Post by Tomcakes on Nov 25, 2014 23:50:20 GMT
I noticed that a little while after the refunds system went online (a cynic would suggest at the same time as it began to be publicised!), all of a sudden all the refunds I submitted were being rejected.
You can't get a service delay refund for planned service changes and engineering work, if you made an alternative journey or if your journey was delayed for a reason outside our control, like: (LIST)
It has always been the case that disruption due to "planned works" did not attract a refund (although PAYG users usually benefit through free RRBS), likewise, passenger action/ leaves on the line/ staff shortages due to industrial action have never attracted a refund. However, there's a new get out - if you make an alternative journey. This is a very interesting thing considering that the current mantra appears to ram information down people's throats to help them plan and re-plan their journeys in response to the situation on the network. And, if my journey is delayed, I tend to seek an alternative route if possible and quicker than waiting for the situation to be resolved - I may thus be delayed, just not as badly as had I stuck with the usual route.
For example, the other week I wished to travel between S. Kensington and Archway. I travel via Victoria and change to the Northern at Euston (City). However when I arrive, the Northern line is suspended, obliging me to 'make an alternative journey' by taking the Victoria line to Finsbury Park and getting a bus from there (I could have alighted at Highbury or King's Cross and taken a bus from there; either would have been the same or longer). A refund application was made and denied - presumably under this new criteria! whereas previous identical situations have been. Now, this is not a straightforward case because it requires the person processing the refund to consider the alternative routes and know that the touch in on the service 210 bus, having just left Finsbury Park, equates to getting across to Archway in lieu of the Northern line service. Are they being done quickly, perhaps by an automatic system?
Is this a cost cutting measure, or are there concerns that publicising the fact that delayed journeys result in refunds will mean people apply for spurious ones, or simply that more people will apply but there isn't money to refund more?!
You can't get a service delay refund for planned service changes and engineering work, if you made an alternative journey or if your journey was delayed for a reason outside our control, like: (LIST)
It has always been the case that disruption due to "planned works" did not attract a refund (although PAYG users usually benefit through free RRBS), likewise, passenger action/ leaves on the line/ staff shortages due to industrial action have never attracted a refund. However, there's a new get out - if you make an alternative journey. This is a very interesting thing considering that the current mantra appears to ram information down people's throats to help them plan and re-plan their journeys in response to the situation on the network. And, if my journey is delayed, I tend to seek an alternative route if possible and quicker than waiting for the situation to be resolved - I may thus be delayed, just not as badly as had I stuck with the usual route.
For example, the other week I wished to travel between S. Kensington and Archway. I travel via Victoria and change to the Northern at Euston (City). However when I arrive, the Northern line is suspended, obliging me to 'make an alternative journey' by taking the Victoria line to Finsbury Park and getting a bus from there (I could have alighted at Highbury or King's Cross and taken a bus from there; either would have been the same or longer). A refund application was made and denied - presumably under this new criteria! whereas previous identical situations have been. Now, this is not a straightforward case because it requires the person processing the refund to consider the alternative routes and know that the touch in on the service 210 bus, having just left Finsbury Park, equates to getting across to Archway in lieu of the Northern line service. Are they being done quickly, perhaps by an automatic system?
Is this a cost cutting measure, or are there concerns that publicising the fact that delayed journeys result in refunds will mean people apply for spurious ones, or simply that more people will apply but there isn't money to refund more?!
