Bus company pledge: If we are late you get your money back (From Daily Echo)
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First Hants and Dorset offer refunds if they are 20 minutes late
9:48am Monday 4th March 2013 in News By Ed Stilliard, Senior Reporter
First will refund fares if services are more than 20 minutes late
IF WE are late, you will get your money back.
That is the extraordinary pledge from a Hampshire bus firm if passengers are left waiting for their service.
First Hants and Dorset will invite customers to claim a refund in travel vouchers if their bus is more than 20 minutes late, more than one minute early – or if it has failed to operate at all.
On one service it will pay out if a bus is five minutes late.
Now campaigners say they would like to see this offer provided by other public transport operators.
Denis Fryer of the South Hampshire Rail Users Group said some rail operators in the country provide a refund after delays of 30 minutes, while others will not hand out any refund unless the service is more than an hour late.
“I think half an hour would be reasonable. It’s still quite a long time to wait. A lot of journeys rely on connections. After half-an hour it spirals upwards,” he said.
Bus users agreed with him.
Claire Smith, 21, from Shirley, Southampton, said: “They need to improve the service rather than only giving refunds. I think the trains should do it too. My dad takes the train to work every day and they are late a lot.”
First Hants and Dorset now has a customer charter promising to keep customers informed about its services and any changes to timetables or services.
But the author of the charter, regional customer services manager Natacha Tagholm, said: “The type of instances where we would pay out would be if we failed to operate a bus because it broke down or a driver called in sick.
“Clearly, these are events that we have some control over and it is right that we should be held accountable for them if things go wrong.
“We would not pay out though if the cause of a delay were severe bad weather, a road accident or roadworks – where the cause of the problem is clearly beyond our control.”
The customer promise and charter is also valid on Eclipse BRT in Gosport and Fareham.
On this line, First will pay a refund if a bus is more than five minutes late, more than one minute early or fails to operate at all.
First’s charter also offers information about what to do if things go wrong, for instance any property lost on a bus, or complaints.
Copies of claim forms are available at First’s travel shops and at firstgroup.com/hampshire from Friday.
Comments(20)
sah367
says...
10:39am Mon 4 Mar 13
mellowdude
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10:58am Mon 4 Mar 13
Whilst I can understand this, could First Bus not just claim one of these reasons if why the bus was late? Roadworks and accidents are a common sight in Southampton.
OSPREYSAINT
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11:16am Mon 4 Mar 13
kingnotail
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11:45am Mon 4 Mar 13
Pandoragolden1
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11:53am Mon 4 Mar 13
OSPREYSAINT wrote:how can you get money back if you don't pay anything? I know from bitter experience the frustration caused by delays and buses not running at all making me miss my connections and as I live in Hedge End I pay the £70 per month!! while I would welcome some money back I can't see how you can be compensated for a free ride
It's obvious discrimination against us with free bus passes, we can't claim our money back!
townieboy
says...
12:08pm Mon 4 Mar 13
OSPREYSAINT wrote:Pity a saints seson ticket isnt free you may have a more accurate opinion on things...lol........
It's obvious discrimination against us with free bus passes, we can't claim our money back!
.........
bazzeroz
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1:29pm Mon 4 Mar 13
loonaloop
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1:32pm Mon 4 Mar 13
Outside of the Box
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1:50pm Mon 4 Mar 13
sotonbusdriver
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1:57pm Mon 4 Mar 13
Outside of the Box wrote:First Southampton, I believe are operating the refund scheme too.
Would love First Southampton to do this, however they'd be gone within a week.
But remember the T&C of the refund,,, That they will not pay out for things that are beyond their control.. And roadworks, accidents, road closures, traffic congestion which causes 99% of the late running in Southampton is NOT COVERED by their refund policy... So in reality they will not be paying out much at all
Tenderhearts wife
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2:40pm Mon 4 Mar 13
Inform Al
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2:58pm Mon 4 Mar 13
OSPREYSAINT wrote:I think you would do well to put lol after this sort of post, I too was tempted to joke about refunds to us old pharts. It seems that there are some amongst us not clever enough to realise you were joking.
It's obvious discrimination against us with free bus passes, we can't claim our money back!
sotonbev
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6:37pm Mon 4 Mar 13
Huffter
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6:41pm Mon 4 Mar 13
loonaloop wrote:I don't find that at all.
If First honored this pledge they'd be bust within a month. At times the service is a disgrace and the majority of their drivers are rude.
OSPREYSAINT
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9:44am Tue 5 Mar 13
Pandoragolden1 wrote:It was said in jest, you know joke, humour, cheek, irony, banter, I have a bus pass, but I can still walk so I use it only when absolutely necessary. I walked from Swaythling to St. Marys and back last night, why use a bus if you don't have to? I always politely thank the driver when I get off the bus and never seem to come across a rude driver, may be attitudes ought to be looked at, if life is getting you down, perhaps you need to take a step back and ask yourself why?
OSPREYSAINT wrote:how can you get money back if you don't pay anything? I know from bitter experience the frustration caused by delays and buses not running at all making me miss my connections and as I live in Hedge End I pay the £70 per month!! while I would welcome some money back I can't see how you can be compensated for a free ride
It's obvious discrimination against us with free bus passes, we can't claim our money back!
OSPREYSAINT
says...
9:46am Tue 5 Mar 13
townieboy wrote:If it were free I would have to donate to the Club in some other way! Any ideas? lol.
OSPREYSAINT wrote:Pity a saints seson ticket isnt free you may have a more accurate opinion on things...lol........
It's obvious discrimination against us with free bus passes, we can't claim our money back!
.........
OSPREYSAINT
says...
9:54am Tue 5 Mar 13
sotonbev wrote:Quote: "I drive to work now its not that much more expensive and I dont have to rely on the poxy bus drivers".
Well thats big of them, why cant they just be on time in the first place, refunds are not going to help the customer get to work on time. I used to get the bus to work and every evening when I left work the bus was always late, I drive to work now its not that much more expensive and I dont have to rely on the poxy bus drivers. Get a grip
That's the problem, mostly it is down to daft vehicle drivers, too many cars on roads, not the bus company at fault here. I don't drive so I am no expert, just expressing my opinion, as always, I could be terribly terribly wrong, so don't flame me unless you have the real answer.
OSPREYSAINT
says...
9:56am Tue 5 Mar 13
Inform Al wrote:lol
OSPREYSAINT wrote:I think you would do well to put lol after this sort of post, I too was tempted to joke about refunds to us old pharts. It seems that there are some amongst us not clever enough to realise you were joking.
It's obvious discrimination against us with free bus passes, we can't claim our money back!
sotonbev
says...
6:31pm Tue 5 Mar 13
OSPREYSAINT wrote:Daft drivers!! What are you talking about!! The subject is about refunds being offered if buses are late, too many cars on the road you said, nobody can cure that problem, its the bus companies who are very unreliable to its customers, nobody likes to wait in the freezing cold wet Winters that we Brits get, let alone to add 20 minutes to the wait.
sotonbev wrote:Quote: "I drive to work now its not that much more expensive and I dont have to rely on the poxy bus drivers".
Well thats big of them, why cant they just be on time in the first place, refunds are not going to help the customer get to work on time. I used to get the bus to work and every evening when I left work the bus was always late, I drive to work now its not that much more expensive and I dont have to rely on the poxy bus drivers. Get a grip
That's the problem, mostly it is down to daft vehicle drivers, too many cars on roads, not the bus company at fault here. I don't drive so I am no expert, just expressing my opinion, as always, I could be terribly terribly wrong, so don't flame me unless you have the real answer.
dogbruce says...
10:11am Mon 4 Mar 13