Query regarding Eurostar compensation

[elleonrojo]

Hi There

I recently got a train from the Netherlands to London. The journey was made up of a short leg to Amsterdam operated by the Dutch train company, followed by two legs operated by Eurostar (Amsterdam to Brussels, and then Brussels to London).

The Amsterdam to Brussels leg was delayed, meaning I missed my planned Brussels to London train. They moved me to a later train, that arrived in London over an hour after my original planned arrival train.

As per their policy here (https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/service-information/claiming-compensation), I applied for compensation, expecting to get 25% of the ticket value back. They have come back saying I'm only eligible to receive compensation for 25% of the Brussels to London leg.

This seems strange to me - certainly if it was a domestic UK service, I would expect the compensation to cover the whole ticket. I get that it won't cover the domestic Dutch portion here, but I was expecting to receive 25% of the Amsterdam-London cost, as both these legs were operated by Eurostar. I was wondering if any other forum users had experienced this - have Eurostar applied my compensation correctly, or have they made a mistake?

Thanks!

 

[ainsworth74]

Did you have a through ticket from Amsterdam to London?

 

[elleonrojo]

Thanks for the quick response - I booked it all as part of one booking if that's what you mean. I booked via NS International (Dutch booking site) if that makes a difference.

 

[Watershed]

Compensation should then be paid based on (as a minimum) the cost from Amsterdam, and really I would have said based on the full cost.

Unfortunately Eurostar are very stingy when it comes to compensation so you may need to pursue this further to get what you're owed.

 

[elleonrojo]

Thanks. I've had a few back-and-forth emails with Eurostar, and they seem entrenched into their position that I'm not eligible for anything further. Do you have any suggestions as to how this could be taken further?

 

[Watershed]

Thanks. I've had a few back-and-forth emails with Eurostar, and they seem entrenched into their position that I'm not eligible for anything further. Do you have any suggestions as to how this could be taken further?

What reasoning have they given for this?

Have you raised a complaint? If not, I would do so now. Here is their Complaints Handling Procedure; it gives details of the dispute resolution options open to you - Médiation SNCF Voyageurs (who do operate in English, apparently), or London TravelWatch. Alternatively you could also take legal action, though you might not consider that worthwhile.

 

[Jim the Jim]

Did you have a through ticket from Amsterdam to London?

On my return trip London to Rotterdam recently, I got two tickets for the return journey (Rotterdam-Brussels, Brussels-London), which weren't even formatted the same. I guess OP will have had the same thing. The former Thalys part of Eurostar still seems to be being run as a largely separate operation which might explain their unwillingness to give a refund for both legs in this case.

 

[elleonrojo]

Thanks both! I will try raising a complaint. Jim - you are correct, they were two separate tickets, albeit both within the Eurostar app.