Virgin Trains Delay Repay

[joke2711]

Hi, just after some advice really ..

For the 3rd time in 4 claims ... VT have just declined my delay repay claim because they state that the train I travelled on arrived in Liverpool within 30 minutes, without realising that my tickets included a connection on Merseyrail and there late arriving services result in a missed connection and an eventual delay of 30 minutes. This time the train was the 1833 from London to Liverpool on 27th January 2016. My scheduled connection to West Kirby left at 2103, the VT train arrived 8 minutes late at 2101. The route and connections were as per the Virgin Trains website when booking.

I have responded to there email accordingly.

Whilst on the other occasions they have eventually agreed to the claim, it is somewhat annoying that after I submit my claim, attach my tickets, all they appear to do is check the lateness of the train from London.

In addition, their delay repay online system will only allow for Virgin Stations to be put as part of the route, so I can only enter London - Liverpool for a Journey London - West Kirby, with no facility to comment on my journey.

Any suggestions as to how I should proceed with this issue. As a customer I shouldn't have to enter into additional correspondence, and encounter further delays in refund, when the claim is valid.

Help would be appreciated

J

 

[Bletchleyite]

Submit the claim by email. don't use the form.

 

[John Palmer]

I would raise a parallel, formal complaint with Virgin:

(a) that the web page implementation of their delay repay scheme is incapable of fulfilling the assurance offered by their passenger charter, because it does not permit the entry of non-Virgin destination stations:

"Compensation
If your train is delayed or cancelled, or a delay or cancellation of
a Virgin train causes a delay to your overall journey, you may be
entitled to claim compensation. If not, we will consider claims on
an ex-gratia basis."

(b) that they have on multiple occasions failed to take account of the fact that your ticket was for a journey involving another operator to a non-Virgin Trains destination - a fact of which they must presumably been made aware as a result of you having supplied an image of your ticket. Your experience is indicative of a systemic error in their scheme's operation that calls for a change in the claims assessment procedure followed or appropriate additional training.

Be interested to know what response they make.

 

[najaB]

Submit the claim by email. don't use the form.

I second this advice. I've had to email a couple of times with delays caused by missed connections and the claim was processed correctly both times.

 

[Hadders]

When I claim Delay Repay I write details of my proposed itinerary, actual times and length of delay to my overall journey on a piece of paper and attach the tickets to it. I then scan it and upload it to the Delay Repay claim.

It's never failed yet.

 

[joke2711]

Thanks for the responses, useful as ever..

I didn't realise you could submit delay repay via email but that is a consideration, however I think I will follow the advice of 'John Palmer' to see if I can get a response.

Will keep you posted ...

J

 

[bb21]

Virgin have a habit of doing this in my experience. Be persistent and don't let them get away with it.

 

[Par]

I have finally just resolved something similar with Virgin Trains East Coast, although bizarrely in that case they agreed to pay 50% Delay Repay (when 100% was due) despite their train only being 11 late into Kings X!

Despite lengthy correspondence, pointing out that the overall journey delay (80+ minutes) should trigger a 100% refund, it was only after I had involved Transport Focus did they finally pay up.

There's a thread on here if you are interested.

Stick with it is my advice.

 

[robbeech]

Stick with it as others have said.
I like the idea of attaching a note to the photo of the ticket, never thought of that.
I have been successful with VTEC but never needed to claim with VT. Most of my VTEC claims have been for 100% based upon missed connections on a 1tph route back towards my village. I've never had delay repay refused although I have had to explain further a couple of times.
I always post them to EMT so try to include a short description of the delay where possible to help.
For example when a NOT to STP was cancelled after boarding and ticket acceptance via GRA to KGX was activated. I arrived 40 minutes late and made a claim, without my attached notes I'm sure it would have been questioned.