Regional pass for Berner Oberland. Valid or not

Hi,

I have recently purchased 2, 7 day regional passes for Berner oberland. Having received them I am fairly sure that they will not be valid for our travel period of 9/9/12 onwards. I am having trouble getting the suppling company to agree with me and arrange to exchange them. Before I get too pushy, can someone take a look at the attached photo (with validity date circled in yellow) and see if I am correct or not?

They tell me that they are valid for any period of 7 days and will be valid from the first day of use?

Thanks

Hi benrudd1,

I see your point. I wouldn't think this is ok either. It seems that this particular ticket is valid for a period of 7 days starting on September 1. Please let me know where you purchased it. If it's one of the resellers we work with, I can contact them to be 100% sure about this.

Arno said: Hi benrudd1,

I see your point. I wouldn't think this is ok either. It seems that this particular ticket is valid for a period of 7 days starting on September 1. Please let me know where you purchased it. If it's one of the resellers we work with, I can contact them to be 100% sure about this.

Thanks,

They were purchased from swisspasses.com

Hi benrudd1,

Unfortunately we don't work with them. Nevertheless I can try to get more information from one of our partners. That may take a couple of days. I'll post back here as soon as I have more information.

Thanks very much. I would appreciate it.

Hi benrudd1,

I can now confirm that your pass actually starts at September 1. As you assumed, that's what the printed date is indicating. The pass is valid for a week from September 1. If you want to use it later, you can best ask your reseller to correct this.

Arno said: Hi benrudd1,

I can now confirm that your pass actually starts at September 1. As you assumed, that's what the printed date is indicating. The pass is valid for a week from September 1. If you want to use it later, you can best ask your reseller to correct this.

Thanks for checking that for me. I will phone them up today and have another go and getting them switched.

Update.
I have just spent some time on the phone to swisspasses.com and have been told by them that there is a new system in place and that the start date only means that the ticket cannot be used before that date. They are apparently valid for any 7 day period after that.
I have to say that I am really unsure as to the accuracy of that, and now need to decide if I should return these tickets for a refund, and lose 20% of there value and then reorder elsewhere.

All a bit difficult really.

Thanks for the update benrudd1. I haven't heard of a new system, but perhaps they're right. I don't think so though. The thing is, the Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland allows 3 free travels days within a 7 day period. Unlike the Swiss Flexi Pass, the period of validity does not have to start with a free travel day. So theoretically, you could use the pass for much more than one week since there is no space on the pass to put the first travel day (there's only space for the free travel days). I recommend you to visit a manned train station in the Bernese Oberland (e.g. Interlaken West or Ost, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen) before you use the pass. It would be great if you could update us about the outcome of this issue.

Nevertheless, enjoy your stay in the Bernese Oberland!

Thanks for all your help.

I have decided that its not worth all the stress, and have ordered new passes from the switzerland travel centre. I will return the suspect ones to swisspasses for a refund.

Still really looking forward to the holiday :-)