Sean, a yearly season-ticket holder, told us that he had applied to American Express to dispute the sale, based on the non-delivery of goods and services. He then provided evidence to support his claim, using Southern Rail’s own punctuality statistics, and the fact that they reduced their timetable by 15% last summer. He estimated that 50% of his journeys were cancelled or disrupted and requested 50% of his money back.
American Express granted his claim and Sean is now £2,400 richer because of it.
Credit card companies are bound under the Consumer Credit Act, meaning they are jointly liable for the provision of goods and services until they have been delivered. So, if you have used your credit card to purchase any kind of ticket above £100, you might be able to benefit from this too.
Based on Sean’s advice, start by calling your credit card provider and requesting to initiate a ‘dispute process’, perhaps in the form of a section 75 claim. If your credit card provider allows the claim, it’s then a matter of providing the relevant evidence/performance statistics and a letter including an estimate of the percentage you feel you are owed back. Sean’s quite reasonable estimate in his own case was 50%, but there is no reason why this shouldn’t be more (or less) depending on the extent to which you have been affected.
*Since the time of publishing, Amex will not confirm whether Sean’s successful claim was the outcome of a section 75 claim, chargeback or a ‘dispute process’. We encourage commuters to put their application in the form of a section 75 claim as a first step and provide a model letter here. Please be aware that you will have recourse to the financial ombudsman if rejected, and we will soon provide a model letter for this too.
Sean used the following performance statistics, from the period 29th May – 25th June 2016, to support his letter (featured below):
southern-rail-performance-may-jun-2016
“Sean” was happy to share his story on the condition of anonymity. Please address press inquiries to: contact@associationofbritishcommuters.com
For further details on section 75 protections for credit card holders, click here.
Please write to us at contact@associationofbritishcommuters.com to let us know if you are successful with a credit card claim.
abcommuters.com 
Tried to contact AMEX. I was bounced back by a woman who was saying I would have to go to Southern asking them for compensation, and told me they were not dealing with season ticket claims. Then the line cut out because of bad reception, and couldn’t reply to that. It would be useful to hear from Sean how he actually managed to wing that…
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Hi
Could you please let me know what will happen to the season ticket if the claim is successful ?
Also I am just 2 months in the new season ticket. Could you please let me know if it is beneficial to file for claim now or wait for the ticket to expire?
Many thanks.
Regards
AD
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Interesting that the credit card company paid out as technically a service was provided just not a very good one (and refunds were already provided on strike days where no service was available)
Also note that it’s not Southern who would get the chargeable it’s the Government/tax payer as they get the fair revenue.
One to watch too see if others are successful certainly
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