How long is too long to wait for Delay Repay response?

[m00036]

I sometimes break my journey using my tickets and normally have no issue claiming Delay Repay when there are issues; However, on 4th February, I made a claim (putting in my ticket details and then stipulating my actual journey details as it says) and it was rejected. Not a massive surprise I suppose but I had hoped that, on my first appeal (explaining I had broken my journey), the reviewer would understand what was going on. Alas, the response was that I had used split tickets and therefore they didn't have all the information they needed.

Evidently that wasn't the case at all, if anything I was using less than 1 ticket as opposed to more than 1 so I explained the situation and proceeded to wait almost two months for any further response (despite subsequently emails to the complaints department and the company's social media site too). Today, I received an email at long last saying they again didn't have the right information as I had used split tickets (quite contrary to my own explanation) and making no progress at all.

The amount of money involved is tiny but I now feel rather invested in this - it's taken 2 months to get nowhere with this claim, but it's just about open enough to not want to escalate to the Rail Ombudsman just yet. Anyone have similar stories or advice?

 

[Starmill]

It is possible to take the case to the Rail Ombudsman. Of course if you don't wish to do that you could try giving them one more chance saying that they have all the information necessary and you'd like them to review your claim, and if they can't that you'd like to be sent a "deadlock letter" for the purposes of contacting the Ombudsman. However you don't actually need a deadlock letter as you've already qualify under the time criterion.

Unfortunately it is relatively common for things to be very slow, often taking weeks to get a reply and several exchanges of messages needed.

The only real alternative that you have is, if you paid by card, to apply for a chargeback with your card issuer. Your card issuer should send you a form to complete but they'll want to see evidence of the breach of your contract and that you've attempted to remedy the matter directly with the provider first. Even if you are able to accurately return the chargeback form and provide evidence of both there's still a possibility they will not decide the chargeback in your favour. Your options beyond that are quite tricky.

 

[py_megapixel]

Maybe it would be a good idea to properly make a complaint to the TOC - don't make another delay repay claim, obviously, but instead use the general customer service contact details they publish. Make sure you keep records of this correspondence and the date, as the Ombudsman will only take on cases where the customer has complained to the TOC at least 40 days ago and not had the problem solved to their satisfaction.

 

[AlterEgo]

Which TOC is this? Have you tried calling their customer service number?

 

[kristiang85]

Southern once let a delay repay case go on for over a month after various to-and-fro with their team, and then had the cheek to tell me it was no longer valid as 28 days had lapsed since my delay! Even though I had been in active correspondecne with them.

I wrote a fairly strongly worded email to their customer service and got the value of delay in RTVs, which was a satisfactory resolution for me, but do watch out for this kind of thing from TOCs.

 

[m00036]

Well 2 months and 10 days later, GWR has awarded the full 74p of the claim, so credit to them to getting to the right answer in the end.

 

[40fan]

I was delayed by the cancellation of the 0830 Derby to Leicester train on October 23rd 2021. My destination was Peterborough which I reached 90 minutes late after travelling via Grantham.because the MML was closed.

I am still waiting for my claim to be settled.

EMT rejected my claim, citing the train they were investigatimg was a Cross Country train (0759 Peterborough to Birmingham)/ I was not on it. I never mentioned it in my claim.

A complaint was made to Customer Services and to the Managing Director. Neither replied and I still have not received any money back.

Another letter was sent last week to the Managing Director, complaining that I have had no reply to my complaint.

The Rail Ombudsman is investigating my claim as it was made 6 months ago. It is far too long to wait.

 

[WesternLancer]

I was delayed by the cancellation of the 0830 Derby to Leicester train on October 23rd 2021. My destination was Peterborough which I reached 90 minutes late after travelling via Grantham.because the MML was closed.

I am still waiting for my claim to be settled.

EMT rejected my claim, citing the train they were investigatimg was a Cross Country train (0759 Peterborough to Birmingham)/ I was not on it. I never mentioned it in my claim.

A complaint was made to Customer Services and to the Managing Director. Neither replied and I still have not received any money back.

Another letter was sent last week to the Managing Director, complaining that I have had no reply to my complaint.

The Rail Ombudsman is investigating my claim as it was made 6 months ago. It is far too long to wait.

I assume you actually mean EMR and that you didn't send the complaints you mention to some sort of out of date EMT (the previous operator) contact address? ie 'EMT' in your post was a typo.

did you use the Delay - Repay Appeal process after they rejected your initial claim? (as opposed to then taking up the matter with Customer Services). You would hope things would be joined up but it may be that by going down two different routes on the issue it has somehow got lost.

I have not had problems with EMR responding to stuff promptly - unless their service has declined recently. Would it be worth your ringing EMR's customer services to see if they can trace your complaint to them / the MD and explain why it was not responded to?

Obv good you have sought to involve the Ombudsman now.

 

[Andy Pacer]

A complaint was made to Customer Services and to the Managing Director. Neither replied and I still have not received any money back.

Another letter was sent last week to the Managing Director, complaining that I have had no reply to my complaint.

The Rail Ombudsman is investigating my claim as it was made 6 months ago. It is far too long to wait.

To be fair its unlikely the MD would ever get sight of customer complaints, even when addressed to him or her.