Great Western Coffee Shop

All across the Great Western territory => Fare's Fair => Topic started by: grahame on December 06, 2019, 07:00:01



Title: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: grahame on December 06, 2019, 07:00:01
I'm not a great lover of the "compensation society" and at times feel that "these things happen" and a shrug of the shoulders, acceptance of an apology and getting on with things is far better and more pragmatic that chasing restitution. However, I'm now routinely requesting "Delay Repay" where I have a journey that's delayed into what the industry and its regulators have declared as the "yellow" and "red" zones. Partly on principle that it's an element of the way franchises are now costed, and partly because by everyone using the mechanism, it might (just might) be another way of helping persuade the rail industry to become more relaible - which has been our top concern.

Sadly, I have now experience (or am developing experience) of the systems of Great Western Railway (GWR), South Western Railway (SWR), CrossCountry, LNWR and ScotRail.  Wish I wasn't

Last night, I waited 45 minutes on a very cold and windy platform in greater Glasgow suburb when the train I had planned to catch was cancelled, and the following one was a few minutes late.  Yes, there was a platform shelter of sorts, but the moisture-laden wind howled all around and under and over the side panels and it offered little protection.  I took most of the evening to thaw out. If Scotrail admit to my arrival being over 30 minutes late, I will get the princley sum of £1.10 in compensation. And yet, the same delay on a CrossCountry service from Cheltenham Spa to Motherwell - delayed in comfort on the train, and with a long distance journey which didn't lead to an immediate appointment brought me the best part of £30 last year. What an odd system we have where the repayment is in proportion to the fare paid, and not to the delay time nor to the pleasantness or otherwise of where it places the passenger.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: froome on December 06, 2019, 08:22:36
Sadly it is almost inevitable that any compensation scheme will not mirror the problems it is attempting to compensate for. The worst delays are often for short journeys where no compensation will match the misery that the passenger may have had to go through. And some of the worst experiences on train journeys don't involve long delays at all, but constant overcrowding leading to extreme discomfort in every journey made.

I have put in claims for about half of the journeys that I could have claimed for, as it just wasn't worth the effort of making a claim for the others. But the experiences from the different Train Operating Company's (TOCs) vary widely. I have just had two emails from Transport for Wales to tell me that my claim to them has been received and is being dealt with, something I've never had from Great Western Railway (GWR) or other companies. And, as I related elsewhere, my only claim to Cross Country, which was for a 2 hour delay on a ticket that cost almost £100, led to no response ever being received by me, so no recompense or any indication as to whether they received the claim or not, and no information anywhere about how to follow that up.



Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Sixty3Closure on December 06, 2019, 08:48:32
I've already covered it (moaned?) in the other thread but my experience of Great Western Rail (GWR) processes weren't great. I think of myself as reasonably Information Technology (IT) literate but it put me off. I wonder if that's deliberate but then even on our internal intranet there are so many badly designed webpages that I think its endemic in the web industry.

Another aspect is the small but persistent delays.

At the moment I get 5 or 10% for the small but regular delays on my commute in Thames Valley. Under delay/repay I assume I'd get nothing for my train being 5-10 mins late everyday on a 30 min journey?


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: ChrisB on December 06, 2019, 09:07:37
You have discovered one of the downsides to delay/reapy....in that the charter discount for seasons disappears & thus regular delays under 15 minutes gets you nothing, rather than a 5% discount on renewal


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Oxonhutch on December 06, 2019, 10:13:50
I have been keeping a heck on the arrivals of all my usual trains into Paddington during my morning commute (sad, I know!), and my 5% discount (last year 10%) by far outweighs any delay repay compensation.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: IndustryInsider on December 06, 2019, 10:19:46
You have discovered one of the downsides to delay/reapy....in that the charter discount for seasons disappears & thus regular delays under 15 minutes gets you nothing, rather than a 5% discount on renewal

Rather unusually(?) Great Western Rail (GWR) continues to operate the old system for season tickets for the time being.

I have been keeping a heck on the arrivals of all my usual trains into Paddington during my morning commute (sad, I know!), and my 5% discount (last year 10%) by far outweighs any delay repay compensation.

That will be the case on some routes.  Don’t forget others will be getting no 5% discount and so delay repay will be better for them.  It might not be perfect but it’s much fairer.

Edit : VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Sixty3Closure on December 06, 2019, 12:36:46
I think Delay/Repay is good for infrequent travellers but not so much for commuters. If I only travel once or twice a month then claiming for those individual journeys isn't too bad (ignoring poor websites) but as daily traveller really not looking forward to it.

Can't think how you would do it but perhaps some mechanism that kicks in after a certain number of journeys are late on a specific route? As ChrisB points out when we move to delay/repay some groups will miss out.

