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Refund Dispute - TransPennine Express (TPE)

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Saperstein

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Hi,

Having murders with TPE at the moment trying to get a refund on an unused CDR.

The situation is that on 3rd June 2019 I was due to go from Chester to New Brighton and back by MerseyRail.

I had already booked the tickets online the previous evening but could not collect them due to a problem at the station (comms?), so I duly collected them from the booking office at Chester the next day (TVM's still weren't working).

There was an announcement to the effect of the Liverpool Central train had been cancelled due to a trespass incident, it was unclear how long this might take to resolve so I decided to throw in the towel.

I contacted MerseyRail who replied saying I needed to go back to the retailer where I obtained the tickets, I duly contacted TPE and from that day to this have not heard a word, not even a confirmation e-mail, so I went on web chat to challenge them and was told:

11:36: This is awaiting approval, as i would advise this could take a few more days yet

11:48: As you have applied for the refund through web support you will get the £10.00 admin fee, if you had submitted the refund through customer relations you would not have got this charge

11:55: In this case you would have had to go back to your point of purchase, which is web support so the fee would have applied as this states in the terms and conditions

How can this be?

I think they are making things up as they go along here, I would like some advice on my next move please, at the end of thy day I know its only £4.50 but it's £4.50 i'm owed, and anyway it's the principal of the thing.

I cannot prove the train didn't run because I cannot get RTT to go back that far, so I cannot even be certain what time it was due. Is there another public source of this info?

Please advise, Thanks!
 
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SickyNicky

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What time was your train scheduled to depart? There was certainly some disruption on that line in the early afternoon on that day.
 

Saperstein

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What time was your train scheduled to depart? There was certainly some disruption on that line in the early afternoon on that day.

Hi,

I cannot remember precisely, it would have been around 1435 - 1450 when I heard the first announcement, I did state the exact time when I contacted TPE but I no longer have access to that Data as RTT does not seem to go back that far. Thanks.
 

SickyNicky

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The 14:31 was cancelled. It started further along the journey at Hooton.
It looks like the 14:45, 15:01, 15:15 and 15:30 ran, but reversed at James St, so never got to Central. I didn't know that was possible.
The 15:45 looks to be the first train that ran through.
 

Bletchleyite

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I'd have gone as far as James St, it's not terribly far to walk (and it is nice to have a trip into the mostly-disused platform :) ). However, per the NRCoT, you can have a refund if the train you intended to use was cancelled, there is no stipulation on what delay is caused, so if the next train is in 1 minute you are still eligible.
 

ForTheLoveOf

Established Member
Joined
7 Oct 2017
Messages
6,416
Hi,

Having murders with TPE at the moment trying to get a refund on an unused CDR.

The situation is that on 3rd June 2019 I was due to go from Chester to New Brighton and back by MerseyRail.

I had already booked the tickets online the previous evening but could not collect them due to a problem at the station (comms?), so I duly collected them from the booking office at Chester the next day (TVM's still weren't working).

There was an announcement to the effect of the Liverpool Central train had been cancelled due to a trespass incident, it was unclear how long this might take to resolve so I decided to throw in the towel.

I contacted MerseyRail who replied saying I needed to go back to the retailer where I obtained the tickets, I duly contacted TPE and from that day to this have not heard a word, not even a confirmation e-mail, so I went on web chat to challenge them and was told:



How can this be?

I think they are making things up as they go along here, I would like some advice on my next move please, at the end of thy day I know its only £4.50 but it's £4.50 i'm owed, and anyway it's the principal of the thing.

I cannot prove the train didn't run because I cannot get RTT to go back that far, so I cannot even be certain what time it was due. Is there another public source of this info?

Please advise, Thanks!
There is www.recenttraintimes.co.uk as reasonable evidence that the train didn't run.

TPE are indeed talking total cow excrement about the method of contacting them impacting the level of refund you're entitled to. Escalate the case further internally (to a manager), and if that still doesn't get you anywhere then come back to us - your recourse may eventually be to the Rail Ombudsman. Hopefully it won't be necessary to take it that far.

As for it being "only £4.50", it is true that you are likely to have to spend more than £4.50-worth of your time in sorting this out (depending, obviously, how you value your time!). But I'm sure that TPE wouldn't say "it's only £4.50" and write it off if you had decided that you didn't really owe your fare because the train was late, for example.
 

_toommm_

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If you do have something agreed verbally on the phone by a manager, I would always aim to get it in writing too, either through a case number (TPEExxxxxxxxx), or through email. When I've dealt with TPE Customer Relations in the past, they're awful at keeping notes on conversations, and often I've been met with questions like: 'Who told you that? I can't see that anywhere? Are you sure?'
 

Saperstein

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However, per the NRCoT, you can have a refund if the train you intended to use was cancelled, there is no stipulation on what delay is caused, so if the next train is in 1 minute you are still eligible.

Thanks @Bletchleyite Not long after the web chat I received an email with a reference number, which I have now replied to quoting NRCoT and asking again for a refund or I will take it further.

