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Unused ticket refund from Scotrail

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WesternLancer

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Hi folks
Does anyone know if Scotrail have a form to claim a refund for an unused ticket?

I bought 2 off peak singles for an onward journey from Peterborough, bought at Aberdeen ticket office last week. My train from Aberdeen to Peterborough was delayed such that I was then unable to make the onward journey so the tickets have not been used. I'd like to claim a refund for the unused tickets.

My understanding is that normally one would ask for the refund at the point of purchase, but I'm not intending to go back to Aberdeen to do that, so wish to claim by post from Scotrail. I can't find any claim form on their website to use for this (LNER have such a pdf form for example), only delay refund claim forms.

Also - I assume I'd be deducted the £10 admin fee per ticket as I 'chose not to travel'

I have made a separate 'delay repay' claim to LNER for the proportionate refund of the Advance ticket I had for that journey, as the delay was over 30 minutes.
 
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causton

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I would just send it off to their customer relations team with the details you have provided here, with the original tickets and a copy of your Aberdeen - Peterborough delayed journey ticket, and as it was due to disruption you should get a full refund with no admin fee.

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/contact-us the middle tab has the postal address, or email/call them first to see if they want you to do anything special.
 

WesternLancer

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I would just send it off to their customer relations team with the details you have provided here, with the original tickets and a copy of your Aberdeen - Peterborough delayed journey ticket, and as it was due to disruption you should get a full refund with no admin fee.

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/contact-us the middle tab has the postal address, or email/call them first to see if they want you to do anything special.
Thanks
 

gray1404

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To add, the £10 admin fee is not chargeable if a passenger chooses not to travel due to delays or cancellation. It is important make this clear when you send your ticket to Customer Relations.

I am assuming you did travel and actually use the Advance ticket you had? Just that you, in light of the delay, did not wish to travel past Peterborough.
 

WesternLancer

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To add, the £10 admin fee is not chargeable if a passenger chooses not to travel due to delays or cancellation. It is important make this clear when you send your ticket to Customer Relations.

I am assuming you did travel and actually use the Advance ticket you had? Just that you, in light of the delay, did not wish to travel past Peterborough.
Thanks - that's correct. And I did use the advance ticket. It's just that had a I got to Peterborough the onward trains would have gone, and it was the last train of the night on the route concerned, so had to change plans and get to destination via another route.
 

Starmill

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It's just that had a I got to Peterborough the onward trains would have gone, and it was the last train of the night on the route concerned, so had to change plans and get to destination via another route.
If you had a valid travel itinerary to your 'onward destination' after Peterborough, you would have been entitled to alternative transport to be provided to you for that part of the journey.
 

Haywain

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If you had a valid travel itinerary to your 'onward destination' after Peterborough, you would have been entitled to alternative transport to be provided to you for that part of the journey.
Indeed, whereas you (the OP) apparently chose to spend additional money on getting there. You probably haven't got yourself the best deal out of this.
 

WesternLancer

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If you had a valid travel itinerary to your 'onward destination' after Peterborough, you would have been entitled to alternative transport to be provided to you for that part of the journey.
Indeed, but the guard advised leaving the booked train early (at another stopping point) (on which I had no choice alternative to travel on because it was Advance, without being instructed to do so by a TOC member of staff) and taking an alternative train south that WOULD get me home and avoid my having to deal with the issue at Peterborough which would have resulted in his TOC paying taxi or overnight costs, which was good advice both for me and for the TOC. If I made an 'error' it was to buy the onward ticket moments before stepping on the train at Aberdeen in order to ensure I could make the short connection at Peterborough without needing to go to the ticket office which in the event of a short delay would have lots me my connection. I had not factored in the possibility of a 30 minute plus delay caused by a failed power car on the HST south, if I had, I'd weighed it up and thought the more probable issue was a risk of a missed connection whilst trying to buy a ticket, not a missed connection due to a heavier delay.
 

WesternLancer

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Indeed, whereas you (the OP) apparently chose to spend additional money on getting there. You probably haven't got yourself the best deal out of this.
Interesting that you can be so confident! What additional money was that?

In fact as the OP and the purchaser I would utterly disagree. My objective was
a) to travel 1st class in an LNER HST from Aberdeen to the midlands at a good value price. Objective Achieved
b) to connect onto a train that covered an unusual route as detailed in PSUL. Objective failed due to lost connection
c) to avoid any car travel alternative due to car sickness. Objective achieved
d) to avoid overnight hotel accommodation as it would have prevented my start time at work the next day. Objective achieved
e) to avoid having to debate c&d at close to 22.00 at night with whatever staff may have been on duty on arrival at my interchange station. Objective achieved.
 

Haywain

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Interesting that you can be so confident! What additional money was that?
I said, very clearly, apparently - which was based on the available but limited information. I'm not alone in taking that interpretation but I am glad you managed to achieve some of your objectives without additional expense.
 

WesternLancer

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I said, very clearly, apparently - which was based on the available but limited information. I'm not alone in taking that interpretation but I am glad you managed to achieve some of your objectives without additional expense.
Thank you.
 

WesternLancer

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"I bought 2 off peak singles for an onward journey from Peterborough, bought at Aberdeen ticket office last week. My train from Aberdeen to Peterborough was delayed such that I was then unable to make the onward journey so the tickets have not been used. I'd like to claim a refund for the unused tickets.
My understanding is that normally one would ask for the refund at the point of purchase, but I'm not intending to go back to Aberdeen to do that, so wish to claim by post from Scotrail. I can't find any claim form on their website to use for this (LNER have such a pdf form for example), only delay refund claim forms."