Adding to my wish list it shouldn't be impossible to have single website run by someone like Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) or even Network Rail. So far as I can tell all train companies use the same data for lateness and have (or will have) the same Terms and Conditions (T&Cs)? Might help when Grahame is trying to work out which of several companies to claim from.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on December 08, 2019, 22:47:20
I've done one 'for the hell of it' on a £2.20 return using a D&C Railcard between Perranwell and Falmouth following the line hiatus recently. I was 30mins late back as a result. Using a M Ticket it was quick to process at my end.

Here's the timescales I experienced to get a 55p refund back ...

MON 18 NOV 2019 - 1450 - Delayed Journey
MON 18 NOV 2019 - 1700 - Submitted Claim
MON 18 NOV 2019 - 1800 - Acknowledged
WED 27 NOV 2019 - 2000 - Claim Accepted
WED 27 NOV 2019 - 2102 - Payment Advice
MON 02 DEC 2019 - 0002 - Payment received in Bank Account.

Reasonable turnaround, which might have been shorter if the payment in wasn't delayed due to a weekend.

Happy with the experience.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: rogerw on December 09, 2019, 18:43:05
Similar experience with South Western Railway (SWR) on a disrupted journey to Waterloo.  Money was in my account 7 days later. Journey 15th November, money in account 22nd November.

Edit: VickiS -Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Richard Fairhurst on December 21, 2019, 20:38:12
I tried Delay Repay today for the first time on the way back from Worcester. The conductor was proactive in encouraging people to use it from their phones on the train.

Unfortunately... the on-train wifi wasn't up to the task of uploading the ticket. I tried numerous times and got "Your ticket took too long to save, please check your internet speed and try again". My internet speed? It's your internet speed, Great Western Railway (GWR)!

A quick Twitter thread confirmed I'm not the only person who's had this issue. I'm guessing that the code is uploading the full-resolution photo, and that the connection is baulking on the size of this. It's actually quite easy these days for a webpage to automatically shrink/compress the image on the phone before uploading - maybe something Great Western Railway´s (GWR)'s web developers could look at.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on December 30, 2019, 20:07:41
Into my fourth claim, one rejected because I could have used an alternative Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) that arrived before my delayed Intercity Express Train (IET) that I was 'scheduled' to take, symantics but it irked. Two paid out as expected, number four in yesterday due to missed connection at St Erth. We'll see how that one materialises. The Electronic Tickets (MTickets) need to have added the eight character booking reference numbers and price paid on them though, It would make the process much easier.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on January 05, 2020, 20:56:24
Into my fourth claim, one rejected because I could have used an alternative DMU that arrived before my delayed IET that I was 'scheduled' to take, symantics but it irked. Two paid out as expected, number four in yesterday due to missed connection at St Erth. We'll see how that one materialises. The MTickets need to have added the eight character booking reference numbers and price paid on them though, It would make the process much easier.

Urrrrm .... I am into appeal phase ....  :o This could be interesting.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Phantom on January 10, 2020, 11:13:49
Hi everyone

I am looking for some assistance please.
My sister and her family were delayed on a journey from Gloucester back to Worle on Thursday 2nd January 2020.
They submitted the online claim, but have just been told their claim is unsuccesful as their delay was only 3 minutes

I know that this is incorrect as I met them on the same train from Bristol Temple Meads and the train was over 20 minutes late
I looked on the realtime trains tracker, but that only goes back 7 days.

Is there anywhere else I can advice her to look which will detail the exact delay?

Thank you in advance


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: grahame on January 10, 2020, 12:17:28
Is there anywhere else I can advice her to look which will detail the exact delay?

Recent Train Times - https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk .   You haven't told us the time of day but I guess afternoon ... per chance the train scheduled to leave Temple Meads at 16:27 and get to Worle at 16:51, but only arrived at 17:09 that day?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/worle20200102.jpg)

See ((here)) (https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Bristol+Temple+Meads+%28BRI%29&To=Worle+%28WOR%29&TimTyp=A&TimDay=2p&Days=Wk&TimPer=4w&dtFr=&dtTo=&ShwTim=AvAr&MxArCl=20&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2) for that particular search result.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: stuving on January 10, 2020, 12:52:04
There were others - like the 1816 from Bristol Temple Meads (BRI) which was 31 late at Worle.

Two other techier sites:
Open Train Times (https://www.opentraintimes.com/) has history further back that Real Time Trains (RTT).
liverail (http://www.charlwoodhouse.co.uk/rail/liverail/full/worle/2/01/20) has a more complete dump of what's on the data feeds, but is hard to get to grips with.

