Wrong Refunds - extremely concerned

[Somo28]

Hi there

Grateful for any advice as I am worried sick.

I have been clicking the refund button on Trainline thinking this was the way to check for delay repayments. I assumed the system would just decline this if not delayed.

I have not been contacted or anything but I am now living in fear that I will be soon and I am considering contacting trainline to raise with them

Please could anyone advise me?

Many thanks

 

[RPI]

Hi there

Grateful for any advice as I am worried sick.

I have been clicking the refund button on Trainline thinking this was the way to check for delay repayments. I assumed the system would just decline this if not delayed.

I have not been contacted or anything but I am now living in fear that I will be soon and I am considering contacting trainline to raise with them

Please could anyone advise me?

Many thanks

My only advice now would be to stop doing it unless there is a genuine case for a refund, ie you decide not to travel or you book the wrong ticket (and don't use it).

For delays, you need to claim through the delay repay scheme.

 

[transportphoto]

May I ask what has made you twig that this may not be the right thing to do?

 

[Haywain]

I have been clicking the refund button on Trainline thinking this was the way to check for delay repayments.

If Delay Repay is payable you would have to claim it from the train operator - it would never be payable by Trainline under the current structure of the scheme.

 

[Somo28]

i came across the proper delay repay website and realised

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Dec 2022 ==

Thank you - I realise this now and feel incredibly stupid and want to rectify it sooner rather than later

If Delay Repay is payable you would have to claim it from the train operator - it would never be payable by Trainline under the current structure of the scheme

 

[Haywain]

i came across the proper delay repay website and realised

How many times have you done this?

 

[skyhigh]

I have been clicking the refund button on Trainline thinking this was the way to check for delay repayments. I assumed the system would just decline this if not delayed.

So you've been pressing refund hoping to get a delay repay payment, even when you've not been delayed (as surely if you knew you were delayed, you wouldn't need to check if you were eligible)?

 

[Somo28]

How many times have you done this?

I mindlessly clicked through all my tickets for the last month recently, I didn’t receive refunds but am concerned regardless

So you've been pressing refund hoping to get a delay repay payment, even when you've not been delayed (as surely if you knew you were delayed, you wouldn't need to check if you were eligible)?

Yep and I realise I sound very stupid. Most of my trains are delayed and I can’t say I’ve kept track. I thought it would partially refund if delayed for the cut off.

 

[Haywain]

I didn’t receive refunds

I think this could be regarded as good news. I am tempted to suggest (and others may well disagree) that you contact Trainline and inform them of what you have been doing, and why, in order to preempt them or the train companies asking questions of you.

 

[WesternLancer]

I think this could be regarded as good news. I am tempted to suggest (and other may well disagree) that you contact Trainline and inform of what you have been doing, and why, in order to preempt them or the train companies asking questions of you.

I would agree with this course of action. The only problem would be if Trainline don't understand properly what you are trying to tell them - they are not exactly known for great post purchase customer service....

Another reason why i would always suggest people do not use them.

OP - I think also you should now make an effort to recall and note down the trains and dates you travelled on if you are able to do that - eg study the timetable carefully and try and think what services you probably used, what dates etc - just keep this as a record if there is any come back. If there is, advice will be forthcoming from here I am sure.

 

[Somo28]

Thank you so much

Does anybody know the best way to contact trainline?

Many thanks

 

[najaB]

I would agree with this course of action. The only problem would be if Trainline don't understand properly what you are trying to tell them - they are not exactly known for great post purchase customer service....

From a legal point of view it doesn't matter if Trainline misunderstand what the OP tells them, only that they have been informed before any refunds are processed.

 

[WizCastro197]

Thank you so much

Does anybody know the best way to contact trainline?

Many thanks

Submit a ticket

support.thetrainline.com

This should be alright. I haven't contacted them before as I never book through them but I suppose after you enter such details, it will give you ways to contact them as it suggests. Good Luck.

And if you do find your train is delayed in the future, by more than 15 minutes, always go to the website of the company whose train you went on to claim some money back. Don't go to the vendor of such ticket (eg. trainline who don't operate any trains) unless it is said train company that provided the train.

 

[AlterEgo]

Does using the “contact us” form send you a copy of that correspondence via email?

If I were the OP I would want a paper trail of my correspondence.

 

[WizCastro197]

Does using the “contact us” form send you a copy of that correspondence via email?

If I were the OP I would want a paper trail of my correspondence.

I am unsure as the first step asks you for your transactionID/Booking reference, something I don't have as I have no prior bookings with them.

This is the link for the first step after you put them option is as 'Uk Rail or Railcards'

Submit a ticket

support.thetrainline.com

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Dec 2022 ==

Does using the “contact us” form send you a copy of that correspondence via email?

