GWR refund unused sleeper supplement

[chris_de]

Good evening,

I thoroughly try to get a refund for a sleeper supplement for a trip not to be taken at all. Journey is more than 14 days ahead so only an admin fee would apply.

Details:
- 2 trips booked on phone, both under one reference number.
- outward 14.07., return 18.07.
To be canceled: only the return.

I even got a screenshot from the sales agent to support me doing the claim properly and converted it to a pdf with further information that i haven't collected the tickets at the maschine yet.

It failed at all. They rejected the claim with these non-saying text modules:

Thank you for your refund claim. We have reviewed your claim based on the following information provided in your submission:

Ticket Details:
Ticket Type: Paper Return
Ticket Price: £90.00
Ticket Number: xxxxxxxxxx
Refund Reason: Part Ticket Not Required

To be able to assess a claim fully we need complete ticket information. Unfortunately, we cannot find a record of your ticket based on the evidence from your application and have therefore been unable to process your claim. We will re-evaluate your claim if you can provide further ticket evidence.

If you believe we've made the wrong decision or that you've given us the wrong information, then the quickest way to update us is to submit a new claim using our online web page at https://refunds.gwr.com/claim/GWR-xxxxxx before Thu, 27 Jul 2023.

Any suggestions how to deal with?

I already send an email - same as above, "you need to provide further information" and asked by chatting them 4 days ago "i will forward your case and someone will answer to you in a few days".

Nothing happend...

Thanks and regards
Chris

 

[WesternLancer]

Good evening,

I thoroughly try to get a refund for a sleeper supplement for a trip not to be taken at all. Journey is more than 14 days ahead so only an admin fee would apply.

Details:
- 2 trips booked on phone, both under one reference number.
- outward 14.07., return 18.07.
To be canceled: only the return.

I even got a screenshot from the sales agent to support me doing the claim properly and converted it to a pdf with further information that i haven't collected the tickets at the maschine yet.

It failed at all. They rejected the claim with these non-saying text modules:

Thank you for your refund claim. We have reviewed your claim based on the following information provided in your submission:

Ticket Details:
Ticket Type: Paper Return
Ticket Price: £90.00
Ticket Number: xxxxxxxxxx
Refund Reason: Part Ticket Not Required

To be able to assess a claim fully we need complete ticket information. Unfortunately, we cannot find a record of your ticket based on the evidence from your application and have therefore been unable to process your claim. We will re-evaluate your claim if you can provide further ticket evidence.

If you believe we've made the wrong decision or that you've given us the wrong information, then the quickest way to update us is to submit a new claim using our online web page at https://refunds.gwr.com/claim/GWR-xxxxxx before Thu, 27 Jul 2023.

Any suggestions how to deal with?

I already send an email - same as above, "you need to provide further information" and asked by chatting them 4 days ago "i will forward your case and someone will answer to you in a few days".

Nothing happend...

Thanks and regards
Chris

Hi there @chris_de , welcome - looks like this post has been missed by some of us regulars on this forum. Hopefully people will pitch in with advice.

So just to clarify -

1) you have bought a ticket for travel (day time eg Super Off Peak Rtn) and then paid the berth supplement for the sleeper in each direction but are seeking to refund the berth supplement in one direction, and are willing to pay the £10 admin fee. But GWR are not allowing you to do this?

2) And - did you buy these tickets from GWR?

3) If not who did you buy them from

4) Was that on line, at a station ticket office, or by phone?

5) what is the date of travel out and back?

Can you uplocad a copy of the ticket booking info / the tickets by any chance for people to see here what infor is on them


I have not studied it carefully as yet but this page would seem to outline your rights to a refund:

Night Riviera Sleeper | Great Western Railway

Travel overnight between London Paddington and Penzance on our Night Riviera Sleeper train service. Plan your journey and buy tickets with GWR today.

www.gwr.com

From the list of info further down the page:

Does this help at all?

Supplement refunds​

Refunds can be requested up to 7 days before the planned date and time of arrival. After this time no refunds apply.  How early you cancel will affect what we refund.

Time of cancellation	Refund available
Up to 14 days BEFORE the date of arrival	100% of the supplement, minus a £10 admin charge per ticket.
Up to 7 days BEFORE the date of arrival	75% of the supplement, minus a £10 admin charge per ticket.
6 days or less BEFORE the date of arrival	No refund

In addition, there will be a £10 admin charge per booking (not ticket) when we calculate the refund of your train tickets (Anytime, Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak).

• Changing your ticket​

  You can change the date and/or time of an Advance ticket (which will be valid for a specific service) at any time before you travel, but there will be an admin fee of £10. If the price of your new ticket is more expensive, you'll need to pay the difference. Off-Peak and Anytime tickets can be changed free from admin fees, up to the date of departure.

