Customer service and booking experience on third party retailers

[Haywain]

What would be even easier is if there was a centralised Delay Repay hub - operated by RDG or someone - where you could go to make all claims and all the industry who/what/when/where/why of the delay responsibility was done in the background - perhaps something that may be made easier under GBR?

I agree - a single point and process for submitting claims would be ideal - even if this is linked from or embedded in retailer’s websites. How it’s dealt with beyond that doesn’t then matter as long as there is also a single point for appeals which should all be dealt with by one team. I fear that if retailers were handling DR there would be the same mix of experience that we have now.

 

[J663738]

To be very honest I never knew connecting journeys on different TOC could be claimed via delay repay system.
I take your point about auto delay repay, but I am stopping off in Manchester, then getting a day single to Leeds, so there is flexibility, if my first leg is late.
As an aside going on the Settle to Carlisle train, which I have wanted to do for years.
Return from Newcastle, I left large gap in Manchester, just in case I missed my timed connection there as I didn't know the first TOC would be liable!

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks for that, so this answers my initial question about third party sellers and have things changed and it appears it hasn't.
That's why I book directly with the train company I'm travelling with, so if there is a delay, I claim off them directly, which simplifies matters, for me at least.

It doesn't simplify anything. Regardless of where you book, you need to claim from the train company involved. It requires the same effort and filling in the same form and providing your proof of purchase in exactly the same way. Buying from the same company gives you no advantages in this respect.

I buy a my electricity (a service) from a company that doesn't generate the power, if I have a power cut I claim off them not the generator or distributor

That's...not true.

If you have a power cut please call 105 to report it in the first instance.

Your gas or electricity network operator is responsible for fixing power cuts and paying you compensation. This company is not your energy supplier.

UK Power Cut? Call 105 For Free | Find Your Electricity Provider

www.powercut105.com

Same with insurance, I don't have to go back to the under-writer to make my claim.

That's claiming on insurance, not making a complaint or getting compensation for the insurer's poor service or failure to do their job properly.

Regardless, hopefully this thread has cleared up some misconceptions about how train tickets work for you. And your electricity supply!

 

[Tester]

To be very honest I never knew connecting journeys on different TOC could be claimed via delay repay system.
I take your point about auto delay repay, but I am stopping off in Manchester, then getting a day single to Leeds, so there is flexibility, if my first leg is late.
As an aside going on the Settle to Carlisle train, which I have wanted to do for years.
Return from Newcastle, I left large gap in Manchester, just in case I missed my timed connection there as I didn't know the first TOC would be liable!

How can I put this diplomatically?

It really does seem that it would be to your benefit to spend a little time to find out how the system works, rather than unilaterally deciding how you think it works.

You may then be pleasantly surprised at the possibilities!

There is a lot of resource here to help you, as you are hopefully noticing.

 

[J663738]

Regardless, hopefully this thread has cleared up some misconceptions about how train tickets work for you. And your electricity supply!

It has, but I wish Trains compensation worked like the electricity scenario in that compensation is automatic and I don't need to contact the network operator and also give them my details. They use my supplier to obtain the details.

How can I put this diplomatically? The Train System in the UK is a total shambles and overly complicated!

 

[AlterEgo]

It has, but I wish Trains compensation worked like the electricity scenario in that compensation is automatic and I don't need to contact the network operator and also give them my details. They use my supplier to obtain the details.

Automatic compensation is problematic for the already-identified issue that you are often short-compensated when travelling on one ticket, when in fact you may have been making a wider journey on multiple tickets. If I get delayed by 16 minutes on a £100 advance single with Avanti, I get £25 back. But if I had a £10 ticket onward to another station, and I missed the hourly connection as a result, I'd be due £110 as I'd be an hour late into my destination.

This is before we get to flexible paper tickets where no retailer can possibly know which train you were on.

Delay Repay is a form of liquidated damages and scaled according the the consequences/delay you suffer, unlike power cut compensation, which isn't. (You can still be compensated even if you had, for example, a home battery or solar panels or a generator which still provided power and your power never actually "went off!!)