"30.1. If the train you intended to use is cancelled, delayed, or your reservation will not be honoured, and you decide not to travel, you may return the unused Ticket to the original retailer or Train Company from whom it was purchased, where you will be given a full refund with no administration fee being charged."

Will definitely take it further if they resist again.[/Quote]
 

SickyNicky

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Are you sure? according to https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Service?ServiceId=63362877

It started at Hooton at 15:59.

Yeah - you're right. The first confirmed departure was from HOO. For some reason the DARWIN feed didn't cancel the estimated times from Chester and Bache. But then, the DARWIN feed has been in a mess for the past few weeks, notwithstanding the switch from V12 to V16, causing grief to loads of people consuming it.

I'm guessing RecentTrainTimes consumes the feed directly from Network Rail, something I can't do because accredited sites are required to use the DARWIN feed.
 

Saperstein

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TPE are indeed talking total cow excrement about the method of contacting them impacting the level of refund you're entitled to. Escalate the case further internally (to a manager), and if that still doesn't get you anywhere then come back to us - your recourse may eventually be to the Rail Ombudsman. Hopefully it won't be necessary to take it that far.

As for it being "only £4.50", it is true that you are likely to have to spend more than £4.50-worth of your time in sorting this out (depending, obviously, how you value your time!). But I'm sure that TPE wouldn't say "it's only £4.50" and write it off if you had decided that you didn't really owe your fare because the train was late, for example.

I have now emailed them quoting revenant bit I quoted up thread and will see what happens, I’ll post any update here. I will carry on with it because it could just of easily been a more substantial amount and if it happens to anyone who doesn’t know any better then these companies get away with it. It’s just not on.

I’m not an expert but I was sure I what they’d said was tosh and I wanted to access the correct rules before challenging them again.

Thanks for confirming where I needed to look :)
 

Saperstein

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Location
Chester
Yeah - you're right. The first confirmed departure was from HOO. For some reason the DARWIN feed didn't cancel the estimated times from Chester and Bache. But then, the DARWIN feed has been in a mess for the past few weeks, notwithstanding the switch from V12 to V16, causing grief to loads of people consuming it.

I'm guessing RecentTrainTimes consumes the feed directly from Network Rail, something I can't do because accredited sites are required to use the DARWIN feed.

All that data feed stuff is lost on me I’m afraid, I just look at the site for info ;)

When I’m on the train I quite often have two or three browser windows open with connecting services on RTT to see at a glance how things are doing.

Only problem with RTT in can sometimes take ages before a cancellation is recorded, I take it this has to be done manually?
 

yorkie

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All that data feed stuff is lost on me I’m afraid, I just look at the site for info ;)
Put very simply, there is more than one data source, so looking at different sites may produce different results.
 

Saperstein

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Update: Well here we are nearly a month later and no further forward.

Since my last post, I have spoken to TPE on the phone three times (last time being 25/06/19 when they promised to sort it) and they promised a full refund within “a week”.

What’s the next step as I want to take it further, yes I know it’s only poultry sum but it’s the principle.

Thanks.

Saperstein.
 

_toommm_

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This happened to me and I just kept letting it slide thinking 'it's only a week', and everyone promised that to me for half a year. The compensation grew and grew as they messed me about more and more until I ended up with 3x the original amount because of how much they'd cocked up. They'd sent the cheque to the wrong address, spelt my name wrong so I couldn't cash it etc.

I'd suggest sending a letter of deadlock - I'm sure someone else will be along to tell you more about that. If they don't respond to that, go to the Rail Ombudsman and see what they say.
 

tpjm

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@Saperstein Sounds bonkers but send a polite tweet to @TPEAssist and ask them to escalate it. Link to this thread as it may help to explain the situation. The social team will be able to make sure it gets looked into and resolved as it doesn't sound like you've had the best experience so far.
 

Saperstein

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Location
Chester
@Saperstein Sounds bonkers but send a polite tweet to @TPEAssist and ask them to escalate it. Link to this thread as it may help to explain the situation. The social team will be able to make sure it gets looked into and resolved as it doesn't sound like you've had the best experience so far.

Thanks @tpjm They have since come back to me and promised to reimburse me within the next week, failing that I’ll try your suggestion.

Saperstein.
 

Saperstein

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Chester
Update:

TPE finally transferred £10 to my bank account during the week, the refund due was only £4.50 so I’m a fiver up but it’s been a struggle!

It wasn’t really about money, more the principle when I knew I was in the right and yet they still kept stalling...

Obviously, had it been a sizeable sum I would have been very concerned.

During the interactions with them they claimed they had sent rail vouchers and I had to allow 15 days. I never received any vouchers so think they were stalling.

They said I would have to fill in a “DONR form”, anyone know what this is, I’ve never herd of such a form.

Suffice to say I never received one!

In contrast I recently submitted delay repay to LNWR and it was delt with promptly, without issue and monies transferred to my MasterCard account,

Saperstein.
 
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