Real life MMD: Should I keep the train voucher?

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  • Yes Keep them, If you do not often travel by train, you could sell them off or give them to friends that do travel.The company paid the fair and it was you that put in a claim, they did not ask you to do it, they were happy with the fair they paid and have not questioned you about the delay, if they wanted compensation they would have put in a claim themselves, why would they even need to know you got vouchers back.
  • :D yes keep them (unless you were paid extra overtime for delay) weekend away by train or E bay them.:)
  • hstudent
    hstudent Posts: 599 Forumite
    edited 16 March 2011 at 12:13PM
    IMPORTANT: A National Rail travel voucher is only valid for a discount off a new ticket IF it is purchased by the person who put in the original complaint/claim. This means that the voucher cannot be handed back to the company and the only options are:
    1. The person who claimed the voucher uses the voucher to buy a new ticket for themselves.
    2. The person who claimed the voucher uses the voucher to buy a train ticket that the company would otherwise have purchased.

    Any other options potentially invalidate the voucher. Although, I'm not saying you wouldn't be able to get away with other options.
  • hstudent
    hstudent Posts: 599 Forumite
    mrcrazy04 wrote: »
    I seem to recall that if the refund is over about £40, they should send a cheque, and can be asked to swap the vouchers for a cheque.

    That's wrong. Only delays of over 3 hours get you a refund in the form of a cheque (some operators may be more generous though.) Delays of 1-3 hours get you rail travel vouchers - the shorter the delay the lower the value with policies varying between operators. I think in the South East they are more generous and offer rail travel vouchers for 30 minute delays.

    If they send you a voucher it CAN NOT be swapped for a cheque unless they sent a voucher in error when they should have sent a cheque.

    The value of your ticket has no bearing on whether you get a voucher or cheque. They might issue one person a £50 voucher for a 70 minute delay and another person may get a £10 cheque for a 370 minute delay.
  • mrcrazy04
    mrcrazy04 Posts: 70 Forumite
    hstudent wrote: »
    That's wrong. Only delays of over 3 hours get you a refund in the form of a cheque (some operators may be more generous though.) Delays of 1-3 hours get you rail travel vouchers - the shorter the delay the lower the value with policies varying between operators. I think in the South East they are more generous and offer rail travel vouchers for 30 minute delays.

    If they send you a voucher it CAN NOT be swapped for a cheque unless they sent a voucher in error when they should have sent a cheque.

    The value of your ticket has no bearing on whether you get a voucher or cheque. They might issue one person a £50 voucher for a 70 minute delay and another person may get a £10 cheque for a 370 minute delay.

    I had a delay of over 6 hours with East Coast and only got vouchers for the cost of my ticket (£32.50 advance single) and was led to believe it was determined by the value of the refund. I guess it's possible that it varies by what each train operating company's passenger charter says.
  • pineapple
    pineapple Posts: 6,931
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    No dilemma and different to a cash refund imo.
    Rather different to a situation I witnessed at first hand. The plane was overbooked and people who couldn't get on were offered payment as well as another flight. I overheard a businessman telling his boss on the phone simply that his flight had been delayed ;).
  • I wish I knew you could get compensation before! I can't count the number of times my trains have been delayed over an hour, once it was over 5 hours! As a poor student that really would've helped me out too, considering I was paying £35 for the displeasure of a 7 hour journey (sometimes) from London to Bournemouth. :mad:

    Anyway. Back to the point...

    I would personally let my manager know that due to your complaint to National Rail they have issued you with vouchers. The last thing I'd ever want is a warning over a few quid's worth of vouchers. Seems kinda stupid to put your job at risk over. Not really worth it.

    And like you say... HR will most likely tell you to keep them because it's most likely more aggro than it's worth to them to try and use them through their own system.

    Tell your manager / HR and bear in mind that it's 90% certain that you'll get to keep them. If they don't let you keep them, they're stingy and you want to get a new job! :D
  • hstudent
    hstudent Posts: 599 Forumite
    I wish I knew you could get compensation before! I can't count the number of times my trains have been delayed over an hour, once it was over 5 hours! As a poor student that really would've helped me out too, considering I was paying £35 for the displeasure of a 7 hour journey (sometimes) from London to Bournemouth. :mad:

    If you've still got your old tickets or proof of purchase and know which train you travelled on (on an Advance ticket this is printed on your ticket) then you still may be able to put claims in.
  • hstudent wrote: »
    If you've still got your old tickets or proof of purchase and know which train you travelled on (on an Advance ticket this is printed on your ticket) then you still may be able to put claims in.

    I didn't know they'd be useful so I chucked them away :o Nevermind!
  • hstudent
    hstudent Posts: 599 Forumite
    mrcrazy04 wrote: »
    I had a delay of over 6 hours with East Coast and only got vouchers for the cost of my ticket (£32.50 advance single) and was led to believe it was determined by the value of the refund. I guess it's possible that it varies by what each train operating company's passenger charter says.

    East Coast's passengers charter only says that "compensation is usually paid in the form of rail travel vouchers." There's no mention of a £40 ceiling. However, East Coast might choose to send out cheques if the value is over £41 due to the fact that Royal Mail only cover up to £41 for standard post and if a cheque is reported lost it won't clear.
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