Scammed by Northern rail

osborn99

Hello

I bought a ticket to Bristol from Chorley at East coast website. When I attempted to collect the tickets at the Chorley ticket machine it went out of order. The staff said if you don't buy a new ticket now and claim for a refund later you won't be able to travel. They almost forced me to buy a new ticket. The station is run by Northern rail.

I went to chorley train station last night to claim for my refund. He sent the tickets to the accounts department. He also said I'm likely not to receive a penny and if I do get refunded I pay an admin fee. Is it any wonder why people are losing confidence in the rail network?

I bought both sets of tickets on my Barclaycard initial, is there anything I can do with my credit card? There is no-way I will let them take an admin fee.

tomsco

Make an official complaint. If management of a company (not your front level drones) can see they've done something wrong to cause the complaint, they're pretty good at cleaning up.

callum9999

Northern Rail haven't "scammed" you...

I'd imagine you'd be better off claiming a refund from East Coast, as your ticket wasn't available to be collected, and they shouldn't charge you an admin fee for that (it is normal procedure to do so, but obviously this isn't your fault).

I personally think it makes much more sense to get as far as you can with East Coast's customer services before you start making official complaints about it.

Though as you've had to send off your tickets, I don't know how that's going to affect this).

osborn99

Yes they have scammed me. They told me to pay £82.70 which later I can claim for a refund later.

The reason why I haven't sent the tickets to East coast is when I collected the pre-paid tickets at Bristol there was no outward journey ticket. The Chorley ticket machine has developed a fault while printing my tickets and it must have started printing the outward ticket then the error.

Got an email from Northern to say they reply in 20 days.

tomsco

Northern Rail haven't "scammed" you...

There is probably just a break down in communication between different departments/staff. It's annoying but I don't see you being left out of pocket.

somethingcorporate

Where is the scam? have they actually said you are not going to get a refund or you just have to wait a few weeks for them to look at it?

Not sure you understand the word scam....

osborn99

Ok maybe not a scam but it is totally unfair if I don't get a refund

When I attempted to collect the tickets at chorley, I went to see the staff. They said if you buy a ticket now you will get a refund.

I went to the station last night. He said I'm likely not to get a refund and will be charged an admin fee. He went on to say the accounts department are likely to laugh at your claim.

It's so unfair I lose £82.70 and I can't do a thing about it. That's why I posted on the credit card forum, see if I can get the payment reversed.

rb10

You will get your refund in full.

The guy at the station doesn't know what happens at head office. It's not your fault, they'll sort it out for you. Just be patient and ignore the person at Chorley station.

giblet10

I've always found the operators ok with complaints, in writing. If you don't get any joy, write back again then go to Passenger Focus. Northern Rail are, like their trains, slow and miserable, but get there in the end. East Coast are very good - they charge a premium but it's worth every penny for the lack of stale odour, pleasant carriages and the speed at which they travel..

My only concern is that the last time I complained (I had a first class ticket but they put me on the same bus as standard passengers) they initially refused to refund the downgrade. On my second letter they did refund, but in rail vouchers, which I thought was a bit cheeky as it's retaining money in the rail system which I should have had in my pocket.

prowla

Talk to them reasonably but firmly - you were told by their representative that (a) you had to buy an additional ticket because their equipment couldn't print out the one that you had pre-paid for, and (b) you would get a refund.

It may be stupid, bureaucratic, not joined up, hassle, and so on, but I can't see that you won't get the refund you were informed you would.

osborn99

Thanks for the reply's. Problem is it's the staff who white on the refund form then send it off to accounts, hope they've put the right thing down. They will receive my claim today. I will give an update. If it's not what I'm looking for I'll speak to them again then passengerfocus.