Eurotunnel Day Return and Single fare Query

[PaulT]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]Earlier, Sid made mention of using an Employee Discount Code to achieve a discounted fare.

I'd advise anyone who uses these codes to be prepared for a shock upon arrival at either terminal. A friend of mine turned up at Folkestone and couldn't get past the barrier, despite having his ticket.
His ticket had been cancelled, and after some intense questioning on how he acquired the code, was offered the opportunity to pay the full cost of the crossing - which after checking later he found to have been surcharged!

An expensive lesson in trying to buck the system.
[/quote]

I would have thought that the employee whose code had been used could be sacked because somehow his / her code had been divulged either intentionally or unintentionally to someone.

Paul

[Théière]

Dodgy decision without the facts but hey that's management!

If you had access to staff codes would you give out your own (think risk of being caught and termination) or someone else's?

[sid]

Teapot has realised the significant point. So, just to clarify the speculation here; the code I used was an employee code, but it was a TEST or SYSTEM code, it didn't belong to a real person, and was used by developers to access the booking system and test its features. Normally all online transactions are logged, so it would only require a perusal of the logs to find out which bookings had been made using the code; but that never happened. I think they decided to avoid a witchhunt and just quietly close the loophole.  This account came from the guy who told us about it in the first place.

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="Théière"]

Dodgy decision without the facts but hey that's management!

If you had access to staff codes would you give out your own (think risk of being caught and termination) or someone else's?

[/quote]

In the case mentioned, apparently the code belonged to an employee whose services had been terminated.

[jacko19]

You say that a friend used a couple of tickets - Is he a good enough friend to take your bank card

for the entry process as the card that bought the tickets is requested when booking?

As to the preference of type of crossing I have had a regular traveller account for 4 years and have never had a problem.

Just so that everyone knows the ropes you can buy 10 tickets which cost me I think £390 which must be used within a year, you have

to travel 'off peak' which is (to the uk between midnight and 14:00) (from uk 18:00 to 06:00). We always book the end of the window but

inevitably we arrive early and have always got on the next train but if we miss our window we have only ever had to pay an extra £20.

We have never used all the tickets but if you may need up to say 6 trips it is certainly more economic than booking individually.

The other preference for the tunnel is that with the frequency of trains there tends to be a minimum delay which is essential when we have a journey time of around 15 hours.

[Chancer]

Yes he is a good friend and yes he took my bank card, he needed it was well as he arrived late and there was no capacity on the next crossings (according to the borne automatique) so a staff intervention was needed requiring the card used to make the booking, a space was found at no extra charge. With being able to nominate a second account holder these problems are no longer an issue.

The way the times work for me is that I have to wait for the off peak period, what I do is to book the first available off peak crossing and turn up an hour or two early, always been able to travel straight away without paying a supplement. I wouldnt count on it at really busy periods though and am prepared to wait.

[jacko19]

  Chancer wrote " With being able to nominate a second account holder these problems are no longer an issue."

Thanks for that Chancer - didn't realise this had changed could be very useful - will have to find out if you can do this

when an account is in place or just at initial stage.

 

 

[Chancer]

Good point they may let you do it with existing tickets, no reason technically why they cant apart from being awkward, would be a shame to lose a customer over it.

I think when it is set up they ask for the details of a card that the nominated person holds.

In the past it has got silly when a husband or wife has travelled without the partner who paid for the block of tickets.

[Bellac87]

Hi Jacko19, it's only allowed on a new account, but there's nothing to stop you starting a new shared account with the existing one still current.

Edit. I suppose there's scope for some kind of matchmaking thread, along the lines of, "partner wanted to take up 3 trips available on proposed shared account"

Kind regards

mike

[NickP]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Good point they may let you do it with existing tickets, no reason technically why they cant apart from being awkward, would be a shame to lose a customer over it.

I think when it is set up they ask for the details of a card that the nominated person holds.

In the past it has got silly when a husband or wife has travelled without the partner who paid for the block of tickets.

[/quote]

 Chancer, we've been using the frequent traveller scheme for 8 years, and as my wife and I have a joint bank account our  two credit card numbers are the same; although they bear different initials. My wife has always ordered the years tickets and if I'm working or travelling on my own it's not a problem at all ( Also I'm not embarrassed at all as being addressed as Mrs NickP). The thing to worry about now for others who "lend" their credit card to someone else is when the automatic machine breaks down,  they then have to use the man/woman/person operated booth, they now ask to see your passport.!!!! The new scheme for allowing a nominated user is great for us as it means our daughter can use the tickets, and we feel that the increase of about £35 per ten tickets is OK especially as this is the first rise in 8 years  

[Chancer]

Yes the rise is reasonable, its the first year that I have had the means and the motivation to buy frequent traveller tickets, it was February, Seafrance had gone and all the others were very expensive relative to how they had been, it seemd a chance worth taking as I expected the prices to rise in the summer. Of course that didnt really happen and each time I have travelled I could have done so for a lot less than the £39, hey ho thats life.

If I hadnt been able to offload 2 of the tickets and I hope a couple more before the 12 months then it would have been a costly misjudgement.

Of course I realise the value of the convenience of the service but with my means I am happy to lose that for the lowest price, where Eurotunnel is very competitive is for vans, all of the other operators have got silly in that respect, I dont knwo why other than perhaps a captive market, as before there was always one operator who would offer good terms for the niche market.

If I want to take a trailer I cant often beat the frequent traveller price, in fact if I am left with tickets I will take my huge one over and stuff it full of insulation again.

[bettyboop]

[quote user="jacko19"]

  Chancer wrote " With being able to nominate a second account holder these problems are no longer an issue."

Thanks for that Chancer - didn't realise this had changed could be very useful - will have to find out if you can do this

when an account is in place or just at initial stage.

 

 

[/quote]

You can only nominate when opening the account.

Will be doing this next year. So often I want to travel over but cant on my own.

On one of our crossings, we had to use the manned check- in booth and hubby was asked for proof of who he was as well as giving his bank card, we had often thought of lending it to our sons,but his put us off.

[Benjamin]

we had often thought of lending it to our sons,but his put us off.

Bettyboop

Make yourself a nice cup of tea, draw the curtains and sit quietly. Someone with transport will be around shortly to collect you.  [:-))]