Eurostar left us stranded at St Pancras {24/10/15)....

[gray1404]

Eurostar would have an arrangement with a taxi company to provide taxis, but the control centre didn't even provide this. I had a dispute with London Midland who refused to pay a taxi because I should have "got it through their contol centre" but they left me stranded with no staff and a locked station.

That aside, my person viw here is that Eurostar should be refunding the full value of the tickets paid (i.e. the cost of the return tickets) back onto the card used to pay for them. This is on the basis of the incorrect information given on the day, failing to provide assistance and the excessive delay to the passengers plus no provision of refreshments - not to mention the stress and lack of sleep. That is why I suggest raising a Section 75 dispute with the credit card company.

Please let me know if you need any assistance in this. You are welcome to PM me.

 

[satmann]

I would submit an online claim for an e voucher. The information on the site implies the voucher will be issued in 5 minutes.

Also, I would write to the credit card company and dispute the charge made by Eurostar, bearing in mind that for transactions over £100, the credit card company is joinly liable. I would dispute it on the basis you did not receive the service that you paid for. That you were left stranded and had to abandon your journey. i.e. ditch the train and had no choice but to get a taxi.

You could also write a forma complaint to Eurostar or take it to Passenger Focus (although you may decide not to do this if you are able to receive a evoucher for the full value of the fare).

Ok thanks will give them till tomorrow evening to reply.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Eurostar would have an arrangement with a taxi company to provide taxis, but the control centre didn't even provide this. I had a dispute with London Midland who refused to pay a taxi because I should have "got it through their contol centre" but they left me stranded with no staff and a locked station.

That aside, my person viw here is that Eurostar should be refunding the full value of the tickets paid (i.e. the cost of the return tickets) back onto the card used to pay for them. This is on the basis of the incorrect information given on the day, failing to provide assistance and the excessive delay to the passengers plus no provision of refreshments - not to mention the stress and lack of sleep. That is why I suggest raising a Section 75 dispute with the credit card company.

Please let me know if you need any assistance in this. You are welcome to PM me.

Thanks a lot.

 

[gray1404]

Your most welcome! Pleasure!

 

[satmann]

Just a quick question for poster Satmann .. was the taxi that took you to Leicester a Black cab or a mini-cab ? Its just that I would have thought TOCs like Eurostar would have a permanent agreement with a taxi company on standby to take people home as required after delays such as yours ? The taxi driver would charge Eurostar direct instead of charging the passenger? Can you now pay London taxi fares by card now? (As you can guess I am not a user of taxis up here in Lancashire)

It was a mini cab. Number was given to me by the train station security man. Payed by cash, I think you have to pay by card at the their office.

 

[najaB]

Kids are resilient and will generally fall asleep anywhere, so it's not really something I'd worry too much about. Slightly older kids would probably see it as an adventure while the adults faff about and get stressed.

It was more the faff and stress that I was thinking about, rather than the kids themselves! It's one thing getting stuck in a train station somewhere when you're by yourself, it is a whole different thing when you are responsible for someone else.

 

[island]

Eurostar would have an arrangement with a taxi company to provide taxis, but the control centre didn't even provide this. I had a dispute with London Midland who refused to pay a taxi because I should have "got it through their contol centre" but they left me stranded with no staff and a locked station.

That aside, my person viw here is that Eurostar should be refunding the full value of the tickets paid (i.e. the cost of the return tickets) back onto the card used to pay for them. This is on the basis of the incorrect information given on the day, failing to provide assistance and the excessive delay to the passengers plus no provision of refreshments - not to mention the stress and lack of sleep. That is why I suggest raising a Section 75 dispute with the credit card company.

Please let me know if you need any assistance in this. You are welcome to PM me.

This assumes the OP paid by credit card. Section 75 does not apply to debit card transactions – and whilst a chargeback may still be applicable, the conditions are more stringent and the cardholder will be expected to give the merchant a reasonable length of time to put things right.

 

[satmann]

This assumes the OP paid by credit card. Section 75 does not apply to debit card transactions – and whilst a chargeback may still be applicable, the conditions are more stringent and the cardholder will be expected to give the merchant a reasonable length of time to put things right.

Yes I paid by credit card.

 

[maniacmartin]

I can't believe anyone would even consider placing any blame on the OP here. As far as I'm concerned, this was not a one-off incident as Clip says, but repeated failings on Eurostar's account to sort this out at every stage, with the OP havisng to continually chase things.

 

[gray1404]

.....repeated failings on Eurostar's account to sort this out at every stage, with the OP havisng to continually chase things.

And thats where lies the problem.

 

[satmann]

Just a quick update I have received a response. I will post more of an update later. They have not responded because I have requested this. The reason they have responded is because of a forum member on here who has a good senior contact at Eurostar. They were forwarded this thread and I received a reply within a couple of hours. I have been asked not to mention this persons name. Just like to say thank you to them.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Just a quick update I have received a response. I will post more of an update later. They have not responded because I have requested this. The reason they have responded is because of a forum member on here who has a good senior contact at Eurostar. They were forwarded this thread and I received a reply within a couple of hours. I have been asked not to mention this persons name. Just like to say thank you to them.

Well, that's all jolly good for the OP - but frankly, it ain't no good for the actual service - it sounds more like service in certain Asian countries - where you know someone, or have to know someone, to get somewhere.

