Valid e-ticket rejected, had to buy new ticket.

[JoeH]

Back in November I was travelling on TPE with my partner. We both had Advance Single e-tickets, both for the same train, and we were on the correct train.

One of our two tickets would not scan on the conductor’s machine, as it said the ticket had been cancelled. So he told me I had to take it up with the retailer and then sold us a new walk up ticket, which was nearly £50.

When I got home I contacted the retailer who insisted the ticket hadn’t been cancelled and was valid, refused to refund the cost of the new walkup ticket and said I had to take it up with TPE.

I then contacted TPE, explaining what happened and providing them with screenshot of the original e-ticket and a photograph of the paper ticket I had to purchase on the train. A few days later they responded to say they would look into it but now nearly three months have passed and I haven’t received a further response. I called their customer services a few weeks ago but they said this was a normal amount of time, that I was in a queue and just had to wait.

I subsequently got back onto the retailer. They again refused to refund the cost of the walk up ticket but eventually said they would refund the cost of the original (much cheaper) advance ticket as a goodwill gesture. That was now several weeks ago, they didn’t refund me even that, and they are now ignoring emails.

Who is responsible for refunding me?
Is nearly three months an acceptable amount of time to wait for a response from the TPE?
What are my next steps?

 

[mikeg]

Ask for a certificate of deadlock and take it to the ombudsman. You are entitled the value of the more expensive ticket back.

 

[ainsworth74]

If the ticket was valid and not cancelled (as appears to be the case) then it's TPE who owe you a refund not the retailer. I would personally go back to them (might be worth trying via Twitter, prodding them about customer service requests in Twitter DMs has yielded fruit for me before) and request that they urgently reply to your complaint or alternatively issue a deadlock letter. At that point I'd diarise a date 40 working days from that email and then if they've still not replied escalate to the ombudsman.

 

[methecooldude]

One of our two tickets would not scan on the conductor’s machine, as it said the ticket had been cancelled.

This doesn't seem right to me. Either it wouldn't scan so the conductor wouldn't know it had/had not been cancelled, or it did scan and it showed as cancelled...

Which is it?

 

[JoeH]

This doesn't seem right to me. Either it wouldn't scan so the conductor wouldn't know it had/had not been cancelled, or it did scan and it showed as cancelled...

Which is it?

Yes, sorry. When I said one wouldn’t scan what I meant is it wouldn’t scan as valid. It was scanned but said it had been cancelled on the handheld device.

 

[methecooldude]

Yes, sorry. When I said one wouldn’t scan what I meant is it wouldn’t scan as valid. It was scanned but said it had been cancelled on the handheld device.

Ok, and just to be sure, whomsoever ticket that was, they didn't request a change to the time or date of travel?

 

[Elecman]

Do you have the retailers confirmation that the ticket had not been cancelled in writing?

 

[JoeH]

Ok, and just to be sure, whomsoever ticket that was, they didn't request a change to the time or date of travel?

No request to change a date or time of travel, and I’m sure of that because I bought both tickets.

Do you have the retailers confirmation that the ticket had not been cancelled in writing?

Unfortunately not. I initially emailed them but they didn’t respond so in the end I had to phone them. On the phone they told me that the ticket was valid and to take it up with TPE. They did subsequently email me regarding the phone conversation, just to reiterate that they weren’t willing to refund me the cost of the ticket on the day, but offering to refund the advance ticket as a goodwill gesture (but then they never did). They have ignored subsequent emails.

 

[AlterEgo]

It must have been 40 days since you raised the complaint, so I'd just go to the ombudsman.

 

[BurtonM]

TPE's customer services are particularly bad at responding to emails in my experience. You shouldn't need to prompt them on X/Twitter etc.
I had an issue with them last year where they were taking about a month to respond to each of my emails, eventually they stopped replying to me and after waiting a month I had to chase them up. To make matters worse, they also provided me with demonstrably incorrect information on at least one occasion.

I ended up taking them to the Ombudsman (by their invitation, no less) - the Ombudsman acknowledged the unacceptable amount of time TPE were taking to respond to emails and ordered compensation/costs of £40 - on a query that was worth £4.

Complaint

How to make a complaint

www.railombudsman.org

You can go directly to the Ombudsman when an issue hasn't been resolved in over 40 days, so you don't need a deadlock letter, or to tell TPE what you're doing (if you were being nice you could email them 'as this has taken over 40 days to resolve, I have taken this case up with the Rail Ombudsman' or words to that effect). I wouldn't bother trying to contact TPE again as it'll take too long to get a response from them, and it won't achieve anything.


You might need to write a Word document to attach with your evidence to the Ombudsman if you can't fit your case in the provided text box as the character limit is a bit short I found - don't worry, they'll read it
When you're submitting your case, use the option that you want compensating (!).

Outline your case to them, and provide all the evidence you have, including the ticket retailer's confirmation that your ticket was valid. TPE should have accepted this and agreed to refund you. It should be resolved within a couple of weeks when the Ombudsman is involved.

TPE are in the wrong and should be refunding you for the extra expense - as it happens, my issue was similar to yours, where I had to overspend on tickets thanks to a shortcoming on TPE's part, however they were refusing to honour it (they seem to be extremely reluctant to take responsibility for, let alone refund people for their mistakes and will just stall/make bad excuses/ignore you/misinform you to avoid paying out - I'm not sure if this is malicious or negligent, but the CSAs seem to make it up as they go along).

I doubt I'm the only person that's taken TPE to the Ombudsman on these grounds, and they will definitely see TPE's slow responses in a dim light even before your other issues - I'd be surprised if the Ombudsman didn't promptly find in your favour and order TPE to both refund and compensate you (which you'll find they'll do pretty promptly when it comes from the Ombudsman!).