Refund for journey I no longer wish to make due to industrial action on LNER

[Citybreak1]

Lner won’t issue me a refund yet. I am due to travel to London for Eurostar. I can’t afford them to cancel strike last minute and not know if I’m going? What are chances of this being called off or do I seek a swift refund?

 

[AlastairFraser]

Lner won’t issue me a refund yet. I am due to travel to London for Eurostar. I can’t afford them to cancel strike last minute and not know if I’m going? What are chances of this being called off or do I seek a swift refund?

Seek a refund.
Where are you coming from?
ASLEF strike so perhaps look at Lumo instead.

 

[Citybreak1]

Seek a refund.
Where are you coming from?
ASLEF strike so perhaps look at Lumo instead.

Yes they just refused me a refund to a week before what use is that if I have hotels Eurostars to catch? And it’s Edinburgh London

 

[CyrusWuff]

Yes they just refused me a refund to a week before what use is that if I have hotels Eurostars to catch? And it’s Edinburgh London

Guidance was only issued by RDG this afternoon.

However, it's the same guidance as for previous strikes (i.e. if you were due to travel on a strike day and choose not to - whether your train is cancelled or not - and you bought your ticket from an affected train company, you can get a fee free refund.)

Unaffected operators and third party retailers aren't obliged to offer refunds other than in accordance with Condition 30 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel (i.e. if you don't travel due to the train being cancelled, rescheduled, delayed or your reservation not being honoured.)

 

[Citybreak1]

Guidance was only issued by RDG this afternoon.

However, it's the same guidance as for previous strikes (i.e. if you were due to travel on a strike day and choose not to - whether your train is cancelled or not - and you bought your ticket from an affected train company, you can get a fee free refund.)

Unaffected operators and third party retailers aren't obliged to offer refunds other than in accordance with Condition 30 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel (i.e. if you don't travel due to the train being cancelled, rescheduled, delayed or your reservation not being honoured.)

Is it a case of waiting for it to go on website? On social media they said no refund request until a before?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Is it a case of waiting for it to go on website? On social media they said no refund request until a before?

It's possible the brief hadn't been sent out when you asked. Checking Twitter just now, they're saying people can claim refunds.

If you booked directly with LNER, fill out the refund form at https://lner-refunds.fastrailticketing.com/ and choose "Not able to travel due to strike" as the reason.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Guidance was only issued by RDG this afternoon.

However, it's the same guidance as for previous strikes (i.e. if you were due to travel on a strike day and choose not to - whether your train is cancelled or not - and you bought your ticket from an affected train company, you can get a fee free refund.)

Unaffected operators and third party retailers aren't obliged to offer refunds other than in accordance with Condition 30 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel (i.e. if you don't travel due to the train being cancelled, rescheduled, delayed or your reservation not being honoured.)

Could that not be considered anticompetitive to give people more benefits for using a specific retailer?

 

[AlastairFraser]

Yes they just refused me a refund to a week before what use is that if I have hotels Eurostars to catch? And it’s Edinburgh London

Yep, I'd say claim that refund as othwr members have confirmed and travel on Lumo as they won't be affected.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Could that not be considered anticompetitive to give people more benefits for using a specific retailer?

That's certainly one way of looking at it, though the official stance is presumably that DfT/RDG can't instruct TPRs, OAOs and devolved Operators to provide fee free refunds/changes of journey.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's certainly one way of looking at it, though the official stance is presumably that DfT/RDG can't instruct TPRs, OAOs and devolved Operators to provide fee free refunds/changes of journey.

Not to waive the £10, but surely to refund the Advance itself.

 

[scrapy]

Could that not be considered anticompetitive to give people more benefits for using a specific retailer?

No because those retailers can choose to give refunds if they want.

 

[Buzby]

Yes they just refused me a refund to a week before what use is that if I have hotels Eurostars to catch? And it’s Edinburgh London

I have exactly the same problem - I have prepaid lots of activities that I cannot cancel without financial loss, and I had everything setup on Tuesday. Now with the strike, I had to seek a back up to get me to London and before seats become scarce - so hello Megabus!

My £112 rail ticket seems a needless extravaganc! If their not on strike on my return, and I use it, would I still get a full refund of the outbound I couldn’t use?

 

[Citybreak1]

BBC says minimum service levels what does this mean? Do you have to travel if extra busy or can you still get refund?

 

[Starmill]

Not to waive the £10, but surely to refund the Advance itself.

I suspect it's not anti-competitive as any third party retailer is more than free to grant a refund for a ticket already booked for a strike day without quibble, if the customer's preference is to take their money back rather take the risk of relying on the strike-hit service. Some definitely do already.

BBC says minimum service levels what does this mean? Do you have to travel if extra busy or can you still get refund?

You're always entitled to a refund if your service is cancelled, delayed, or you have a reservation which is not being honoured. It doesn't matter what the causes are. If the train operator gives advice not to travel, while this isn't stated in the Conditions explicitly, it's pretty clear customers can rely on the advice not to travel as an entitlement to a refund, even for a non-refundable ticket.

Likely on a minimum service day the train will be deleted and replaced with a short term plan service, so that should automatically trigger a refund option electronically, if you booked online.

 

[Starmill]

That's certainly one way of looking at it, though the official stance is presumably that DfT/RDG can't instruct TPRs, OAOs and devolved Operators to provide fee free refunds/changes of journey.

