Delay Repay claims rejected

[Grumpy Git]

West Midlands Trains repay takes forever. My recent experience over two separate successful claims is that when they say 'may take up to 10 days', they really mean it, for both the acceptance and then additionally the time to make the refund. Overall, from claim to getting the money in your bank is a minimum of three weeks and sometimes longer.

Compare with TPE, delayed Saturday, claimed Monday, all approved and monies received on Friday of same week.

West Midlands Trains just don't have enough staff.

 

[trainophile]

I've usually found WMT very quick to confirm that my claim is valid. It does take about a week to receive the money but I haven't had a problem with them agreeing the claim, it's usually the next day after I submit it.

 

[MrJeeves]

West Midlands Trains just don't have enough staff.

Correction: The company which WMT, Chiltern, TfW (and others?) outsource delay repay to doesn't have enough staff.

 

[northwichcat]

Correction: The company which WMT, Chiltern, TfW (and others?) outsource delay repay to doesn't have enough staff.

Or maybe they have plenty of staff but the value of the contract only allows them to allocate a certain number of staff to working on it.

 

[PeachLillabo]

Correction: The company which WMT, Chiltern, TfW (and others?) outsource delay repay to doesn't have enough staff.

When I last used TfW delay repay it was automated presumably - it was approved 1 minute after I made the claim!

 

[northwichcat]

When I last used TfW delay repay it was automated presumably - it was approved 1 minute after I made the claim!

If you're making a simple journey using 1 train and the computer confirms it was delayed by over 15 minutes then it may not need a human to confirm it's a valid application. Getting paid will take longer than 1 minute though!

 

[Kite159]

..

If you're making a simple journey using 1 train and the computer confirms it was delayed by over 15 minutes then it may not need a human to confirm it's a valid application. Getting paid will take longer than 1 minute though!

Depends if you use PayPal as that normally comes as soon as the claim is approved.

 

[Bungle965]

..

Depends if you use PayPal as that normally comes as soon as the claim is approved.

I've just had a whopper 0.96p delivered to my PayPal after submitting a 30 minute delay with EMR yesterday so top marks for the speed of that one.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I've just had a whopper 0.96p delivered to my PayPal after submitting a 30 minute delay with EMR yesterday so top marks for the speed of that one.

Presume you mean 96p ?

Have once had less than that!

 

[ABB125]

Presume you mean 96p ?

Have once had less than that!

My record so far is 41p, I also have an RTV worth 48p (a very useful insurance policy!). I don't really travel enough to get any less than that though (given the cost of the regular journeys I make) unfortunately

 

[AlbertBeale]

I've usually found WMT very quick to confirm that my claim is valid. It does take about a week to receive the money but I haven't had a problem with them agreeing the claim, it's usually the next day after I submit it.

Twice WMT have promised me compensation and then nothing has happened. The first time I chased them for many months, before they dealt with it in the end. The second time, the promise of compensation was about 4 months ago now and I'm still waiting... They might agree quickly that they owe you something, but actually actioning it is another matter...

 

[lachlan]

My record so far is 41p, I also have an RTV worth 48p (a very useful insurance policy!). I don't really travel enough to get any less than that though (given the cost of the regular journeys I make) unfortunately

I once got 25p back for a journey between Montpelier and Shirehampton. Those Severn Beach line tickets are very cheap, especially with a railcard!

 

[trainophile]

Twice WMT have promised me compensation and then nothing has happened. The first time I chased them for many months, before they dealt with it in the end. The second time, the promise of compensation was about 4 months ago now and I'm still waiting... They might agree quickly that they owe you something, but actually actioning it is another matter...

Lost in the system after all this time. You need to chase that up.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Lost in the system after all this time. You need to chase that up.

A have done, several times.....!

 

[Trainbike46]

A have done, several times.....!

maybe sent them a final warning by post that if they don't pay within 14 days you will start court proceedings (I have no experience with this, but others on the forum may be able to advise)

 

[northwichcat]

I once got 25p back for a journey between Montpelier and Shirehampton. Those Severn Beach line tickets are very cheap, especially with a railcard!

