Train Refund: Please proof read my letter before I send it...

Hi,

Nightmare journey home today. My journey cost us an extra £200.
I'm worried they will only offer the original ticket refund and not the extra we had to lay out.

Some guidance would be appreciated before I send this out...

Thanks


Dear Hull Trains,

We arrived at Kings Cross on the 21st Oct 2018 to take the 10:48 Hull Train to Hull.
We had pre-booked our tickets in good faith.

Our Transaction Ref was: ######## and a copy of our tickets and Railcard is included.

This service was cancelled without prior warning.

We spoke to a member of staff asking if we could travel on the next train to Doncaster. He made a phone call and then told us that we was not aloud as it was not a Hull Train Service.

I questioned this, It was my understand if a train is cancelled then our tickets become valid on any service that will take us to our destination.

He told us that this was not true and that we would have to purchase new tickets.

At this point, one of our 3 daughters was crying & all three daughters where very scared and where unconsolable by ourselves.

We spoke to another member of staff and he could not tell us if the next Hull train to Hull would be cancelled or not, nor could he find a member of Hull Trains Customer service at Kings Cross. We could not take that risk and at this point had lost all faith in Hull Trains.

We had to purchase new tickets costing £174.20 to Doncaster
Then Doncaster to Hull costing £26.45

We arrived approx 30min late then our original journey, this had a knock on effect for plans we had made that day.

We hold Hull Trains fully responsible for extra cost incurred of £200.65

Please find attached copies of all train tickets, receipts and e-tickets.
«13

Comments

  • Barny1979
    Barny1979 Posts: 7,921
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    Allowed, not Aloud
  • unforeseen
    unforeseen Posts: 7,271
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    Was it one of the trains that they announced on Friday would be cancelled?
  • JezR
    JezR Posts: 1,697
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    There was an alternative in place - which no doubt you were unaware of. You were supposed to take the 11:11 Great Northern service to Peterborough and continue to Hull on a coach.

    This graphic was on twitter: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dp9efaAXgAA2RcG.jpg, with information also on the Hull Trains website.

    This cancellation was made days ago (and the equivalent train didn't run last Sunday either).

    Were these people you initially spoke to from Hull Trains or someone else?
  • unforeseen wrote: »
    Was it one of the trains that they announced on Friday would be cancelled?

    I'm not sure. From Headlines in local papers this month, I know Hull Trains service has been dreadful. Hopefully this shouldn't affect and claim for a refund.
  • tedblight wrote: »
    We arrived at Kings Cross on the 21st Oct 2018 to take the 10:48 Hull Train to Hull.
    We had pre-booked our tickets in good faith.

    Our Transaction Ref was: ######## and a copy of our tickets and Railcard is included.

    This service was cancelled without prior warning.

    We spoke to a member of staff asking if we could travel on the next train to Doncaster. He made a phone call and then told us that we was not [STRIKE]aloud [/STRIKE]as it was not a Hull Train Service.

    I questioned this[STRIKE],[/STRIKE]. It was my understanding if a train is cancelled then our tickets become valid on any service that will take us to our destination.

    Not correct; your ticket is valid on the next available service from the same operator

    He told us that this was not true and that we would have to purchase new tickets.

    At this point, one of our 3 daughters was crying & all three daughters where very scared and where unconsoleable by ourselves.

    We spoke to another member of staff and he could not tell us if the next Hull train to Hull would be cancelled or not, nor could he find a member of Hull Trains Customer service at Kings Cross.

    The correct procedure would be to speak to the ticket office staff who could contact Retail Control and obtain authorisation for your ticket to be rewritten for another operator, if there would be a delay of > 1 hour.

    We could not take that risk and at this point had lost all faith in Hull Trains.

    We had to purchase new tickets costing £174.20 to Doncaster
    Then Doncaster to Hull costing £26.45

    We arrived approx 30min late then our original journey, this had a knock on effect for plans we had made that day.

    How much later exactly? If you were delayed > 30 minutes you can claim a refund of 50% of the cost of your original single tickets.

    We hold Hull Trains fully responsible for extra cost incurred of £200.65

    Please find attached copies of all train tickets, receipts and e-tickets.

    See suggestions above.
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
  • See suggestions above.

    Thank you for this - (as you can see I struggle with my spelling, something gets lost between my brain and keyboard)

    "Not correct; your ticket is valid on the next available service from the same operator"

    This is where the rules/law really needs looking into and a strong argument to bring back a national rail provider...

    "The correct procedure would be to speak to the ticket office staff who could contact Retail Control and obtain authorisation for your ticket to be rewritten for another operator, if there would be a delay of > 1 hour."

    The train was a cancelation and not a delay so that should count as 1hr+
    I did speak to two staff members at Kings Cross. Neither of them informed me of this procedure, which could have resulted in the problem been resolved without the need for me to spend £200.

    "How much later exactly? If you were delayed > 30 minutes you can claim a refund of 50% of the cost of your original single tickets. "

    It was some where between 25-35min, I'd have to do the maths. Surly thats if you take either their own next service or the original delayed train. I was late but having to buy my own new tickets from a different provider since there was no-one from Hull Trains at Kings Cross to advice me and all other providers staff seemed to be giving me incorrect advice.

    I got a good deal on the original tickets - £38 for the whole family. I'm not bothered about claiming £19 back...
    Paying and extra £200 to get back home and upsetting the family in the process is what I'm hacked off about.

    My heart really goes out to all travellers who do not have the funds in the bank to get out of a situation like this and like I said before, I'm more shocked that if a train is canceled that the tickets are not valid on any provider that can get you too where you need to be.

    Disgusting! (like my spelling)

    Thanks again.
  • JezR wrote: »
    There was an alternative in place - which no doubt you were unaware of. You were supposed to take the 11:11 Great Northern service to Peterborough and continue to Hull on a coach.

    This graphic was on twitter: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dp9efaAXgAA2RcG.jpg, with information also on the Hull Trains website.

    This cancellation was made days ago (and the equivalent train didn't run last Sunday either).

    Were these people you initially spoke to from Hull Trains or someone else?

    Hi, sorry, but I didn’t see this. I’m not on Twitter. They have my booking information & my email address / home address, phone number. Why do they not contact everyone who’s booked for this train to inform them. If a concert or theatre is cancelled then the venue emails everyone who’s booked.... why doesn’t a train provider do the same?
    No one at Kings Cross told us of this alternative arrangement. And a coach from Peterborough to Hull is not an acceptable alternative IF there are spaces on other providers trains to Doncaster.
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,469
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    Very knowledgable posters on https://www.railforums.co.uk will be able to assist.
  • bigisi
    bigisi Posts: 925 Forumite
    Barny1979 wrote: »
    Allowed, not Aloud

    Far more spelling/grammatical errors than just that, why only pick up on one of them if you're trying to be helpful?
  • Barny1979
    Barny1979 Posts: 7,921
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    bigisi wrote: »
    Far more spelling/grammatical errors than just that, why only pick up on one of them if you're trying to be helpful?

    It was the one that jumped out at me. Any constructive advice from you for the OP?
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