Refund vs. Delay Repay

[jamiearmley]

I'm just sat now on a TFW service up to Manchester.

The guard is friendly, enthusiastic, and visible, chatting away to everyone and picking up litter as he goes. It's nice to see it, tbh - I've had a lot of lacklustre journeys on TFW with invisible crew.

However, the gent next to me is travelling on this train as his own was cancelled. Guard profusely apologised for the cancellation, and instructed the customer to 'claim a refund', asking who he had booked with, and then outlining the process to 'claim a refund' via TFW Delay Repay.

I can't fault him for engagement : we need more of it! : but isn't it about time as an industry we briefed everyone about the difference between a refund and delay repay - stressing that incorrect refunding of tickets can, and does, have extreme consequences? (See disputes and prosecutions ad nauseum...)

The language used in these times of 'self service' refunds seems to need to be very precise in order to protect the passenger from themselves - certainly more precise than I've just witnessed.

Any thoughts?

 

[jfollows]

Yes, you're right, but I think this is a symptom of a bigger malaise in which railway staff are not given proper adequate training to do their jobs and are expected and encouraged to make things up when they don't know them.

Some staff will be the problem themselves for not being trainable, either because they're not very clever or probably because they have an arrogance which they think entitles them not to listen to what they're being told. Obviously this is just conjecture on my part.

But I don't think the staff training process includes a verification step at the end, at least not for some front-line staff who just make up rules to match their idea of how things should be.

It's doubly annoying in the case you give in which the distinction is relatively simple, but it's clearly not made properly. So I think you're right, language used should be more precise than it is, but also a circumvention to the problem would be to have a proper "clearing house" for refund and delay repay processes, so there's one place to send everything and the issue you describe then mainly goes away.

 

[robbeech]

Yes.
There’s too many rail staff using incorrect terminology with this sort of stuff. It’s a shame given they’re usually trying to help. In many cases it doesn’t matter but when it does it REALLY does.

There are staff who also direct passengers to the wrong process. EMR have done this more than once on social media where they’ve instructed a passenger to claim delay repay when they did not travel. Again, they’re only trying to be helpful but this could result in claims being rejected, accepted only in part for a lower payout with all the associated hassle. The worst case is as we have seen, in 12 months time the passenger who has followed advice could end up in a fraud case.
The knowledge required to advise passengers correctly not as simple and opening and closing your bathroom door but it’s not a massive step up from this, it’s worrying they can’t get it right.

 

[Benjwri]

I noticed just yesterday that on all 3 of the delayed GWR services I was on they were frequently apologising the the delay and very specifically mentioning customers could claim delay repay and giving the website. Was very impressed at both this pushing of delay repay, and also the interaction from the crews, especially update on various common connections with the delays. Doesn't seem very long ago I was complaining that we never saw or heard from them since Covid! For once a massive improvement since Covid.

 

[AdamWW]

I noticed just yesterday that on all 3 of the delayed GWR services I was on they were frequently apologising the the delay and very specifically mentioning customers could claim delay repay and giving the website. Was very impressed at both this pushing of delay repay, and also the interaction from the crews, especially update on various common connections with the delays. Doesn't seem very long ago I was complaining that we never saw or heard from them since Covid! For once a massive improvement since Covid.

Yes I was impressed with GWR when I was caught up in disruption last week - lots of announcements including letting people know about Delay Repay.

 

[James H]

I was on a (30+ minute) delayed SWR train on Good Friday and the guard announced we'd be entitled to Delay Repay, but also described it as a 'refund'