Refund in vouchers from east coast

[calderline]

Hi, went to london from leeds february 13th, with grand central, to see a show. Delayed for hours going down. missed half of show. Coming back was a nightmare, no grand central train was available, problems. After being passed from pillar to post for a few hours, we were told that a train was being made available by , but we would have to pay £90.00 each, which we had to do. I paid £180.00 on my credit card for the tickets. I sent in a claim to east coast, as that train was delayed by 2 hours.East coast have refunded me the £180.00, but it is in vouchers. I cant pay the credit card bill with vouchers. I s there any way to make them pay me the refund by cheque, as I wont be travelling on any trains ever again, after that dreadful experience.
Thank you

 

[transportphoto]

Unfortunately not officially as you are only entitled to Rail Travel Vouchers under the Passenger Charter (of EC / GC) and also the National Rail Conditions of Carriage - the latter which you accepted when you bought the tickets.

Don't forget that these can be used as vouchers against any rail ticket so (I guess they are split up into lower denominations) they can be used for local journeys aswell, also not every train journey is so badly delayed

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[calderline]

Thanks for reply. looks like there are £180. worth of vouchers . which I am never going to use. £180 I am going to have to find, to pay my credit card bill.

 

[ainsworth74]

As TP says that's all you're entitled to. However you might try getting in touch with EC customer services and explain the situation to them, you might get lucky. But I wouldn't bank on it.

 

[transportphoto]

Thanks for reply. looks like there are £180. worth of vouchers . which I am never going to use. £180 I am going to have to find, to pay my credit card bill.

Sorry - but if everything went OK and you were entitled to no compensation in any form... how would you been able to pay off the credit card if you say that your going to have to find the money? SEE EDIT

As I said in my previous post not all rail journeys are delayed so badly - have you considered using them for local journeys? What denominations are the vouchers in?


EDIT:
Sorry also just reread the 1st Post and Greenback's post below - did you already hold tickets? What tickets were they?

 

[Greenback]

Why did you have to pay £180 for new tickets? Surely if there were no Grand Central trains available arrangements would have been made to take alternative services? Have you raised this with GC?

Sorry for all the questions, welcome to the forum!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Sorry - but if everything went OK and you were entitled to no compensation in any form... how would you been able to pay off the credit card if you say that your going to have to find the money?

The OPs aid that they had to buy new tickets to get home as no GC traisn were running.

 

[calderline]

Went down to london with grand central, paid for return 2 tickets. Grand central cancelled their train, therefore we had to get home from London, it was Sunday evening, We had no option but to purchase a single ticket each to get back to Leeds. So the extra 2 tickets were an extra cost.

 

[transportphoto]

Right OK - was there a later GC service available?

The OPs aid that they had to buy new tickets to get home as no GC traisn were running.

Yep - see my edit post #5 #

EDIT:

Hang on - do GC run to Leeds!?

 

[Chapeltom]

You bought advanced returns to London or G.C only tickets? If they were Off Peak Returns you could have used your tickets on any train regardless of time or operator.

 

[calderline]

The GC was £25 each return, there was supposed to be a GC train, but they cancelled it. The only way we could get home was to pay £90. each fro another ticket.. we eventually got home at 2.00 am, should have been home by 9. on the GC train

 

[scotsman]

You should be on to GC! They couldn't provide alternative transport, so in theory (someone more experienced can help me out here) they should owe you £180

Re vouchers: Very little you can do, sorry

 

[transportphoto]

Sorry I am now confused:

Could you please explain what train(s) you were due to get (the cancelled one) from Kings Cross - exactly what ticket you held for that train: price, ticket type, from station, too station (etc)

And also - what train(s) you bought the extra ticket for, how much exactly did you pay for them & from station, too station (etc)?

Thanks In Advance

 

[calderline]

Sent GC a letter .but have had no reply from them. The east coast found taxis home for about 200 other stranded passengers and told us to send in a claim to National Rail

 

[Greenback]

Grand Central were responsible for getting you home, whether by taxi, East Coast or any other means. The least they could have done was to arrange for their tickets to be accepted by EC. Were there any GC representatives around on the night in question? Was any information given out to customers? (Oh dear, more questions!)

 

[calderline]

No GC reps anywhere. We were left stranded. East coast said our GC tickets were not valid and we had to buy more tickets.

 

[transportphoto]

No GC reps anywhere. We were left stranded. East coast said our GC tickets were not valid and we had to buy more tickets.

