CrossCountry refusing to give refund

[cfd223]

Hi there, looking for some advice about whether I’m in the right here or not.

I bought a train ticket from CrossCountry for travel on Friday 24th January. It was a flexible ticket (valid for 2 days) because I bought it quite last minute and there were no advance tickets on offer.

My train was cancelled due to the storm, as was every train that evening. I ended up having to travel the next day (14 hours after I’d intended to travel).

My claim for a refund was rejected as was my appeal. The reason given, which sounds bot-generated, was “We are really sorry but we have rejected your claim as you have not used the ticket to travel and therefore you are entitled to a full refund from the ticket retailer without any administration charge. You should contact the ticket retailer directly in order to obtain a full refund.”

I put in a complaint via the online form and was told I had to phone, which I did. The person on the phone told me that I am not entitled to a refund as the train that I did take (the following day) was not late.

Surely by this logic nobody with a cancelled train would ever get a refund if they ended up taking a later service.

I normally travel LNER who I know would give a refund with no fuss for this so I’m very confused why CrossCountry are making it so hard.

Another smaller but irritating issue is I was not logged into my account when I bought the ticket and the ‘log in to manage your booking’ link in the email does not bring up the booking I made.

Am I right in thinking I should be entitled to a refund for this journey?

Thank you for reading.

 

[Haywain]

Your post is unclear in some respects. What was the journey you were making? Where did you buy your ticket? And who are you claiming from, and are you claiming delay repay compensation or a refund for an unused ticket?

 

[jfollows]

If you used your ticket, you can’t claim a refund.
If you are delayed, you can claim Delay Repay.
Are you trying to do the wrong one?

 

[cfd223]

The journey was Newcastle to Sheffield. I bought it direct from CrossCountry. I did travel but 14 hours after the service that I had intended to travel on.
LNER always give refunds if the service you intend to travel on is cancelled, even if you have an open ticket.

This is why I was not expecting CrossCountry to refuse.

 

[tram21]

The journey was Newcastle to Sheffield. I bought it direct from CrossCountry. I did travel but 14 hours after the service that I had intended to travel on.
LNER always give refunds if the service you intend to travel on is cancelled, even if you have an open ticket.

This is why I was not expecting CrossCountry to refuse.

Yes, if you were intending to travel on a service 14 hours earlier, but didn't travel due to a cancellation, you are eligible for delay repay.

Spell it out to them in a reply, telling them your planned itinerary, and your actual itinerary. How many services actually ran in between your cancelled train and the one you actually travelled on? If it was more than 2 its probably a grey area, but as they were all 2+ hours, I'd expect full compensation.

 

[Haywain]

The journey was Newcastle to Sheffield. I bought it direct from CrossCountry. I did travel but 14 hours after the service that I had intended to travel on.

As above, that means you can make a delay repay claim. That is for compensation, not a refund, even though the amount due will be the same.

LNER always give refunds if the service you intend to travel on is cancelled, even if you have an open ticket.

I imagine you are referring to LNER's automated Delay Repay, which can sometimes assume that you are due more than should be the case. You still have to click a link in an email to claimit.

This is why I was not expecting CrossCountry to refuse.

See the comments by the poster above.

 

[cfd223]

Yes, if you were intending to travel on a service 14 hours earlier, but didn't travel due to a cancellation, you are eligible for delay repay.

Spell it out to them in a reply, telling them your planned itinerary, and your actual itinerary. How many services actually ran in between your cancelled train and the one you actually travelled on? If it was more than 2 its probably a grey area, but as they were all 2+ hours, I'd expect full compensation.

All of the trains that evening were cancelled, and I took the 7:39 the next morning. Not sure how many were earlier than that but I can’t imagine many.

 

[dvboy]

I had a similar experience with a cancelled CrossCountry train, all trains cancelled for an entire day between Gloucester and Birmingham back in December.
Claimed delay repay, they weren't fussed that I didn't actually travel on the first possible train the next day. Don't think they even asked - just were happy that it was a delay of over 2 hours. So my advice is claim Delay Repay on that basis

 

[cfd223]

I had a similar experience with a cancelled CrossCountry train, all trains cancelled for an entire day between Gloucester and Birmingham back in December.
Claimed delay repay, they weren't fussed that I didn't actually travel on the first possible train the next day. Don't think they even asked - just were happy that it was a delay of over 2 hours. So my advice is claim Delay Repay on that basis

Was yours an Advance or Anytime?

I think the issue seems to be I had an Anytime ticket.
But this seems unfair to penalise me when it was the only ticket available to buy.
And it was clear which train I intended to travel on because that was the one I selected and had a seat reservation for.

 

[Horizon22]

If you had abandoned your journey completely, then yes a refund would be due.

However you did travel the next day, so maximum Delay Repay is applicable here. If there were other costs (e.g. hotel) then you could raise that

 

[dvboy]

Was yours an Advance or Anytime?

I think the issue seems to be I had an Anytime ticket.
But this seems unfair to penalise me when it was the only ticket available to buy.
And it was clear which train I intended to travel on because that was the one I selected and had a seat reservation for.

advance but it shouldn't matter