LU Service Delay Refund issues

[politicfool]

I have an annual Oyster travelcard. On a few occasions I've experienced long delays on the Underground so I claimed service delay refunds from TFL. Most of those refunds were approved but the amounts were lower than the applicable adult PAYG fare. Also one refund was rejected for no immediately apparent reason.

I queried this with TFL and received a response indicating that:

• For the reduced refunds, the reduction was due to the Gold Card discount being loaded on my Oyster. This doesn't seem right because the discount doesn't apply when traveling entirely within the zones covered by my season Travelcard, and I could have received a larger refund by not loading the discount. (They did issue an additional refund for the shortfall, but this seems to be a one-time gesture outside of their usual business practice.)
• For the rejected refund, I'd travelled Caledonian Road - Richmond, and the Piccadilly Line bit from Caledonian Road - Hammersmith was on time but it emerged that District Line services to Richmond were suspended, so the only option was to use a bus. TFL nevertheless refused to accept responsibility for the delay as my Oyster card record indicated an on-time journey up to the point I exited the Underground at Hammersmith.

Having reviewed TfL's response, their policy appears to be in violation of their own Conditions of Carriage, which state in part:

11.2 If your Tube journey was delayed for reasons within our control by 15 minutes or more, we will refund you the single pay as you go fare for the journey on which you were delayed.
...
11.5 If you use an alternative route to your destination due to planned or advertised service changes, you are not eligible for a refund.

What do you make of this?

Full response here:

Dear xxxxxxx

Thank you for your email dated 6 October 2014 about your service delay refunds.

I must advise you that we’re only able to save journey history for a period of eight weeks. As this time has now passed I’m not able to view your journeys relating to your refunds that are beyond this time.

Please note that if you have a National Rail Railcard discount associated to your Oyster card this does entitle you to a discount on off peak pay as you go fares.

As your service delay refunds are for off peak journeys they reflect the off peak single fare that you would have been charged with your Railcard discount rather than the full adult off peak fare.

For your refunds relating to 16 September and 17 September 2014 I am happy to arrange a further refund for you to reflect the single adult off peak fare.

For your journey on 17 Septemeber the refund is for your journey from Caledonian Road to Hammersmith. We are unable to offer any refund for alternative routes.

I've set up a further refund of £1.65 for you to collect at Richmond station. It will be available from 9 - 16 October 2014.

You will simply need to touch in before your journey as normal and your balance will be updated as you pass through the ticket gates.

If you do not travel in this time, just keep this email and contact me before you expect to use the station. I will then reset the refund.

Alternatively you can reset the refund by contacting our helpline on 0343 222 1234. Please quote the above reference number when you contact us.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please contact me again if you need any further assistance or if you would prefer to talk to us about this matter, please call us.

Kind regards

xxxxxx

Customer Service Adviser

Transport for London Customer Services