Automated stupidity of Delay/Repay

scottleag

I've submitted delay/repay claims for my wife and myself several times without any trouble. Just following the prompts and uploading both tickets. Last week we travelled on the same delayed train but boarded at different stations. When I submitted the tickets I got a message back saying one claim had been rejected as I 'travelled on a different service' on the same day. We got round this (we think) via my wife opening a separate account on GWR. Though it's possible they may refuse her claim as her ticket has already been rejected. We will wait and see.

But a bigger problem lies with late trains that swallow up your ticket. This happened to me the same day as above on an earlier train. I couldn't ask station staff to retain my ticket as they were inundated with people asking questions and it would have taken ages to speak to anyone. Because the lateness affected my connecting service which involved cross-London travel I had to let the machine swallow my ticket. I made the connection with only six minutes to spare. LNER customer service told me to submit my booking reference. I didn't have one as my ticket was purchased in person at a station and over two months previously. I've gone down the station and they've provided me with a stamped printout showing my ticket purchase. I've sent that to LNER and hope that's enough. If not then I'll go to the rail ombudsman.

However both this and the issue with my wife's ticket has meant hours of trailing around. Is there an easier way of providing proof of travel when you don't have an email confirmation of ticket purchase and the ticket has been swallowed at the exit barrier?

For instance would a photo of the ticket be okay? We have further long distance journeys planned for early in the New Year and while some tickets are on my phone, others are paper tickets. I'm going to take photos of them all just in case the same happens again in the hope that this is okay to prove travel.

SiliconChip

Unless you know for sure that you won't be going through a barrier that could swallow your tickets then a photo of them will at least give you something to refer to should you need to make a claim after the journey has ended. The photo itself may not be proof enough but the information taken from the ticket may be all you need to have a claim considered.

daveyjp

If you want proof of purchase just ask for a receipt.  A ticket isn't proof of purchase.

400ixl

All of the ones I have done I have never submitted any physical evidence. It has always been either a photo of the ticket of more likely a screen shot of an eticket in the app.

At least one of those times was an eticket on GWR.

outtatune

I rearely use old school card stock tickets thesed days but when I do I always take a photo of the ticket using Microsoft Lens on my phone just for this eventuality.

scottleag

SiliconChip said:

Unless you know for sure that you won't be going through a barrier that could swallow your tickets then a photo of them will at least give you something to refer to should you need to make a claim after the journey has ended. The photo itself may not be proof enough but the information taken from the ticket may be all you need to have a claim considered.

Thanks. I'm thinking a photo of the ticket is no different from a scan of the actual ticket when claiming online.

scottleag

daveyjp said:

If you want proof of purchase just ask for a receipt.  A ticket isn't proof of purchase.

Problem here is I had a receipt but it was for several purchases made on the same day with different train companies, different journeys, different types of ticket and different days/times. My receipt simply showed the total

rollingmoon

daveyjp said:

If you want proof of purchase just ask for a receipt.  A ticket isn't proof of purchase.

If it's anything like Northern's Delay Repay, then a picture of the ticket is required. As has been said already, when I know I'm going to need to claim I take a picture of the ticket if there's a chance of it going into the barrier. I've made dozens of claims with Northern (yep, they really are that bad!) and never once been asked to provide the actual ticket.

scottleag

rollingmoon said:

daveyjp said:

If you want proof of purchase just ask for a receipt.  A ticket isn't proof of purchase.

If it's anything like Northern's Delay Repay, then a picture of the ticket is required. As has been said already, when I know I'm going to need to claim I take a picture of the ticket if there's a chance of it going into the barrier. I've made dozens of claims with Northern (yep, they really are that bad!) and never once been asked to provide the actual ticket.

I have several journeys to undertake early in the New Year. Long distance so tickets bought in advance to make it as less expensive as possible. I've followed your lead and taken photos of every ticket and every receipt and both uploaded to the cloud and downloaded to my hard drive. I'm taking no more chances and if LNER reject my claim I'm taking it to the rail ombudsman. 

scottleag

Now twelve weeks since I submitted my claim and still not resolved. I contacted LNER a couple of weeks ago asking what had happened and they told me my claim was basically in limbo as they'd been unable to open the file (a .jpg) I sent them! I asked why they hadn't informed of this so that I could send in a different format if they were incapable of opening something as simple. They couldn't explain. I sent the information again, this time as a screenshot embedded in the body of the email. I've heard nothing since. My understanding is the rail ombudsman only takes cases if there's been a failure to reach a resolution. Would I be justified in claiming this length of time plus failure to inform me of the problems they had opening my file means there's been a failure to reach a resolution? Or am I going to have to ask LNER to put it in writing?

SiliconChip

I think you need to spend a bit of time on the Rail Ombudsman site, I'd suggest this page https://www.railombudsman.org/making-a-complaint/complaints-we-can-investigate/  which clearly says:

40 working days must have passed since you first complained to the service provider or you must have received a “deadlock” letter