 

[chris_de]

Hello,

it's getting worser than I thought...

They finally replied me they were pleased to declare my refund being successfully. But they canceled both trips!!!

Very successful also sleeper cabins now are completly sold out on my planned itinary. Given the announced strikes it feels like a suicide squad.

Maybe i should travel in other countries with railways doing there job more properly.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello,

it's getting worser than I thought...

They finally replied me they were pleased to declare my refund being successfully. But they canceled both trips!!!

Very successful also sleeper cabins now are completly sold out on my planned itinary. Given the announced strikes it feels like a suicide squad.

Maybe i should travel in other countries with railways doing there job more properly.

That's just pathetic, bad sadly not untypical. Have you tried to telephone GWR to discuss it with a human being at their sleeper booking call centre?

I assume you have bought the tickets from GWR.

 

[chris_de]

Thanjs for your support, I will try this at last...

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanjs for your support, I will try this at last...

Can you get a phone number you can use from overseas OK? if not someone hear may know how to get one.
Ppl here also often say that twitter is a way to get help (but I do not use it myself)

 

[chris_de]

Thanjs for your support, I will try this at last...

So, no chance at all, former booking is away forever. Only stay awake if somebody cancels his trip and than gather that one. The agent told me just to book online and then to claim a refund on the unused ticket after the journey. If i had this information in the beginning i wouldn't have it booked by phone...

 

[WesternLancer]

is there a viable day time train option that would suit your plans?

If you post what you want to do and when to be there it is possible people here could make suggestion for you but you would need to indicate what tickets you have (you have not answered the questions relating to that which I posed earlier)

 

[chris_de]

Oh I'm sorry about that! I got an Interrail pass. I'm wanting to go for a cycle trip in Cornwall. Therefore booked Night Riveria to PNZ. So I'm flexible to choose any train with bike service. Probably i will have to rebook the ferry to get one day earlier to UK and to have a day train.

 

[WesternLancer]

Oh I'm sorry about that! I got an Interrail pass. I'm wanting to go for a cycle trip in Cornwall. Therefore booked Night Riveria to PNZ. So I'm flexible to choose any train with bike service. Probably i will have to rebook the ferry to get one day earlier to UK and to have a day train.

Ah - I see - interrail pas so doubt good option for you.

OK - if you get a day train and I am assuming you will want to go London to Penzance (there are other routes you could opt for depending on where the ferry is arriving in UK - ag along the south coast for example - but perhaps from Germany you are arriving at Harwich? )

You may want to have a read of the general info for bikes on trains in the UK

Train Travel with Bicycles | National Rail

The gateway to Britain's National Rail network. A portal into UK rail travel including train company information and promotions; train times; fares enquiries; ticket purchase and train running information

www.nationalrail.co.uk

and also the specific info for bikes on the train company you are using for the trips concerned. So London to Penzance that would be GWR

Bringing Your Bike on the Train | Great Western Railway

If you're planning to take your bike on the train, find out everything you need to know before you travel with Great Western Railway.

www.gwr.com

in particular this PDF

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/travelling-with-us/on-our-trains/bringing-your-bike/GWR-cycling-by-train.pdf

I would strongly suggest that you reserve a cycle space on your chosen day time train as they do not have space for many cycles. I am not sure if you can do this on line unless you are buying a ticket at the same time and you will not be if you have an interrail pass. So you may need to telephone GWR to reserve a cycle space on the train of your choice. I would do this as soon as possible. As far as I know there is no charge so if things change you will not have lost money. You can then probably ask for a seat reservation that is not far from where your cycle would be on the train.

If you have any problems making cycle reservations it is probably best to start a new thread in the Fares and Ticketing part of the forum and someone will pick that up and advise how to solve it.

It probably does not fit with your other plans but you can take a ferry direct to Cornwall or part of the way to Cornwall if you take one of the Brittany Ferry routes from France - eg to Plymouth or to Poole or to Portsmouth, and then take the train westwards from those towns. There are overnight ferries on those routes so that may be a possible time exchange from being overnight on the sleeper London to Penzance. Of course you have to get to western France which may not be convenient to you but it occurred to me to mention it in case it is of help.

 

[Watershed]

I would strongly suggest that you reserve a cycle space on your chosen day time train as they do not have space for many cycles. I am not sure if you can do this on line unless you are buying a ticket at the same time and you will not be if you have an interrail pass. So you may need to telephone GWR to reserve a cycle space on the train of your choice. I would do this as soon as possible. As far as I know there is no charge so if things change you will not have lost money. You can then probably ask for a seat reservation that is not far from where your cycle would be on the train.

