When I did manage to get to Pearse for those hours, the person in the office upstairs dismissed me by saying it cannot be replaced. The young man downstairs was adamant that it could be replaced upstairs, and that it 'wasnt his problem' and asked me to 'move on so he could help others', an attitude that screamed 'we have your money already, tough'. I am extremely disappointed by the level of service I have received, and have for many months, because as I said, this happens EVERY single month. The customer service I was shown was down right disgraceful, nothing was done for me; they would not swap it for equivalent 2*7 day rail and bus or anything, and I feel that I was ripped off as I was not getting what I had paid for.

I did not buy one last month due to the south Dart line being out for 2 weeks.

But come to this month, and the ticket I bought on the 1st stopped working on the 4th. Why on earth do these tickets fail so much, and how can it not be seen as an issue? Why has no other alternative such as tag on-tag off been implemented? This has happened every single month I have bought one and noone knows why they fail, but October was the stand out month of the failures.


On top of this, Im near convinced theyve pulled morning Dart services. I used to be able to go to Pearse anywhere between 8.45 and 9.15 and get a train going south every 4 or 5 minutes or so. Now Im finding myself waiting 10 and 12 minutes. Anyone else notice this?

foggy_lad

Africa wrote: »

I often patrol this forum and see what other people have had issues with, but today I have my own...

I have been using the Student Bus and Rail Short Hop ticket for about 7 months now to get to and from college. However, the amount of times I have had to have this ticket replaced is ridiculous. In October alone, I had to replace the ticket 4 times in the space of 2 weeks, and would probably have replaced it again if I hadnt been informed of one of the most incomprehensible things Ive ever heard.

That tickets cannot be replaced after the 15th cause of the ticket machines rolling over. Are you kidding me? I have a ticket that cost €96 that does NOT WORK and it cannot be replaced??? I was informed if I just show it then it will be ok. Fine in theory, but I have missed many trains because the station master was not in the booth or near the gates, and it has also caused issues on buses.

I cannot exchange it anywhere but Pearse or Connolly it seems (more crap) and even then only between 9am and 5pm, which are not good enough as I have lectures and cannot be any where near those for those hours. When I did manage to get to Pearse for those hours, the person in the office upstairs dismissed me by saying it cannot be replaced. The young man downstairs was adamant that it could be replaced upstairs, and that it 'wasnt his problem' and asked me to 'move on so he could help others', an attitude that screamed 'we have your money already, tough'. I am extremely disappointed by the level of service I have received, and have for many months, because as I said, this happens EVERY single month. The customer service I was shown was down right disgraceful, nothing was done for me; they would not swap it for equivalent 2*7 day rail and bus or anything, and I feel that I was ripped off as I was not getting what I had paid for.

I did not buy one last month due to the south Dart line being out for 2 weeks.

But come to this month, and the ticket I bought on the 1st stopped working on the 4th. Why on earth do these tickets fail so much, and how can it not be seen as an issue? Why has no other alternative such as tag on-tag off been implemented? This has happened every single month I have bought one and noone knows why they fail, but October was the stand out month of the failures.


On top of this, Im near convinced theyve pulled morning Dart services. I used to be able to go to Pearse anywhere between 8.45 and 9.15 and get a train going south every 4 or 5 minutes or so. Now Im finding myself waiting 10 and 12 minutes. Anyone else notice this?

Welcome to the world of Irish rail. This level of customer service is seen as not just adequate but much more than is necessary as they have your money and are unlikely to be helpful unless you have some guaranteed way of getting your money back.

P. Breathnach

foggy_lad wrote: »

Welcome to the world of Irish rail. This level of customer service is seen as not just adequate but much more than is necessary as they have your money and are unlikely to be helpful unless you have some guaranteed way of getting your money back.

I didn't respond to the original post as I had nothing useful to contribute.

MOH

Your problem lies in thinking of Irish rail as a customer-serving business, rather than a self-serving, profit-focused, organisation with no regulation and enough of a monopoly that they can effectively do that they want.

Herself's annual ticket failed about 4 times in as many months a few years ago. Excuses given included that she was keeping it to near other cards, and that some people have strong "personal magnetic fields" - maybe you're such a lucky individual?

The term-based tickets they issue have been of shoddy quality for years, and they're no interested in doing anything to change that. Hopefully the integrated ticketing smartcards might improve the situation whenever they eventually come in.

Their internal "customer service" ethic is non existent, what system they have is a shambles, no one is held responsible for anything.
If it was an ordinary business you could threaten them with the small claims court, but Irish Rail are exempt from that.

In short, there isn't really anything you can do, apart from remember your experience with them, and try to avoid giving them business whenever you don't have to.

Africa

Im sorry, but do you REALLY think that thats good enough??

Who do I need to contact in relation to this to get them looked into?

foggy_lad

Africa wrote: »

Im sorry, but do you REALLY think that thats good enough??

Who do I need to contact in relation to this to get them looked into?

You could try writing a letter of complaint to Irish Rail or to the Department of transport or contact your local elected representatives and see if they can raise the issue on your behalf.

LoGiE

This has happened me two months in a row... Why can't monthly and yearly customers get bloody smart cards? I got the 'can't help you buddy' crap in the station this morning. Is it any wonder these guys are getting replaced by machines, there useless!

Gillo

How do you store your ticket?
I've been using an annual ticket for year now and only once had a problem, interestingly I'd no problem getting it exchanged. I've no idea how many times it goes in and out of my wallet, even it I only used it for work commutes it'd 480, but I'd also use it a lot on my days off so it gets a lot of use and always works fine.

LoGiE

I store it in the taxsaver wallet that was supplied with it. I should add that i changed tickets from train only to train/Bus/Luas short hop and the problem started. It always fails after I've used it on a bus then the following morning it acts up in the train station. The tickets are just crap quality from what I can tell.

I guess I can only hope they decide to roll the smart cards out to their monthly/yearly customers soon. In typical Irish fashion they have rolled out 'smart cards' to people who normally would use single disposable tickets while leaving regular/daily commuters with crap. Nice work Irish Rail, pats on the back all round.

Gillo

The wallet they come with is pants, I keep mind in a leather wallet with my bank card, credit card etc.
It's just a guess but I figure the strength of the other cards stop's the ticket from flexing when in my pocket, maybe try it for a while with a new card??

daheff

I have the same issues...i'm always getting tickets reissued. Usually its cos the ticket machines have wiped the details off the front of the ticket to the point that its impossible to tell what type of ticket it is (which makes ticket checkers get all arsey coz they cant read it)


www.railusers.ie is a good forum for those inconvenienced by IR. Their aim is:


Rail Users Ireland is Ireland's National Rail Users Organisation. We were established in 2003 to campaign for improved services and conditions on Ireland's rail infrastructure. Our goals are to promote excellent customer service and the implementation of new rail projects in line with International best practise. We represent the thousands of rail users across the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland.