South Western Railways Delay Refunds

[Colleen Spence]

I've just had the pleasure of waiting over 12 minutes on the phone to South Western Railways customer service line. With the old franchise (South West Trains) as a season ticket holder you were able to get your delay refunds from the ticket office where the number of void days would be calculated and money handed over.

Now South Western Railways wants you to record each delayed train journey and make a claim individually. I understand you can do this online and the terms of what constitutes a delayed train have changed in the passengers' favour, but this is a big hassle compared to how it was managed by South West Trains.

Is there an online dashboard that gives the details of all South West Railways journeys against the published timetable to ascertain whether your journey was delayed or not? Otherwise when you work full-time it's a part time job keeping track of all this.

 

[Bill Badger]

The Real Time Trains Website linked below contains this information, but you will still need to check each journey individually.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/

 

[higthomas]

You might also want to try http://raildar.co.uk/ or https://www.delayrepaysniper.com/index.cfm both should be helpful, although might require some payment (depending on quite what you're after)

 

[AlterEgo]

I've just had the pleasure of waiting over 12 minutes on the phone to South Western Railways customer service line. With the old franchise (South West Trains) as a season ticket holder you were able to get your delay refunds from the ticket office where the number of void days would be calculated and money handed over.

Now South Western Railways wants you to record each delayed train journey and make a claim individually. I understand you can do this online and the terms of what constitutes a delayed train have changed in the passengers' favour, but this is a big hassle compared to how it was managed by South West Trains.

Is there an online dashboard that gives the details of all South West Railways journeys against the published timetable to ascertain whether your journey was delayed or not? Otherwise when you work full-time it's a part time job keeping track of all this.

Colleen,

The other posters have provided some open data links which will show you delays etc, but it still doesn't take all the legwork out of it - remembering what to search for etc can be problematic.

Here's how I'd do it:

1) Every time you are 30 minutes late, write a note in your phone (on an iPhone there's a notepad) - with the date/time of train.
2) Claim only once a month - don't waste time with individual claims. Email them at customerrelations@swrailway.com including a scan of your season ticket. No need for a form, just write that you're claiming delay repay for journeys - and then list them.
3) Start again the next month.

You can definitely just email them and there is no requirement to fill out a paper or online form.

 

[emil]

Alternatively if you screenshot from National rail enquiries your travel details. Download the app and select the stations you use and the train you are travelling on. If it is delayed it will show your destination station by the number of minutes. Available on Playstore for Android or Applestore

 

[Great_Western]

As someone who answers delay claims... Always make sure you include the photo of your season ticket, preferred compensation method (with home address if appropriate) and if there is anything ambiguous leave your phone number as another point of contact (with most CRM systems I have seen you only have to do this once as it stays on your record, but SWR may be different).

You can also claim for journeys under 30 minutes as if it is directly the responsibility of SWR the CRA applies and you will get a percentage of compensation. It may not be much but it all adds up.