Well done Northern! (delay repay on strike days)

[Mathew S]

For last weeks strike day, I made two delay repay claims: one for my morning journey, and one for my evening journey. My logic being, both were journeys I had planned but was unable to make. Both claims have been accepted by Northern, and compensation paid to the full value of a single ticket for each.

I have to say; I'm pleasantly surprised. I was fully expecting them only to pay one, and for it to take a lot longer than the one working week it's taken them. So, I know this isn't something that's said very often here, but...

Well Done Northern

(Not that well done though, because I still have three outstanding claims from March and April.)

 

[BlueFox]

Does Northern have any kind of system for processing delay claims or do they just decide which ones to process at random?

I'm waiting for a claim I made on 1st March, and I know a lot of other people are still waiting for claims from March.
But other people have had very recent claims dealt with.

Maybe they've realised that if they deal with them in the order they come in, everyone will have to wait more than their target 20 days. But if they deal with the most recent ones first, at least some people will be happy.

 

[robbeech]

So are you stating that you claimed delay repay compensation on a journey that you didn’t make?

I appreciate you wanted to but couldn’t but surely this should be paid as a refund not compensation?

 

[_toommm_]

Does Northern have any kind of system for processing delay claims or do they just decide which ones to process at random?

I'm waiting for a claim I made on 1st March, and I know a lot of other people are still waiting for claims from March.
But other people have had very recent claims dealt with.

Maybe they've realised that if they deal with them in the order they come in, everyone will have to wait more than their target 20 days. But if they deal with the most recent ones first, at least some people will be happy.

If you phone them up, they should do it on the day depending on who you get.

The first lady I had was very snotty, as if I was inconveniencing her, but the second transferred me through to finance and sent the money there and then to my debit card

 

[Mathew S]

So are you stating that you claimed delay repay compensation on a journey that you didn’t make?

I appreciate you wanted to but couldn’t but surely this should be paid as a refund not compensation?

Northern state on their own website that, for season ticket holders, they want people to claim through the delay repay system.

Customers with Northern season tickets* who decide not to travel due to strike action, can also claim compensation on the days they do not travel. These claims can be made using Northern’s Delay Repay process.

Source: https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/strike/tickets

 

[robbeech]

I see. It’s interesting how they’ve chosen to do it but clearly it works well so that’s a good result!

 

[Mathew S]

I see. It’s interesting how they’ve chosen to do it but clearly it works well so that’s a good result!

I imagine that, having just spent money and time creating a new portal to process DR claims (delay.northernrailway.co.uk), that they're thinking they may as well use it.

I rang them earlier in the week to ask what the delay was on my earlier claims and they said they were processing new claims (through the new system) as they received them, whilst also having a group of staff working through the backlog; hence that fact that my claim from last week happened so rapidly, but I'm still waiting for claims from early March.

 

[Starmill]

So are you stating that you claimed delay repay compensation on a journey that you didn’t make?

I appreciate you wanted to but couldn’t but surely this should be paid as a refund not compensation?

Yes. Normally if you don't travel it could be argued that it is improper to claim for a delay compensation payment. We have had massive arguments long discussions devoted to this small point in the past, in particular I remember @AlterEgo making that point.

However, Northern have now taken the decision to sanction this as policy:

Non-season ticket holders who decide not to travel on 9 May are entitled to a full refund, if their origin station or destination station is on the Northern network, with no admin fee charged. This should be applied for from the original point of sale.

Customers with Northern season tickets* who decide not to travel due to strike action, can also claim compensation on the days they do not travel. These claims can be made using Northern’s Delay Repay process.

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/strike/tickets

So perhaps it is acceptable to submit a Delay Repay claim when you do not travel after all. Who knows? At least everything is nice and simple.

 

[Mathew S]

So perhaps it is acceptable to submit a Delay Repay claim when you do not travel after all. Who knows? At least everything is nice and simple.

Quite. If nothing else it means that everything is in one place, no matter what you're claiming for.

 

[Starmill]

Quite. If nothing else it means that everything is in one place, no matter what you're claiming for.

Yeah that's great. Except for the fact that in view of certain forumites it's fraud to complete a Delay Repay form if you don't travel. So which is it? Nice? Or potentially fraud? Quite a difference of opinion there I think.