GTR Southern double charged me and refuse to refund

[John2423]

I've had multiple disputes with them.

In the past I've sent them letters containing tickets when I was due compensation via the delay and repay policy. They have never once responded, keeping my tickets which were my only piece of evidence.

In December I tried to buy tickets from one of their stations, and I was sold tickets with the wrong date on them. I went back to the person who sold them to me, who apologized and fed them through a machine. This never resulted in a refund.
I was then sold a set of tickets with the correct date on them, but I couldn't make my appointment due to cancelled trains.

I contacted southern customer service with a picture of my unused tickets, asking for a refund and explaining to them that I was not posting them in because they have ignored multiple valid delay claims from me in the past, keeping my tickets and never replying.
I also send them a copy of my bank statement showing that I was charged twice for a set of tickets and I never got my refund which I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Southern customer service took 20 days to respond and they told me that I should have posted the tickets to them, and that now 28 days has passed so there is nothing that can be done.

 

[AlterEgo]

Ignoring all your heartache with Southern, no company is going to refund tickets without receiving them.

They must receive them to know that they were unused. A picture of unused tickets proves nothing, for reasons which are hopefully obvious.

Others can advise better than me about navigating Southern's labyrinthine customer service teams.

 

[Hadders]

How have you claimed Delay Repay from them? The most straightforward way is to claim online which doesn't need you to send in the actual tickets - a photo will suffice. You can claim on a paper form which is pre-addressed.

Last summer GTR had a massive backlog of Delay Repay claims but in recent months they've been pretty good. I normally get a response within a couple of weeks.

You do need to specify how you want your claim paid - which method have you selected?

 

[Agent_c]

In the future, photocopy them, then send the original. Then if they ignore you, go straight to the small claims court for breach of contract.

 

[John2423]

What about the issue of the southern rail employee taking my tickets back and feeding them through a machine? In the past this always resulted in a refund, but this time for whatever reason it didn't. I can't even get them to refund that ticket.

 

[Hadders]

What about the issue of the southern rail employee taking my tickets back and feeding them through a machine? In the past this always resulted in a refund, but this time for whatever reason it didn't. I can't even get them to refund that ticket.

I don't know but if you paid by card then I'd expect you to have to insert your card into the chip and pin reader or sign a paper receipt as part of the rufund process.

Did you do either of these?

 

[causton]

I don't know but if you paid by card then I'd expect you to have to insert your card into the chip and pin reader or sign a paper receipt as part of the rufund process.

Did you do either of these?

If it was the same machine, it could potentially just cancel the transaction from going to the bank and then the authorisation would just eventually 'drop off' after a few days.

However on the software I use, yes, you insert your card but no PIN is required. Also, the receipts (if they print on ticket stock) say Merchant's Signature, so I always sign the refund receipt rather than the customer as it is "my" money I am giving back to them!

 

[John2423]

I didn't insert my card for the refund. They just sent my tickets through a machine that is supposed to non issue it. Usually when they do this for me I see a refund on my bank statement right next to the original charge. And yeah I got some sort of receipt printed on ticket stock. I've had a few refunds given this way before with no problems, it seems to be some sort of automatic thing, so I thought nothing more of it and just threw the receipt away, but I still have my bank statement.

For whatever reason something went wrong and I never got the money back.

 

[island]

If you don't have the receipt there is no proof that you ever returned the tickets, sadly. I think you'll have to chalk this one up to experience.

 

[gray1404]

Have you taken your case to Transport Focus? That could be an option for you?

 

[AlterEgo]

Have you taken your case to Transport Focus? That could be an option for you?

If the OP doesn't have a receipt then I don't think they can really help on this occasion.

 

[gray1404]

Would there not be a record held of the ticket that the booking office voided?

 

[Abpj17]

Would there not be a record held of the ticket that the booking office voided?

Heavens. Why are you sending them the original tickets for simple delay repay? Claim online.

Flag up the claim email. Chase them if they don’t respond with 28 days. And if they give some excuse not to pay that is nonsense.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Ignoring all your heartache with Southern, no company is going to refund tickets without receiving them.

Why not? A few ToC's allow delay repay compensation without physically receiving the tickets. Normally this requires the tickets to be cut in half or similar (so it cannot be used) and then a photo of it then sent.

 

[najaB]

Why not? A few ToC's allow delay repay compensation without physically receiving the tickets. Normally this requires the tickets to be cut in half or similar (so it cannot be used) and then a photo of it then sent.

But as per the OP the tickets were unused (and presumably unmarked).

 

[AlterEgo]

Why not? A few ToC's allow delay repay compensation without physically receiving the tickets. Normally this requires the tickets to be cut in half or similar (so it cannot be used) and then a photo of it then sent.

Hence my use of the word "refund".

If you claim the ticket is unused and you want a refund, then you will always need to submit the unused ticket for reasons which are hopefully obvious.

Delay repay *compensation* isn't the same as a refund though the two are often (understandably) confused.

 

[WelshBluebird]

But as per the OP the tickets were unused (and presumably unmarked).

My point was more a general one about refunds and why they would be different to delay repay. If delay repay can be done online like that, then why couldn't refunds? (certainly I read AlterEgo's reply as saying simply no company would do refunds online like that, regardless of if the ticket is made unusable or not).

Hence my use of the word "refund".

If you claim the ticket is unused and you want a refund, then you will always need to submit the unused ticket for reasons which are hopefully obvious.

Delay repay *compensation* isn't the same as a refund though the two are often (understandably) confused.

As above. If compensation can be done online then why can't refunds be done like that?
I guess the issues are:
1 - Making sure the ticket hasn't been used yet. Not sure how they can do that even if they have the physical ticket really (They could check the mag strip or for any markings from a guard, but a ticket could be used without having either of those things affected, so a ticket not having any evidence of being used doesn't mean it hasn't been used).
2 - Making sure the ticket isn't used in the future. For this just do what is done for delay repay.

 

[AlterEgo]

The key is that the TOC must receive the ticket to be certain that it is unused. Otherwise you can buy a ticket, take a photo of it, send it via email and use the ticket!

Delay Repay carries a different risk appetite on behalf of the TOCs, although I wonder if this will change now you can claim cash.

 

[craigy68]

Did you keep your original receipts ? The 'till' receipt has the ticket number on it.

When the original tickets were non issued did you not receive a refund receipt from the Sales Point Assistant ?

All non issue(s) tickets are kept 'in house' at the station for a period of at least 3 months.

Certainly if you purchased the tickets from my station it could be tracked down within about 5 minutes.

 

[Haywain]

The key is that the TOC must receive the ticket to be certain that it is unused. Otherwise you can buy a ticket, take a photo of it, send it via email and use the ticket!

Or photoshop the ticket and claim another refund or several.