GTR not accepting my claim through Delay Repay Sniper

[kirstybrighton]

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some advice...I have recently received an email from GTR customer services stating that I have sent in paper forms and told me that as they do not accept claims from third party websites (for which I did submit my claims through DR Sniper) my account is currently on hold whilst they investigate.

I was just wondering if anyone else had received this email? If so, how did you respond to it?

I didn't realise that they didn't accept claims through DR Sniper so I am now worried about further action being taken.

Thanks in advance

 

[Nick66]

This thread may come in useful

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/govia-thameslink-railway-southern-delay-repay-declined.162507/

 

[kirstybrighton]

This thread may come in useful

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/govia-thameslink-railway-southern-delay-repay-declined.162507/

Thank you, this has been very helpful.

Unfortunately I am still uncertain on how to respond to my email - it seems customers on this thread are in two minds over the response to take.

I believe most of my claims are genuine however i accept that some may have been made in error...is it better to admit to what has happened or to continue denying all accusations? Do GTR have access to check CCTV?

 

[jon0844]

Some? Even one is likely going to cause you problems.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I believe most of my claims are genuine however i accept that some may have been made in error...is it better to admit to what has happened or to continue denying all accusations?

If you know you genuinely made claims, you have nothing to fear.

If you didn't, on the other hand, there may be an issue. But I wouldn't be holding my hand up to anything unless and until GTR make a specific allegation about a specific claim. Their emails about "investigations" do seem to be a fishing trip as much as anything. They may or may not have CCTV but that isn't what would cause any issues, what would cause issues is if Delay Repay Sniper have repeatedly submitted claims for journeys that you could not realistically or plausibly have completed.

If you are a regular commuter yet every time the service falls over in the middle of the day you submit a claim, that is going to raise questions.

This is the problem with services like Delay Repay Sniper. It is a service that, inevitably, will be presumed to be dishonest. After all, if you were genuinely delayed on the train, why would you need a third party website to submit a claim for you?

 

[tsr]

Do GTR have access to check CCTV?

GTR routinely download CCTV from their trains and stations, and have dedicated staff to view and analyse camera footage.

I really don’t know if this is currently being done for Delay Repay issues, but it is a possibility.

 

[kirstybrighton]

If you are a regular commuter yet every time the service falls over in the middle of the day you submit a claim, that is going to raise questions.

This is the problem with services like Delay Repay Sniper. It is a service that, inevitably, will be presumed to be dishonest. After all, if you were genuinely delayed on the train, why would you need a third party website to submit a claim for you?

I generally between VIC and BTN around 07:00-09:00 and 17:00-19:00 and i believe that all the claims I have submitted are roughly right however I cannot be 100% certain that I have always selected the correct train on DRS.

The main reason for using DRS is due to it being much easier to submit claims rather than on the Southern website, as DRS had reached out to me on Twitter and recommended their service, I assumed I could use this website to submit my claims.

 

[Tetchytyke]

he main reason for using DRS is due to it being much easier to submit claims rather than on the Southern website

A tenner a month easier? Hmm. You'd have to make plenty of claims to get that money back.

And therein lies the problem.

Whether you are dishonest or not (and deliberately choosing to claim on a journey you were not making *is* dishonest), the TOCs will assume anyone using that website is dishonest precisely because of how much it costs. You can only pay for it if you make a lot of claims. And most people won't make a lot of delayed journeys, they'll go to work and they'll come home at the same time most days.

 

[kirstybrighton]

Also, this email came from '[email protected]' is this definitely GTR? I am concerned that this may be spam however they seem certain to know the recent DR claims I have submitted

 

[kirstybrighton]

A tenner a month easier? Hmm. You'd have to make plenty of claims to get that money back.

And therein lies the problem.

Whether you are dishonest or not (and deliberately choosing to claim on a journey you were not making *is* dishonest), the TOCs will assume anyone using that website is dishonest precisely because of how much it costs. You can only pay for it if you make a lot of claims. And most people won't make a lot of delayed journeys, they'll go to work and they'll come home at the same time most days.

Ah yes, I can see where the issue is now.

