Abandoning travel by train and refund for ticket bought with e-voucher

[tannedfrog]

Hi,

I bought an Off Peak Return with an e-voucher. On the day of the outward journey, there was severe disruption, my intended train was cancelled so I travelled by NatEx coach instead. The coach was relatively quick and I was less than an hour late upon arrival.

- Do I claim under Delay Repay from the TOC, or for full refund from the online seller?
- If I use the return portion, will they refund half the cost, or (total cost minus cost of Off Peak Single)?
- If I don't use the return portion, will they refund the whole thing even though the return journey would not have been delayed?
- Will they refund as cheque / RTV / e-voucher?

Thank you

 

[Merseysider]

Claim for a full refund from the ticket seller. On WebTIS it's fairly straightforward; I've never done it on any TTL powered sites.

You may be required to surrender your tickets (either at a station or by post).

If you use the return portion they will most likely subtract £single from £return and give you the remainder, unless a larger amount by way of goodwill gesture is given.

Tickets refunded in this manner are subject to be refunded in the manner in which they were purchased. Eg cash purchase = cash refund, voucher purchase = voucher refund.

It will probably be most cost effective to go NatX back or pick up a cheap AP, than use the return portion and claim the difference.

 

[najaB]

- Do I claim under Delay Repay from the TOC, or for full refund from the online seller?

You would be eligible for a refund.

- If I use the return portion, will they refund half the cost, or (total cost minus cost of Off Peak Single)?

I believe you would have to refund the entire return ticket and buy a single for the return journey. Yorkie or another of the fares advisers would be best placed to advise.

- If I don't use the return portion, will they refund the whole thing even though the return journey would not have been delayed?

See above. You're claiming a refund as you didn't travel by rail.

- Will they refund as cheque / RTV / e-voucher?

You usually receive refunds in the same payment method that the tickets were bought with. In this case it would probably have to be a payment onto your credit/debit card, though it might be possible to receive a new e-voucher.

 

[Haywain]

As you didn't travel by train, you are not entitled to claim compensation for the delay caused by the train. However, as you chose not to travel due to service disruption you are entitled to a full refund on your ticket. If you use the return portion of the ticket, you will not receive any refund, as the outward is considered used once the return is used. A refund on the ticket will be by the original method of payment.

 

[yorkie]

- If I use the return portion, will they refund half the cost, or (total cost minus cost of Off Peak Single)?

Don't use it! You're entitled to a full refund of the wholly unused ticket as your train was cancelled and you chose not to travel.

If you wish to return by train, either buy a Single or alternatively buy a Return if that is more advantageous to you (e.g. if the Single is not much less than the Return, and you are making a journey in the relevant direction within a calendar month)
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Yorkie or another of the fares advisers would be best placed to advise.

Thanks, though I see Haywain beat me to it, I'd like to point out Haywain is even better placed than me to advise (We seem to almost always be in agreement though!)

 

[tannedfrog]

Thank you for all your answers. I will bear this in mind for next time as I would have been financially better off travelling by train and accepting the delay than taking NatEx, because:


(Off Peak Return - 50% Delay Repay refund) comes to an amount less than half that of (NatEx single + train Off Peak Single)


I have no wish to undertake the return journey on NatEx!

Thanks again

 

[yorkie]

Yes, for TOCs that offer a full Delay Repay scheme, it's best to accept the delay, rather than abandon the journey and buy a coach ticket, as it is very generous.

There was a thread recently where several people said they like it when their train is delayed just enough to qualify (if on a journey that was not time sensitive)

 

[Bletchleyite]

There was a thread recently asking if people actually wanted to be delayed (if on a journey that was not time sensitive) and several people said yes, they prefer a delay as it reduces the cost of train travel.

For me it depends on the journey. Certainly if I'm not in a hurry I'd happily take a 2 hour delay in return for a free return trip, particularly as I normally travel walk-up and am thus paying relatively high fares.