Avanti won't refund a 2hr delayed journey due to it being 28 days ago, any options?

MattyBenwah

Hello Forumites,

I'm wondering if there is any option to elevate a complaint to Avanti about them not refunding my journey due to their arbitrary (and in my view shameful) 28 day limit to their refund policy. As I'm beyond 28 days they can just point to their policy and say "meh" but this is such an arbitrary bit of money-grabbing nonsense to me.

Any ideas for taking it further? Some higher travel body/ombudsman to complain to?

Thanks for reading, Matt

elsien

What was the reason that you weren’t able to do it within the 28 days - it is quite clear on their website. 

MSE_James

It's important to be clear on terminology here - Delay Repay is compensation for a delay (payable to the passenger by the operator of the train that caused the delay) rather than a refund of the ticket (which would be from the vendor of the ticket to the purchaser). 

Compensation is usually applicable if you made the journey but were delayed.

Refunds come into play where you didn't actually make the whole journey covered by the ticket.

(The vendor of the ticket may or may not be the same entity as the operator of the delayed train, and the passenger may or may not be the same person as the purchaser of the ticket.)

We've moved this to the Public Transport board.

Alan_Bowen

28 days is generous, Southern insists on a 14-day time limit. The right to compensation does not appear to be enshrined in law, as such companies can impose their own restrictions and 28 days seems more than reasonable

jon81uk

The National Rail conditions of carriage state you need to claim within 28 days
https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e8xgegruud3g/3Y9UXuFziljwsGFCUAwKAA/0aa50a101febffda28c070aae2572570/National_Rail_Conditions_of_Travel.pdf

Its term 33.1

Therefore you aren’t entitled to anything as you left it too late.