Trainline refund, not hopeful

croesoswallt

Hello, I just joined this forum to get some advice.

On monday I booked two train tickets online with the trainline so I could go and see my new born nephew, I paid the extra £7.50 for next day delivery. I was hoping to save money by doing this! The ticket was an advance return for specific trains - the whole transaction cost me £63.50 (which is obscene as it is). I booked the tickets at 17.30, common sense told me that next day delivery in this instance would mean Wednesday morning, my day of travel.

Wednesday morning. No post yet. I phone them up, and they politely tell me to wait until 1pm then try them again. I wait until 1pm, the post has arrived and there are no tickets. At this point I resign myself to the notion that I'm going to have to pay for my tickets on the train, I have to leave and cannot wait around any longer.

I go to the train station, pay for my tickets (again), and tell the woman at the counter about my situation. She is unable to help me, but is sympathetic and says I shouldn't bother with such companies.

I get to my destination, go on the internet for my reference number and phone them again. The Indian call center worker tells me that the tickets were delivered at 1412 - before the departure of my train at 1453. I inform him that this is not good enough and that only gave me half an hour to catch my train - this was completely unfeasible as my journey took longer than this (I do not drive).

I demand a refund and he gives me the refund address and a tracking number, I thank him (as I am a civil sort of person) and he tells me to have a great day (pah!).

I'm guessing that they aren't going to refund my ticket as they have, technically, fulfilled their side of the deal but as I am going to be sending the unused tickets back are they obliged to refund me? I am barely able to afford one journey - never mind an extra useless one.

Who can I get involved to get this money back? Reading about them, they sound like they deserve bringing down badly. Shall I send a copy of my letter to my bank, my mp, my citizens advice bureau? Shall I take a photo of myself with the tickets and that days paper to prove they exist and were not used?!

Thanks in advance for anyone who can offer some help, and may I strongly recommend that you boycott this company who I have now heard described as crooks, thieves and remorseless greedy swine.

wealdroam

As you say, they have fulfilled their part of the bargain.

From their website...

Next Day Delivery - What is the delivery timescale?
Bookings made before 3pm on a weekday will be delivered by the next working day. Bookings made after 3pm will arrive within 2 working days.

You haven't said what type of tickets they are.
Are they refundable?


If they are Advance Singles, then they are not refundable, but the date/time can be changed for a fee.
Maybe consider changing the date on your tickets and visit your nephew again soon.

dzug1

Well they use Royal Mail special delivery which is guaranteed to arrive by 1300 so they didn't fulfil the guarantee. Neither they nor you got what you paid for.

It would have been better (yes easy to say now) to have saved your £7.50 and picked the tickets up at the station

Your ticket can't have been an 'advance return' BTW - there's no such beast. If it was a return ticket you just happened to buy in advance then you are entitled to a refund and have good grounds to waive the normal admin fee.

croesoswallt

The actual purchase was two advanced singles, which I understand are non-refundable.

Thanks for the responses folks, I hope that dzug1 is right, I shall cite the royal mail special delivery promise in my letter to them. I wonder if it's worth contacting royal mail about this also?

Otherwise, I will be visiting my nephew again soon so if all else fails I hope I can indeed change the time on the tickets.

wealdroam

dzug1 wrote: »

Well they use Royal Mail special delivery which is guaranteed to arrive by 1300 so they didn't fulfil the guarantee. Neither they nor you got what you paid for.

But Dzug, did you notice that the OP said they made the booking at 5:30pm on Monday evening?

Thetrainline appear to have a cut-of time for next day delivery at 3pm.
Their faq, quoted above, seems to be quite clear.

dzug1

wealdroam wrote: »

But Dzug, did you notice that the OP said they made the booking at 5:30pm on Monday evening?

Thetrainline appear to have a cut-of time for next day delivery at 3pm.
Their faq, quoted above, seems to be quite clear.

I did

It should still have arrived by 1300 on Wednesday, not after 1400 as appears to be the case.

dzug1

croesoswallt wrote: »

The actual purchase was two advanced singles, which I understand are non-refundable.

Thanks for the responses folks, I hope that dzug1 is right, I shall cite the royal mail special delivery promise in my letter to them. I wonder if it's worth contacting royal mail about this also?

Otherwise, I will be visiting my nephew again soon so if all else fails I hope I can indeed change the time on the tickets.

Alas no - you can only change advance singles up to the original departure time, not later

MarkyMarkD

There's no point contacting Royal Mail. It is the Trainline who had the contract with them, not you.

As they didn't deliver the tickets by the agreed timescale (presuming you live in a part of the UK where the 1300 deliver timescale applies) they should refund the cost of the replacement tickets - not just the amount you paid them, as presumably your replacement tickets were more expensive.

And, as others have said, where possible collect your tickets at the station - it's an awful lot more reliable than getting them posted to you.

wealdroam

dzug1 wrote: »

It should still have arrived by 1300 on Wednesday, not after 1400 as appears to be the case.

Yes, quite right.

My mistake... I somehow lost a day.

Owain_Moneysaver

Had you booked direct with the train operating company's own website you might have got a cheaper price than Trainline because some TOCs have their own online discount. Collecting your ticket from the machine or a travel centre would also avoid postage charges and delays.

Despite their adverts, Trainline aren't cheaper than buying from TOCs and can sometimes be more expensive.

custardy

dzug1 wrote: »

Well they use Royal Mail special delivery which is guaranteed to arrive by 1300 so they didn't fulfil the guarantee. Neither they nor you got what you paid for.

It would have been better (yes easy to say now) to have saved your £7.50 and picked the tickets up at the station

Your ticket can't have been an 'advance return' BTW - there's no such beast. If it was a return ticket you just happened to buy in advance then you are entitled to a refund and have good grounds to waive the normal admin fee.

but do they state they will arrive by 1pm or simply next day?