Wordy apologies

[Fermiboson]

Is it the case that (ignoring TIL) people who write back & engage get settlement offers? Do people following the railforums template always (or at least, more often) get settlement offers?

We don’t know, because there is selection bias from what we can see on the forum. And I doubt TOCs would be very amenable to any study along the lines of “how to minimise the consequence of your fare evasion”.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

This is based on the impression I get rather than an analysis of what we hear here:

Is it the case that (ignoring TIL) people who write back & engage get settlement offers?

This might be true: I'm not sure

Do people following the railforums template always (or at least, more often) get settlement offers?

My impression is that yes, they do - as far as I can make out, invariably or near as dammit invariably. As @Deafdoggie says, ignoring TIL - but even with them there seems to be a high success rate for people who continue to engage to a second letter.

 

[Haywain]

Is it the case that (ignoring TIL) people who write back & engage get settlement offers? Do people following the railforums template always (or at least, more often) get settlement offers?

Mostly, as long as they haven't been stopped by Transport for London who, it seems, hardly ever settle out of court.

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened for @BRX to add to.

 

[BRX]

I still think that people are being encouraged to write longer than necessary letters. For example I was reading this thread earlier today. The poster had written a first attempt, was advised that it was too short, and rewrote it. But (in my opinion) the result of this was that was what written sounded less sincere than the first attempt.

I know there is the "if it aint broke don't fix it" argument which seems to be based on the fact that most people who follow the "standard" advice given here successfully obtain an out of court settlement. But this is a kind of logical fallacy really - there's no evidence that any success has resulted from anything other than a letter being written.

You could say, what's the harm in erring on the overly long or waffley side... but my observation, in reading the multiple threads that come and go, is that the letters often end up sounding less convincing, the more that's added to them. But also, it potentially just wastes people's time, and/or delays them in actually getting the letter sent out.

 

[Hadders]

I still think that people are being encouraged to write longer than necessary letters. For example I was reading this thread earlier today. The poster had written a first attempt, was advised that it was too short, and rewrote it. But (in my opinion) the result of this was that was what written sounded less sincere than the first attempt.

I know there is the "if it aint broke don't fix it" argument which seems to be based on the fact that most people who follow the "standard" advice given here successfully obtain an out of court settlement. But this is a kind of logical fallacy really - there's no evidence that any success has resulted from anything other than a letter being written.

You could say, what's the harm in erring on the overly long or waffley side... but my observation, in reading the multiple threads that come and go, is that the letters often end up sounding less convincing, the more that's added to them. But also, it potentially just wastes people's time, and/or delays them in actually getting the letter sent out.

On the whole, I would say that most replies end up being shortened as a result of us proof reading them. This was a relatively rare case of us suggesting that the reply was made longer!

In the specific case referred to the initial letter was very short and my initial thought was it was a bit too short and, in my view, lacked sincerity. I felt that they subsequent letter, although a little longer, struck a better tone.

Of course, this is all subjective. The first draft may well have resulted in a settlement being offered. Generally speaking, many of the draft letters we see posted in this section of the forum are poorly written and I often wonder if letter writing is taught in schools! As well as helping people to sort out rail fare issues, we're also educating many of them in letter writing!

 

[BRX]

As well as helping people to sort out rail fare issues, we're also educating many of them in letter writing!

I certainly agree with this. Many of the drafts are very poorly written.