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Claiming a Refund on Virgin

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Evvy73

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Hi,
My friends and I were caught up in the West Coast main line problems yesterday, to the extent that our trip to Coventry, never got any further than the concourse of Euston station!

I am presuming that as we were unable to travel I can put in a claim for a refund for all of our tickets (I had booked the tickets for the 5 of us)?

I have never put a claim in for anyone other than Southern before (where I just ask at my local station) so am not totally sure of the procedure - I had a look around the Virgin website, but couldn't find anything. Does anyone know if there is a claim form somewhere that I need to download, or do I just send a letter/email to their Customer Services? I have all of the unused tickets from the group, plus the references of the original booking.

For the record we were booked on the 11:23 Euston to Coventry train. We gave up at 2pm and went to the pub. We checked back at 3pm and still nothing was running.
We were booked on the 18:31 back from Coventry.

Any help, advice or web links that you guys can provide will be gratefully received.

Many thanks!
 
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AlterEgo

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If you abandoned your journey, you need to claim a refund from your point of purchase. It should be a full refund using the same method as you paid. No admin fee should be charged.

Where did you buy the tickets?
 

raildude

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I don't think you can have a refund if you knew about the disruption before boarding, i.e. if you got the tickets from the station office/TVM at Euston after the disruption started.
 

ainsworth74

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I don't think you can have a refund if you knew about the disruption before boarding, i.e. if you got the tickets from the station office/TVM at Euston after the disruption started.

The fact that the OP said:

(I had booked the tickets for the 5 of us)?

I have all of the unused tickets from the group, plus the references of the original booking.

For the record we were booked on the 11:23 Euston to Coventry train.
We were booked on the 18:31 back from Coventry.

Suggests to me at the very least the OP bought in advance and more likely booked online. Therefore AlterEgo's advice is correct.
 

Evvy73

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I bought the tickets online and collected from the machine at my local station (Wivelsfield, just north of Brighton) a few weeks ago.

I certainly didn't know about the problems before hand - I wouldn't have left the South Coast if I did!

As I said, we never did board as we never managed to get off the concourse at Euston. We arrived at Euston at around 10:50am and waited for a platform to be announced for our train. This never happened. At around 11:20am it was marked up as 'Delayed', then around midday it just disappeared from the departure boards. From about 11:45am repeated announcements were made that ALL services from Euston were suspended until further notice.

I don't know what time WCML services started running again, but certainly at 3pm, they were still suspended.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Ah - thanks for that ainsworth74 and AlterEgo - I'll have a look at the online booking system for Virgin to see what I can find.
 

yorkie

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It's still unclear what ticket(s) were held?

Did you just stay in London or go back to the south coast, or get a lift?

The procedure may well be very different if a through ticket was held (this would be a journey abandoned mid-way due to delays) or if a combination of tickets were held (perhaps then the tickets to London were used, and the tickets from London were wholly unused in which case it would be a case of returning them to the point of sale).

Without full information on the exact tickets held, it is impossible to give accurate advice unfortunately, and we can only give very general advice and/or advice that makes certain assumptions.
 

Evvy73

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Ah right - sorry yes! I'll try to be a bit clearer!!

We had 5 x adult Advance tickets from Euston to Coventry, booked on the 11:23 am service. These were £10.50 each.
Returning we had 5 x adult Advance tickets from Coventry to Euston booked on the 18:31 service. These were £7.50 each.

These tickets were purchased online from Virgins booking system and collected at the machine at my local station (Wivelsfield) a few weeks ago.

To get from the South Coast to Euston we had separate tickets. (I have a season ticket from Wivelsfield to London Terminals, plus an Oyster Card, where as my friends bought a group save from Hassocks to London including Zones 1-6 travel cards).

Thanks again for all of your help chaps.
 

yorkie

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Ah, in that case, the tickets were wholly unused and should be refunded completely (without an admin fee, of course!), from the point of sale.
 

Evvy73

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Excellent - thanks for the help guys. Sounds as though I should get my money back ok.

I'll send a email to Virgin to find out how I formally request a refund.
 

