CrossCountry, Delay Repay processing times

[Adam Williams]

Very much a rant, but: How on earth can it take nearly 48 days to assess a Delay Repay claim?

Why does the industry persist in preventing retailers (or a central service) from paying out claims efficiently, and making passengers jump through these stupid hoops after they've been inconvenienced?

I've already submitted a (related) complaint about this journey, but that's had no response either. I suspect it'll ultimately all need to go to the Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman who I'm sure will simply parrot what they're told by the train operator [all their staff appear to be capable of doing].

It's wild to me how low some of the standards are amongst train operators when it comes to customer service.

 

[speedy1]

How on earth can it take nearly 48 days to assess a Delay Repay claim?

They've realised there's no legal or financial downside to taking so long. See also: UK261

Businesses love optimising their cashflow, not paying out until absolutely necessary

edit: and Ombudsmen just exist to make the public think there is a fair process and oversight. It's all a lie. I certainly understand your frustration

 

[jamietw]

I had one with XC that was still pending over a month recently. Rang them up, and after about 20 minutes on hold found them very helpful and it was paid within a couple of days. Obviously an inconvenience to have to call compared to an online claim going through quickly, but it did get it sorted.

 

[robbeech]

If someone were to tell you you owed me £10 and went on to ask you if you wanted to give me £10 or not and expressed clearly that if you didn’t want to you just didn’t have to bother and it would almost certainly go away then I suspect most people would choose not to bother. If they knew the consequences of not bothering was that 1 in 250 times they’d be forced to pay the £10 then it’s really a no brainer for them.

There is absolutely zero real world regulation forcing the railway to follow any rules whatsoever (from a retailing and compensatory angle), so they can and essentially do do as they please here.

It’s a smack in the face with the spade of irony really, they’re (quite rightly and justifiably) clamping down on passengers that evade the fare and have got away with paying when challenged, yet the railway is the absolute master of paying when challenged.