Virgin Delay Repay refusal...

[1B85]

I had a VT train cause me a delay of over an hour in mid April, submitted the delay repay claim through their website within a couple of weeks, heard nothing back until just after lunchtime today...

VT: (paraphrasing for brevity - nothing here should be taken as a verbatim quote by VT Customer Services) - Thank you for contacting us and submitting a delay repay claim. We are sorry you were delayed. To qualify for compensation, you need to make a claim to one of the Train Companies ticket offices or Customer Relations offices within 28 days of your journey - stating the timetabled departure time of the train(s) you used, or intended to use for the journey. When you make your claim, you also need to provide a ticket or other authority to travel that was valid for that journey. In view of the above, we unfortunately won’t be able to offer any compensation on this occasion.

So I get that they've refused my claim due to one of the above, but it's just a form letter and there's nothing about why they've refused my claim specifically. So I call them. They can't find the reference given in the email, so they have to look it up by my email address. Call operator one is on the fourth attempt to spell my email address after giving it to her letter by letter in the NATO alphabet and she's still getting it wrong, so I thank her for her time and terminate the call. Call operator two got it after the first time, but puts me on hold for fifteen minutes only to come back and tell me I've called the wrong number. Finally after half an hour on the phone, I get through to someone who can help me out...

Me: Hello, I've got a query about a delay repay claim, the reference is XXXXXXXXX.
VT: Let me check that for you, OK, for security reasons I need you to confirm your address and postcode...
Me: <Address and postcode>
VT: What seems to be the problem?
Me: I'm just calling to check why you've emailed me to tell me why the claim was refused.
VT: We've refused this because the claim was submitted XX days after your journey was taken and claims must be submitted within 28 days.
Me: What's the date of the journey in question?
VT: XX April 2018.
Me: That date is exactly XX days ago. What's the date of the claim being submitted?
VT: It's logged as being submitted today.
Me: So you're saying the situation is that VT have managed to process a delay repay claim on the same day it was received?
VT: That's what the system says.
Me: Well, it's obviously wrong, I submitted the claim on <date>
VT: The system says its out of time. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Long story short, I was on the phone for an hour and still no closer towards getting this resolved, I think a letter is in order...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Do you have any evidence of the correct submission date such as the e-mail receipt?

 

[100andthirty]

"Computer says no...…...". I was only reading yesterday that the new GDPR allows for people to require that obviously stupid "system generated" answers are properly reviewed by a human.

 

[londonboi198o5]

Do you have the email reply that you would get confirming they have received your request for delay repay etc. Normally iirc it is an automated generated email but that would be time stamped with the date etc you applied to confirm it was within the 28 days period

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

You could try requesting the data they hold on you, under GDPR Article 15(1). They can't charge a fee and must provide it within 1 month. That way you should be able to see what their systems hold about when you submitted your claim.

 

[AlterEgo]

Someone at VT has been logging claims wrongly.

Here’s how the process works.

1) you submit the claim by email or post.

2) it arrives. Let’s say it arrives on 1st May.

3) it will sit, doing nothing, not logged or anything, for a while.

4) it will at some point be registered on the system.

5) someone works the case at a later date, or even the same day, and sends you the money (or not!!)



Now, what’s happened is that when step 4 happens they’re supposed to log what day it arrived in the system, the date relevant to step 2 (in my example, 1st May). It also generates a reference number which has that date within it, so a case received on 1st May will have a reference like VT-010518-ABCD.

I noticed a case of mine recently had a reference suggesting it was received on the date I got their reply, so like I said, someone’s doing it wrong.

Logging the proper date instead of the date you actually opened the case requires an extra click and overwriting the default date. Someone is being astonishingly lazy or just not trained properly, in their office.

The cherry on top is the lazy or incompetent phone operator who has no common sense to realise that VT don’t bash out Delay Repay on the same day they get it (their backlog is usually a week or more). This should be immediately obvious to the phone operator.

I suggest HUACA (hang up and call again).

Can you give us the numbers from your case reference? These won’t be unique, they’re literally the date of receipt.

 

[skyhigh]

I noticed a case of mine recently had a reference suggesting it was received on the date I got their reply, so like I said, someone’s doing it wrong.

In support of this, the last two claims I had (both this month) were done like this.

 

[fireftrm]

The very reason why submitting the claim onoine is better, you get an email to say it has been recived so you have the evidence of submission in time. Its also a lot quicker to do!

 

[Elecman]

The very reason why submitting the claim onoine is better, you get an email to say it has been recived so you have the evidence of submission in time. Its also a lot quicker to do!

Interesting as I’ve had 2 email automated responses (dated and timed) but no other email/ correspondence from VT. When I then ring Customer Services after 4 weeks they claim I never emailed them in the first place despite me screenshooting the auto response email recieved from them and the original email ( dated and timed obviously) . I have now emailed the CEO of VT asking for his personal explanation of this apparent mystery of disappearing emails despite confirmation of thier receipt.

 

[Steveoh]

The very reason why submitting the claim onoine is better, you get an email to say it has been recived so you have the evidence of submission in time. Its also a lot quicker to do!

The last two times I’ve claimed from East Midlands Trains I have do so via the web form and both times the auto response wasn’t received until a week later. Not the same company I know but a very similar issue. Fortunately it was within 28 days so I had no issue.

 

[ShwervinMervin]

You could try requesting the data they hold on you, under GDPR Article 15(1). They can't charge a fee and must provide it within 1 month. That way you should be able to see what their systems hold about when you submitted your claim.

This new law does have some decent things then...

 

[island]

This new law does have some decent things then...

The old law previously gave the same rights, save that the company had 10 days more to respond and was entitled to charge an admin fee of £10.

 

[Muzer]

As far as I'm aware the new law is very similar to what was there before, but has penalties that people actually take seriously now, and a few things that were seen (by the EU) as loopholes closed or clarified...