Seatfrog Refund

[Alex C.]

I am currently on a very overcrowded GWR train from Bristol to Reading. I have a seatfrog upgrade but the train is far too busy to get to the seats and in any event the reservations system is down. First class is full and standing with standard class passengers. No mention has been made of declassification but it is defacto so.

We're also going to be arriving ~50 minutes late to our final destination. I only have Seatfrog for the Bristol to Reading segment but our eventual arrival is into Fratton.

The ticket was from Trainsplit and is a single Bristol - Bath in both directions and an off peak return Fratton to Bath.

What is my entitlement here? I imagine it is 100% of the seatfrog upgrade as a refund (from GWR?) + 25% delay repay on the full return cost?

 

[KNN]

I'd take a photo of the overcrowding just in case. Then complain to GWR, they might send you to Seat Frog to claim the upgrade.

How delay repay works on your split ticket I'm not precisely sure, but it wouldn't be a "return" if you have a combination of singles. Two singles isn't a return.

The principle should be refund on the upgrade and DR for the delay on the original tickets though.

 

[Watershed]

I'm a little surprised you are travelling from Bath to Fratton via Bristol and Reading (unless I've misunderstood what you wrote). It's rather a long way around!

Anyway, you can choose between claiming a full refund of everything you paid to SeatFrog*, or including the SeatFrog upgrade as part of your Delay Repay claim to GWR. Delay Repay is calculated as a percentage that varies depending on the length of the delay and the type of ticket (single vs return). For a 30-59 minute delay, you get 50% of the cost of a single, or 25% for a return.

If you use a mixture of singles and returns, the amount of compensation you get is calculated individually for each ticket based on the above rules, and then added up.

*This should include the dubious platform fee SeatFrog add, as they ultimately haven't provided the service you paid for (an upgrade to first class). Merely handling the sale and issuing you with the ticket is not what are you paying them for! You should push back if they try and keep this.

 

[Alex C.]

Thanks for this - we would usually have taken the direct train but engineering work meant the indirect route was significantly quicker (I think not normally permissible either, but there was an easement in place).

The good news is that GWR paid up for the delay repay on the whole ticket cost and Seatfrog refunded the upgrade cost without quibble, all within 48 hours of contacting them. Not sure if it's always been the case but in the past I've had to make two claims for two passengers but GWR let me upload both passengers tickets into a single claim which is much simpler.

Overall a surprisingly positive experience!