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Raileasy denying they were the retailer

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roversfan2001

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I bought a ticket from Trainsplit (Raileasy) for use on Northern services for travel on Sat 27th Oct, since then the strikes have been announced and I wish to get this ticket refunded as I am making alternative arrangements. NRCoT Condition 30.1 suggests I am entitled to a fee-free refund from the retailer. I emailed Raileasy to request this, to which they responded that I need to contact the TOC I travelled with, and then gave me Metrolink's contact details!

I replied emphasising that they are the retailers and therefore are the company I need to request a refund from, and they replied again that "as we are a third party, we are not the original retailers".

I don't really know where to take this now; any advice please? :)
 
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WelshBluebird

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Can you not just reply with a couple of direct quotes from their FAQ's?

"If your train was cancelled or delayed and you chose not to travel we may be able to offer you a refund, please return the tickets to our refunds team within 28 days of the travel date"
and
"Raileasy are the retailer"
 

SickyNicky

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Sorry about that. We have issued the refund as required and we're now talking to the call centre to make sure it doesn't happen again.
 

sheff1

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If they do not think they are a retailer, it would be interesting to know exactly what they believe their status to be.

You couldn't make it up.
 

SickyNicky

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It's just the third party contact centre getting things wrong. It has been addressed, and the OP has the refund they are entitled to.
 

sheff1

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Well it seems it has only been addressed because someone has posted on here. How many more Raileasy customers have been sent off on a wild goose chase.
 

robbeech

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Well hopefully none or very few. It feels as if the comment about "only been address as someone has posted here" was negative, i'd prefer to see it in a positive light, showing that retailers are interested in customer service and are happy to help where they can and are quick to say "ooops, sorry" when things go wrong. Lots of TOCS in their "retailer" role could learn a thing or two from this that is for sure.
 

sheff1

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Certainly it is positive that they have acted to correct matters once they were made aware of the problem. My point was, other people could have been told the same already and, if the post had not been made on here, future enquirers would presumably have also been told the same.

If someone working on behalf of Raileasy has made up the "we are not a retailer" line and referred the enquirer to Metrolink (!) what other nonsense might they have come up with ? Raileasy may well have systems in place to monitor emails/listen to recordings of calls to pick up such things. We, of course, have no way of knowing.
 

krus_aragon

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If someone working on behalf of Raileasy has made up the "we are not a retailer" line and referred the enquirer to Metrolink (!) what other nonsense might they have come up with ? Raileasy may well have systems in place to monitor emails/listen to recordings of calls to pick up such things. We, of course, have no way of knowing.
I once did a short (few weeks) stint working as a temporary receptionist at a firm doing TV subtitles, educational materials, and in-workplace training. One phonecall I had was from an individual asking about returning a faulty watch winder. At the time I had no idea what a watch winder was, but I was pretty sure it didn't fall under my company's remit.

I told the caller that they probably had a wrong number, but they checked their details and phoned me back again. Having asked around with the caller on hold, it turned out that the watch winders were the product of another company in the building, and my company was selling them online on their behalf!
 

Bletchleyite

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It's just the third party contact centre getting things wrong. It has been addressed, and the OP has the refund they are entitled to.

That would put me right off using Raileasy, I'm afraid; if I have an issue I want to be able to talk to someone who has proper authority, so to me that means someone actually working for the company in their premises, not a third party contractor.

To me one of the benefits of a primarily self-service business is that having direct contact to people who can actually fix problems quickly and have a genuine understanding of the business is a lot easier, because you don't need many of them. If you want an excellent example of doing that right, give Monzo Bank a go.
 

najaB

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That would put me right off using Raileasy, I'm afraid; if I have an issue I want to be able to talk to someone who has proper authority, so to me that means someone actually working for the company in their premises, not a third party contractor.
Good luck there. There are very few companies that don't outsource at least some aspects of their customer service function.
 

yorkie

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I am not sure the thread title is correct? Raileasy are not denying they are a retailer.
Good luck there. There are very few companies that don't outsource at least some aspects of their customer service function.
Indeed. Does anyone have a list of retailers for whom it is all in-house?

I could provide a never-ending list of companies who have provided inaccurate/misleading information and denying passengers their contractual rights, both on an in-house basis and also providing services on behalf of other companies.
 

SickyNicky

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No small company can have staff employed out of hours on the off chance someone will ring in. You do really have to rely on a call centre. The issue here is to ensure that as many possibilities as can be are covered in the briefing to those staff, and that if they don't know the answer they ask.
 

Puffing Devil

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Mistakes happen, even in the best-run organisations. It's how the business deals with those mistakes that is important. Many TOCs deny, delay and obfusticate.

From what I see here, Raileasy has acknowledged the issue, dealt with the problem and are working with the contracted out staff. Nothing more to see or do, unless there is another issue. It won't stop me buying tickets from them in the future.
 

Puffing Devil

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That depends on the views of the business. Some small business owners will answer the phone themselves out of hours while e.g. at home. Doesn't suit everyone, but does suit some.

And a work-life balance. Do you want me picking up the phone at 10pm on the sofa at home, or a call handling service that should be able to deal with your call professionally?
 

ForTheLoveOf

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Mistakes happen, even in the best-run organisations. It's how the business deals with those mistakes that is important. Many TOCs deny, delay and obfusticate.