I was totally unaware that DRS was not permitted to submit claims however I can certainly see how others could abuse this system to their advantage. I suppose the best route would be to be co-operative with them (?).

It seems members on the other thread were recommending to challenge GTR on this matter but as I am unsure on the laws and legislation for this, I do not want to make this problem worse for myself.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

A tenner a month easier? Hmm. You'd have to make plenty of claims to get that money back.

And therein lies the problem.

Whether you are dishonest or not (and deliberately choosing to claim on a journey you were not making *is* dishonest), the TOCs will assume anyone using that website is dishonest precisely because of how much it costs. You can only pay for it if you make a lot of claims. And most people won't make a lot of delayed journeys, they'll go to work and they'll come home at the same time most days.

I find it an unreasonable assumption that all users of such websites are likely to be dishonest. I had a subscription to one a while back, when delays were very bad on my journey. Using the train companies' delay repay forms is inevitably slow and difficult (or at least, most of them were back then).

These subscription services let you enter the approximate time of your typical journey and then they send you an email every day/week giving you the details of trains delayed by more than the threshold for Delay Repay. If you caught any of these services then you can simply click on a link in the email and the claim is submitted for you. Depending on the cost of your season ticket and the frequency and length of delays, £10 a month can seem a very small amount indeed.

 

[Nick66]

Also, this email came from '@postroom.com' is this definitely GTR? I am concerned that this may be spam however they seem certain to know the recent DR claims I have submitted

Unlikely, any I have had have been from noreply (at) southernrailway.com but then I submit all my claims on their website. Could there be a data breach at DRS?

 

[kirstybrighton]

Unlikely, any I have had have been from noreply (at) southernrailway.com but then I submit all my claims on their website. Could there be a data breach at DRS?

I rang customer services and they confirmed that @postroom.com was from GTR.

One thing I find very strange is that DRS has submitted a paper form on my behalf, is this allowed? I am certain this has never been the case before.

 

[kirstybrighton]

Using the train companies' delay repay forms is inevitably slow and difficult (or at least, most of them were back then).

Depending on the cost of your season ticket and the frequency and length of delays, £10 a month can seem a very small amount indeed.

I agree, the nature of DRS is much easier to use than the Southern website, I personally have a £4500 season ticket meaning it can only take one DR claim to make a profit on the DRS subscription.

Can I ask, did you use DRS as well or an alternative site?

 

[WelshBluebird]

A tenner a month easier? Hmm. You'd have to make plenty of claims to get that money back.

And therein lies the problem.

Whether you are dishonest or not (and deliberately choosing to claim on a journey you were not making *is* dishonest), the TOCs will assume anyone using that website is dishonest precisely because of how much it costs. You can only pay for it if you make a lot of claims. And most people won't make a lot of delayed journeys, they'll go to work and they'll come home at the same time most days.

But surely that is utter rubbish? Depending on your journey, it really doesn't take that many delays to add up to more than £10 in delay repay. And yes, you are right most people will go and return at the same time - which means if a particular service is often late, then it is not at all suspicious that someone will be putting in a lot of claims.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I agree, the nature of DRS is much easier to use than the Southern website, I personally have a £4500 season ticket meaning it can only take one DR claim to make a profit on the DRS subscription.

Can I ask, did you use DRS as well or an alternative site?

I believe it was DRS.

 

[kirstybrighton]

I believe it was DRS.

I see, do you have any knowledge of them submitting paper claims when you used the service?

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I see, do you have any knowledge of them submitting paper claims when you used the service?

It was a while ago but I believe they did it all via the online forms. The TOCs have always had onling DR forms whilst I've had reason to claim DR.

 

[kirstybrighton]

Some? Even one is likely going to cause you problems.

Well what I mean is that I cannot be 100% certain that ALL claims submitted were correct - human error being the factor.

 

[Tetchytyke]

But surely that is utter rubbish? Depending on your journey, it really doesn't take that many delays to add up to more than £10 in delay repay.

