Delay Repay - odd request.

[steffo]

I recently traveled to London and was delayed on the first leg of the journey which resulted in a delay of 61 mins.

I duly claimed delay repay.

I received RTV's which were very much less than half the fare refund I was entitled too. I contacted the train company who acknowledged it was incorrect. Having not received the additional refund two weeks later. I contacted the TC to chase the additional refund. They stated they were processing it and would be sorted very shortly.

I received a call one hour later from the TC requesting the names and addresses of the other 3 passengers (4 of us in total) as they like to send them their share of RTV's.

I stated they were all from the same address. (true). I know it states RTV's are not transferable but unlike an airline where I have to give a passengers name to travel. I dont with rail. So why did the TC want to know all the passengers names?

Never heard of this before.

 

[bb21]

Maybe they want to issue them with their own letters of apology?

Not that I have heard this happening before.

 

[Camden]

If you buy a Christmas present for someone and it's broken and you take it back, the shop doesn't ask for the recipient's name and address so it can give them the refund.

If you paid for the travel, then the refund is surely owed to you the customer? Additionally, if the RTVs aren't transferable and you are the person who books the travel for the people who you had bought tickets for, if they arrive in the names of these people how are you meant to use them?

 

[34D]

Sounds like there is more to this.... you aren't all trying to make separate claims with the same set of scanned in tickets are you?

 

[DaleCooper]

If you paid for the travel, then the refund is surely owed to you the customer?

I would think the compensation is due to the person who was delayed, not the person who bought the ticket. After all the OP has not suffered a loss apart from their own delay.

Sounds like there is more to this.... you aren't all trying to make separate claims with the same set of scanned in tickets are you?

My thoughts were that perhaps the TOC suspects it is not a genuine claim.

 

[Flamingo]

Something has my spidey senses tingling about this...

 

[Ebore]

London Midland by any chance? I had a similar experience with them a few years ago, I gave them the names and the address (same as mine) of the people travelling with me and the vouchers turned up in separate envelopes a week later.

 

[najaB]

London Midland by any chance? I had a similar experience with them a few years ago, I gave them the names and the address (same as mine) of the people travelling with me and the vouchers turned up in separate envelopes a week later.

How very odd.

 

[DaleCooper]

How very odd.

Perhaps their system can't cope with compensating a single passenger several times in respect of one delayed journey.

 

[First class]

Or Fraud Prevention....?

Not impossible that the OP could have "found" discarded tickets and then states that they all travelled together.

Obviously not applicable in this instance, but something some TOCs keep an eye on.

Additionally, it is important to record who is receiving delay vouchers so that repeat claims/abusers etc can be identified and prosecuted.

 

[najaB]

Perhaps their system can't cope with compensating a single passenger several times in respect of one delayed journey.

Can't see why - it would be different tickets.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Or Fraud Prevention....?

Not impossible that the OP could have "found" discarded tickets and then states that they all travelled together.

Easily gotten around by use of a random name generator - it was my cousin: click here for name.

 

[gray1404]

This post raises an interesting question: "What measures are in place (and used by the TOCs) to protect the delay repay from misuse?" At the same time I'd say there should be such measures, it should not disadvantage the vast majority of honest passengers. The process should be simple and easy to use.

People with repeat claims could indeed me regular commuters who travel twice a day 5 or 6 days a week with a TOC. Indeed some of their most frequent and loyal customers. Just because someone has made a lot of claims doesn't mean they are not genuine. It means they are a very regular user of the service.

I had a journey once using the return half of a Liverpool to London Off Peak Return. I broke my journey in Birmingham and Manchester (it was days after this was taken away as a permitted route, however at the time of of buying the ticket - i.e. the contract being formed and indeed making the outward journey it was still allowed). I had a 60 minute delay repay with VT on the EUS-BHM leg. The next day, the XC service to Piccadilly was cancelled so I arrived 45 minutes late. Then on my last leg the EMT was delayed by 20 minutes which caused me to miss my connection to Formby on a separate ticket (split ticket) and a total delay of 30 minutes. I made 3 separate delay repay claims all on the same ticket and all of which were genuine and no problems with any. All TOCs paid out based on the full value of the ticket.

I believe it is only right that the process remain simple and in favour of the honest passenger.

 

[34D]

I made 3 separate delay repay claims all on the same ticket and all of which were genuine and no problems with any. All TOCs paid out based on the full value of the ticket.

I believe it is only right that the process remain simple and in favour of the honest passenger.

This reads as though you did the wrong thing - which I'm sure you didn't mean to read.

What was the face value of the ticket and how much did you receive from each?

 

[Starmill]

It read to me like it was a Rover of some kind? I was delayed by more than an hour on 3 seperate occasions on a 7-day Rover lat year.

 

[Deerfold]

It read to me like it was a Rover of some kind?

It did?

I had a journey once using the return half of a Liverpool to London Off Peak Return.

 

[455driver]

This reads as though you did the wrong thing - which I'm sure you didn't mean to read.

What was the face value of the ticket and how much did you receive from each?

I agree, it sounds like he claimed 3 times for the same delay!

 

[talltim]

I agree, it sounds like he claimed 3 times for the same delay!

But if you actually read it, it wasn't the same delay.
I think the point was that if you said that you claimed three times on one ticket, people would immediately think you were scamming, when if fact it was quite legit.

 

[Deerfold]

But if you actually read it, it wasn't the same delay.
I think the point was that if you said that you claimed three times on one ticket, people would immediately think you were scamming, when if fact it was quite legit.

Is it legit to claim more than the cost of the ticket in delay repay?

I ask this as a serious question.

If there had been no BoJ but all the same problems would it have been 1 delay or three?

 

[bb21]

Sounds like a loophole to me.

 

[najaB]

Is it legit to claim more than the cost of the ticket in delay repay? If there had been no BoJ but all the same problems would it have been 1 delay or three?

Without the BOJ then there was only one journey, so only one delay. It seems sneaky to me to claim three times since there was only one end-to-end journey, but on the other hand gray1404 was late three times. It's a tough one!

 

[DaleCooper]

Without the BOJ then there was only one journey, so only one delay. It seems sneaky to me to claim three times since there was only one end-to-end journey, but on the other hand gray1404 was late three times. It's a tough one!

It doesn't seem so tough. The ticket was from A to B therefore only the delay arriving at B should be compensated, to stretch a point maybe the value of the three intermediate tickets (as if it had been on split tickets) could be repaid but certainly not three times the single ticket.

I would call it dishonest not sneaky.

 

[najaB]

It doesn't seem so tough. The ticket was from A to B therefore only the delay arriving at B should be compensated, to stretch a point maybe the value of the three intermediate tickets (as if it had been on split tickets) could be repaid but certainly not three times the single ticket.

The value of the compensation is a separate matter as that is determined by the TOC(s) rather than the passenger. They could have compensated gray1404 in the manner you described.

I would call it dishonest not sneaky.

The question is - to my mind at least - was he entitled to three sets of compensation or one? Did the claims indicate the stations where the delay occurred? As long as the claim form/email made clear that the claim was only for a partial journey then there is nothing dishonest about it.