So I just heard back from Scotrail on this (referring to is as a Delay Repay claim - which I am not sure that it was since I opted not to travel on a connecting train as the train I was on was delayed and I could no longer make said connecting train) - saying they had referred my claim to LNER since it was LNERs fault I could not make this connection.

Is this the correct thing for Scotrail to do in other contributors opinion?

In general terms, I paid Scotrail for the ticket to travel on an EMT train, but LNER refunds the ticket?
 

ForTheLoveOf

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"I bought 2 off peak singles for an onward journey from Peterborough, bought at Aberdeen ticket office last week. My train from Aberdeen to Peterborough was delayed such that I was then unable to make the onward journey so the tickets have not been used. I'd like to claim a refund for the unused tickets.
My understanding is that normally one would ask for the refund at the point of purchase, but I'm not intending to go back to Aberdeen to do that, so wish to claim by post from Scotrail. I can't find any claim form on their website to use for this (LNER have such a pdf form for example), only delay refund claim forms."


So I just heard back from Scotrail on this (referring to is as a Delay Repay claim - which I am not sure that it was since I opted not to travel on a connecting train as the train I was on was delayed and I could no longer make said connecting train) - saying they had referred my claim to LNER since it was LNERs fault I could not make this connection.

Is this the correct thing for Scotrail to do in other contributors opinion?

In general terms, I paid Scotrail for the ticket to travel on an EMT train, but LNER refunds the ticket?
No, ScotRail are barking up the wrong tree. If you abandon a journey due to disruption then you must obtain a refund. You can only get a refund from the retailer you bought your ticket from. The train company you travelled with has no relevance to a refund, only to any claim for compensation which you may wish to make.

If you used a Delay Repay form to claim the refund then I might understand why they are confused, but if you resubmit the request through the ordinary contact form (or send it in with a cover letter by post) then they ought to see sense.
 

WesternLancer

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No, ScotRail are barking up the wrong tree. If you abandon a journey due to disruption then you must obtain a refund. You can only get a refund from the retailer you bought your ticket from. The train company you travelled with has no relevance to a refund, only to any claim for compensation which you may wish to make.

If you used a Delay Repay form to claim the refund then I might understand why they are confused, but if you resubmit the request through the ordinary contact form (or send it in with a cover letter by post) then they ought to see sense.
Thanks - no I didn't use a Delay Repay form for exactly this reason (the need to explain why I was due a refund) - I wrote a letter and enclosed the tickets.

Extract from the letter:
"We boarded the train from Aberdeen to Peterborough (departing Aberdeen at 14.52). However, this train was delayed and as a consequence we would not have been able to travel on my intended train from Peterborough as we would miss the connection. The tickets were therefore unused as a consequence of this delay.

I believe the ticket refund has to come from the organisation they were purchased from so I am submitting them, along with a copy of the purchase receipt."

As a general point it seems all too common for the teams that deal with these claims to fail to read carefully the reason why they are submitted, in my experience. If the team are under-resourced, the TOCs need to think more carefully about the far more frequent announcements they have started to make recently actually telling people to claim refunds etc!

I suppose I've now got to write back to Scotrail (or wait and see if LNER, where Scotrail say they have sent my claim) reject it?

I'm also willing to bet LNER will confuse this with the actual Delay Repay claim I made to them in respect of their delayed train...
 

AlterEgo

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Pick up the phone and call Scotrail immediately. Don't write to them. The quicker you call the quicker they can sort their cock up.
 

WesternLancer

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Pick up the phone and call Scotrail immediately. Don't write to them. The quicker you call the quicker they can sort their cock up.
Thanks - I know what you mean - but as a general rule I never deal with complaints verbally (unless it is immediate shop type refund thing where I know they won't argue or have a 'no quibble' policy etc) - just because you then have no record thread / copy of conversation afterwards (without then taking up time writing notes, time better spent writing or e-mailing to start with). I learned this from a former CAB advice worker I worked with. Also makes it easier to refer to Ombudspeople in the fullness of time etc (if this is ever warranted).

But thanks for your comment. Cheers.
 

WesternLancer

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Pick up the phone and call Scotrail immediately. Don't write to them. The quicker you call the quicker they can sort their cock up.
Interestingly - now I look at the letterhead of the reply I got, it does not include a phone number anywhere on the scotrail letter - just refers you to a web page for an 'appeal' - which is fine for me but if you had written on paper (as I did), it might well be because you can't use the web, so it's not very customer focused not offering you other options to point out to Scotrail staff what they seem unable to have understood first time round!
 

John @ home

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Does it include a postal address for the company, usually in small print at the bottom of the letter?
 

WesternLancer

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No, ScotRail are barking up the wrong tree. If you abandon a journey due to disruption then you must obtain a refund. You can only get a refund from the retailer you bought your ticket from. The train company you travelled with has no relevance to a refund, only to any claim for compensation which you may wish to make.

If you used a Delay Repay form to claim the refund then I might understand why they are confused, but if you resubmit the request through the ordinary contact form (or send it in with a cover letter by post) then they ought to see sense.

Just had letter from Scotrail accepting this and saying payment by cheque in the post (I'd have been happy with vouchers as it happens but I suspect a refund has to be that - a refund)

So they have resolved it.

It's just a shame that they have staff unable or not given enough time to, presumably, read and understand my original request reason for a refund, and action it, rather than pass it off to LNER, leading to me to then having to go down the 'Appeal' route.

However, they have apologised in perfectly reasonable terms for the misunderstanding and all is now resolved with an outcome I would expect.
 
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