Appalling experience trying to get a refund from QJump

MacG1964 · 19 January 2018 at 4:23PM

I thought that the extra that you pay for an Anytime Day Return ticket would mean getting a refund would be fairly straightforward. This appears not to be the case at QJump. I hadn't even collected my ticket from the self-service ticket machine so was a little unsure how to proceed. Noticing that their Customer Services line costs 13pence per minute I decided to resort to online chat. Bad idea! The first operative told me that I couldn't "chant" (think they meant "change") the ticket, which is not what I was after. Didn't seem to be able to make myself understood so thanked them and ended the conversation. My second attempt was disconnected. I simply couldn't type my question fast enough!!! This was an ongoing theme throughout the four online chats. Even though I am a pretty proficient at a keyboard, the operatives on the other side of the conversation didn't appear to know when I was typing and kept asking "Are we still connected". This made for a very fragmented conversation. My 3rd attempt told me I had to contact Transpennine Express. I did this and was told "No! It is QJump you need to speak to". My 4th attempt gave me a number to call and when I called this number the operative said that his machine wasn't responding and could I wait. I did so, and after being put on hold he came back on the line and apologised saying his machine was down and he would have to terminate the call. I called the number again and this time I was told that the operative couldn't find the details of my booking, even though I had given him the booking reference number. Throughout all of this process I remained calm and polite. However, my patience was seriously tested when I finally decided to call the Customer Services number at 13 pence per minute. I was on the line for over twenty minutes and questioned closely as to why I wanted the refund. I explained that the weather had been very poor, that people were advised not to travel and that, with an amber warning in place from the met office, some rail disruption was reported as likely. I told the operative that even if the journey had ran smoothly I was on a pretty tight time frame. (This is trying to travel from West to East in the North of England. The journey would involve three changes and would take me nearly four hours. I didn't want to even start to attempt this journey across the Pennines where heavy snow had fallen overnight.) The operative put me on hold while she spoke to her supervisors before agreeing to a refund. Surely this should have been straightforward??!! When she returned on the line she said that my train wasn't cancelled and was only 15 minutes delayed. "OK, but I didn't use the ticket, so PLEASE CAN I HAVE A REFUND AS IT WAS AN ANYTIME DAY RETURN AND WITH THAT TYPE OF TICKET YOU CAN HAVE A REFUND".
I asked to speak to a supervisor and was again put on hold. Several minutes later the operative came back on the line and said that the supervisor was busy and could she take my number so that they could call me back. Update: The supervisor just called me back and I took him through my experience. He didn't seem to be able to grasp that what I have outlined above was poor customer service and was completely unwilling to reimburse the cost of the 20minute plus phone call at 13 pence per minute. Needless to say, I intend to write a letter of complaint!

tykesi · 19 January 2018 at 6:15PM

I doubt many people will wade through that wall of text. Try adding some paragraphs to make it easier to read.

agrinnall · 19 January 2018 at 9:15PM

I've read it but it doesn't contain a question so I'm not sure what sort of responses the OP is looking for. Perhaps it should have been on the PV&W board.