Great Western Coffee Shop

In September I was sold an anytime ticket for an off-peak journey, which GWR have agreed was incorrect and that I am due reimbursement. But they have not provided me with a way to get this reimbursement, so I am looking for advice. Details of what happened below.

I caught the 08.26 train from Oldfield Park, changing at Bath Spa to go to Southampton Central, arriving at 10.04 for a day return journey. This is a journey I've made a few times and it has always been considered as an off-peak journey. I checked both the GWR and National Rail websites before travelling this time and both confirmed this.

I had to buy the ticket on the Bath Spa to Southampton train and the TM insisted it was an anytime fare. I told him I knew it wasn't, and knew what the fare was, but he insisted on me paying for an anytime ticket, but that I could take it up with GWR afterwards if I wished to.

After returning, I checked the next day at Bath Spa station and they confirmed I had been overcharged, and gave me a customer service form to send in. I did this, including the ticket in the appropriate place.

About 10 days ago I received an email from Customer Services acknowledging that I had been overcharged, but saying they could not reimburse me, and that I would have to get reimbursement from either Oldfield Park or Bath Spa stations. I went down to them but, not surprisingly, as I no longer had my ticket, having sent it in, they wouldn't, and told me to get back to Customer Services, which I did.

Since then, over a week now, silence.

How do I now go about getting reimbursed?

That doesn’t sound right that you are not reimbursed by Customer Services. If you don’t hear back in the next few days I’d take it higher up. There’s someone well known on this forum who has had issues with off peak tickets who will be much better than me to advise you  ;)

And as for the waiting time to hear back that’s not surprising. I’ve got an outstanding issue with them regarding my Nectar account not being credited for recent purchases on the GWR website. Took over a week to hear back only to get a very cut and paste response asking why I want to claim!?!?!

Two minutes later I get an email apologising that I had to stand all the way from Plymouth to Paddington, a journey that I had not undertaken!

Doesn’t fill me with confidence and I suspect it will be another week to respond to my latest  reply. Where do you go if you don’t get a satisfactory response?

Is GWR Customer Services still outsourced?

Not GWR ... this is what Transport for Wales have to say on a poster at Cardiff Central station (platform 3, 15 minutes ago)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/cheapestoffer.jpg)

GWR Complaints Procedure: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjRlrCS07DlAhVaQhUIHYz-BdUQjBAwAnoECAgQDA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gwr.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2Fgwr%2Fpdfs%2Fhelp-and-support%2Fmaking-a-complaint%2Fchp-2019-how-we-deal-with-complaints.pdf%3Fla%3Den&usg=AOvVaw0FNoctC22zEiOtPyRKUqNg

If that link doesn't work (its supposed to go to a .pdf), Google "GWR complaints procedure"

If that obtuse comment was aimed at me it is indeed time for me to post an update  ;D

When I can drag myself away from this genealogy project I've saddled myself with I'll do it!

Please do write it up ... though I can actually think of another member too.   Rather points to it being a systemic issue, doesn't it?

Many thanks. I've actually just picked that leaflet up from the station.

One issue my experience raised in my mind is whether a train manager can actually find out the correct fare for a journey. I spent about 2 minutes with him explaining that I knew what the correct fare was, and he seemed to be looking at his machine to find it, but I had the feeling all he actually knew (or could find) was that off peak starts at 9.30am, which he quoted to me, and that off peak exceptions don't start as early as my journey did (in which he was wrong). So could he have actually ascertained that I was right on his machine, i.e. could he see the journey I was making and the fare that was applicable to it?

It wasn’t but now you come to mention it...indeed yes there is more than one on this forum who has had a challenge or two with the validity of off peak fares  ;D

An update: I have now received an email from a different Customer Services member. It doesn't refer to the previous message I received or my response to it, but is offering to send me a cheque for the reimbursement.

Which suggests this thread may be being read. :)

Good result froome, got there in the end.

I hope this thread is being read as I'm still waiting for a response for my missing Nectar points.

It is now two weeks since I had the email from the different Customer Services member. Sadly I've still not received the cheque.

Sorry to hear that you are still waiting for your cheque to arrive froome, I know how frustrating it can be.

I too am still waiting for my Nectar account to be credited with points from a number of recent orders made on the GWR website. Finally received an email from a third person on Monday saying they would be credited to my account but could take up to 28 days!!!

Despite requesting assurances on the numerous emails that went back and forth between me and GWR Customer Services, that whatever the problem was with my Nectar account not being credited every time I placed an order that it had been rectified. This was not forthcoming so will be using another online TOC to place ticket orders in future.

I may not be GWR’s biggest customer by a long way but I’m still a customer.

So not a positive customer experience with GWR Customer Services or whoever runs it for them these days.

On the other side of the coin, GWR have been falling over themselves sending me cheques recently :D

The first occasion was in connection with my disagreement over off peak tickets with HEX (See my "Not happy with Heathrow Express" thread). The second involved a trip to the WSR at th end of August:

It came to my attention that GWR, in conjunction with the West Somerset Railway, were running the shuttle service between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard on selected dates the summer. As I had never travelled the whole original length of the line before I decided to go on Saturday 31st August.

I found on the West Somerset Railway website that an inclusive ticket for travel to Taunton and onwards to Minehead was available from GWR staffed stations. Checking this online I found that such tickets were indeed available on the GWR website. However, when I went to Chippenham station that morning the booking clerk told me she was unable to find it on the system. Instead I bought an off peak return to Taunton (split at Bristol) with a Senior Railcard, and paid again at Taunton for the shuttle service and a WSR senior day ticket. Doing things this way cost me £5.75 more than with the ticket that should have been available at Chippenham. The following day I was down at the station again and spoke to a booking clerk who I know has been in post for donkeys years  (as opposed to the original one who had served me who I had never seen before), and he couldn't dind it either. This confirmed to me that it was a system problem rather than staff error.

I sent GWR a screenshot of their appropriate web page and scans of the tickets I bought. The refund cheque came within 3 weeks.

As I understand it there is a problem at the "Nectar end" adding points from anyone other than Sainsburys just now.

GWR's "customer service" however has been a bad joke for a number of years in respect of ridiculously late correspondence, inaccurate/inconsistent advice, delays and promises not kept.

Keep at it - in my experience emailing Hopwood directly provokes a swifter (and more generous!) result, even if only to make you go away!  :)

Thanks for letting me know regards issues with Nectar points being added to Nectar accounts TG.

This goes back to a number of bookings I made on the GWR website at the start of October at the same time making bookings on the LNER website where Nectar points were immediately added to my account.

Begs the question if other customers who use the GWR website to book tickets are also affected by this and don’t even know it. Okay, so Nectar points aren’t really worth much by themselves, but when they start to add up they can be useful.

As for GWR Customer Services, I don’t enjoy having to get in contact with them as I find them very robotic with cut and paste responses and having to deal with a different person every time you reply to one of their emails and having to wait another week for a reply. Fine if it’s a simple delay repay claim, but anything outside of that you feel that dealing with a brick wall would be easier and less stressful.