Delay repay return ticket as two singles

[LlanishenBull]

Travelled from CDF to MAN on Saturday. Horrendous journey up, diverted via Chester, sat outside Crewe for 30 mins before the unhealthily crammed 2 carriage train was terminated and I had to catch another service from Crewe (that was probably not valid for my ticket). Ended up over 2 hours late.

Clearly I get all my money back.

Except I don't as I bought two singles rather than some sort of day return.

I can't claim for the whole return fare because of this. Seems to me like rail ticket pendantery (is that a word?) going against logic.

For info I travelled back the same day, again on an uncomfortably rammed 2 carriage train but it was more or less on time.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

That's perfectly normal and standard practice. You clearly knew you were buying 2 X singles during the purchasing process, presume at a considerable discount over the return.

Proper returns are gradually being phased out anyway.

 

[LlanishenBull]

Railway normal and standard practice could be argued as pendantery from a customer point of view.

You're not wrong though, my ticket was considerably cheaper, a half price tfw offer made the whole fare only £33, so I'm not overly worried about only getting half of it back.

But the principle seems unfair. As far as I'm concerned I bought the best value return I could, delay repay covers the whole of a return journey and its fare, but as my tickets are separate it's somehow different.

I know I'm not going to persuade industry insiders but the dreadful journey itself and the way you're compensated is another, imho, example of the railway working for itself not its often hapless customers.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But the principle seems unfair. As far as I'm concerned I bought the best value return I could, delay repay covers the whole of a return journey and its fare, but as my tickets are separate it's somehow different.

I know I'm not going to persuade industry insiders but the dreadful journey itself and the way you're compensated is another, imho, example of the railway working for itself not its often hapless customers.

To be honest my take has always been that the "100% of return" level didn't really make much sense. Two hour delays are very rare anyway, I think I've had about two or three ever. As Tazi says the trend is away from return tickets anyway, so this will slowly phase itself out.

 

[mad_rich]

I take the view that Delay Repay is an imperfect system, that throws up unusual results.

Sometimes the specifics of your journey mean you get a very generous refund for what turns out to have been a minor inconvenience. Other times a major hassle results in a little or no refund.

Swings and roundabouts.

 

[TheSmiths82]

Getting a full refund on the retain can be a great way to get compensation though. Last year I got an open return from Manchester to Edinburgh as it was only £20 more than two singles and the flexibility was very useful for me. TPE cancelled my return train, stuck on a coach to Carlisle which took hours, then left us stranded in Carlisle while they were arguing if we could get the Avanti to Preston (we did). It took 9 hours to get from Edinburgh to Manchester, but getting the full £100 odd back made it worth it. If I only got £30-£40 back it wouldn't have been worth hassle and waste of a day.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Getting a full refund on the retain can be a great way to get compensation though. Last year I got an open return from Manchester to Edinburgh as it was only £20 more than two singles and the flexibility was very useful for me. TPE cancelled my return train, stuck on a coach to Carlisle which took hours, then left us stranded in Carlisle while they were arguing if we could get the Avanti to Preston (we did). It took 9 hours to get from Edinburgh to Manchester, but getting the full £100 odd back made it worth it. If I only got £30-£40 back it wouldn't have been worth hassle and waste of a day.

The Off Peak Return from Manchester to Edinburgh is "route Carlisle" and therefore is valid on Avanti and Northern without any acceptance agreement, for future reference. There is no "TPE only" version of this ticket, same with the Anytime. (There is an Avanti+Northern one for a lower price though).

There are some odd "business return" ones that are but I doubt you had one of those.

 

[TheSmiths82]

The Off Peak Return from Manchester to Edinburgh is "route Carlisle" and therefore is valid on Avanti and Northern without any acceptance agreement, for future reference. There is no "TPE only" version of this ticket, same with the Anytime. (There is an Avanti+Northern one for a lower price though).

There are some odd "business return" ones that are but I doubt you had one of those.

It was a standard off peak open return. The issue was that the first Avanti they put us in Edinburgh was too full, so the driver made any passengers for [i.e Manchester bound passengers getting off at Preston] Manchester get off. They can sent us to this coach, which was magically waiting for us. It was all very odd, as the email TPE sent the night before told us to get that Avanti train, so I am not sure where this waiting coach came from.

If I was aware at the time that Avanti was a valid route anyway I would have just tried to get the next train Avanti London train.

 

[cheekybifta]

I take the view that Delay Repay is an imperfect system, that throws up unusual results.

Sometimes the specifics of your journey mean you get a very generous refund for what turns out to have been a minor inconvenience. Other times a major hassle results in a little or no refund.

Swings and roundabouts.

Agree with this. Getting my fiver back when a 2-3 hourly service between request stops 20 mins apart gets cancelled isn't much compensation for completely changing your day. Getting ~£100 back for a 6 hour journey, including a first class leg, because Northern cancelled a later connection causing an hours delay, felt like I'd won a prize.

That said, I can't think of a better way to do it. A set rate for the amount of delay would be lovely, especially if it's proportionate to the expected journey time, but would be far too easy to exploit for profit with little/no intention of travelling. You could freeze out people with tickets bought after the delay/cancellation is announced but this would exclude a huge group of passengers genuinely suffering delays. You could have these fall back to the current delay repay system but making things even more complex is the last thing we need.

 

[Watershed]

Travelled from CDF to MAN on Saturday. Horrendous journey up, diverted via Chester, sat outside Crewe for 30 mins before the unhealthily crammed 2 carriage train was terminated and I had to catch another service from Crewe (that was probably not valid for my ticket). Ended up over 2 hours late.

Clearly I get all my money back.

Except I don't as I bought two singles rather than some sort of day return.

I can't claim for the whole return fare because of this. Seems to me like rail ticket pendantery (is that a word?) going against logic.

For info I travelled back the same day, again on an uncomfortably rammed 2 carriage train but it was more or less on time.

I think I passed the train you are referring to - it looked very cramped sat outside Crewe. It's unreasonable, I agree, and effectively devalues the otherwise (relatively) generous Delay Repay policy the railway has adopted. Unfortunately it's the way the Delay Repay rules work so there is little point pursuing it further, if that's what you're thinking of.