I have been trying to get a refund from GWR since February for a Super Off-Peak return ticket. This is refundable, according to the terms and conditions.
I applied for the refund the day after ordering the ticket in error – on 1 February 2017 – but it has shown up as “refund pending” for several months.
I have completed a further refund form on request, but have since been repeatedly fobbed off. Many of the replies from GWR were meaningless and did not even relate to my query.
It has been nearly four months since my refund request was first submitted and there seems no way to escalate a complaint. The same formulaic responses are always sent back. NM, Exeter
It may be little consolation but you are not alone in your pain – our groaning postbag has reflected the fact that over much of the second half of 2016 and early 2017, GWR was clearly unable to cope with responses to passenger inquiries, claims and complaints.
This coincided with Capita being awarded First Group’s contract to run its GWR, TransPennine Express and Hull Trains contact centre. This, along with a major incident in the South-West, created yet more pressure on the customer service team. This was the first rail contract that Capita had been awarded and it clearly buckled under the strain.
Transport Focus became aware of the issue when its own contact team, which handles rail passenger complaint appeals, saw unprecedented numbers contacting them with issues linked to GWR’s backlog.
It recently published the results of its investigation with “lessons to be learned” from this disastrous period.
The good news is that, after our intervention, your refund was processed in early June and the money has since been credited to your account. You were also sent a letter of apology and two first-class complimentary tickets by way of a goodwill gesture.
GWR tells us: “We are sorry to all customers whose complaints took longer to resolve than we would have wanted. We moved all of our customer service work back to the UK, and this meant a number of responses took much longer.”
• We have a dispute with GWR based on previous articles about forgotten railcards which indicated it is now possible to obtain a refund if a card is forgotten just once.
Our son, a student at UWE, was returning to Bristol from Malvern but had accidentally picked up an old railcard. This was spotted when his ticket was checked and he was told to pay the full fare of £23.70. He was also advised that if he sent this new ticket into GWR, with a copy of his valid railcard, he would get a refund.
He wrote to GWR enclosing the ticket and a copy of the valid railcard, but GWR rejected his request by email, and even advised him where to buy a new railcard. He explained again that he already had a valid one but had simply picked up his old one by mistake. He emailed, quoting your article link. But once again GWR rejected this request.
Could you please assist here, as although the amount is relatively small it seems wrong that GWR can ignore the change in the regulation – it is the principle in question here, and the firm might assume that a student is unlikely to follow it up. LL, Malvern, Gloucestershire
We got in touch with GWR, which admitted that your son was given the wrong information, which it is taking up with its staff training.
It says: “While the terms and conditions of railcards require that they are carried throughout the journey, we fully appreciate that sometimes mistakes happen and they can be forgotten.
“In view of this, if a customer has been asked to buy a new ticket, they can take that ticket, along with a railcard that is valid for the date and time of travel, to one of our stations (or send it to our office) and we will be happy to arrange a refund.”
It has apologised, issued a refund for the £23.70 and, as a gesture of goodwill, given you a standard class ticket for use anywhere on its network.
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