What did you specifically ask East Coast? Did you mention the circumstances of the sale?
The additional ticket has been correctly sold, and used, and therefore cannot be refunded at the station.
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How can I get a rail ticket refund - if possible
- Thread starter EdGasket
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What did you specifically ask East Coast? Did you mention the circumstances of the sale?
The additional ticket has been correctly sold, and used, and therefore cannot be refunded at the station.
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Well if we don't ask we won't get. There are mitigating circumstances, poor signage, lack of information, it was a genuine mistake not a case of being late and missing the pre-booked train, and the guard accepted the original advance ticket anyway.
Plus she didn't even need to buy the complete journey again, only the Newcastle to Kings Cross part. Maybe they will at least allow some compensation for that.
bb21
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On that note, technically she was right to be sold the additional ticket to the final destination, not merely to London. Because she missed her booked departure, the Advance ticket had no value, which meant that she still needed a ticket to cover the rest of her journey. Of course as you correctly observed, the lack of reservation for the onward leg meant that it was almost unenforceable for that part of the journey.
That said, there is nothing to lose by appealing to their better nature and see if they would make an exception this time.
You don't understand. The station simply will not refund a used ticket. If you asked East Coast "Hello, I have a ticket, how do I get it refunded please?" they will tell you to return it to the station.
The fact is, your ticket is used, and has no refund value.
If you want to appeal to East Coast's better nature and claim a discretionary refund, then you should write to East Coast's customer relations team.
That's one interpretation. But the guard said he was happy to accept the Advance ticket, and so it could easily be argued that the Advance ticket was therefore used, and the additional ticket was not.
Agreed.
If the Guard accepted the Advance ticket then the Off Peak ticket remains unused (providing that is the case on all trains throughout the journey) and, if it is unused, is refundable subject to a £10 admin fee.
I agree with Yorkie!
Hi all. It has been nearly 2 weeks now since everything I sent was 'signed for' by the East Coast Travel Centre at Newcastle station but I have not heard anything. How long should it take to get a refund or else a letter telling me I am not going to get a refund, or even an acknowledgement of my request?
bb21
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You will at least hear a reply whether your application is successful or not. I normally allow 28 days for this in these situations before chasing them up however you might prefer to chase it up much sooner.
It is now 28 days since the tickets and claim form were 'signed for' by East Coast Travel Centre at Newcastle station and we haven't heard a thing. I have no phone number for them. I have now written to 'Customer Relations' dept for East Coast Railways in Plymouth to complain and ask them to chase it up. I don't really know what else I can do.
michael769
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A complaint to Passenger Focus is your next step.
Thanks; I will look into that.
bb21
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Without having chased it up with East Coast first? You'll only be told to contact East Coast again.
I would only contact Passenger Focus if a satisfactory answer is not received from Customer Service.
Ok thanks, I will wait for a reply then. Just hope they are more forthcoming than their contempories in Newcastle !
Outcome - it turns out they had refunded the full amount to my daughter's account two days after receiving the tickets at Newcastle station but no-one had informed her and she had not spotted it in her account (I think when she checked her account, she did not look far enough back). Customer services eventually replied to her email and after contacting Newcastle, informed her of the refund. I still have had no reply to my letter to Customer Services.
So a good outcome; they didn't even deduct the £10 admin fee; just lacking a bit on communication. Thanks for info and advice on here.
As an asside, Customer Services refused to pass on a phone number for Newcastle station (internal use only apparently) which if we had had, would have sorted this out much more quickly. Why is it that stations are allowed this anoniminity as regards the phone when for nearly everything else it is possible to call the local branch/office/depot whatever?
So a good outcome; they didn't even deduct the £10 admin fee; just lacking a bit on communication. Thanks for info and advice on here.
As an asside, Customer Services refused to pass on a phone number for Newcastle station (internal use only apparently) which if we had had, would have sorted this out much more quickly. Why is it that stations are allowed this anoniminity as regards the phone when for nearly everything else it is possible to call the local branch/office/depot whatever?
I think you'll find that many businesses do not allow contact with the 'local' branch/office/depot. Centralisation reduces costs apparently.
hairyhandedfool
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To stop people phoning up and asking for ticket, route, or general enquiries when (a) ticket office staff have better things to be doing (like selling tickets) and (b) there is a perfectly (un)usable call centre in Mumbai (or wherever it is now) for that purpose.
There has been a time when the number for my office was given out by someone and each morning I would get a call from a passenger on an unmanned station down the line asking for live departure times for their train. I can only imagine what would happen if the number was given to anyone who asked for it.
I've never called EC, but the ones I have seem OK. At least in relation to the worst call centre forced upon UK customers, which is 3 Mobile.
Its a no win situation. We had our line restored to public use a few years back but no extra staff employed to actually answer it. If it doesn't get answered by us within 6 rings its diverts to an office in Chester called 'Branch Support' who are supposed to try and deal with the query. Invariably they don't and we can hear the internal line ringing 10 seconds after the external one has stopped ringing, just enough time for them to answer the call and transfer it to us.
If we were to answer the phone and ignore in store customers we'd be savaged on our customer satisfaction scores!
If we were to answer the phone and ignore in store customers we'd be savaged on our customer satisfaction scores!
185
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Security issues, was changed under BR following robberies. After shift when the POSITION CLOSED shutters are down, the phones still work and have been used for malicious purposes before, hence the move internal.
I've split out the off topic posts to this thread. Feel free to continue the discussion there.
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