I was just going to say a delay on a £1 sale ticket wouldn't get much compensation.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I was just going to say a delay on a £1 sale ticket wouldn't get much compensation.

Oh I don’t know, an hour’s delay can be very lucrative!

 

[Fermiboson]

A delay of an hour on a £1 ticket, and subsequently the delay repay claim of such, costs both the claimant and the TOC more than £1 in man-hours at minimum wage.

 

[northwichcat]

A delay of an hour on a £1 ticket, and subsequently the delay repay claim of such, costs both the claimant and the TOC more than £1 in man-hours at minimum wage.

For most people the time spent to claim is only an issue if you're short on time. For instance, you probably wouldn't turn down an overtime shift to do Delay Repay claims!

If you're saying the true value of Delay Repay depends on paying myself at least minimum wage to make the claim, then I'd also say the true cost of the ticket is higher. For instance, if I spent 5 minutes researching the best ticket options and then a further 2 minutes purchasing tickets, then I've incurred a cost of at least £1.30 to purchase them.

 

[SuspectUsual]

A delay of an hour on a £1 ticket, and subsequently the delay repay claim of such, costs both the claimant and the TOC more than £1 in man-hours at minimum wage.

Remember this can happen with Northern when they have their sales, and one of the options for delay repay over an hour is a free ticket to go anywhere on their network. Depending on what it’s used for, that can be worth a lot of money

 

[Kite159]

Remember this can happen with Northern when they have their sales, and one of the options for delay repay over an hour is a free ticket to go anywhere on their network. Depending on what it’s used for, that can be worth a lot of money

Agreed there, a free return ticket from memory for over an hour so easily could be worth more than £1 if someone uses it to commute to/from work one day or even on a day trip

 

[317 forever]

I once got 25p back for a journey between Montpelier and Shirehampton. Those Severn Beach line tickets are very cheap, especially with a railcard!

While it is the principle of the thing, I'm sure your battery/electricity/time to claim cost you more than that 25p.

 

[Deafdoggie]

While it is the principle of the thing, I'm sure your battery/electricity/time to claim cost you more than that 25p.

It depends. If you did it whilst charging on a TOC train and using their WiFi, there's zero cost

 

[ainsworth74]

I have been battling TPE with another Delay Repay claim recently using split tickets (an Off-Peak Day Return and a 7-day season on e-ticket). Initial claim was declined as I failed to submit the correct evidence as the season ticket should have been uploaded as a pdf (this of course is impossible as that ticket type doesn't produce a pdf) rather than a booking confirmation (despite their own webform saying a booking confirmation is acceptable). Appealed and this was refused on the basis that my journey could not be found (it was a direct TPE train from York to Redcar Central). Complaint went in. Claim has now been authorised.

Guess what's happened again...

The initial claim was bounced back as needing further info because:

We have noted that you purchased split tickets for your journey. Please upload a photo or scan of each ticket separately. The images you upload must display the ticket number, journey details and the price you paid for each ticket. Note that Booking Confirmation e-mails or Expenses Receipts do not show all the above information and so cannot be accepted as evidence.

This is both impossible (s-tickets like my season ticket do not give you pdfs) and also nonsense because their own claim form clearly says that booking confirmations are acceptable. Resubmitted the claim with no further info in the hopes a human might now look at it (as appears to happen at Northern, when I have this "please supply a pdf" with them resubmitting it straight away works). No dice. It was then rejected because:

Thank you for your Delay Repay claim. We have checked the journey you have claimed for and we are unable to find a timetabled journey that matches your claim. Therefore, your claim has been rejected on this occasion.

Excellent, I'm not sure how they couldn't find their own train from York to Redcar Central but oh well lets submit an appeal. Now helpfully (and unlike Northern) it does give you a way of providing some more information (but only 250 characters). The appeal has now been updated:

We have checked the journey you have claimed for and we appear to be missing multiple legs of your full intended journey.

So I phoned them, they could see the issue but were unable to do anything until I updated the appeal as it was seemingly locked and they can't intervene at this stage until I kick it back to them. Then, hopefully, it will be approved. But if not I'm to phone again and then they will sort it out.

 

[Trainbike46]

Guess what's happened again...

