Virgin Trains have launched a new service called “Automatic Delay Repay” which will start automatic refunds for delays on their trains.
Passengers will be refunded automatically within 3 days if their train is delayed by more than half an hour, and if they’ve bought their ticket in advance. Unfortunately, where journeys include several connections and other train operators, those not provided by Virgin will not qualify for an automatic refund if they’re late, but the Government is looking to push other rail operators to introduce similar automatic refunds.
Refunds are tiered, based on the length of the delays:
- 30-59 mins delay = refund of 50% of the cost of a single ticket or the relevant portion of a return ticket.
- 60-119 mins delay = refund of 100% of the cost of a single ticket or the relevant portion of a return ticket.
- 120 mins delay or more = refund of 100% of the cost of a single or both portions of a return ticket.
Refunds do not apply to monthly and annual season tickets.
Here’s Virgin’s take on the new scheme:
Our fancy new scheme covers most of our customers who have booked an Advance ticket through virgintrains.com or our app and we’ll automatically repay real, proper money directly back onto the card you paid with.
No more form filling, no more will-they won’t-they waiting by the letterbox. It’s just one more reason to book on virgintrains.com.
We normally process these repayments within 1 working day of your delay. We’ll drop you an email if you’re eligible and your money should be back on your card within 3 working days. So put your feet up and watch the cash roll in.
Which? has a guide to getting train refunds the more traditional way, which involves writing letters to the train companies, but hopefully if this scheme works and is extended to the other operators going to that kind of effort to get refunds will become a thing of the past.
Now, how can we persuade my football team to run a similar performance-based automatic refund scheme for when they lose?
