Delay repay reduction

[whole diary]

[Clan Line]

I recently submitted a delay repay claim for a 1 hour (60 min !) delay. My intended train from Romsey to Warminster was cancelled - I had to wait an extra one hour for the next train on this hourly service route. I cannot recommend Romsey station on a cold, dark & windy night.  According to my wristwatch, the second train arrived at my destination on time.

My claim was rejected and I was awarded 30 mins compensation. I appealed and asked for the reason why my claim was rejected. My appeal has been summarily rejected - "We have reviewed the information available to us and have upheld the original decision made".
My entirely reasonable request for an explanation has been ignored - all too common in modern day "customer service" departments. Are they too embarrassed to tell me that my second train actually arrived (according to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) timing) a few seconds early at Warminster ? Or is a GWR hour only 59 minutes long ?

Just to add icing to the cake, the second train was 6 coaches long - announcements were made as to where to stand with your dog, horse, for 1st Class, etc. When it arrived, the rear 3 coaches were locked out of use - the remaining 3, with 2 loads of people therein, were "cosy". Yes, I can probably offer a reasonable explanation for this, but most of the people on this train were undoubtedly just accepting this as an all too common happening on the appalling service offered on this route nowadays. And ................the locked out part of the train was three refurbished coaches - the three that we were allowed to use looked tired and worn out............just like the passengers !

[JayMac]

My suggestion is follow up complaint to Customer Services via email, pointing out the hour delay at Romsey and the subsequent poor experience due to the following short formed service. It’s mean in the extreme to deny the 60 minutes Delay Repay just because the following train hit a timing point a few seconds early.

[Mark A]

That's poor all round.

Also, the delay repay cut-off times set at 15, 30 and 60 minutes are a recipe for conflict and are guaranteed to be a wind-up as soon as they come up against a clock-face timetable, yes? Why someone in the industry hasn't taken one look at that from a point of view of a sanity check and immediately made adjustments...

Mark

https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/delay-repay

[TaplowGreen]

I wonder if Delay/Repay will be an alternative target for savings given the failure of the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) plans to cut ticket offices?

Perhaps remove the 15/30 minute bands and/or make the payouts less "generous"?

[IndustryInsider]

I wonder if Delay/Repay will be an alternative target for savings given the failure of the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) plans to cut ticket offices?

Perhaps remove the 15/30 minute bands and/or make the payouts less "generous"?

I wouldn’t be surprised at all.  It has already been hinted at by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly)…and that was way before the ticket office consultation.

[infoman]

I would say could keep going with the complaints procedure.

[Clan Line]

My suggestion is follow up complaint to Customer Services via email, pointing out the hour delay at Romsey and the subsequent poor experience due to the following short formed service. It’s mean in the extreme to deny the 60 minutes Delay Repay just because the following train hit a timing point a few seconds early.

Complaint duly submitted ! 

I am torn between two possible outcomes here.......
1. Full payment of my claim.
2. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) "dying in a ditch" by claiming that I was not 60 mins late, because the train I actually travelled on was 5 seconds early at Warminster !!

............I am left wondering which would give me the most satisfaction 

[grahame]

Differing payment levels for 15 to 30 minutes, 30 to 60, and over 60 when so many services run at 30 and 60 minute intervals is - as previously commented - a recipe to maximise disputed delays. Better 20, 40 and 80 minute thresholds?

[Clan Line]

Differing payment levels for 15 to 30 minutes, 30 to 60, and over 60 when so many services run at 30 and 60 minute intervals is - as previously commented - a recipe to maximise disputed delays. Better 20, 40 and 80 minute thresholds?

Grahame, I hate to nit-pick with you...............but.......... the "length of delay" times (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website) are; 15 - 29 minutes: 30 - 59 minutes: 60 - 119 minutes and over 120 minutes. The figures you quote appear to side with GWR in my dispute with GWR. I maintain that I was 1 hour (60 mins) late on their hourly service, but they (?) (and you ?) appear to be saying that I was only entitled to 25% refund of my return ticket fare because I have to be 61 minutes late to claim that. Just to greatly add to my annoyance they totally ignored my request for them to explain their decision. Just a robotic bland statement, saying in effect, "we are right, you are wrong" ...........

Someting I didn't mention in my first post. When they "awarded" me the 25% refund, they informed me that they would pay me by cheque and that I had to check my card details were correct. They never seem to have any problem taking my money from that card .............but when it comes to paying it back - a different story !

