Seat Frog refunds - LNER journey

[Failed Unit]

Just looking for some guidance on how to tackle this refund,

On Monday 24th July I was due to take a journey from Welwyn Garden City - Market Rasen. Booked on the 0958 from Welwyn Garden City, with various connections north. Due to a incident in the Stevenage area the 0958 was terminated at Welwyn Garden City, the connection from Stevenage was cancelled throughout by LNER so even if I got to Stevenage I would have turned back at this point. I decided to abandon my journey and ask for a refund. LNER after a few emails have agreed to give me the full refund.

However on my return journey i had a seat frog upgrade. This auction closed early and I won the ticket before I knew of the northbound disruption. Had the auction continued as normal I would have withdrawn my bid an everything would be good. I have emailed [email protected] with no response on two occasions.

LNER response is

You'll need to contact Seatfrog who are the third party provider used for upgrades, i'm not sure of what the process is the bid amount being refunded to you however would've assumed if would be automatically returned to you if the bid was unsuccessful if bidding was closed early.

This is frustrating as seat frog don‘t acknowledge or respond to emails, so I can’t actually liaise with them. I started a thread a little while discussing the ”Savings Fee” which is now called a “Platform Fee” which seat frog justified as a fee to help them provide customer service. But this hasn‘t happened so it looks like the fee is just to gouge more money out of passengers.

Any recommendations about how to complain to next?

My advice is
1. Don’t use seatfrog
2. If you do, don’t bid for an upgrade unless you are certain that you are able to catch your train (ie if you have a connection it is running on time)

I have wrote to LNER providing evidence I was charged by seatfrog so they may refund me, seatfrog are using there brand to get business so I feel LNER should at least let them know they can’t treat their passengers in this way as they wouldn’t have a business without them.

Thanks for any guidance.

 

[AlterEgo]

At this stage, a month later and with zero response, I'd just do a chargeback.

 

[SteveM70]

Tweet / X them @seatfroghelp

They may not help but if they reply saying email you can then reply again saying "er, done that, no reply"

 

[Heathen]

I bid for and won a seatfro

Just looking for some guidance on how to tackle this refund,

On Monday 24th July I was due to take a journey from Welwyn Garden City - Market Rasen. Booked on the 0958 from Welwyn Garden City, with various connections north. Due to a incident in the Stevenage area the 0958 was terminated at Welwyn Garden City, the connection from Stevenage was cancelled throughout by LNER so even if I got to Stevenage I would have turned back at this point. I decided to abandon my journey and ask for a refund. LNER after a few emails have agreed to give me the full refund.

However on my return journey i had a seat frog upgrade. This auction closed early and I won the ticket before I knew of the northbound disruption. Had the auction continued as normal I would have withdrawn my bid an everything would be good. I have emailed [email protected] with no response on two occasions.

LNER response is


This is frustrating as seat frog don‘t acknowledge or respond to emails, so I can’t actually liaise with them. I started a thread a little while discussing the ”Savings Fee” which is now called a “Platform Fee” which seat frog justified as a fee to help them provide customer service. But this hasn‘t happened so it looks like the fee is just to gouge more money out of passengers.

Any recommendations about how to complain to next?

My advice is
1. Don’t use seatfrog
2. If you do, don’t bid for an upgrade unless you are certain that you are able to catch your train (ie if you have a connection it is running on time)

I have wrote to LNER providing evidence I was charged by seatfrog so they may refund me, seatfrog are using there brand to get business so I feel LNER should at least let them know they can’t treat their passengers in this way as they wouldn’t have a business without them.

Thanks for any guidance.

I bid for and won a seatfrog upgrade for a trip from London to Durham back in May, only to find on arrival at KC that there was massive disruption due to broken rail and arrived in Durham some four hours late. Included the seatfrog upgrade tickets along with the standard class tickets in my Delay/repay claim and LNER paid the combined total without quibble.

 

[AlterEgo]

I bid for and won a seatfro

I bid for and won a seatfrog upgrade for a trip from London to Durham back in May, only to find on arrival at KC that there was massive disruption due to broken rail and arrived in Durham some four hours late. Included the seatfrog upgrade tickets along with the standard class tickets in my Delay/repay claim and LNER paid the combined total without quibble.

That’s unrelated to the OP’s dispute, where they are seeking a refund for abandonment from the retailer. Delay Repay is not a factor here.

 

[crablab]

At this stage, a month later and with zero response, I'd just do a chargeback

I'd agree, although I'm not sure that it'll be successful. I'd be interested to see their Second Presentment evidence.

SeatFrog make it very clear that you must have a valid ticket in hand to bid for an upgrade on their service. That suggests to me that they wouldn't be able to simply state that it's tough that the OP decided to abandon their journey (as they were contractually entitled to do, with full refund, under the NRCoT) and couldn't use the return upgrade they'd been bidding on.

Perhaps someone like @tspaul26 would be able to opine on how the two contracts intersect.

As a side note, it's frustrating that the TOC can simply withdraw the upgrade whenever they want once bidding has started (as LNER appear to have done on most of their KGX departures this evening), but bidders have no equivalent 'get out' if they (for instance) win upgrades on two consecutive departures.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

...bidders have no equivalent 'get out' if they (for instance) win upgrades on two consecutive departures.

Why would a bidder (simultaneously) be bidding for an upgrade on more than the one departure?

 

[crablab]

Why would a bidder (simultaneously) be bidding for an upgrade on more than the one departure?

I do this. Sometimes it doesn't much matter to me whether I arrive an hour later than I planned, or I find I could take an earlier departure. The minor inconvenience is worth an extremely good value upgrade (on a 3-4hr trip)

 

[tspaul26]

Without getting bogged down in the interlocking details of contract, consumer, agency and personalty law, the onus is on LNER to deal with this, not Seatfrog.

 

[Starmill]

I do this. Sometimes it doesn't much matter to me whether I arrive an hour later than I planned, or I find I could take an earlier departure. The minor inconvenience is worth an extremely good value upgrade (on a 3-4hr trip)

I think the point being made was that there's a risk you'd have to pay for more than one upgrade, but not be able to use more than one.

 

[Failed Unit]

Without getting bogged down in the interlocking details of contract, consumer, agency and personalty law, the onus is on LNER to deal with this, not Seatfrog.

Thank you. Still waiting for a response from LNER. I have resent the Seatfrog tickets just to prove I really paid. Seatfrog really concerns me for their silence. 2 mails now. No acknowledgment. I will certainly take that further considering the “platform fee”. But I am a little more confident LNER will refund. Received an email on Friday. Just waiting to see the money return.

 

[Sleepy]

Few months ago had to get seatfrog refund due to a strike day (GWR journey) Did take about 2 weeks to process. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with refund requests due to current batch of strikes?

 

[FenMan]

Few months ago had to get seatfrog refund due to a strike day (GWR journey) Did take about 2 weeks to process. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with refund requests due to current batch of strikes?

"They"? I suspect he/she.

 

[Failed Unit]

Just as a final update on this case. LNER have refunded me including the Seatfrog tax. So all good news from that point of view.

However I don’t think I will use Seatfrog again. This whole experience has left a nasty taste. Especially with the Seatfrog tax on every transaction when they don’t even read any correspondence you send to them.

Very pleased LNER sorted it once they understood what had happened. I don’t think the original member of staff who looked it it understood you could win an auction before closing time.

Thanks as always to everyone who contributed to the thread.