Southern Trains

[Napper]

Anyone use the delay repay scheme and had any joy ?

Have submitted 3 claims from December but have recieved nothing despite saying they will acknowledge within 20 days.

Anyone ever got any cash back ?

The way the trains are this scheme must seriously eat into their profits unless they just ignore claims like they have with mine

 

[Hotchilidog]

I'll let you know in 20 days, the other day I finally felt motivated to use it. I'll be submitting a claim after every cancellation from now on. Given the amount of claims the have to deal with I'm not surprised it takes a while to process everything. After years of using their service I have learnt to be patient.

 

[Arthur]

Yep, never had a problem myself.

I got travel vouchers just before Christmas for 50 odd quid. Normally takes about a month for the money to come through.

If you've got an account on their website they might have credited that as they started doing that for a while. You now get the choice. I'd check there and if you haven't had it talk to their customer support.

 

[Napper]

Yep, never had a problem myself.

I got travel vouchers just before Christmas for 50 odd quid. Normally takes about a month for the money to come through.

If you've got an account on their website they might have credited that as they started doing that for a while. You now get the choice. I'd check there and if you haven't had it talk to their customer support.

Cheers mate

Not got an account though , asked for cheques.

Will give it a bit longer as mentioned they are probably facing a backlog due to the shit service last year and particularly 2012.

Cheers

 

[Razi]

I had a claim with First Capital Connect a year or so ago - the first train was cancelled, and the 2nd was constantly delayed on the journey up to London. This culminated in me missing my booked coach transport from London to Leeds. I complained, and FCC ended up refunding their ticket AND the cost of the coach transport with vouchers. Still a shocking train service they provide, but was impressed with how they responded.

 

[Southstandfaithful]

I've received a refund of £6 as a national rail voucher for the delay in Dec due to the fatality. I've received a few in the past and they can take up to 6 weeks to arrive.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Yes, always got my money, but it takes a while. They calculate the absolute minimum to give you back, of course. I have one claim in for this week (weds). When you're talkimng about the sums that they deal with, I doubt they even notice the amount they pay back and many people don't claim anyway.

They are slippery though - we were thrown off our mornng train one day in Dec at Preston Park. I gave up and went home, but my friend tried to claim repay and was told they wouldn't pay because the train had run to London Bridge - even though it had run empty after putting everyone out at PP.

 

[Badger]

I used their Rainy Day Guarantee thing about a year ago, I didn't hold up too much hope but after a couple of months the money appeared in my account (it took me a while to remember what it was for too).

 

[Hotchilidog]

To be honest i never usually claim, but with the ridiculous amount of cancellations (quite often due to faulty trains), I finally submitted a claim this week for my three hour journey to Dorking. In fairness to Southern they make the process pretty simple and easy to use online, so at least this aspect of customer service seems good.

 

[Dalos]

Anyone use the delay repay scheme and had any joy ?

Have submitted 3 claims from December but have recieved nothing despite saying they will acknowledge within 20 days.

Anyone ever got any cash back ?

The way the trains are this scheme must seriously eat into their profits unless they just ignore claims like they have with mine

Yes i have been doing this for a few months now and have got a couple of "cheques" through from them.

However my claim for December has still not been processed. Worth doing though as you get around £9 per journey on a brighton - london commute and you normally get 2-3 a month.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Yes i have been doing this for a few months now and have got a couple of "cheques" through from them.

However my claim for December has still not been processed. Worth doing though as you get around £9 per journey on a brighton - london commute and you normally get 2-3 a month.

I've found on the Shoreham to London Bridge route, that whilst the service is getting worse, there aren't actually that many journeys you can claim for. We've had a terrible week this week, 25 mins late, 20 mins late etc. but only one I can claim for - and whilst we were 53 mins late, it wasn't the hour that you get more back. I'e said it before, I've been commuting for 23 years and last year was easily the worst on the trains and this year has started much worse than that. Not all issues are thier fault of course, jumpers etc, but that doesn't help me getting to work late every day.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

The trains so far this year have been atrocious, major signal failure, broken down trains, wrong kind of snow, staff shortage etc etc etc. Southern must be bowing under the weight of my claim forms so I'm sorry. Along with the normal +5m delays due to congestion.

Agree with Tricky, it's just getting worse and worse.

This is what +7% gets you.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

There hasnt been a "wrong kind of snow" problem this year, in fact they were fine during the snow (mostly), most of the problems arent their fault though - but they are like headless chickens when something goes wrong. Delay Repay can take up to 2 months to come back, of all the times ive used it (over about 6 months) i got back about £70.

With that Rainy Day Guarantee, wouldnt use it if im honest - some people have waited up to 4 months for their money back.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

There hasnt been a "wrong kind of snow" problem this year, in fact they were fine during the snow (mostly), most of the problems arent their fault though - but they are like headless chickens when something goes wrong. Delay Repay can take up to 2 months to come back, of all the times ive used it (over about 6 months) i got back about £70.

With that Rainy Day Guarantee, wouldnt use it if im honest - some people have waited up to 4 months for their money back.

I agree a lot of the problems are not their fault directly, maybe Network Rail or whoever, but I buy my ticket from Southern so it's up to them to sort out their suppliers. I'm sorry but "over-running engineering works" mid-week is a very poor excuse. Also, the number of broken down train incident is very high, I'm guessing these newer trains are not as reliable as the slam-doors that were nearly 50 years old by the time they went out of service - they may have been horrible, but at least you got there.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Apparently cold weather causes faults on the trains, no idea how and seems a bit stupid. The over-running work the other day was that they replaced track, then realised the equipment to put it back wasnt working - so all totally Network Rails fault.

Im lucky im no longer working in London, i would have been badly delayed several times this week.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

I've used it a few times. Most of the times the delays are down to the track. Generally now the service is pretty good and better than it was in the early 00's though probably not as good as it was maybe in 2008-9. Back in 2000 I think there was a 2 month period when I was never less than 20 minutes late, and there was a continual 10% season ticket discount offered until about 2006.

 

[pipkin112]

My wife is always getting cheques in the post, she makes a claim even if the trains are delayed on her days off.

 

[Monsieur Wabee]

I've been far too lazy in making claims, but after 7 delayed journeys home (already) this year I think it's time I got my act together.

Please tell me the process is just a simple online form? I've become so disillusioned with Southern over 10 years of commuting that my will to fight back has almost entirely gone!

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Form at the station, but you must know what time the train arrived into wherever you were going to and the departure times etc AND the reason.

 

[Monsieur Wabee]

Oh christ, temporary ticket office currently in use at Horsham. They're probaly using the forms to line the station cat's litter tray!

Thanks for the tip, I'll collect a form later. I've got to stop off anyway as my season ticker has stopped working in the automatic barriers, apparently it's down to all the dirt.