Let the train take the strain 2

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 Having booked my train tickets through the trainline 12 weeks ago I thought that perhaps I had better collect my tickets today. "Available from more than 1700 stations with a ticket machine" screamed the headline. So not from Ladybank then.

I had forgotten quite what I had received when I booked, so a quick search of my emails revealed an eight character reference for collection and the need to have the card used for the booking. Simple! It certainly should have been. 11.30 found me at Markinch station which is staffed until 1pm. No queue. Perfect. So far.

Quoting the reference:    C harlie, T ango, 5, L ima, J uliet, W hisky, 3, Foxtrot   got me a ticket from Edinburgh to Penzance. As a throwaway aside I asked the helpful lady behind the counter if my bike booking should be mentioned on the ticket. Not at all my bike needed its own ticket(s) which would be on a separate booking reference. Only problem - I didn't have a second reference. Help!!

Having searched all of the correspondence again without finding a bike reference, I telephoned India to try to solve the problem. After a half an hour on hold I eventually was given a reference which " you would have been told at the time of your booking. We don't send out e mails for bike bookings." Fine. The reference:  was XLL94J26

XLL94J26        He read it three times and I copied it carefully. 12.30 and I am back at Markinch station ticket office where the still helpful lady types in my new reference BUT the message on the screen was:  there is no booking associated with this reference. AHHH!! I tried on the ticket machine with the same result, so it was back to Freuchie and I was starting to become just a little bit concerned.

Back on to India for  another half hour wait. "I'll just pop you on hold while I try to find out what has happened." I was on the fourth or fifth playing of "I love it when you call me senorita" when the Indian lady came back on. No explanation. No apology. The reference:    XLL9FJ26

1.30 and I am back at Markinch for the third time. The helpful lady at the ticket office has finished her shift and gone home. Fortunately for my sanity the new reference worked and produced FIVE tickets. Two are to be attached to the bike for the two separate legs of the journey. Two are for me to get my bike back presumably and the fifth is a receipt for my free fee.

As I was recovering from this saga My e mail pinged. It was a customer survey from the Trainline. How did we do? There were no swear word options and the number choices of 1-10 didn't begin to do justice to my dissatisfaction so I quietly closed my e mail client and left the survey unsullied.

Let's hope this is not a harbinger of things to come.

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