 

[Hadders]

It has, but I wish Trains compensation worked like the electricity scenario in that compensation is automatic and I don't need to contact the network operator and also give them my details. They use my supplier to obtain the details.

Electricity is a bit simpler than train journey. Let's look at a couple of examples.

I once made a journey from Edinburgh to Enfield Chase, changing at Stevenage. I had 4 minutes to make the change which is the minimum interchange time at Stevenage. Trains from Stevenage to Enfield Chase were hourly (they're more frequent now but back then they weren't). The train from Edinburgh was five minutes late arriving at Stevenage meaning I missed the connection. I was an hour late arriving at Enfield Chase and claimed accordingly from LNER because they caused the delay. I doubt there'd be a way that LNER's automated delay repay system to work that out.

Now let's look at a similar, but different scenario. I was making a journey from Dore & Totley to Stevenage, changing at Doncaster where I had a 45-minute connection. The TPE train from Dore & Totely to Doncaster was 35 minutes late. If I was making a journey from Dore & Totley to DOncaster then I'd have had a valid delay repay claim. But my journey was to Stevenage and although the TPE train was late arriving at Doncaster my arrival at Stevenage was not delayed, so there was no claim. Again, an autoated system is unlikely to be able to work this sort of thing out.

 

[Haywain]

Automatic compensation is problematic for the already-identified issue that you are often short-compensated when travelling on one ticket, when in fact you may have been making a wider journey

One ticket for a journey over more than one operator won't be available for automatic Delay Repay anyway.

 

[cholsey-choose]

It has, but I wish Trains compensation worked like the electricity scenario in that compensation is automatic and I don't need to contact the network operator and also give them my details. They use my supplier to obtain the details.

How can I put this diplomatically? The Train System in the UK is a total shambles and overly complicated!

Both are true: the train system is over complicated and you have no idea what you are talking about.

Still, delay repay beats the compensation you get for delays when driving.

 

[redreni]

One ticket for a journey over more than one operator won't be available for automatic Delay Repay anyway.

No, but the OP said he buys his tickets from the operator, so would buy separately from each operator for a journey over more than one operator.

In which case, unless opted out of auto delay repay, it may apply and it may get it wrong (possibly in the passenger's favour, but more likely underpaying due to not knowing about the whole journey).

 

[yorkie]

I have just booked several tickets to Newcastle, but I always prefer to book my tickets directly with the TOC I am travelling with, i.e. TfW and Northern for this journey. Even today I booked too early a return on the second leg and phoned up customer service and they told me to book another complete return journey, ring back and they will cancel the first one free of charge, which they have now done, do third party sites offer this sort of service?
Also when things go wrong it has been difficult to sort out as there is a third party now involved, at least this was my experience a few years ago, when I needed a refund.
Can anyone convince me that things have now improved? and should I be using this sites booking portal?

In future, I strongly recommend purchasing tickets for the whole journey with a through itinerary

There are websites that will check if it is cheaper to split, such as ours.

I advise against doing manual splits because you can get into the sort of mess that you got into.

Train was just late.
Maybe like others I just distrust third party retailers who just sit in the middle and add to the complexity and overall cost of the transaction (in the long run). But sadly this is how the UK and other countries are built these days, like the majority who appear on Dragons Den TV show, few will want make something new, they just seem to piggy back on someone else's business and try and take a cut.

No TOC actually sells tickets entirely directly; they all use third party sites which they use under contract and with the TOCs branding.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Aug 2025 ==

To be very honest I never knew connecting journeys on different TOC could be claimed via delay repay system.
I take your point about auto delay repay, but I am stopping off in Manchester, then getting a day single to Leeds, so there is flexibility, if my first leg is late.

If you want additional interchange time, there are websites, such as our own ticketing site, that allows this.

In any case, providing you have a valid itinerary, a delay would not prevent you continuing and completing your journey.