[Phantom]

If you did it via GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Delay Repay you choose how the money is refunded, you getting a cheque would be because you selected this method

I always get it repaid via BACS and have been really impressed recently how fast the amount is back in my account

Looking at the GWR website what you have been repaid is correct for a delay of 59 minutes or less
https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/delay-repay

Out of interest was the second train slightly quicker arriving on the hour compared to the original?
I had a similar claim, original train was due in **:07, but the hour later arrived **:06 so was less than 60 minutes delay

Out of interest which service should you have been on and which service did you get in the end?

[Clan Line]

If you did it via GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Delay Repay you choose how the money is refunded, you getting a cheque would be because you selected this method

I did ask for a BACS payment. GWR told me that they could not do this and rather "snootily" told me to check my card details. As I said earlier, GWR have never had any problems in taking money from the same card in the past.

Looking at the GWR website what you have been repaid is correct for a delay of 59 minutes or less
https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/delay-repay

You are quite correct. But I claimed for a 60 minute delay, not a 59 minute one - when I queried this and asked for an explanation of the 59 minute payment........I got no answer to that question.

Out of interest was the second train slightly quicker arriving on the hour compared to the original?
I had a similar claim, original train was due in **:07, but the hour later arrived **:06 so was less than 60 minutes delay

I do not, along with probably the overwhelming majority of rail passengers, time my rail journeys to the second. According to my (pretty accurate and fairly expensive) Swiss wrist watch, the train I caught arrived in Warminster arrived at 2202 - exactly one hour after the cancelled train should have - according to the GWR website.

If my train did arrive at Warminster 1 second early - why could not GWR tell me that ............especially as I had asked that specific question in my appeal ? If I was 59 minutes and 59 seconds late and not 60 minutes, I would have to accept that. End of story !!  I would not be impressed..............other forum members have referred (above) to GWR being "mean" and "poor".................I can think of several other four letter words that could also apply !!

I must say that I find GWR's performance way less than satifactory. My train was cancelled, the next train was crowded with only half of it in use, I was an hour late getting home, I claimed for an hour's delay, GWR paid me for a 30 - 59 minute delay and GWR won't tell me why.  Perhaps my expecting a satisfactory response from GWR is just too much wishful thinking..................

[TonyK]

I await the outcome of my first ever claim from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) with some trepidation. LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) have already apologised for the cancellation of my train on the outward bound leg of my journey and started the process for a full refund. GWR has acknowledged my claim for the return.

[Phantom]

If you did it via GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Delay Repay you choose how the money is refunded, you getting a cheque would be because you selected this method

I did ask for a BACS payment. GWR told me that they could not do this and rather "snootily" told me to check my card details. As I said earlier, GWR have never had any problems in taking money from the same card in the past.

Looking at the GWR website what you have been repaid is correct for a delay of 59 minutes or less
https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/delay-repay

You are quite correct. But I claimed for a 60 minute delay, not a 59 minute one - when I queried this and asked for an explanation of the 59 minute payment........I got no answer to that question.

Out of interest was the second train slightly quicker arriving on the hour compared to the original?
I had a similar claim, original train was due in **:07, but the hour later arrived **:06 so was less than 60 minutes delay

I do not, along with probably the overwhelming majority of rail passengers, time my rail journeys to the second. According to my (pretty accurate and fairly expensive) Swiss wrist watch, the train I caught arrived in Warminster arrived at 2202 - exactly one hour after the cancelled train should have - according to the GWR website.

If my train did arrive at Warminster 1 second early - why could not GWR tell me that ............especially as I had asked that specific question in my appeal ? If I was 59 minutes and 59 seconds late and not 60 minutes, I would have to accept that. End of story !!

Interesting to hear that they got in contact with you to check your card details, I've only ever had standard emails that are clearly used en masse

The point about the service you were on was I was going to check the actual timings for you to see where you actually stood on this claim - happy to still help if you share the date and times etc.
With this it will either explain the amount you got or give you a cast iron case for an appeal with facts

[IndustryInsider]

Differing payment levels for 15 to 30 minutes, 30 to 60, and over 60 when so many services run at 30 and 60 minute intervals is - as previously commented - a recipe to maximise disputed delays. Better 20, 40 and 80 minute thresholds?

Or you could make it even fairer and say that for any delay over 15 minutes you get that percentage refunded*.  18 minute delay = 18%, 43 minute delay = 43%. 

This would probably save the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) money on the average claim, means it’s fairer for a ‘one minute’ discrepancy as it would only make a 1% difference, and it could also form the basis for a snappy PR^▸ (Public Relations) campaign for the railways…without people realising it won’t be as generous in some cases as the existing system!

* half the percentage on a return ticket.

[TonyK]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have now emailed to say that my claim has been allowed in full. This means I travelled to Lincolnshire and back for free, if not on time. I wish I had gone first class now.