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Phantom on January 10, 2020, 15:42:11
Thank you both
Much appreciated


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on January 11, 2020, 17:51:51
Into my fourth claim, one rejected because I could have used an alternative DMU that arrived before my delayed IET that I was 'scheduled' to take, symantics but it irked. Two paid out as expected, number four in yesterday due to missed connection at St Erth. We'll see how that one materialises. The MTickets need to have added the eight character booking reference numbers and price paid on them though, It would make the process much easier.

Urrrrm .... I am into appeal phase ....  :o This could be interesting.

Appeal rejected ....

I am now onto Great Western Railway (GWR) Complaints.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: SandTEngineer on January 11, 2020, 18:25:23
I tried Delay Repay today for the first time on the way back from Worcester. The conductor was proactive in encouraging people to use it from their phones on the train.

I too undertook my first claim last week, delayed departure from Paddington causing 38min late arrival at destination.  It was settled in 8 days with no fuss.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Timmer on January 11, 2020, 18:28:59
It appears that the earlier rounds of claiming on delay repay are automated. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. So don’t give up RailCornwall. Once an actual human reviews your case you stand a better chance of getting a result. Failing that, write to someone high up in Great Western Railway (GWR).


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: lordgoata on January 13, 2020, 21:08:43
Well here are my thoughts on Delay Repay, its a waste of my sodding time.

NOT GWR related, as this is Great Northern. Basically all their trains out of Kings Cross were cancelled on December 28th, so we were told to put a claim in. I then travelled to Liverpool Street to go via an alternative route and ended up missing my connection at Cambridge and being over an hour late at my final destination.

Having never made a claim before, I put in for the leg that was cancelled (seems completely illogical to me to claim from the start when the bit that was cancelled was in the middle), and so they rejected the claim and told me how to correct it, and to put in the claim again, selecting Re-submit and to provide the reference number in the comments. All of which I did.

Today they reply and said its declined as there is a duplicate claim in the system and if I feel they have made an error, yep you guessed it, re-submit and mention the reason and reference in the comments.

I really can't be bother doing it a 3rd time given they are incapable of reading and following their own instructions....

As I said, not GWR related but I needed to vent somewhere, so please forgive me :-)


Edit: OK, I take it all back - just received another email to say they agree and are refunding me £34 after all! Either someone pressed the wrong button, or as it possibly appears, there was some confusion at their end. I submitted the claim at Greater Northern. Greater Northern rejected the first claim for being incorrectly entered (gtrailway.com email address). The second one was declined by ThamesLink (thameslinkrailway.com) - but signed Greater Northern & ThamesLink Delay Repay Team. The last email was also from ThamesLink, so I guess ThamesLink did not realise Greater Northern originally replied?! No idea. Very confusing. Anyway all sorted!  :D


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: rogerpatenall on January 14, 2020, 09:22:36
Like SandT, I have just submitted my first claim (1655 Parkway to Paddington) on January 2nd. Confirmation received yesterday. Well pleased. Two thoughts. (1) Nice coffee in the cafe on the footbridge. And (2) serious congestion on the bridge. The 1655 finally arrived on platform 4 (I think - the northerly island). Seats at the front of the 10 car train. Anyway, everyone off, and told to cross "quickly" to 5 car train waiting on the other island. Not being very mobile myself - although the problem not immediately visible - I was seen as an annoying and unnecessary encumbrance by the hundreds of other passengers. No problem with Great Western Railway (GWR), but not impressed with their clientele.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Timmer on January 14, 2020, 09:31:17
My experience with Delay Repay. London North Eastern Railway (LNER) = Excellent. Great Western Railway (GWR) = Improvement needed.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: johnneyw on January 14, 2020, 13:33:55
My delay repay with Great Western Railway (GWR) in summer was dealt with most satisfactorily aside from a little confusion when I was sent a "how did we do?" questionnaire before I received any contact about the claim's resolution.

Edit: There was also the small matter of an email from Great Western Railway (GWR) asking me to apply for a refund from the ticket supplier, to which I replied that I had already sent GWR the required photo's of the tickets that I purchased through their website. I suspect it was an understandable trainee error and after that the refund was prompt and in full.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on February 09, 2020, 21:38:41
Appeal finally responded to on Friday 7th, Accepted, refund in process, by cheque, which will take ages apparently. The process should be put back into the automated service and payment processed that way surely? Anyway I pestered the Twitter people because of the 4 weeks plus it's taken to deal with, before the official response and got a travel code as well, so we're settled at last.



Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Timmer on February 10, 2020, 07:16:04
Appeal finally responded to on Friday 7th, Accepted, refund in process, by cheque, which will take ages apparently. The process should be put back into the automated service and payment processed that way surely? Anyway I pestered the Twitter people because of the 4 weeks plus it's taken to deal with, before the official response and got a travel code as well, so we're settled at last.
Pleased to see you got a positive result in the end RailCornwall. In my experience you’ve just got to get past the automated stages if your claim keeps getting rejected so a human gets to review it.

I’m all for automation when it works, but when it doesn’t it becomes extremely frustrating.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on July 20, 2020, 22:18:12
Much much better experience in the last 72 hours. Falmouth branch service cancelled on Saturday Afternoon, Delay Repay submitted on arriving home, accepted this evening and payment advice received tonight also.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: IndustryInsider on July 21, 2020, 06:38:26
Very few applications to deal with at the moment of course due to lack of travellers and high levels of performance.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: TaplowGreen on July 21, 2020, 06:50:20
Very few applications to deal with at the moment of course due to lack of travellers and high levels of performance.

A great line for Great Western Railway (GWR) to take - "we have finally cracked the problem of delays with our delay/repay scheme - after extensive research we have discovered that the solution is to make the trains run on time"  :D

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: IndustryInsider on July 21, 2020, 08:58:10
That’s only a temporary solution until a way can be found to stop passengers from travelling completely.  Then we can go back to delaying all the trains again without any financial consequences.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: eightonedee on July 21, 2020, 13:40:29
Quote
That’s only a temporary solution until a way can be found to stop passengers from travelling completely.  Then we can go back to delaying all the trains again without any financial consequences.

Here's an idea - tell all passengers that they may catch a dangerous disease if they travel.......


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: grahame on July 21, 2020, 18:52:28
Quote
That’s only a temporary solution until a way can be found to stop passengers from travelling completely.  Then we can go back to delaying all the trains again without any financial consequences.

Here's an idea - tell all passengers that they may catch a dangerous disease if they travel.......

Yeah - that might get rid of 19 out of 20!


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: CyclingSid on July 22, 2020, 06:51:40
Many a true word spoken in jest?


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on July 23, 2020, 15:08:21
Much much better experience in the last 72 hours. Falmouth branch service cancelled on Saturday Afternoon, Delay Repay submitted on arriving home, accepted this evening and payment advice received tonight also.

.... and for completeness, my account was credited overnight, with the funds available today.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: ChrisB on March 15, 2021, 17:50:31
Letter just in from Great Western Railway (GWR) -

Quote
Hi Chris

Just a quick note to alert you to a change in our compensation arrangements.  You will know that we have been paying compensation for delays over 15 minutes to daily and weekly ticket holders for some time.  Season ticket holders however claimed through a discount on renewal.

We have now had approval from the Department for Transport to extend Delay Repay 15 to our season ticket holders and this will take affect from Thursday 1 April.  There is more information on our website www.gwr.com/delayrepay (http://www.gwr.com/delayrepay) and we are writing to all our season ticket holders to let them know about the change.




Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Birdie100 on March 16, 2021, 06:50:34
As a (former) Thames Valley commuter I was going to say Delay repay seemed a bit of a retrograde step. But it seems a railway with no passengers is much more reliable - for the first time in at least the last 5 years there is no current season ticket discount for punctuality or reliability for the commuter services.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: TaplowGreen on March 16, 2021, 07:26:56
As a (former) Thames Valley commuter I was going to say Delay repay seemed a bit of a retrograde step. But it seems a railway with no passengers is much more reliable - for the first time in at least the last 5 years there is no current season ticket discount for punctuality or reliability for the commuter services.

Ultimately that is Nirvanah for many on the railways - lots and lots of trains to play with, no pesky customers making demands of them!


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: Sixty3Closure on March 16, 2021, 09:32:55
As a (former) Thames Valley commuter I was going to say Delay repay seemed a bit of a retrograde step. But it seems a railway with no passengers is much more reliable - for the first time in at least the last 5 years there is no current season ticket discount for punctuality or reliability for the commuter services.

I would have agreed last year but as I didn't renew my season ticket I'm assuming I've lost my regular 10% discount so I guess delay/repay means I can claim something if I go back to regular commuting (which is looking unlikely).

It's probably the fairest way to transition to the new system as well as I suspect the number of people who lose their discount will be relatively low.


Title: Re: Some thoughts on Delay Repay
Post by: RailCornwall on May 12, 2021, 19:32:36
Did a Delay Repay covering the hiatus due to a broken down train at St Germans, and the knock on westbound delays at Plymouth, last Tuesday (4 May 2021) all cleared within a week, I have a suspicion that travellers claiming this week will fair a lot worse with the IET grief.



This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net