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What are my chances of a full refund from SouthEastern?

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Islineclear3_1

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On Friday early evening, I booked a ticket online from the SouthEastern website to travel first thing Saturday morning to visit somebody in a support bubble. Usually, when i buy advances, I am able to collect from one of their ticket machines the following day.

Yesterday, I arrived early for my train, inserted my payment card into the machine and tapped in my booking reference when prompted. I was surprised when the machine displayed an error message saying that my booking could not be found. I tried again but got the same message. As a result, I had to purchase a new ticket

I have emailed SouthEastern to ask what I need to do to obtain a refund. Do I claim on the unused (but paid for) tickets or on the new tickets?

EDIT: SouthEastern have just replied to say they would be in touch within the next 10 working days. What is the time window in which to make a claim?
 
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py_megapixel

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I had this issue with one of those stupid Northern machines, and when the machine rejected my booking reference for the 3rd or 4th time (but still with 10-15 minutes before departure) I did not buy a new ticket. Instead I phoned Northern, who told me to go to the ticket office and ask for them to print them out for me. I suspect if I had not compiled, they would have been unsympathetic to any refund request.

However I gather from your post that you did not attempt to contact SE, so maybe that would make a difference, as you obviously had no opportunity to be given guidance at the time.

One idea would be to log in to your account on the Southeastern website and see if they allow free refunds for unused tickets - some TOCs now do this for E-tickets but I'm unsure about TOD.
 

Islineclear3_1

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However I gather from your post that you did not attempt to contact SE, so maybe that would make a difference, as you obviously had no opportunity to be given guidance at the time.
Thank you but please re-read my post. I emailed SouthEastern and posted their initial response

Had the ticket office been open, yes of course I would have gone in and asked them to print off my tickets. But the ticket office wasn't open.

There are numerous posts in the Disputes forum about buying new tickets to avoid penalty fares/prosecution which is exactly what I did
 

py_megapixel

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Thank you but please re-read my post. I emailed SouthEastern and posted their initial response
Sorry, by "at the time" I meant at the point when the machine refused to print the tickets; there was a sign on the machine saying "If you experience issues with this machine call xxxxxxxxxxx"
I'm not suggesting that you should or should not have done this; rather that whether you did so or not might affect the outcome.

I'm only providing my own experience with this issue because I thought it might be helpful. I haven't had experience dealing with Southeastern in the past so I'm not able to say with a huge degree of certainty what the outcome is likely to be.
 

theironroad

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On Friday early evening, I booked a ticket online from the SouthEastern website to travel first thing Saturday morning to visit somebody in a support bubble. Usually, when i buy advances, I am able to collect from one of their ticket machines the following day.

Yesterday, I arrived early for my train, inserted my payment card into the machine and tapped in my booking reference when prompted. I was surprised when the machine displayed an error message saying that my booking could not be found. I tried again but got the same message. As a result, I had to purchase a new ticket

I have emailed SouthEastern to ask what I need to do to obtain a refund. Do I claim on the unused (but paid for) tickets or on the new tickets?

EDIT: SouthEastern have just replied to say they would be in touch within the next 10 working days. What is the time window in which to make a claim?

South eastern website q&a says:

I need help with a ticket I’ve bought online, who do I contact?
If you need help, give us a call on 0345 322 7021. We’re here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

..
 

alistairlees

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On Friday early evening, I booked a ticket online from the SouthEastern website to travel first thing Saturday morning to visit somebody in a support bubble. Usually, when i buy advances, I am able to collect from one of their ticket machines the following day.

Yesterday, I arrived early for my train, inserted my payment card into the machine and tapped in my booking reference when prompted. I was surprised when the machine displayed an error message saying that my booking could not be found. I tried again but got the same message. As a result, I had to purchase a new ticket

I have emailed SouthEastern to ask what I need to do to obtain a refund. Do I claim on the unused (but paid for) tickets or on the new tickets?

