complaint framework/timescales?

[traintimemf]

so working in finance I know I could probably pursue this but I have a feeling that this is pointless but worth an ask...

in Jan 2015 there were 2 separate incidents where I had to buy tickets on a train after purchasing them online due to an unknown fault with a ticket machine

its a long story but I'm not sure its not too relevant to the query - I made a complaint to east coast who said they would investigate and to send all tickets etc to themselves and look to refund, I was sent an email with details of the case but was told tickets had to be provided by post (I did some temp work years ago for east coast customer relations when they were based in Newcastle and I don't think that's true but whatever)

so I sent a reply to the confirmation of the query I logged to ask the address it needs to go to and didn't receive a reply until around 6 weeks later and had forgotten about the whole thing - at this point I had no idea where the ticket I bought on the train had gone (although I had bought it by card) and never called back to chase this up

am busy exporting my old emails to a new account and came across this - is it worth bothering to call them? or should I just write it off and accept that being busy is no excuse for not being diligent? lol

 

[najaB]

in Jan 2015...

...is it worth bothering to call them? or should I just write it off and accept that being busy is no excuse for not being diligent? lol

Two years ago? Write it off, you'll get nowhere with chasing it.

 

[traintimemf]

hah, what I thought - I mean its kind of funny, but I obviously wouldn't get the same kind of mercy coming back on me - literally forgot about it until I saw the email with the complaint ref

I know where I work we would be obliged to re-open it, but the industry is more heavily regulated

 

[najaB]

I know where I work we would be obliged to re-open it, but the industry is more heavily regulated

It's a seven-year cycle is it not? The current Virgin Trains East Coast didn't even exist back in Jan 2015.

 

[AlterEgo]

Write it off and pour yourself a beer.

 

[traintimemf]

yeah, don't worry about it guys lol - just being reminded of it made me wonder if it might have been worth an email or phonecall - I would however like to clarify something for future ref as I remember 1 of the incidents in question cost me around $85 extra...

when I could not retrieve the tickets from the machine - I went to the ticket office who found the booking but were unable to print the tickets

does the person behind the counter have power to give me the authority to travel? should I have asked this? would have saved a lot of money and stress from having to ring an ex at 7am to get her to send me money to not get booted off the train...

 

[najaB]

does the person behind the counter have power to give me the authority to travel? should I have asked this?

Technically they could have issued you a zero-fare ticket, but this is a very rare thing. Normal process is for you to buy a new ticket and then apply for a refund - as there's always the possibility that the passenger isn't being genuine and is trying it on.

 

[Haywain]

does the person behind the counter have power to give me the authority to travel?

They did. In exchange for your payment.

 

[traintimemf]

ha, nice but actually they didn't even suggest this - after 10 mins at the ticket office I got a shrug of the shoulders and there was only 5 mins until the train so I just left it

to be fair the crew on the 5:25 Newcastle to York was usually the same every week and the guard recognised me as it was a weekly commute for months - he even told me to go and sit in first class as he knew it would be a first class ticket so got no issues there, in fact I thought it was awesome how it was dealt with, not what I expected...... unfortunately I was not so lucky on the cross country connection at York

I suppose I was offered to buy a ticket or get off the train at the next stop - if I had not been on the way to a job interview and time was a little more flexible, I may have just got off the train and waited for websupport or customer relations to open, but instead que a few awkward phonicalls whilst I woke a lot of friends at 7am to beg for $85 lol - the only mercy I found was a recent ex gf who was not too happy lol

in any case - I had forgotten all about it until now so just wondered if there was any point emailing or calling or whether it was more likely that they would not have a clue what I was talking about ha

 

[bb21]

If you don't ask, you don't get, but don't get your hopes up.