In January I renewed my senior railcard in person at Wolverhampton station. At the same time I asked the booking clerk for information about travel on Virgin Trains to Newark Castle two days later. He printed out departure information for the correct date and issued me a return ticket as requested. But I did not notice, as I paid for both the railcard and the ticket, that the latter was wrongly dated.
On the train to Newark, the ticket inspector pointed out that my ticket was invalid and told me I had to buy another there and then, which I did. When I went back to the booking office for a refund, my request was refused as I was unable to show the replacement tickets issued on the train, although I had a receipt for the payment of £25.35 I made with my bank card.
I thought this was very unfair, so wrote to Sir Richard Branson at his personal business address in London (I could not find a postal address for Virgin Trains), and sent the relevant documents and tickets under recorded delivery, which cost me an extra £6.
Two months later I have not received an acknowledgment or response. I regularly travel on Virgin Trains and have always found the service and the staff very helpful and courteous, which means I feel particularly disappointed. SP, Wolverhampton
Well done for pursuing this with such tenacity and patience. We didn’t understand why your payment receipt was not considered acceptable for a refund (given that it recorded the timing of the transaction, too) and clearly this is not Virgin Trains’ official policy.
But it did act as fast as one of its high-speed trains to apologise after we sent it details of your complaint, also promising a full refund and even a food hamper as recompense.
It said: “We pride ourselves on great customer service but clearly didn’t get it right in this case. We’ve sent SP a letter of apology along with a cheque to cover the cost of his extra ticket and postage, and a gourmet hamper to enjoy.
“We have also fed back to the team at Wolverhampton station to make sure we learn from this experience.”
We hope you are a fan of gourmet food – maybe it will come in useful for a picnic on a train.
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