Southern Delay Repay - going round in circles

[Thebaz]

Hi all,

I am having trouble getting my recent delay repay claim accepted by Southern. It's been rejected three times now even though as far as I can see I've fulfilled all the criteria.

On June 6th my train from Purley to Farringdon at 07.58 was cancelled causing an approximate 45 minute delay to me getting to Farringdon. This is perfectly simple. I have a monthly zones 1-6 Oyster travelcard which is what seems to be causing the problem. Their instructions for this type of ticket say to send copies of your Oyster statement to prove date and time of travel and value/validity of season ticket.

Attempt one: I sent a pdf containing a screengrab of my season ticket validity (zones covered and cost (not provided on Oyster statements but easy to lookup)), plus a screengrab of my journey showing where and when I tapped in and out. It was rejected - no ticket evidence apparently!

Attempt two: realising that I had perhaps misread the instruction the first time I resubmitted my application with a pdf of my actual statement as downloaded from my Oyster account. Rejected again - ticket not valid for journey claimed for apparently!

Attempt three: Baffled by this I decided to resubmit the initial claim in it's original form on the basis that last year I made a successful claim using that exact method. This was rejected for the reason of duplicate claim.

What to do now?

 

[MrJeeves]

Resubmit again and message GTR on Twitter. You might end up getting it auto-rejected for "submitting too many claims" as I had once though...

If all else fails, just contact GTR by email (comments@southernrailway.com), set out your case clearly, and highlight you've attempted this three times (including the reference numbers) with no success and the frustrations of the process.

They will, at the very least, provide your delay repay in rail travel vouchers (exchangeable for cash or repaid to a debit card at any GTR ticket office) or perhaps additional compensation as an apology (I got £30 once for a delay repay claim related to two RRBs not turning up instead of the £4 or so I was owed).

Do expect them to take the full 20 or so days they claim for a response by email though. They do often seem very busy.

 

[Thebaz]

I've contacted Southern on Twitter and received a helpful response, so fingers crossed. I think the reason might be that I entered the station then exited to get a coffee after seeing the train was cancelled, before re-entering and getting the next London train. Possibly the reader has only registered my second entry at 08.08

 

[ThameslinkUser]

They do often seem very busy.

Must be related to the poor service they provide as a train company.