The initial claim was bounced back as needing further info because:



This is both impossible (s-tickets like my season ticket do not give you pdfs) and also nonsense because their own claim form clearly says that booking confirmations are acceptable. Resubmitted the claim with no further info in the hopes a human might now look at it (as appears to happen at Northern, when I have this "please supply a pdf" with them resubmitting it straight away works). No dice. It was then rejected because:



Excellent, I'm not sure how they couldn't find their own train from York to Redcar Central but oh well lets submit an appeal. Now helpfully (and unlike Northern) it does give you a way of providing some more information (but only 250 characters). The appeal has now been updated:



So I phoned them, they could see the issue but were unable to do anything until I updated the appeal as it was seemingly locked and they can't intervene at this stage until I kick it back to them. Then, hopefully, it will be approved. But if not I'm to phone again and then they will sort it out.

sounds like they're making a mess of it.

Funny how some TOCs are really bad at dealing with delay repay (LNWR/WMR/WMT and apparently TPE come to mind), while at others it simply works without any trouble (in my experience, Avanti and GA come to mind).

 

[Wolfie]

sounds like they're making a mess of it.

Funny how some TOCs are really bad at dealing with delay repay (LNWR/WMR/WMT and apparently TPE come to mind), while at others it simply works without any trouble (in my experience, Avanti and GA come to mind).

Anyone would think that they don't want to cough up....

 

[ainsworth74]

Well, you'll never guess what! The appeal was rejected. So I've phoned them again and spoken to another helpful adviser who has taken down all the details and is sending it back to the delay repay team to have another look...

Anyone would think that they don't want to cough up....

You'd think I was trying to squeeze hundreds of quid out of them rather than the £3 something or other that's at stake here. If I was designing systems like this if the value is anything under about £10 I'd tell it to pay out without quibble and then use our CRM system to keep an eye out for chancers. Someone who makes one claim every six months or so for less than a £10 is unlikely to be on the fiddle so lets not irritate them more by fighting over chicken feed. If they're making a claim every week or every day then yeah, that needs to be properly sussed to make sure they're not trying fiddle us.

 

[richw]

This is both impossible (s-tickets like my season ticket do not give you pdfs) and also nonsense because their own claim form clearly says that booking confirmations are acceptable. Resubmitted the claim with no further info in the hopes a human might now look at it (as appears to happen at Northern, when I have this "please supply a pdf" with them resubmitting it straight away works). No dice. It was then rejected because:

This is the same issue we had with delay repay with GWR, 24 coupons due to the splits. Their website timed out after 20 and deleted everything I’d loaded already. First GWR Twitter person was as much use as a chocolate tea pot. second Twitter person who replied gave me an email address to forward my booking confirmation email to, payment was sent within an hour!

I’d uploaded the collection receipt as the delay repay site said could be done.

 

[SuspectUsual]

f I was designing systems like this if the value is anything under about £10 I'd tell it to pay out without quibble and then use our CRM system to keep an eye out for chancers. Someone who makes one claim every six months or so for less than a £10 is unlikely to be on the fiddle so lets not irritate them more by fighting over chicken feed. If they're making a claim every week or every day then yeah, that needs to be properly sussed to make sure they're not trying fiddle us

Which - obviously with different parameters - is exactly what we did with a claims system when I worked in retail. The problem was getting the director whose final decision it was to understand that spending a fortune on a system which required human validation of every claim cost a lot more than letting the low value stuff through automatically and writing some reports to help spot if there were any serial claimants taking the proverbial

 

[Wolfie]

Which - obviously with different parameters - is exactly what we did with a claims system when I worked in retail. The problem was getting the director whose final decision it was to understand that spending a fortune on a system which required human validation of every claim cost a lot more than letting the low value stuff through automatically and writing some reports to help spot if there were any serial claimants taking the proverbial

When l worked in one particular CS department they worked out that low value expenses claims were costing at least four or five times their face value to process. We moved over to a process of claiming capped actuals. We were obliged to obtain and retain receipts for three years to permit audit.

It all worked very well until a new Minister, on the stated grounds of consistency and value for money, reverted to a variant of the same old rubbish that we had initially.

This all sounds like another pennywise pound foolish variation on that.