Interesting isn't it because the wording of Condition 30, like so many, seems to be fairly poor at capturing everything.

If the train operator gives advice not to travel due to, say, a serious storm forecast, but the customer's booked service just so happens to be one of the few which make it through unscathed, though they decided to heed the warning and remain at home, there could be a gap there in the refund entitlement.

The customer should have no problem relying on the principles of contract law to get their money back if they have some evidence that the operator of the train put out advice not to travel, of course, but it's still an interesting point.

 

[renegademaster]

Lner won’t issue me a refund yet. I am due to travel to London for Eurostar. I can’t afford them to cancel strike last minute and not know if I’m going? What are chances of this being called off or do I seek a swift refund?

Get a national express ticket while they are still left

 

[Bletchleyite]

Get a national express ticket while they are still left

Or Lumo.

At worst the Advance could be changed to another day for a tenner 5 minutes before departure.

 

[43066]

BBC says minimum service levels what does this mean? Do you have to travel if extra busy or can you still get refund?

Nobody really knows. Including the railway industry!

 

[OscarH]

That's certainly one way of looking at it, though the official stance is presumably that DfT/RDG can't instruct TPRs, OAOs and devolved Operators to provide fee free refunds/changes of journey.

I suspect primarily because it would open the argument of if they're forced to offer fee free refunds then the TOCs should pay some of the costs of doing so, whereas when it's optional, any retailer that even half cares about customer service will have to offer it fee free, but then because it's technically their choice then the cost is on them

My £112 rail ticket seems a needless extravaganc! If their not on strike on my return, and I use it, would I still get a full refund of the outbound I couldn’t use?

Yes (either 50% refund if you have a return, or if it's two singles the cost of the outbound single), provided your outbound journey is cancelled or retimed. If you get unlucky and it is one of few services not canned then you might or might not get a refund depending on who the retailer is

 

[Adam Williams]

I suspect primarily because it would open the argument of if they're forced to offer fee free refunds then the TOCs should pay some of the costs of doing so, whereas when it's optional, any retailer that even half cares about customer service will have to offer it fee free, but then because it's technically their choice then the cost is on them

Absolutely this.

Govt could end all the strikes tomorrow, as it proved with its handling of the RMT strikes (magically, the Ts and Cs changes that had been insisted upon for so long were no longer a requirement, overnight).

Retailers are required to eat all of the administration/staff costs (contrary to popular belief, many refunds still cannot be processed without human intervention), card processing fees and any upstream costs for all of these refunds, because offering fee-free strike day refunds is table stakes, frankly.

It disproportionately affects smaller retailers who don't have staff twiddling their thumbs doing nothing who can suddenly respond to a surge in refund requests.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Absolutely this.

Govt could end all the strikes tomorrow, as it proved with its handling of the RMT strikes (magically, the Ts and Cs changes that had been insisted upon for so long were no longer a requirement, overnight).

Retailers are required to eat all of the administration/staff costs (contrary to popular belief, many refunds still cannot be processed without human intervention), card processing fees and any upstream costs for all of these refunds, because offering fee-free strike day refunds is table stakes, frankly.

It disproportionately affects smaller retailers who don't have staff twiddling their thumbs doing nothing who can suddenly respond to a surge in refund requests.

I can understand the justification for charging the admin fee as you note, but I can't understand any grounds for refusing the actual refund, which is money that goes to the TOC not the retailer (minus a bit of commission).

 

[Adam Williams]

I can understand the justification for charging the admin fee as you note, but I can't understand any grounds for refusing the actual refund, which is money that goes to the TOC not the retailer (minus a bit of commission).

I think I'd personally agree with this assessment (though I don't know of any TPRs that do actually refuse refunds under these circumstances!).

The main reason to completely refuse a ticket refund is where you think, as a retailer, you'd not be in line with the industry's refund rules (RDG perform audits of these). The staff brief clearly sets out that it's acceptable to offer a fee-free refund, so this shouldn't ever be a concern.

 

[Citybreak1]

Strike called off I changed my hotels to a new date had to change Eurostar back or PAY to change LNER. Not a shred compensation my hotel Premier inn has increased in price £60 or more? Any advice I assume I pay up or don’t go and even then lner won’t refund.

 

[SeanG]

I'm afraid you may have to chalk this one up to experience and book refundable hotels in the future. I always book refundable hotels and see the extra cost as an insurance policy

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm afraid you may have to chalk this one up to experience and book refundable hotels in the future. I always book refundable hotels and see the extra cost as an insurance policy

Or use ones like Premier Inn or Travelodge whose "base" rate is changeable to another date, for just the difference in price in the former case (and they refund the difference if it's less) and for a £10 fee plus difference in the latter case. Premier Inn also have a non-changeable deep-discount rate but that rarely comes up in my experience, it mostly seems just for the £39 specials which are very rare now.

 

[SeanG]

Didn't know they were changeable - good to know in the future if (hopefully not) needed!

 

[paul1609]

Get a national express ticket while they are still left

From the Central Belt to London Id recomend the overnight Megabus services. Ive had 100% reliability, 100% punctuality (most early).
Ive even had one "non stop" that despite the 62 mph limiter was pushing to break the 7 hour barrier Buchanan St to Victoria.