GWR Ticket refunds delay

jkcool

Hi,
For a refund claim approved and (they said) paid on Feb 20th, I have still not got the money. 
I contacted them after waiting for 28 days. After couple of enquiries, I have been told that there is an issue affecting all refunds. If it was affecting all refunds, they should have contacted me or at least when I contacted them, they should not have confirmed that it is paid from their end. Only when I asked them to provide a payment reference number so that I can talk to my bank they said there is an issue at their end.

This is the latest response from them this morning when I chased up last week.

After asking our relevant team to chase up this refund that you are owed, they have gotten back to me on this. Our team has responded and there has been a world wide issue on compensating you from our systems on our end. I can assure you that you owed compensation from us however we are just waiting for our team to resolve this matter urgently. I can really understand the frustration caused and I just ask for some patience. As soon as this issue is rectified I will send out communication to you with good news.

Phrases like "a world wide issue" really pisses me off. GWR refunds pages does not have any notice about this "worldwide issue" 

I have worked in finance and IT, most companies have reconciliation reports to indicate if there are any issues for out-going monies. I was just wondering what sort of regulatory framework is there to protect the consumer in these cases. Is there a maximum days within which this needs to be resolved ?

Aylesbury_Duck

There is no maximum timescale.  How much is the sum involved?  Its obvious they owe you the money, and small claims court is the backstop option.  You might consider sending them a letter before action asking for the refund within 14 days or you'll commence a court claim.

born_again

GWR is owned by First Group.
Who are in turn a worldwide co.

jkcool

Aylesbury_Duck said:

How much is the sum involved?  

Just around £100. I can afford to wait on this.  How about people who are really in need ?

Alderbank

jkcool said:

 I was just wondering what sort of regulatory framework is there to protect the consumer in these cases. Is there a maximum days within which this needs to be resolved ?

How about people who are really in need ?

They just have to wait, same as you.

There is a regulator, the Rail Ombudsman
 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6522914/www.railombudsman.org

The bad news though is that the Ombudsman will not look into your case unless you have made a formal complaint to GWR about the delay and GWR haven’t resolved your complaint within a further 40 working days.

Aylesbury_Duck

jkcool said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

How much is the sum involved?  

Just around £100. I can afford to wait on this.  How about people who are really in need ?

That's their battle.  I'm not defending it, but all you can do is focus on your own case.

I suspect a letter before action will accelerate matters.  They're not going to want to go to court for what is - for them - a trivial sum, because they'll have the bureaucracy and court fee to pay on top of what they've already acknowledged they owe you.