Trent Barton - East Midlands Airport - confusing ticket types during government £2 cap period - overpaid - ***Refunded in full***

[FTMDave]

I was about to start this thread yesterday to ask for help.  However, I thought to wait for 24 hours to see if I could sort it out myself.  It seems I have!  But I'll post anyway in case it can be of help to others.

 

On Friday I flew into East Midlands Airport.  The local bus company is Trent Barton.  Their ticket which is valid for a whole day (called "Zigzag") at £7.60 is cheaper than their service into Nottingham (£6) and then onward travel by a second bus to the small town I was headed for (£3.60).

 

I did the same on the way back.

 

And then i discovered I could have done the damn journeys for £4 each way due to the government £2 price cap initiative being extended. 

 

So I asked for a refund of the difference and spent most of yesterday getting constant e-mails from their Customer Services stating the scheme is widely advertised and therefore the answer is no.

 

No acceptance that EMA is an international airport and a huge chunk of passengers will non live in the UK - like me - and therefore be unaware of every nuance of an ever-changing government policy.  I had checked and seen it was to end in March, so presumed it had in fact ended in March.

 

No acceptance that their web page on fares has both the government cap and the "normal" fares shown together.

 

No acceptance that they have a web page boasting about their Money back guarantee, no quibble.

 

So before I went to bed last night I sent a mail to the Complaints Department and also to the CEO.

 

The Complaints Department e-mailed this morning

 

Good morning XXXXX,

 

Thank you for your recent email.  Checking back through all your emails and the responses back from my colleagues, I completely understand your frustration.  Even though they were correct in some of their answers, they should have refunded you the over charges.

 

I have been discussing this with my Manager, and he too agrees, that you should have been refunded as a courtesy and under the no quibble guarantee.  You have kindly supplied me with your bank card details, so I am able to refund you back to your card.

 

There will be two refunds coming through to you for both of the ZigZag purchases, and depending on your bank, these refunds should show in the next 3-5 working days if not sooner.

 

Please accept my most sincere apologies for the issues that should have been dealt with in the first instance.

 

Kindest regards,

 

Nicola,

 

and when I wrote again to the CEO to say the matter had been resolved he replied personally!

 

Hi XXXXX, 

 

I’m glad Nicola has been in touch this morning and resolved the matter. Thank you for your patience with us and we hope to see you on board again soon. 

 

All the best

Tom
 

Tom Morgan

Managing Director

trentbarton 

 

I found all the song & dance strange as I have contacted the Customer Services department of this company several times over the years and they have always been excellent.

 

Anyway, the point is, as usual, that the attitude of "there's nothing you can do, best to just give in" is nonsense and there's almost always something you can do.

 

I will update the thread and its title when I actually get the money!

Edited April 26, 2023 by FTMDave
Typo

[snowdragon]

the £2 fares have now been extended till June

[FTMDave]

Well today they refunded me in full.

 

In fact they've refunded me the full £7.60 I paid for both journeys, although I was only asking for the £3.60 overpayment.

 

I've just e-mailed them to point out this error as they have been pretty decent and I don't want to take advantage.

[FTMDave]

Their reply is -

 

Good afternoon, David

 

Thanks for your email.

 

So sorry that this has happened, unfortunately there is no way of paying over the phone.

We do not have the correct equipment to this this, I am sorry.

 

Kind Regards 

 

Kylie 

 

- so damn, blast, hell, it seems I'll just have to put up with being refunded not only what I was entitled to but what i wasn't entitled to too