AlterEgo

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No need for the email - just send the tickets with a covering letter to:

Customer Relations
Freepost BM6613
Virgin Trains
PO Box 713
Birmingham
B5 4BR

A full refund should be offered, without an admin fee. I recommend Recorded Delivery for £1.23 to save any difficulties if Royal Mail fail.....
 

142094

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Remember to always take a scan or copy before posting - just another back up in case they go ahem 'missing'...
 

Evvy73

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Yes - good shout 142094 - I'll take them to work tomorrow and run off a photocopy before I post them.

Thanks for the address info AlterEgo - good advice on the Recorded delivery too! Cheers.
 

hairyhandedfool

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I don't think you can have a refund if you knew about the disruption before boarding, i.e. if you got the tickets from the station office/TVM at Euston after the disruption started.

You are not entitled to the refund if you knew about the disruption before buying the ticket. If you bought the ticket and then the train is delayed or cancelled and you decide not to travel, you are entitled to a full refund.
 

WelshBluebird

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You are not entitled to the refund if you knew about the disruption before buying the ticket.

Out of curiosity what would happen if you did know about the disruption, but it then worsened after you bought the ticket? (say initially it was just delays, that then turned into cancellations after you bought the tickets).
 

hairyhandedfool

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I don't think you would be entitled to a refund, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't get one.
 

MarkyMarkD

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The individuals who bought tickets from Hassocks to London + Travelcard should also get that refunded, as the entire purpose of the journey was negated by Virgin's cancellation.

Splitting the tickets via London does not negate the ability to treat it as one through journey for refund purposes.

I am surprised that yorkie did not clarify this as he knows a lot more than I do! ;)
 

telstarbox

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Evvy73 - for next time - if you didn't know already, you can book through Advance tickets from Hassocks to the north and it's generally cheaper than buying separate Hassocks-London tickets.
 

phil35

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Similar question here. Me and a mate were wanting to travel on the Virgin 12.02 Milton Keynes to Euston Service. We bought a MKC-London zones 1-6 travel card anyway upon arrival, even though we could obviously see the numerous "cancelled" signs. We took the mentality of "we'll come back in an hour or so and I'm sure it will be better by then."

After 2 hours waiting at MKC, and then 4 hours in Watford we finally got to Central London (via Overground and the Bakerloo line).

What is my position here? Am I entitled to any compensation at all? I realise we bought the tickets knowing there was going to be a delay, but surely we should still be entitled to something back as we finally arrived 7 hours later than we should have?
 

AlterEgo

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In that case you claim the refund back from point of purchase again - London Midland.

The NRCoC state that if you abandon your journey due to disruption, you should be refunded in full by the seller. There is no mention of any loss of that right should the ticket be bought when services are already disrupted.
 

phil35

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That's helpful, thanks. One more thing then, I don't actually live in MK, I was just visiting my friend for the day. So if LM is the correct company to be claiming from (even though I was planning on travelling on a Virgin train), should I use this form?

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...&sig=AHIEtbQdGl8PlrWcXhyWfcYV0wDEjUT13A&pli=1

Then I'll send that off with my tickets attached? Just to clarify, the ticket I bought was an "any permitted" ticket, so not specifically "Virgin only" or "LM only." This is why I was confused as to who I should be claiming from.

Again, thanks for your help.
 

SS4

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My apologies if I'm hijacking this thread but would I be entitled to anything if I was delayed by ~50 minutes from Birmingham to London?

Back story: I had an 1st AP for the 13:30 BHM-EUS for Saturday (I suspect due to arrive at about 1500) yet due to the disruption I travelled with Chiltern on the 1355 from MYB arriving at roughly 1550. I note that the Virgin customer charter says the threshold is 45mins on WVH/BHM - EUS.

Alternatively since I travelled with Chiltern can I claim on the grounds of no 1st class accommodation available even if the guard did not note on the ticket?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Additional: Ticket cost was £14.90 Y-P (I believe the lowest first advance going. It probably won't be worth the few quid in the case of the former)
 
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bb21

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My apologies if I'm hijacking this thread but would I be entitled to anything if I was delayed by ~50 minutes from Birmingham to London?

Back story: I had an 1st AP for the 13:30 BHM-EUS for Saturday (I suspect due to arrive at about 1500) yet due to the disruption I travelled with Chiltern on the 1355 from MYB arriving at roughly 1550. I note that the Virgin customer charter says the threshold is 45mins on WVH/BHM - EUS.

