Avanti first class declassified ticket claim

Vespa · 21 Mar 2020

Hi all,

I travelled on Avanti trains to London on Sunday March 1st first class, this journey got declassified and was filled with football supporters etc

I put a claim in for a refund for the difference and got a case number, they promised to reply within 15 days, heard nothing so I sent an email to customer services 2 days ago and heard nothing.

I'm looking at involving the Railway Regulators or Ombundman equivilent.

Did anybody have any dealing with Avanti claim procedures and successful resolution ?

Thanks

RailUK Forums

Hadders · 21 Mar 2020

Customer Relations might just be a little but busy at the moment, given everything that's happening at the moment. Dealing with a claim for declassified 1st class isn't exactly an urgent issue.

Give them a bit longer before going to regulators or the Ombudsman.

Bletchleyite · 21 Mar 2020

They're a bit busy, give them chance.

tiptoptaff · 21 Mar 2020

Don't you have to wait 40days before going to the ombudsman in any case?

Vespa · 21 Mar 2020

I would hate Avanti to be trying to fob me off, Virgin resolved a similar thing in 10 days.

Ianno87 · 21 Mar 2020

Vespa said:
I would hate Avanti to be trying to fob me off, Virgin resolved a similar thing in 10 days.

Virgin weren't dealing with Covid-19

Vespa · 21 Mar 2020

Ianno87 said:
Virgin weren't dealing with Covid-19

True, the claim was submitted 1st march before all this kicked off.
I will give it another week, not responding to an email is not a good sign tho.

Bletchleyite · 21 Mar 2020

Vespa said:
True, the claim was submitted 1st march before all this kicked off.
I will give it another week, not responding to an email is not a good sign tho.

They are busy! Give them a month at least.

Hadders · 21 Mar 2020

You have a case reference number, your claim's in the system.

Even if you did put your claim in a couple of weeks ago all train companies (and other customer facing businesses) are facing unprecedented demand at the moment. And the chances are they're doing this with fewer staff due to self isolation etc.

This really is a 1st World problem at the moment.....

Vespa · 21 Mar 2020

You're probably right, I'm just being my usual cynical self when it comes to big corporations customer services.

Brissle Girl · 22 Mar 2020

I am slightly surprised that DR hasn’t been suspended effective Monday. TOCs are going to be up against the wall along with everyone else just providing a service and at a time when we are supposed to be minimising any unnecessary contact or travel, having staff travelling to work purely to process claims seems inappropriate.

Hadders · 22 Mar 2020

There shouldn’t be many claims due to reduced number of travellers.

Also punctuality should be excellent with fewer trains and fewer pesky passengers to get in the way.

Vespa · 24 Mar 2020

Got a message from Avanti asking who advised me of the declassification.

I told them.

I couldn't hear who announced it as I'm deaf, I got the information from a hearing passenger and there was no food or drinks provided at my table, I had to pay for my own sandwich and only one free coffee from the buffet car, the carriage was also filled up with football fans as is the standard class.

Are they going to bull**** me, asking for more and more proof until I feel like giving up ?

Haywain · 24 Mar 2020

Vespa said:
Are they going to bull**** me, asking for more and more proof until I feel like giving up ?

If the train hadn't actually been declassified, quite possibly.

WesternLancer · 24 Mar 2020

Haywain said:
If the train hadn't actually been declassified, quite possibly.

perfectly reasonable for a passenger with hearing loss to rely on another passenger to convey the sense of an announcement of course.

Vespa · 24 Mar 2020

WesternLancer said:
perfectly reasonable for a passenger with hearing loss to rely on another passenger to convey the sense of an announcement of course.

And no food or drink brought to my table, there was woman there who had to get her own food as well she said its been declassified and you will be compensated.

That how I found out.

Haywain · 24 Mar 2020

WesternLancer said:
perfectly reasonable for a passenger with hearing loss to rely on another passenger to convey the sense of an announcement of course.

But passengers do get it wrong.

Kite159 · 25 Mar 2020

Vespa said:
And no food or drink brought to my table, there was woman there who had to get her own food as well she said its been declassified and you will be compensated.

That how I found out.

Was it a voyager (diesel) or Pendo (electric)operated service?

Vespa · 25 Mar 2020

Pendo mate, this one no less.

blakey1152 · 26 Mar 2020

Hadders said:
There shouldn’t be many claims due to reduced number of travellers.

Also punctuality should be excellent with fewer trains and fewer pesky passengers to get in the way.

In theory.... It seems in Southeastern land at least there seems to be quite a bit of trespassing going on!!

Vespa · 27 Mar 2020

Well got a result after checking, they acknowledged that there was a declassfication of my train and have refunded me the difference between standard and first class fare.

Quite reassured as this is the first time I dealt with Avanti complaint procedure, took some time but got there in the end.

CentralTrainer · 27 Mar 2020

Let’s hope the overworked staff there can go back to dealing with important stuff in this difficult time rather than being distracted and consuming resources on trifling things such as that.

WesternLancer · 27 Mar 2020

CentralTrainer said:
Let’s hope the overworked staff there can go back to dealing with important stuff in this difficult time rather than being distracted and consuming resources on trifling things such as that.

Actually I rather disagree - that's a job you could probably do remotely from home - staff there probably not trained to cover front line train service delivery or timetable planning or such things more vital to getting the trains to where they need to be - what other 'important stuff' would you suggest they do?
Actually better that they clear backlogs of customer services complaints during this period so that front line staff CAN get on with the important stuff knowing back office tasks fully under control and if more staff off in future it helps keep backlog down.

It's not realistic to expect staff who are trained up with systems and IT to do one thing to suddenly start doing other stuff - I doubt they are going to start delivering food for example, and if they don't do this they will either be doing nothing or laid off and then the taxpayer is picking up the 80% of their salary.
They should pay people money they owe - said people might in fact need that if their incomes have dropped or some such.

farleigh · 28 Mar 2020

CentralTrainer said:
Let’s hope the overworked staff there can go back to dealing with important stuff in this difficult time rather than being distracted and consuming resources on trifling things such as that.

Are they overworked atm?? I would have thought it was quieter for now.

221129 · 29 Mar 2020

farleigh said:
Are they overworked atm?? I would have thought it was quieter for now.

With the amount of refund requests going in I would have thought they are busier than ever.

farleigh · 29 Mar 2020

221129 said:
With the amount of refund requests going in I would have thought they are busier than ever.

Fair point. I had not considered that

Haywain · 29 Mar 2020

farleigh said:
Fair point. I had not considered that

There are likely to be fewer operators dealing with the workload as well.

sheff1 · 29 Mar 2020

221129 said:
With the amount of refund requests going in I would have thought they are busier than ever.

Yes possibly so, but I am not sure why the poster above seemingly thinks dealing with one type of payment is more important than dealing with another. The "trifling" amount due in this case could well be greater than the amount due in many refund cases. First come first served would seem the most equitable option.

matt · 30 Mar 2020

As the OP has had their claim resolved there is nothing more to add so thread locked

Avanti first class declassified ticket claim

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