Northern Delay Repay

[beeza1]

On 1st July the Northern service my friend was due to start her journey home on was cancelled, she had to catch the next one which was an hour later, I encouraged her to apply for delay repay which she did sometime over the next day or two.
She initially tried to do it online but for some reason it was not possible, so she downloaded the form and sent it by post to the address on the website. "Freepost Northern Rail" I think it was.
Today she received this through the letterbox.
Anyone got any ideas what is going on and more to the point who is liable for the £5 surcharge ?
Problem now is we are outside the 28 day claim limit, any suggestions what to do now.
Cheers.

 

[jamiearmley]

That's quite odd.

All the paper forms that you get from the ticket offices have envelopes with them that just say Freepost Northern Railway on the front.

Any idea how the sticker with the Arbroath address got on there? That's a very old address that has not been used for many years. The customer relations team who deal with delay repay are based in Sheffield and have been for a considerable length of time.

To resolve, email Northern customer services directly explaining what has happened and enclosing your pictures.

You should find it will be sorted out very quickly by a helpful and friendly team.

 

[beeza1]

Thanks for the prompt reply,
No idea how the Arbroath sticker got there, I assume it was Royal Mail.
I thought that possibly the Freepost Northern Railways had been superceded, obviously not.
Haven't had a claim myself for ages but, Sheffield does ring a bell.
I will encourage her to contact Northern customer services as you suggested.
Thanks once again.

 

[skyhigh]

All the paper forms that you get from the ticket offices have envelopes with them that just say Freepost Northern Railway on the front.

Any idea how the sticker with the Arbroath address got on there? That's a very old address that has not been used for many years.

As you say, the correct address is "Freepost Northern Railway". As far as I can remember the old "Freepost Northern Rail" address was delivered to the Arbroath address.

I'm assuming if the old Freepost was written on the envelope, Royal Mail have traced the old record but since it's no longer in use have returned the letter.

If the correct address was written on the envelope it looks as if Royal Mail have messed up.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

she downloaded the form and sent it by post to the address on the website. "Freepost Northern Rail" I think it was.

If the correct address was written on the envelope it looks as if Royal Mail have messed up.

And since it seems to be Royal Mail at fault, then it's them who need to be pursued over the £5 penalty - although as has been said above, there's still the issue of talking nicely to Northern Rail to sort out the Delay Repay issue.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@beeza1. You'll need to on-forward the correspondence, with a suitable covering letter, to Northern Trains at their "Customer Experience Centre" at Pond Square, Sheffield. S1 2BD. You might need to put a stamp on the letter.

Suspect that the Royal Mail sorting office (that originally handled the item when it was put in the postal system) have used old stickers to re-direct the item up to Arbroath to an address/business that no longer handles 'Delay Repay' claims on behalf of Northern.

Hope you didn't have to pay the £5 surcharge.

 

[AlterEgo]

What is the exact issue with claiming online? This is by far the easiest way.