Southeastern Annual Season Ticket Refund Advice

mowgally

Hi all,

Has anyone here bought an annual season ticket from Southeastern with a company cheque, and then sought a refund? I paid for mine with a company cheque and might be leaving in a few months so, if I were to get a refund, would they just give me it back as a cheque addressed to my company or would it be a bit trickier than that?

I've looked on their site and they say they'll refund you 'pro-rata' and only for 10 and a half months, also that it's returned in the way it was bought, so I thought I'd try and clear up what that could mean to soothe my anxiety a little

Thanks in advance everyone!

agrinnall

It's a long time since I bought a season ticket but when I last did it was issued only to an individual. I doubt if when the time comes for a refund that they'll have any idea who the cheque was from, even if they've recorded that it was a cheque, and that the refund would be made to you which you would then need to return to your company (unless they withhold the money from your final pay, which is an issue for another board).

ajb69

The refund unfortunately is not calculated not as a flat percentage (e.g if it has 6 months validity remaining, so you get 50% back).

Instead, they work out what combination of tickets you would have purchased if you didn't have a season - so for example, if you used it for 6 months, they will deduct the cost of 6 monthly season from the refund, so you will get a bit less than 50% back. Unless you are lucky enough to hand it back on a precise monthly boundary, it's more likely they'll have to work out a combination of tickets - so, for example, if you return it after 6 months and 15 days, the sum deducted will be the cost of 6 monthly seasons, two weekly seasons and one day return.

This is done, I believe, to avoid people taking advantage by buying an annual with the advance intention of returning it for a refund part-way through. Unfortunately, it also does catch genuine types.

I haven't paid by cheque for a while, but I believe they will refund to you, and you then write your company a cheque for the loan balance; the amount outstanding on the loan may differ from the amount refunded, after all.

If you are moving jobs (and you don't say, so apologies for guessing) it'd probably be cheaper to ask your new company to take over the remnant of the loan and keep you current season.

If you aren't, or your new job involves a different commute, then it may in some cases be cheaper to ask for a "changeover" as the rules there differ and might give you back more money; have a look here for an example. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3934263