In January I travelled by Virgin West Coast from London Euston to Carlisle. We were told of “potential problems further up the line” and some hours later the service terminated at Preston. I, and a few hundred others, had to queue for a coach to Carlisle. I waited an hour. There was no apology or explanation. I later learned that the line north of Preston had been closed since that morning but there was no indication before departure, thus denying those, like me, with cancellable tickets the opportunity to make other arrangements (such as via Virgin’s East Coast service).
On arrival, hours late, at Carlisle, and on returning south the following day, I asked about compensation and was directed to posters announcing that delay payment was made automatically by refund to a credit card account, without the need for a separate claim. My credit card bill arrived on 17 February and showed no refund of the £101 due. I then made a manual claim on the Virgin website and received a denial of liability as “my claim was not made within 28 days”.
MY, Barnet, Herts
Oh dear. We have previously covered the problems of Virgin’s “automatic refund” being anything but. It told us at the end of last year that it was looking at a technical fix, as well as making it clear that if customers do not receive an email within 24 hours of the delay, confirming a repay, they should get in touch to claim.
Virgin Trains West Coast says that its automatic repay only applies to bookings made through its website or app. It explains: “Those who have booked through other booking agents will have to apply for compensation. If they don’t receive confirmation of automatic delay repay being processed within one working day, they should use our website to apply for a refund.” It has sent a cheque as a gesture of goodwill for what was clearly an honest mistake on your part.
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