Delayed, missed connection, had to buy new ticket

[shopbford]

The following was received early this morning. Sounds very much like a "pass the buck" message as I have proof they received them nearly 3 weeks ago which they confirmed in a phone conversation last week.

"Thank you for contacting LNER Customer Services on 05/10/2019

I have been looking over your case regarding your delay from Hexham to Newcastle on the 1st October 2019 on the 13:13 Service.

The service in question is run by Northern Trains. Had you sent in the tickets as requested we could have forwarded them onto Northern. To avoid any further delay I would recommend contacting them directly as they will need to resolve your issue. Apologies for any confusion.

Customer services Primary Phone08002006060Address

FREEPOST Northern Railway

Web addressNorthern - Customer ServicesNote
24 hours a day on every day where a train service runs

Lost Property Phone08002006060Address FREEPOST Northern Railway

Yours sincerely,"

 

[ainsworth74]

Jesus wept.

I'm not sure anything can be added to what's gone before.

 

[gray1404]

Your best step now is to contact the person at LNER who Yorkie put you in touch with. Attach copies of all correspondence (do not edit any names out - so he can see who has been negligant) too. That is your next step.

I assume you have emailed your delay repay claim to Northern already.

I am not sure of the nature of your disability only that you hold a disabled persons railcard, but I do hope this situation is not having an adverse effect on your health. It is dreadful treatment on the part of LNER of a disabled customer.

 

[Darandio]

It is dreadful treatment on the part of LNER of a disabled customer.

It's dreadful treatment of any customer.

 

[gray1404]

It's dreadful treatment of any customer.

I agree. Dreadful treatment of any customer, especially a disabled customer.

 

[AlterEgo]

My advice for nonsense like this is to always pick up the phone. I do not understand why some people are so averse to it.

 

[yorkie]

That's a normal response from LNER Customer Services; you will only get a resolution from LNER if you escalate it to Mike Ross/David Horne, or via the Ombudsman etc.

LNER Customer Services are absolutely awful to deal with. They are based remotely from the head office and the head office appears to have no control over their poor behaviour.

My advice for nonsense like this is to always pick up the phone. I do not understand why some people are so averse to it.

Agreed if you get to speak to someone like Mike Ross.

But a phonecall with a manager at their Customer Services department, which is not based in York, is probably not going to go well. I know from experience.

 

[AlterEgo]

Agreed if you get to speak to someone like Mike Ross.

But a phonecall with a manager at their Customer Services department, which is not based in York, is probably not going to go well. I know from experience.

Ah...they're outsourced. Now I understand.

 

[ainsworth74]

Ah...they're outsourced. Now I understand.

I believe it is now officially in house (gone are the days of writing off to Plymouth with your issues!) but it's not co-located with the HQ (HQ in York, customer service in Newcastle I believe) and so it doesn't appear to have actually achieved anything bringing it in house again.

Plus, as I recall, when they advertised for the roles they were paying peanuts even for team leaders. And I'm sure we all know the saying that when you pay peanuts...

 

[WesternLancer]

My advice for nonsense like this is to always pick up the phone. I do not understand why some people are so averse to it.

because the time taken to state things in simple terms to people when you have already written them down once to start with is time wasted, and that's when you have spent x minutes listening to time muzak waiting to get through to start with.

There should be no need whatsoever to phone anyone. The OP has posted what happened on here, we all understand it, why is it that people who are paid to deal with this stuff can not do so.

 

[shopbford]

Your best step now is to contact the person at LNER who Yorkie put you in touch with. Attach copies of all correspondence (do not edit any names out - so he can see who has been negligant) too. That is your next step.

I assume you have emailed your delay repay claim to Northern already.

I am not sure of the nature of your disability only that you hold a disabled persons railcard, but I do hope this situation is not having an adverse effect on your health. It is dreadful treatment on the part of LNER of a disabled customer.

Thank you, steps are being taken in contacting LNER.

Yes I emailed Northern a few days ago - it is thanks to this forum I am much better informed.

I hold a DPRC because of the entitlement it offers. I prefer to act as independently as I can rather than fall back on my mobility problems as an excuse.

What I do find extraordinary in all this is that the original fault why I missed my connection was down to Northern Rail. I was not at any time travelling on an LNER service because I certainly would not have been able to manage a transfer across London, preferring instead a longer journey with Cross Country which entailed no changes. I only asked for help at Newcastle because I did not know what happened next and in turn they appeared to put every obstruction in my path. Referring to having to claim Delay Repay for the Journey to Newcastle only (no mention at any time it applied to the whole journey), not knowing they were supposed to just put me on the next train, not knowing about split ticketing, had little knowledge of the mobile tickets I had and to then charge me again for the journey for which no doubt they received a commission and the majority of that money went to Cross Country who won't have had a clue about what had happened. I have a name for people like this but won't use it here in case it causes offence.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you, steps are being taken in contacting LNER.

Yes I emailed Northern a few days ago - it is thanks to this forum I am much better informed.

I hold a DPRC because of the entitlement it offers. I prefer to act as independently as I can rather than fall back on my mobility problems as an excuse.

What I do find extraordinary in all this is that the original fault why I missed my connection was down to Northern Rail. I was not at any time travelling on an LNER service because I certainly would not have been able to manage a transfer across London, preferring instead a longer journey with Cross Country which entailed no changes. I only asked for help at Newcastle because I did not know what happened next and in turn they appeared to put every obstruction in my path. Referring to having to claim Delay Repay for the Journey to Newcastle only (no mention at any time it applied to the whole journey), not knowing they were supposed to just put me on the next train, not knowing about split ticketing, had little knowledge of the mobile tickets I had and to then charge me again for the journey for which no doubt they received a commission and the majority of that money went to Cross Country who won't have had a clue about what had happened. I have a name for people like this but won't use it here in case it causes offence.

I suspect your name for such people would imply malevolence, but it's the incompetence that is far more shocking....

 

[221129]

Nothing surprises me about the LNER staff at Newcastle. Truly the worst station staff on the railway in my experience.

 

[shopbford]

Update

I have reached an amicable resolution to this with LNER and wish to thank all that have helped and given advice, it is very much appreciated. Please note the resolution is not subject to a Non Disclosure Agreement just that I accept each case is different and has to be treated on its own merits. Without the help and advice I have received I don't doubt I may well have still been going round in circles - thank you all.

 

[yorkie]

Glad to hear it