TfW no 1st Class

[trainophile]

We have 1st Class tickets from Hereford to Crewe on the 09:59 this morning, however a 3-coach 197 turned up instead.

The guy on the barriers at Hereford gave me a card with a QR code to scan to claim for the difference. However the linked form only offers “ticket bought on the app or the website“ or “at a ticket office or machine”. I bought them from Trainsplit.

How do I proceed? Do I select the first option, as it doesn’t actually specify which app/website, although I assume they mean TfW’s?

There’s also a phone number, guess I’d probably better do that

Also they are Advance tickets so goodness knows how they calculate the difference. We paid £25 each.

 

[AlterEgo]

Contact TfW customer relations here: https://tfw.wales/help-and-contact/rail/complaint

 

[gray1404]

£15.65 is the cost of the equivalent advance ticket for standard class so you are due £9.35 per ticket.

 

[Watershed]

Can you upload a screenshot of the page you are looking at, or provide the link? It sounds like you may have been directed to a refund form, which is not the correct avenue.

A refund would only be applicable if you hadn't travelled at all, and the reason they'd be asking where you bought your ticket is that it has to be processed by the retailer. By contrast, downgrade compensation is paid by the operator, regardless of where you bought your ticket.

In my experience of TfW downgrades (albeit going back a few years) you can simply submit the contact form on their website and it will get directed correctly. Although nothing wrong with calling if you prefer, though you have to be clear that you're asking for compensation for the downgrade rather than a refund.

In terms of the amount, TfW's first class fares are generally set at 1.6× the equivalent standard class fare (it used to be 1.5× ) so that makes calculating downgrade compensation pretty simple. You can also verify this by seeing that an NDU tier of 1st class Advance for your journey costs £25 with a Railcard, and the equivalent NDA tier of standard class Advance costs £15.65*. So you'd be due £9.35 each.

*TfW's Advances are (mostly) lettered as N, then the tier from A to M in order of increasing price, then A for standard class or U for first class. So for example NAA is the cheapest standard class Advance and NMU is the most expensive first class Advance. The fact they use the same letters for tiers in both classes makes it easy to calculate the equivalent fare.

 

[trainophile]

 

[MrJeeves]

In terms of the amount, TfW's first class fares are generally set at 1.6× the equivalent standard class fare (it used to be 1.5× ) so that makes calculating downgrade compensation pretty simple. You can also verify this by seeing that an NDU tier of 1st class Advance for your journey costs £25 with a Railcard, and the equivalent NDA tier of standard class Advance costs £15.65*. So you'd be due £9.35 each.

*TfW's Advances are (mostly) lettered as N, then the tier from A to M in order of increasing price, then A for standard class or U for first class. So for example NAA is the cheapest standard class Advance and NMU is the most expensive first class Advance. The fact they use the same letters for tiers in both classes makes it easy to calculate the equivalent fare.

Ah, but the buckets aren't linked 1:1. In this case, at the point the tickets were bought, NDU was the first class Advance on sale, while the £9.75 NAA was the standard class Advance on sale!

TrainSplit would be happy to provide evidence of this to the customer on request, if needed.

View attachment 213761

The only difference is whether you attach a PDF or send a photo of the tickets. Both ask you to email, and that email is the same you'd have to use after buying tickets from a third party anyway.

I would suggest emailing the address mentioned, attaching copies of your ticket, and explaining the situation, and asking for a refund from TfW.