Appealing unpaid fare notice

[Clip]

^^^^ Definitely the way to go in my view too.

Then what the terms change shortly after but I would fight this all the way

 

[miami]

At 1355 today I received the following missive

Thank you for your correspondence concerning the above referenced Unpaid Fare Notice issued by Virgin Trains on Wednesday 09 December 2015.

Please disregard the previous correspondence you have received from the Independent Appeals Service declining your appeal. Upon further investigation of your case, I can confirm that our initial assessment was incorrect.

As you have correctly stated in your appeal, whilst not on the direct Edinburgh to London line, Virgin Trains have confirmed that Wilmslow is a valid routing point for the journey undertaken on the date in question, and as such, your ticket was valid.

Please accept my sincere apologies for any undue concern caused by the incorrect response to your initial appeal.

I can confirm that the Unpaid Fare Notice was issued incorrectly as you held a valid ticket for this journey. The outstanding balance has been waived in full, and no further action is required on your part.

Due to the confusion caused in this instance, I have made Virgin Trains aware of this notice and the fact that it was issued incorrectly by the inspector. I have advised that it has now been cancelled, however as explained in our previous response, we are unable to investigate complaints concerning Virgin Trains service or staff conduct, or advise what will be done with this information.

Should you wish to pursue any complaint with Virgin Trains regarding any members of staff who dealt with you on this date, you will need to contact their customer relations team directly.

Again I would like to take the time to apologise for any confusion, and hope that this is a more satisfactory outcome to your appeal. Thank you for taking the time to write to IAS.

 

[PeterY]

Great Result Paul.

 

[Bletchleyite]

And not even a standard £45 rail voucher to compensate for the inconvenience

I though they would back down before it got to Court.

 

[ainsworth74]

At 1355 today I received the following missive

Unprompted? If so that's a good result and suggests that perhaps they do case check. If you had emailed them back then at least you got the right answer!

Now I'd go back to Virgin and complain.

And not even a standard £45 rail voucher to compensate for the inconvenience

That came from IAS not Virgin

 

[Tetchytyke]

Unprompted? If so that's a good result and suggests that perhaps they do case check.

<cynic>Or that someone at ITAL reads this forum</cynic>

 

[sheeldz]

<cynic>Or that someone at ITAL reads this forum</cynic>

Exactly what I was thinking.

A good result in the end for you, and once again confirmation of this forum's consensus being powerful.

 

[ainsworth74]

<cynic>Or that someone at ITAL reads this forum</cynic>

If they would be so kind as to identify themselves so we can invoice appropriately

 

[miami]

<cynic>Or that someone at ITAL reads this forum</cynic>

It was my first thought, but then I thought that was a rather self-centered view

Unprompted? If so that's a good result and suggests that perhaps they do case check. If you had emailed them back then at least you got the right answer!

My other immediate thought, but then why would they sit on a case for 17 working days before issuing the farcical first letter, then 24 hours later issue a retraction?

My assumption is the complaint I made to Virgin just before the first response was read, and then Virgin contacted IAS that afternoon or the next morning. I guess I should have taken the advice to complain to Virgin in the first place, rather than following the instructions given on the UFN.

I'm not sure it's a good result, it's the bare minimum result.

I'll give it a few more days for Virgin to respond to my complaint.

 

[gray1404]

Have Virgin replied yet?

 

[miami]

Have Virgin replied yet?

No response. I'm going to chase it during the week

 

[323235]

And not even a standard £45 rail voucher to compensate for the inconvenience

I though they would back down before it got to Court.

The day IAS give anyone £1.00 in compensation I would be extremely surprised. I am also amazed that it is IAS that appear to have cancelled the unpaid fare notice as from all the cases I have seen it has been the TOC that has told IAS to cease action.

 

[Greenback]

I don't think it's a great result since Paul had a valid ticket and this should never have happened.

I have some sympathy for the view that if a passenger can be penalised for an honest mistake, then the same should happen in reverse.

Perhaps some kind of legislated penalty charge for this sort of thing might help to focus TOC minds on training staff properly and ensuring that the mindset changes amongst some that the passenger isn't always wrong, and that it should not be assumed that they are without checking out industry documentation first.

 

[najaB]

I have some sympathy for the view that if a passenger can be penalised for an honest mistake, then the same should happen in reverse.

Would it be worth filing a small claims court motion for costs?

 

[DelayRepay]

Would it be worth filing a small claims court motion for costs?

I would ask Virgin Trains for compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by their agent. Remember there was no contractual relationship between the OP and IAS. Virgin will probably send £50 anyway and most likely apologise that there was no catering on your train, just to prove they read your letter...

 

[najaB]

I would ask Virgin Trains for compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by their agent. Remember there was no contractual relationship between the OP and IAS.

Oh, naturally the claim would be against Virgin.

 

[miami]

Dec 9th: Detained
Dec 10th: submitted appeal
Jan 6th 1515: sent complaint to Virgin, auto acknowlegement
Jan 6th 1645: appeal rejected from IAS
Jan 7th 1354: IAS send another letter saying "appeal rejected" was a mistake and nothing more to worry about
Jan 21st: Virgin case reference emailed to me, "thank you for your correspondence on Jan 6th"

I was very initially impressed by the turn around time on Jan 6th, but now it looks like Virgin took 15 days to simply log the complaint.

Are they normally that slow at acknowledging complaints?

 

[crehld]

Are they normally that slow at acknowledging complaints?

Yes they can be. Took them two weeks just to log my last delay repay claim on the system and send an acknowledgement saying they're looking into it. It was quickly addressed once it got past this point however.