If I were the OP I would want a paper trail of my correspondence.

The Booking reference wasn't necessary, but if you scroll down to 'other-after-sales query' and click other, it then proceeds to ask you whether you would like to contact them via Email/Call/Live chat.

 

[zero]

I think you shouldn't say anything regarding delays which may just confuse the trainline customer service agent. Just say that you mistakenly pressed refund and you want to cancel all your refund requests.

 

[WesternLancer]

I think you shouldn't say anything regarding delays which may just confuse the trainline customer service agent. Just say that you mistakenly pressed refund and you want to cancel all your refund requests.

This seems a wise approach.

 

[greyman42]

Perhaps i have misunderstood the post. I have never used Trainline but surely you cannot click on something and expect a refund without Trainline making some checks? If this was the case, then lots of people would be at it and fraudulent claims would no doubt come to the attention of this forum.

 

[MrJeeves]

Perhaps i have misunderstood the post. I have never used Trainline but surely you cannot click on something and expect a refund without Trainline making some checks? If this was the case, then lots of people would be at it and fraudulent claims would no doubt come to the attention of this forum.

I know a lot of people who did, in fact, do this when travelling to and from college. Nothing seemed to happen as a result, but I'm sure there are cases for serial offenders where this definitely gets picked up and investigated.

Those same people did often get caught out at the platform when there were a huddle of RPIs waiting to greet them!

 

[WizCastro197]

Perhaps i have misunderstood the post. I have never used Trainline but surely you cannot click on something and expect a refund without Trainline making some checks? If this was the case, then lots of people would be at it and fraudulent claims would no doubt come to the attention of this forum.

Judging from other posts from other threads related to Trainline but not related to the topic of this thread, it appears that Trainline is in fact a very flawed site unfortunately. It is always better going through a TOC as I find as they are directly responsible for the running of trains and can assist you probably better in more unique matters than Trainline can.

 

[30907]

This seems a wide approach.

Wise?

The other suggestion I have is - make absolutely sure that you don't use an online (rail) ticketing system in a way that might arouse suspicion.

Unfortunately but understandably train operators (like other companies) have systems in place that flag up what they consider suspicious, and this forum has plenty of examples of people whose (outwardly innocent) behaviour matches that of deliberate fare evaders.

And if in doubt, ask here! (You may get some irrelevant replies, but it would be very unusual not to get the correct information fairly quickly!)

 

[WesternLancer]

Wise?

Thanks! corrected now.

 

[Haywain]

The other suggestion I have is - make absolutely sure that you don't use an online (rail) ticketing system in a way that might arouse suspicion.

Let’s simplify that - don’t act in ways that might arouse suspicion of criminal behaviour. Not just online but all the time.

 

[357]

Let’s simplify that - don’t act in ways that might arouse suspicion of criminal behaviour. Not just online but all the time.

Sounds a bit like we are living in China or North Korea.

 

[WizCastro197]

Sounds a bit like we are living in China or North Korea.

No Not Really, unless you think it is normal to go around daily business arousing suspicion and acting generally 'weird'

Most people follow @Haywain's advice without even thinking about it.

 

[KGX]

Perhaps i have misunderstood the post. I have never used Trainline but surely you cannot click on something and expect a refund without Trainline making some checks? If this was the case, then lots of people would be at it and fraudulent claims would no doubt come to the attention of this forum.

I overheard a group talking about clicking for a refund on trainline once they observed the gate line was open. Seen people talking about it on Twitter too. Seems silly if that's easy to do.

 

[357]

No Not Really, unless you think it is normal to go around daily business arousing suspicion and acting generally 'weird'

Most people follow @Haywain's advice without even thinking about it.

Do you remember some years ago when there was a number of incidents of railway photographers being harassed and searched under anti terrorism laws?

 

[AlterEgo]

Do you remember some years ago when there was a number of incidents of railway photographers being harassed and searched under anti terrorism laws?

That’s a little different to simply requesting refunds on all your tickets “to see if you get anything back”.

 

[357]

Let’s simplify that - don’t act in ways that might arouse suspicion of criminal behaviour. Not just online but all the time.

That’s a little different to simply requesting refunds on all your tickets “to see if you get anything back”.

For your benefit I've re-quoted the post I was replying to.

 

[mangyiscute]

I overheard a group talking about clicking for a refund on trainline once they observed the gate line was open. Seen people talking about it on Twitter too. Seems silly if that's easy to do.

I know many people who use lines such as the Falmouth branch, and if their ticket isn't checked on the train they will just refund it - something needs to be done about it, and unfortunately the most likely outcome is more charges for refunds