From what I see here, Raileasy has acknowledged the issue, dealt with the problem and are working with the contracted out staff. Nothing more to see or do, unless there is another issue. It won't stop me buying tickets from them in the future.
Indeed; though it is disappointing that a reputable retailer such as TrainSplit/Raileasy is getting something like this wrong (when good customer support is a significant main attractions/selling points, certainly to me!), at least here it is possible to get a swift remedy without having to go round the houses and continually be falsely told that you are wrong. That is certainly more than can be said for virtually all other retailers (and certainly TOCs)!
 

Bletchleyite

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And a work-life balance. Do you want me picking up the phone at 10pm on the sofa at home, or a call handling service that should be able to deal with your call professionally?

That isn't my issue, it's yours when you choose how you run your business. The key thing, though, is that with an online self-service business the phone only comes into play for me when things have gone VERY wrong and I want to waste as little time as possible in resolving the issue. Many businesses seem to like to waste my time (including insulting my intelligence by having on-hold messages telling me to visit their website - why do they think I'm not doing?) - I have been very pleasantly surprised by Monzo being otherwise.

I think if I set up such a business I'd probably have an online ticketing system that I would closely manage myself plus an emergency only phone number - something like "Call this number if you are travelling in the next few hours and cannot obtain your tickets or you have your tickets, are travelling now and are being denied travel by a member of railway staff. For other issues, please raise a ticket". An effective ticketing system is to me much better than a call centre who can do little more than follow a script.
 

ForTheLoveOf

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That isn't my issue, it's yours when you choose how you run your business. The key thing, though, is that with an online self-service business the phone only comes into play for me when things have gone VERY wrong and I want to waste as little time as possible in resolving the issue.

I think if I set up such a business I'd probably have an online ticketing system that I would closely manage myself plus an emergency only phone number - something like "Call this number if you are travelling in the next few hours and cannot obtain your tickets or you have your tickets, are travelling now and are being denied travel by a member of railway staff. For other issues, please raise a ticket". An effective ticketing system is to me much better than a call centre who can do little more than follow a script.
I have to say though that, even in this modern era, I find it more convenient to pick up the phone to talk to an organisation than to communicate in writing (though of course I use writing whenever there's a potential dispute!).
 

Bletchleyite

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I have to say though that, even in this modern era, I find it more convenient to pick up the phone to talk to an organisation than to communicate in writing (though of course I use writing whenever there's a potential dispute!).

I would agree, if and only if I am talking to someone who works for that organisation and has full understanding and authority to deal with the issue there and then.

If phoning takes more than 5 minutes of my time, I'd rather raise a detailed ticket and get on with other things. (And for the person concerned to actually read it!)

Though to be fair I dislike the telephone generally, it's an invasive, old-fashioned and inefficient method of communication. I only like to use it for close friends and family where the emotional aspect of hearing their voice is a key reason for the conversation.
 

WelshBluebird

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I have to say though that, even in this modern era, I find it more convenient to pick up the phone to talk to an organisation than to communicate in writing (though of course I use writing whenever there's a potential dispute!).

Whereas I am the total opposite! I much prefer putting my thoughts in writing. I am not great at expressing myself when put on the spot, so for me phone calls to deal with such issues are a total nightmare.
I much prefer an email (or a Tweet if it is a short easy to answer query). And you have the added benefit of being able to add screenshots or a photos / videos taken with a smartphone (helpful if an online booking service isn't working correctly or if a TVM isn't working correctly - a image / video of those issues is much clearer than trying to describe some of them!).
 

krus_aragon

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something like "Call this number if you are travelling in the next few hours and cannot obtain your tickets or you have your tickets, are travelling now and are being denied travel by a member of railway staff. For other issues, please raise a ticket".
I follow your point, but that phrasing probably isn't the best for a business that is selling tickets!
 

Dai Corner

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The only problem with raising queries in writing is that all the required information may not be captured. I'm used to writing 'good' tickets (and reading 'bad' ones!) having spent decades doing so at work but Joe or Joanne Public probably isn't. In that case a dialogue is better.

What really annoys me is having to telephone and wait in a queue only to find the agent is clearly just reading the screen and typing in my responses. Give me access to do that and employ fewer, higher skilled agents for the tricky problems.
 

Clip

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Im glad that it has been sorted out but i just came across this on MSE Forum about Trainsplit (part of Raileasy)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5904052

I recently bought train tickets for travel between Bridge of Allan and Newcastle from the ticket split web site trainsplit.com Unfortunately that was the day of storm Ally, so all trains in Central Scotland were cancelled. I took the tickets to a nearby station for a refund, they said I had to go to the vendor for a refund, TrainSplit say they don't give refunds and I have to contact the train operator. One of the operator is Virgin who say they don't give refunds for tickets not bought directly from them. So, TrainSplit, ScotRail and Virgin all refuse to give a refund for cancelled trains. To top that I lost £120 hotel booking and £100 conference fees. Has anyone had any luck getting refunds for split tickets?
 

SickyNicky

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I think if I set up such a business I'd probably have an online ticketing system that I would closely manage myself plus an emergency only phone number - something like "Call this number if you are travelling in the next few hours and cannot obtain your tickets or you have your tickets, are travelling now and are being denied travel by a member of railway staff. For other issues, please raise a ticket".

Members of the forums who were on the Isle of Wight at the weekend will no doubt tell you how fraught this can be. I received a call late at night (we'd just finished at the pub in Ventnor and were about to get the bus back to Sandown). A member of the public had managed to track down my mobile number and wanted me to (a) explain split tickets to him and (b) help him through the booking process, preferably with me doing it all. This was sometime just after 10pm.

But I take the point and we'll discuss if it's feasible.
 

Clip

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I thought you would do but just thought i would highlight it as not being the first report of it
 
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