EDIT: SouthEastern have just replied to say they would be in touch within the next 10 working days. What is the time window in which to make a claim?
The retailer (southeastern) should provide you with a full refund for the tickets that you were unable to collect. It is not your fault that there was an issue between them and their supplier (assuming that’s what happened). There should be no admin fee for this.

If the new tickets cost more than the original tickets then I hope that the retailer (southeastern) will be considerate regarding the extra cost that you have incurred.
 

Islineclear3_1

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South eastern website q&a says:

I need help with a ticket I’ve bought online, who do I contact?
If you need help, give us a call on 0345 322 7021. We’re here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

..

Thank you. Yes I will try and call tomorrow if time allows. I did try today but gave up holding on after 15min...

The retailer (southeastern) should provide you with a full refund for the tickets that you were unable to collect. It is not your fault that there was an issue between them and their supplier (assuming that’s what happened). There should be no admin fee for this.

If the new tickets cost more than the original tickets then I hope that the retailer (southeastern) will be considerate regarding the extra cost that you have incurred.

Fortunately, the new tickets did not cost any more, however they cost enough which is more reason for me to claim

Sorry, by "at the time" I meant at the point when the machine refused to print the tickets; there was a sign on the machine saying "If you experience issues with this machine call xxxxxxxxxxx"
I'm not suggesting that you should or should not have done this; rather that whether you did so or not might affect the outcome.

I'm only providing my own experience with this issue because I thought it might be helpful. I haven't had experience dealing with Southeastern in the past so I'm not able to say with a huge degree of certainty what the outcome is likely to be.

That's fine but it was 06.20 in the morning and calling a number at that time on a freezing cold morning wasn't an attractive option. Plus I doubt anyone would have answered at that time - who knows? I did not wish to try telephoning on the train in case the signal cut out
 
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theironroad

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If they really are 24/7 as they claim, you might have a better chance of getting through now than during the day, especially with schools etc starting back tomorrow.
 

Hadders

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Southeastern should refund you the cost of the additional ticket you had to purchase, although I suspect you'll need to persist to get them to understand the problem.

To be honest, I wouldn't have purchased an additional ticket but I would have recorded the failed attempt to collect the ticket on my phone and used this, along with the email reference in the event of any difficulty en-route. Technically not legal but perfectly reasonable in my opinion.
 

Islineclear3_1

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Southeastern should refund you the cost of the additional ticket you had to purchase, although I suspect you'll need to persist to get them to understand the problem.

To be honest, I wouldn't have purchased an additional ticket but I would have recorded the failed attempt to collect the ticket on my phone and used this, along with the email reference in the event of any difficulty en-route. Technically not legal but perfectly reasonable in my opinion.

Yes, I took a photo of the screen displaying the error message and of course, have my email reference. No chance of calling from work but will try on my way home later this eve

Update: Uploaded all of my supporting evidence late last night and got an email just now awarding me a full refund

Fantastic, quick service from SE.

Many thanks to the posters here for your help :)
 

T-Karmel

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I'm not sure it would be same problem however SWR had some outage on Sunday unabling collecting any tickets from any ticket machines and ticket offices.

Great that they awarded you a refund.
 

Metal_gee_man

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From experience I take a photo of the machine with the error on the screen have a little bit of a rant on Twatter at the TOC @Se_Railway are generally very quick at replying to genuine requests and questions!
 

Islineclear3_1

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From experience I take a photo of the machine with the error on the screen have a little bit of a rant on Twatter at the TOC @Se_Railway are generally very quick at replying to genuine requests and questions!

I took a photo of the error message and submitted it with my other supporting documentation.

I must admit, I was expecting a bit of resistance from SE but can't fault their speedy response, considering their initial acknowledgement email said it could take up to 10 working days to reply. Very good service, I was very impressed. Credit where due

Anyway, I don't do twatter... can't be ar%sed with social media
 
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