Could you please answer these questions - without the information we are unable to help you much further

Sorry I am now confused:

Could you please explain what train(s) you were due to get (the cancelled one) from Kings Cross - exactly what ticket you held for that train: price, ticket type, from station, too station (etc)

And also - what train(s) you bought the extra ticket for, how much exactly did you pay for them & from station, too station (etc)?

Thanks In Advance

Grand Central were responsible for getting you home, whether by taxi, East Coast or any other means. The least they could have done was to arrange for their tickets to be accepted by EC. Were there any GC representatives around on the night in question? Was any information given out to customers? (Oh dear, more questions!)

 

[142094]

Grand Central don't serve Leeds station, so either you travelled from another station in Yorkshire with GC or you travelled with East Coast. I appreciate that this was last month but if you have the exact times and dates for each train you travelled on we're able to help more.

As for the travel vouchers, in my experience East Coast wouldn't be willing to give a cheque as a refund. Unfortunately you'd either have to travel with them again or see if you could give them to a friend or relative.

 

[calderline]

Grand Central don't serve Leeds station, so either you travelled from another station in Yorkshire with GC or you travelled with East Coast. I appreciate that this was last month but if you have the exact times and dates for each train you travelled on we're able to help more.

As for the travel vouchers, in my experience East Coast wouldn't be willing to give a cheque as a refund. Unfortunately you'd either have to travel with them again or see if you could give them to a friend or relative.

SUNDAY 13 feb from brighouse to kings cross, grand central 9.15am to arrive at 13.15. £25. open return, eventually into london at 14.35.....depart back to brighouse 18.29 ...cancelled , caught east coast from kings cross to huddersfield 19.22 ,10 minutes out of london,stopped and delayed for 2 hours, went to peterborough, where east coast layed on a train to take us to leeds, where east coast paid for taxis to take us to brighouse.

 

[Chapeltom]

GC owe you money! It is there responsibility for getting you home and they cost you a load of cash here.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

...cancelled , caught east coast from kings cross to huddersfield 19.22

It won't have been going to Huddersfield...

 

[GNER 373]

You've been lucky that East Coast have provided you with the vouchers in the first place! All of this was caused by Grand Central and even though EC couldn't accept your tickets they have refunded you the £180.00 in the only way possible! It's GC who you need to hammer and don't give up! More letters, emails and phone calls and don't take no for an answer! This really is a nightmare journey one of the worst I've heard about on here, but don't let that stop you travelling by train! Get your money back from GC sort the Card out and treat yourself to a few trips on those vouchers! Other than that sell them on eBay!

 

[calderline]

grand central have not replied to my letter,sent monday 15th feb
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Thanks for taking the time to reply . I will continue contacting grand central to try and get sorted out. Thanks again

 

[GNER 373]

grand central have not replied to my letter,sent monday 15th feb

Get on the web and find out some company info, find a manager write a letter to them directly, I almost guarantee a response!!! If you can get an email address even better! Do whatever it takes and don't give up! It's much easier to give in to a stubborn person than one who doesn't force the issue enough! Good Luck!

 

[142094]

grand central have not replied to my letter,sent monday 15th feb
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Thanks for taking the time to reply . I will continue contacting grand central to try and get sorted out. Thanks again

It depends where you booked the tickets from GC, did you buy on the train or over their internet site?

 

[YorkshireRider]

It does seem odd that GC tickets were not passed on EC, especially as the 2 companies recently signed an agreement to work together more closely to help passengers in times of disruption, i think its worth writing to EC and asking if the info you were given that your tickets werent valid was actually correct information as it cost you £90 each. They will have it on record if infact they were passing GC tickets that evening

 

[transportphoto]

Yep - make a phone call with the phone on Loud Speaker and recording the conversation using a microphone connected to your PC (if you have one).

Have you still got the GC tickets?

 

[junglejames]

Having looked on GCs website, that ticket price doesnt exist with GC. All tickets with GC from Brighouse are more than £25 return (they dont do advance returns do they?). Also, it plainly was not an open return. Not even GC give open returns that cheap!
The only way of getting returns that cheap are with EC advance fares.
GC havent been offering extremely cheap deals recently on this route have they? I stand corrected if they have been.

Also, the times dont match either, but that could have been down to engineering works.

 

[Chapeltom]

You can be corrected! There was a well publicised promotion from GC of £25 returns from West Yorkshire stations at weekends.

 

[YorkshireRider]

It didnt even have to be at weekends, they were offering the £25 rtn offer anyday throughout february, which i believe they have extended into this month. You could buy the ticket on the train

 

[Chapeltom]

I'm corrected on that point, I thought for every-day was too good to be true. In-fact its quite insane!