£10 a month is a lot of money for filling in a form, or it is to me anyway. I used autofill on my browser for the same effect without needing to pay someone a lot of money to "remind" me about delays. My London Midland season ticket was also about £4500 and most months wouldn't get much more than a tenner back from delays.

I am not surprised that GTR are taking claims through third party apps with a pinch of salt, that is all I'm saying. The advertising for DR sniper is illuminating about the real reason why people might use such a service: "save 20% of your season ticket!"

 

[Clip]

But surely that is utter rubbish? Depending on your journey, it really doesn't take that many delays to add up to more than £10 in delay repay. And yes, you are right most people will go and return at the same time - which means if a particular service is often late, then it is not at all suspicious that someone will be putting in a lot of claims.

Yeah the tenner would cover it but if youre on a train and its delayed then youd simply do it there and then or at least the next day - why pay someone for a service you can do yourself - i mean you don t use The Trainline to book your tickets do you? thats the same thing but i dont remember seeing you talk about happily paying for their service

 

[MikeWh]

How reliable is the Southern service from the South coast to London these days? In the past I can imagine that DR claims would often have been daily, sometimes twice a day. I'm also sure that the last thing one wants to do when getting home late to the family is spend any time filling in forms on the GTR website.

 

[WelshBluebird]

£10 a month is a lot of money for filling in a form, or it is to me anyway. I used autofill on my browser for the same effect without needing to pay someone a lot of money to "remind" me about delays. My London Midland season ticket was also about £4500 and most months wouldn't get much more than a tenner back from delays.

I am not surprised that GTR are taking claims through third party apps with a pinch of salt, that is all I'm saying. The advertising for DR sniper is illuminating about the real reason why people might use such a service: "save 20% of your season ticket!"

So I am not sure of the specifics about DRS - but I am just assuming it is a site that makes the processing of Delay Repay claims less of a pain / quicker? In which case, some people value their time and the reduction of "fuss" in their lives enough to pay for a service. Similar to how some people pay for a cleaner etc. Some people value their time more than money, and so if they can spend some money to free up some time, they will.

Yeah the tenner would cover it but if youre on a train and its delayed then youd simply do it there and then or at least the next day - why pay someone for a service you can do yourself - i mean you don t use The Trainline to book your tickets do you? thats the same thing but i dont remember seeing you talk about happily paying for their service

I don't use the Trainline, but a lot of people do!
As for why pay someone else for a service you can do yourself? As I said above, you can ask that about lots of things, some people value their time more than money, and so if they can spend some money to free up some time / reduce the "fuss" in their lives, they will.

 

[Clip]

So I am not sure of the specifics about DRS - but I am just assuming it is a site that makes the processing of Delay Repay claims less of a pain / quicker? In which case, some people value their time and the reduction of "fuss" in their lives enough to pay for a service. Similar to how some people pay for a cleaner etc. Some people value their time more than money, and so if they can spend some money to free up some time, they will.



I don't use the Trainline, but a lot of people do!
As for why pay someone else for a service you can do yourself? As I said above, you can ask that about lots of things, some people value their time more than money, and so if they can spend some money to free up some time / reduce the "fuss" in their lives, they will.

You have already been told how DRS works above .

I value my time over money each and every time however your claim for reduced 'fuss' in this instance provessels to an incorrect claim seeing how this is the second problem we have heard of using DRS in as many weeks and how much time and 'fuss' is his now takin up all for the sake of a tenner??

 

[Tetchytyke]

So I am not sure of the specifics about DRS - but I am just assuming it is a site that makes the processing of Delay Repay claims less of a pain / quicker?

It is a website that tells you whenever there is a delay on your regular journey, for a fee of £3.75 per month. For a higher fee of £9.99 per month, it will tell you about delays on a wider range of routes and it will also submit applications for Delay Repay on your behalf. I believe that you have to choose which delays to claim for, but they do everything else on your behalf.

It is the first bit that is making some TOCs sit up and take notice. What this website does is tell you about all delays on a given day and invites you to make a claim for those delays. Naturally, people who are paying £9.99 per month for this service may be tempted to submit a claim for a journey that they did not make. Others may "accidentally" make a "human error" in choosing which delay to claim for.