Alternatively since I travelled with Chiltern can I claim on the grounds of no 1st class accommodation available even if the guard did not note on the ticket?

The Virgin service is 1B23 due in at 1454.

I believe the answer is 'yes' to both of your questions.
 

sheff1

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In that case you claim the refund back from point of purchase again - London Midland.

The NRCoC state that if you abandon your journey due to disruption, you should be refunded in full by the seller. There is no mention of any loss of that right should the ticket be bought when services are already disrupted.

The way I read it they didn't abandon the journey. In which case the 'Compensation for Delays' rules apply. Still 100% refund in this case though.

That's helpful, thanks. One more thing then, I don't actually live in MK, I was just visiting my friend for the day. So if LM is the correct company to be claiming from (even though I was planning on travelling on a Virgin train), should I use this form?

Yes
 
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AlterEgo

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The way I read it they didn't abandon the journey. In which case the 'Compensation for Delays' rules apply. Still 100% refund in this case though.

Sorry, you're right and I misread. 100% refund on the outward portion of the ticket only (VT don't do Delay Repay) as he did travel. That's to be claimed from Virgin.
 

sheff1

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Sorry, you're right and I misread. 100% refund on the outward portion of the ticket only (VT don't do Delay Repay) as he did travel. That's to be claimed from Virgin.

As it was an any permitted ticket he could claim from Virgin or London Midland as both were delayed. LM have the most favourable terms - 100% on the whole ticket for delays of more than 2 hours.
 

phil35

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Sorry, you're right and I misread. 100% refund on the outward portion of the ticket only (VT don't do Delay Repay) as he did travel. That's to be claimed from Virgin.

That's fine, but I still want to be sure. Yes the Virgin train I was supposed to travel on was cancelled, but two hours later we got on a London Midland train to Watford Junction. That doesn't affect anything right? I should still just send off my tickets to Virgin with a over letter?
 

AlterEgo

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That's fine, but I still want to be sure. Yes the Virgin train I was supposed to travel on was cancelled, but two hours later we got on a London Midland train to Watford Junction. That doesn't affect anything right? I should still just send off my tickets to Virgin with a over letter?

You can, but as another poster has pointed out, it may actually be better to send your tickets to London Midland instead (if you had an Any Permitted ticket).

London Midland will give a 100% refund on delays of two hours or more on a return ticket under Delay Repay.

Virgin will give you 100% only on the affected portion (the outward, so half the value) as they do not have a Delay Repay scheme, as it isn't in their franchise specification.

In both instances the refund will be in Rail Travel Vouchers, not cash.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Back story: I had an 1st AP for the 13:30 BHM-EUS for Saturday (I suspect due to arrive at about 1500) yet due to the disruption I travelled with Chiltern on the 1355 from MYB arriving at roughly 1550. I note that the Virgin customer charter says the threshold is 45mins on WVH/BHM - EUS.

Yes, you're due at least 25% in vouchers.

Alternatively since I travelled with Chiltern can I claim on the grounds of no 1st class accommodation available even if the guard did not note on the ticket?

You can claim that too at the same time. The refund for that would be the difference between the price of your 1st Advance and the equivalent tier STD Advance. Virgin (and most other TOCs) do this as a cheque.

So, you should get at least 25% of your ticket back in vouchers, and a cheque to compensate for you having to travel in Standard.
 

SS4

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You can claim that too at the same time. The refund for that would be the difference between the price of your 1st Advance and the equivalent tier STD Advance. Virgin (and most other TOCs) do this as a cheque.

So, you should get at least 25% of your ticket back in vouchers, and a cheque to compensate for you having to travel in Standard.

Nice, I wasn't expecting to get both. Time to redraft my letter. Will my brother buying the ticket on my behalf (hence his name on the ticket) affect anything?
 

AlterEgo

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Nice, I wasn't expecting to get both. Time to redraft my letter. Will my brother buying the ticket on my behalf (hence his name on the ticket) affect anything?

Nope. The compensation is paid to the ticket holder for their inconvenience at being delayed, or travelling in a lower class of travel. It isn't a refund in the strictest sense.
 
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