Carrier Pigeons for Refunds

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Wow, just got in the post on Tuesday 7th November, the refund from the 2nd October morning train delays. (The day they made a point of handing out the forms as people got off the trains).

We (me and my better half) handed in two refund requests, the evening of the delay straight into customer services in Heuston.

Page long letter contains the usual rambling excuses and promises of investigating it further. A €5 discount slip of yellow paper thingy, that can be exchange for cash - (I think, in Abbey St) - or used as discount on a ticket booking.

Right - where do I begin.
The Good (ish):
The €5 was very exciting for a 1hr delay, more than I got in January last year (€3 for a 2hr delay if I remember correctly).
The possibility I can cash it (must check it)

The Bad
The docket lasts for only 3 months from date of issue. Refund cards I got last year valid for 12 months. Maybe if I bring docket to Abbey St I get discount card for 12 mths?

The Ugly
Letter arrived 7th November.
Letter dated 20th October!!. Letter must have been hand-delivered by oft-mentioned disabled elephant who walked from Abbey St to Portarlington.
Only one letter arrived - for the other half! I have yet to receive anything and two requests handed in, same envelope, same address, same day.

Anyone else got cash flying in through the letter box?

[Mark Gleeson]

I am still waiting for a refund of €5.75 after a 62 minute delay on Sept 2nd. 2 days overdue on the acknowledgement on a complaint that went in last week on the positive side letters are now getting responses within 6 weeks down from 8

IE have confirmed my entitlement for the refund verbally but I've seen nothing in the post, it transpires I know more about the breakdown than IE do

You are entitled to a response within 3 working weeks and a acknowledgement within 5 days, but that only applies if

1) Its written on paper eg no emails
2) Its sent to the correct address (which is not on the IE site) hand delivery don't apply
3) Thats its a complaint and not a 'suggestion'
4) That its sent to a non specific person eg Customer Services, complaints to the general managers don't fall into this either

[Mark Gleeson]

Well 8 weeks later the refund did arrive on Friday only becuase I made a formal complaint about the delay in issuing of it, the vouchers and the letter are stamped Nov 3, the franking date is 9/11/2006 but the an post computer stamped it 8/11/2006, falsify the date of posting is a very dirty trick

How hard is it to post something on the day its printed?

Valid for 12 months is on the voucher

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

the vouchers and the letter are stamped Nov 3, the franking date is 9/11/2006 but the an post computer stamped it 8/11/2006, falsify the date of posting is a very dirty trick

How hard is it to post something on the day its printed?

Valid for 12 months is on the voucher

The inconsistency is unreal, have they no procedures?!?

Aside from the delay in doing the refund - 10 (working) days for the letter to actually to get posted to us, 3 (working) days to post Mark's. Based on the dates on both vouchers does the refund person only work on Fridays btw?

Our "voucher" was on yellow carbon paper, valid for 3 months and Mark's was for 12? Perhaps the 3 mths is on this as it is cash/voucher exchangeable.

I don't get the franking a day ahead, unless they know their post lies around for 2 days - supposedly a franked item is only valid for delivery by AnPost on the date it is franked and one day after.

And I still haven't got mine yet

[Mark Gleeson]

I got €6, the vouchers are glossy card about A4 width and about 3 inches tall, stamped by IE stamp

One voucher is €5 the other €1

Clearly states on the back valid for 12 months

I had been waiting 7 weeks so I complained about the complaint being late and even then IE failed to meet the 5 working days acknowledgement deadline which was the 7th, in my opinion IE are trying to massage the dates to hide the delays, setting the franking machine back a day is a classic trick but IE managed to set it forward............

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

I got €6, the vouchers are glossy card about A4 width and about 3 inches tall, stamped by IE stamp

Yes, I've previously got those. Maybe these yellow one is now for annual ticket holders so they can exchange for cash alternative - as this is a regular complaint? Or maybe they just ran out of cardboard ones at the time- I wouldn't be surprised.

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

setting the franking machine back a day is a classic trick but IE managed to set it forward............

Why do I get the feeling that Frank Spencer from Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em runs IE Customer Service?

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Emailed IE yesterday about my missing refund as above.

To their credit they replied today - asking me was my refund attached to the back of the other letter sent to our address.
Would I be pestering them for the refund if it was simply attached to the back??

I've politely put this in a response email and await word on my refund.

I'll say nothing about the lack of punctuation and mis-use of capitals in the email. Whoops, I just did.

And on flaps the carrier pigeon. Verrrry slowly.

[Mark Gleeson]

You could just ring them in Heuston
01 703 4499

Have the phone numbers
http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/complaints.php

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Thanks Mark, email is really all I can do during work hours (I know it's not the best way) and I'm curious to see how this one pans out. If it drags on I'll be putting it in writing.

edit Call from girl in IE Customer Service who emailed me. Has no record of either refund (or applications for them) and believes Heuston may have dealt with it directly. Has passed the query to them.

[Oisin88]

Originally Posted by 2Funki4Wheelz

Yes, I've previously got those. Maybe these yellow one is now for annual ticket holders so they can exchange for cash alternative - as this is a regular complaint? Or maybe they just ran out of cardboard ones at the time- I wouldn't be surprised.

I got the yellow duplicate one too. Must see if I can cash them in. yippee!

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Forgot to post this -

Just to round this one up, I did receive my yellow slip refund on 24th November, letter dated 14th November (poor old pigeon takes 10 days to fly to Port ). It was the same as the other letter & refund as we already got to the house, no apologies for the delay.

The yellow slip "Refund Order" (Form No. L46/4-) are the ones done at Heuston rather than the Abbey St. office, it has a stamp on it:

Iarnrod Eireann Customer Relations
14 Nov 2006
Southern & Western
Heuston Station.

I'm going to try to cash it this week.

EDIT/UPDATE

Walked into Abbey St, into desk B, used my annual rail ticket as photo ID and got me fiver. Hurrah. An actual 'refund', all annual ticket-holders should get these instead of the discount vouchers.