If you have any problems making cycle reservations it is probably best to start a new thread in the Fares and Ticketing part of the forum and someone will pick that up and advise how to solve it.

It probably does not fit with your other plans but you can take a ferry direct to Cornwall or part of the way to Cornwall if you take one of the Brittany Ferry routes from France - eg to Plymouth or to Poole or to Portsmouth, and then take the train westwards from those towns. There are overnight ferries on those routes so that may be a possible time exchange from being overnight on the sleeper London to Penzance. Of course you have to get to western France which may not be convenient to you but it occurred to me to mention it in case it is of help.

It's possible to make bike reservations online, for free, on the GWR website by logging into My Account (create an account if you don't already have one) and then selecting "View bookings" followed by "Make a seat/bike reservation".

 

[chris_de]

Thank you very much for your attendance!

As suggested I will arrive in Harwich in the evening, so the sleeper was the most convenient way for Cornwall and i like those trains. Travelled in 2016 the first time on that train and now it would be time to do so again

I first considered the ferry from France but it's a too long way down there and that on a friday, so i wiped away those option.

Perhaps the south coast itinary would be a good idea as i don't know those lines anyway.

Have all my bike reservations done through gwr.com, worked quite good aspite of some system errors on other TOC's bike spaces, but given later retries they all suceeded.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you very much for your attendance!

As suggested I will arrive in Harwich in the evening, so the sleeper was the most convenient way for Cornwall and i like those trains. Travelled in 2016 the first time on that train and now it would be time to do so again

I first considered the ferry from France but it's a too long way down there and that on a friday, so i wiped away those option.

Perhaps the south coast itinary would be a good idea as i don't know those lines anyway.

Have all my bike reservations done through gwr.com, worked quite good aspite of some system errors on other TOC's bike spaces, but given later retries they all suceeded.

From Harwich the via London option is the most logical - the south coast would be slower but you could go, for example:

London St Pancras to Ashford
Ashford to Hastings
Hastings to Brighton
Brighton to Southampton
Southampton to Salisbury or Westbury
Salisbury or Westbury to Exeter
Exeter to Plymouth - Penzance

Not all of those would require bike reservations before boarding

It is a great shame that due to the operator incompetence you have been denied the sleeper option which is indeed a very good way to go

 

[chris_de]

Good morning,

yesterday I had good luck und gathered online a cabin with a super-off-peak. Afterwards I will have to claim the refund on the unused super-off-peak, hopefully trying that they will pay me the unnecessary losses on the fees back.

What I consider special is that I got not an online ticket so I have to pick up the tickets at the station. I choosed Paddington, but would it be possible to get it at any other station? I can't understand why it only seems to be possible at an preselected one.

Regards
Chris

 

[fandroid]

Good morning,

yesterday I had good luck und gathered online a cabin with a super-off-peak. Afterwards I will have to claim the refund on the unused super-off-peak, hopefully trying that they will pay me the unnecessary losses on the fees back.

What I consider special is that I got not an online ticket so I have to pick up the tickets at the station. I choosed Paddington, but would it be possible to get it at any other station? I can't understand why it only seems to be possible at an preselected one.

Regards
Chris

You should be able to pick the tickets up at any station with a ticket machine, which is almost every one you might need to use. They ask you to select the station just to be certain the one chosen does have a ticket machine. Make sure you have the credit card with you that you used to buy the tickets, and the reference number given when you paid. If you have any trouble, go to a ticket office and they can normally print the tickets for you.

 

[chris_de]

Thanks for your support

 

[karo]

It's possible to make bike reservations online, for free, on the GWR website by logging into My Account (create an account if you don't already have one) and then selecting "View bookings" followed by "Make a seat/bike reservation".

Unsure if this is just an issue with me, but I've found that no matter what device I use, whenever I try to go to "view bookings", the page doesn't load properly - stays like this no matter how long I leave it, so have been unable to book reservations this way.

 

[Watershed]

Unsure if this is just an issue with me, but I've found that no matter what device I use, whenever I try to go to "view bookings", the page doesn't load properly - stays like this no matter how long I leave it, so have been unable to book reservations this way.
View attachment 138865

Have you tried disabling any ad or script blockers you might have in your browser, or using a different browser or device?

I originally had this problem when my adblocker was preventing the relevant section from loading.

 

[karo]

Have you tried disabling any ad or script blockers you might have in your browser, or using a different browser or device?

I originally had this problem when my adblocker was preventing the relevant section from loading.

I have tried different devices, disabling extensions, etc and nothing, though creating a new account did work.