Re: Country(link?) - try walking instead

["Kerry Whitfield" <webmaster@orientbeach.com>]

That sure was a run around to buy a ticket. You might want to try my system,
so far it has worked for me every time. I travel on CountryLink about 4
times a year.

I call their reservation number on 132232 and make a booking and pay by Visa
card. I then ask can I pick the ticket up on the train. They have always
agreed and  give me the receipt, car and seat number over the phone. When I
board the train I find my seat and along comes the conductor. I tell him my
name, he reaches into his top coat pocket and pulls out my ticket!. Yep, it
has worked everytime. No chance of ever leaving my ticket at home.

Ticketless travel. I'm not sure what would happen if eveyone on train used
this method, it probably wouldn't work. I've heard that in the USA some of
the airline companys are spending up big to introduce ticketless travel. Our
CountryLink is one step ahead of these guys.


Kerry Whitfield
http://www.yaraka-mixed.tourguide.net


nobody <dweebken@NOSPAM.yahoo.com> wrote

> Recently we drove to Port Macquarie for holidays.  My son followed us up
on
> the XPT from Sydney to Wauchope, then countrylink bus to Port Macquarie on
> the following Tuesday.  We booked the ticket for him a few weeks in
advance.
>
> In trying to book the tickets, my 17 y.o. son rang Countrylink, and they
> gave him a reference no. and told him to pay for and pick up the ticket at
> Hornsby Station.  He went there the next day and the station staff told
him
> "the computer is down", and that he would have to go to Chatswood instead.
> The next day he went to Chatswood, and he was told the office was being
> renovated and they weren't selling tickets so he'd have to go to St
Leonards
> (I think it was).  So we called Countrylink at home and asked them where
in
> the heck can we actually get this ticket?  They said that Hornsby couldn't
> sell it to us the day we tried because the staff were on strike, there was
> nothing wrong with the computer that day...  We told them of the
run-around
> we were given, and they said I could pay for it with a credit card over
the
> phone and they'd mail it to me.  I said fine and gave them the details and
> asked when would I receive the tickets - they said they were "really busy"
> and didn't know...  So I asked them when should I call if I haven't
received
> them - and I was told Friday fortnight.  Lucky we didn't want to travel
that
> day!!!
>
> Anyway, the ticket arrived in the post and my son eventually caught his
> train.  My wife and I waited and waited and waited and waited at the Port
> Macquarie bus terminus for the bus that didnt arrive.  This was late at
> night... of course.  The locals told us that the bus was "always late" and
> half an hour to an hour late was the normal arrival time.  There wasn't
even
> a phone number in the bus shelter where we could call country link to find
> out what happened to the train.  The bus was near to an hour late.
>
> A week after we got home my wife had to go to the Port again.  Again the
bus
> was very late getting into Port Macquarie because the train was late
getting
> into Wauchope...  I'm not impressed.  On the way home, she tried to order
> some scones with her morning tea but was told she couldn't have scones
> unless she'd pre-ordered them - you see they had to be ordered well before
> the train got to Wauchope because they had to cook them, so those who get
on
> at Wauchope have no hope of getting scones.  Why would anyone WANT to
catch
> a train anywhere when faced with this kind of treatment is what I don't
> understand - unless there's no alternative.
>
>