If the OP is giving an accurate account of events, and subsequent failures by Eurostar to sort if all out, it all stinks. Not every dissatisfied customer let at St Pancras - or anywhere else - knows about RailUK forum and how it can help them. :-x

 

[satmann]

Well, that's all jolly good for the OP - but frankly, it ain't no good for the actual service - it sounds more like service in certain Asian countries - where you know someone, or have to know someone, to get somewhere.

If the OP is giving an accurate account of events, and subsequent failures by Eurostar to sort if all out, it all stinks. Not every dissatisfied customer let at St Pancras - or anywhere else - knows about RailUK forum and how it can help them. :-x

It's not good for me, it shows that traveller care/customer services were not concerned with what had happened. And that's what annoys me. It is an accurate account of events.

 

[tony6499]

Eurostar is not coming out of this very good at all, from the original incident right up to needing the forum to try and sort things out.

Hopefully they will identify what has gone wrong and put in place measures so nobody else gets stranded like the OP and family.

 

[satmann]

Just to update...they have offered me a free return journey or £66 back. I have not decided as I do not really want to travel on the Eurostar again after my experience with their customer service.

 

[Merseysider]

Just to update...they have offered me a free return journey or £66 back. I have not decided as I do not really want to travel on the Eurostar again after my experience with their customer service.

Is the free return journey transferable to another person? If so, you might find someone on the forum willing to pay more than £66 for it, as even the single fare is more than that.

 

[bb21]

Just to update...they have offered me a free return journey or £66 back. I have not decided as I do not really want to travel on the Eurostar again after my experience with their customer service.

In addition to the delay compensation you are due or instead of?

If the former then fair enough, if the latter rubbish offer.

 

[satmann]

In addition to the delay compensation you are due or instead of?

If the former then fair enough, if the latter rubbish offer.

This is what they are offering for everything, no delayed compensation just this for what we experienced...... I have to choose 1 from below....

"Either a free return journey each, to be booked by 02/11/16 on any of our main routes (Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Marne-la-Vallée).
Or a partial refund of your original booking, totalling £66.
If you could let me know which of these options you would prefer, I will make the necessary arrangements. If opting for the refund, please also provide your bank details (eight-digit account number and six-digit sort code) so I can arrange a bank transfer."

 

[70014IronDuke]

This is what they are offering for everything, no delayed compensation just this for what we experienced...... I have to choose 1 from below....

"Either a free return journey each, to be booked by 02/11/16 on any of our main routes (Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Marne-la-Vallée).
Or a partial refund of your original booking, totalling £66.
If you could let me know which of these options you would prefer, I will make the necessary arrangements. If opting for the refund, please also provide your bank details (eight-digit account number and six-digit sort code) so I can arrange a bank transfer."

Sorry, just to check - you have got your taxi fare refunded, right? (I started to look back, but this thread is long, and full of arguments about not going tothe media, etc.)

Assuming that, well, I suppose the offer is okay-ish. I mean, it would be fine if you wanted to use the return tickets, but it's only ok, sort of, groan, if you have no intention of using Eurostar again.

 

[SemperSec]

Read this with incredulity. Circumstances like this are covered by EU directive. Even in BR days any employee would have had this sorted in a flash.

It is just a rank bad show

 

[snail]

my last set of travel insurance (through Allianz) offered up to £500 towards accommodation if delayed for six hours or more, and (I think) £200 towards 'catching up' costs if there was a missed connection. It was a couple of years ago so the current cover may be different.

I'm still not convinced that would cover a missed connection in the UK on the way home in the OP's circumstances. Going is ok, because policies usually use the final point of departure as the defined point for claiming. Coming home that would be the overseas departure point.

 

[najaB]

I'm still not convinced that would cover a missed connection in the UK on the way home in the OP's circumstances. Going is ok, because policies usually use the final point of departure as the defined point for claiming. Coming home that would be the overseas departure point.

It definitely did - I specifically checked as I had previously had to fork out for walk-up tickets for the sleeper when my flight back to the UK got rerouted.

 

[theageofthetra]

Given this poor display & the ongoing economic migrant issues in France I would now think twice of ever using Eurostar despite getting FIP discount.The EU261 claim compensation clarification earlier this year for a delayed flight makes flying much more attractive if disruption occurs.

 

[Phil.]

This is what they are offering for everything, no delayed compensation just this for what we experienced...... I have to choose 1 from below....

"Either a free return journey each, to be booked by 02/11/16 on any of our main routes (Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Marne-la-Vallée).
Or a partial refund of your original booking, totalling £66.
If you could let me know which of these options you would prefer, I will make the necessary arrangements. If opting for the refund, please also provide your bank details (eight-digit account number and six-digit sort code) so I can arrange a bank transfer."

If they gave you and your fellow passengers £1,000 each would that make it better? Would that restore the status quo, turn back time and put you back where you started and then made your connections match?
No, you'd still be in the position that you are now. In the cold light of day by offering you a free return journey available on any day for the next twelve months you've effectively got a 100% refund no ifs, buts or arguments.

 

[Wolfie]

If they gave you and your fellow passengers £1,000 each would that make it better? Would that restore the status quo, turn back time and put you back where you started and then made your connections match?
No, you'd still be in the position that you are now. In the cold light of day by offering you a free return journey available on any day for the next twelve months you've effectively got a 100% refund no ifs, buts or arguments.

No, what they have offered, after providing rank poor service which, has been pointed out earlier would have an airline clobbered financially, is another opportunity to experience their "service". Cost to them zero (they didn't even have the nouce to offer Standard Premier!)...

I am afraid I would go to the media and trash their reputation - if they want to play silly buggers make it cost them a few million in advertising to restore things!