GWR’s compensation scheme is all delay and no repay

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Speaking with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) customer service about the cancellation of the 18:39 Westbury to Swindon (trying to work out what to do about passenger counts and surveys), they were advising passengers to wait for the next available train which was the 19:41.   "As it's over an hour's delay, they can claim a full refund"; I asked how long that would take and was informed the current estimate is 28 working days.

[ChrisB]

Nearly 6 weeks....I guess that has dropped slightly

[t0m]

Nearly 6 weeks....I guess that has dropped slightly

You would be lucky to get a reply to an email in that timeframe!

[t0m]

So the compensation saga continues..

I renewed my HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) season ticket in December only to find the ticket office refused my 5% season ticket renewal discount because they couldn't find any record of my season ticket on their computer systems (apparently because I purchased it online).

They told me to write to the customer relations team. Customer relations managed to reply within 3 weeks (must be a record) but to tell me that they don't deal with such compensation claims. Stations do.

So from pillar to post.. I still have a zero% success rate in getting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to pay out compensation without unbelievable pain.

[TaplowGreen]

So the compensation saga continues..

I renewed my HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) season ticket in December only to find the ticket office refused my 5% season ticket renewal discount because they couldn't find any record of my season ticket on their computer systems (apparently because I purchased it online).

They told me to write to the customer relations team. Customer relations managed to reply within 3 weeks (must be a record) but to tell me that they don't deal with such compensation claims. Stations do.

So from pillar to post.. I still have a zero% success rate in getting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to pay out compensation without unbelievable pain.

email Hopwood directly and cc it to as many newspapers/MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament)/Local Councillors as possible, in my experience that tends to light a fire under their arses and provokes a very swift response.

[t0m]

email Hopwood directly and cc it to as many newspapers/MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament)/Local Councillors as possible, in my experience that tends to light a fire under their arses and provokes a very swift response.

I did eventually get my last one resolved via that method.. took 6 months.

Went back to the station today. They once again denied they could help. Have agreed to investigate and call me back at some point.. at least someone has finally taken some responsibility!

[JayMac]

I've had no correspondence with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for many months.

But guess what? Despite all the requests, despite the promises to cease and desist, made directly to me and through the ICO,  the marketing muppets have started sending me unsolicited and unwanted emails AGAIN. Which means they still hold personal information about me that they promised would be deleted.

I'm not giving GWR any chances this time. Straight back to the ICO.

[martyjon]

Is Capita in trouble ?

Heard on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Radio 4 that Capita has announced a £500 million loss and are asking investors to stump up £700 million of new money by way of a rights issue, Capita being the organisation responsible for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) compensation claims and refunds.

[CyclingSid]

Despite the news local authorities are still pushing contracts at them. They also do the London Congestion Charge, so a lot of people would be happy if that fell over.

[martyjon]

Is Capita in trouble ?

I posted that yesterday and today I have had a chance to browse their published 2017 Accounts more especially the Balance Sheet and the following figures are from there and are quoted in £ millions ;-

Total assets                                                                            4,421.2
Total liabilities                                                                         5,351.0
Net liabilities                                                                             [929.8]

Deficit attributable to owners of the Company                         [999.0]
Non-controlling interests                                                              69.2
Total deficit                                                                                [929.8]

The figures in square [] brackets are stated in the published document in () brackets but posting to the forum converts the closing ) to a smiley.

Now if I had assets of £4,421.20 let alone that number in millions and liabilities of £5,351.00 let alone that number in millions I know where I would be, in the brown stuff.

Additionally, I have never seen an entry in a Balance Sheet before of a Deficit attributable to owners of the Company and believe me I have viewed a fair number in managing my investments. What does this mean ? Is it an indication of the extent that a company pension fund is that much in deficit ? Is it an indication of the sum that the shareholders, who are in effect the owners of the company, will have to stump up in the event that the company slides down the swanny ? Yesterdays announcement that the company was embarking on a £700 million rights issue to pay down debt still leaves a deficit of 229.8 million. I'm puzzled, any accountants on this forum able to enlighten me ?

The link to the document I used to prepare this post is ;-

http://investors.capita.com/~/media/Files/C/Capita-IR-V2/documents/financial-results-2017.pdf

[martyjon]

Is Capita in trouble ?

I posted that yesterday and today I have had a chance to browse their published 2017 Accounts more especially the Balance Sheet and the following figures are from there and are quoted in £ millions ;-

Total assets                                                                            4,421.2
Total liabilities                                                                         5,351.0
Net liabilities                                                                             [929.8]

Deficit attributable to owners of the Company                         [999.0]
Non-controlling interests                                                              69.2
Total deficit                                                                                [929.8]

The figures in square [] brackets are stated in the published document in () brackets but posting to the forum converts the closing ) to a smiley.

Now if I had assets of £4,421.20 let alone that number in millions and liabilities of £5,351.00 let alone that number in millions I know where I would be, in the brown stuff.

Additionally, I have never seen an entry in a Balance Sheet before of a Deficit attributable to owners of the Company and believe me I have viewed a fair number in managing my investments. What does this mean ? Is it an indication of the extent that a company pension fund is that much in deficit ? Is it an indication of the sum that the shareholders, who are in effect the owners of the company, will have to stump up in the event that the company slides down the swanny ? Yesterdays announcement that the company was embarking on a £700 million rights issue to pay down debt still leaves a deficit of 229.8 million. I'm puzzled, any accountants on this forum able to enlighten me ?

The link to the document I used to prepare this post is ;-

http://investors.capita.com/~/media/Files/C/Capita-IR-V2/documents/financial-results-2017.pdf

I posted on another forum as 'son of a tiger', a financial one, and got a response of which I quote ;-

It means the shareholders have negative equity. Capita is technically insolvent ....

Full response here ;

http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?code=cotn:LSE:CPI&display=discussion

I thought that under the 1986 Insolvency Act if a business continued to trade when an insolvent position had been identified then the directors of that business were personally liable.

It is quite clear from Capitas published accounts for 2017 they are in deep trouble so why are they still trading ?

[eXPassenger]

Insolvency is also defined as an inability to pay debts as they come due.

The cash flow statement in the accounts will show if they are generating or consuming cash and there will be bank overdraft facilities.  That said the banks will be very uncomfortable extending those facilities in these circumstances.

They are down and teetering, but not yet out.

[Sixty3Closure]

Private Eye had some more background on how badly their Army recruiting contract is going. From what I've read and heard with people who deal with them they've under-invested in their IT systems which is possibly one of the reasons they're struggling. You can only keep buying other companies and services for so long.

[rogerw]

Perhaps it is time to bumb this thread in view of my recent experience with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (non)customer service.  During my recent all line rover I experienced major delays on three of my journeys - 2 caused by LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) and 1 caused by GWR arriving late into Paddington and causing me to miss my Edinburgh service from Kings Cross.  LNER acknowledged both claims and asked for further information on one.  I have now been notified that the cheques are in the post.  GWR acknowledged and then replied saying it was not their fault and that they have passed the details to Cross Country and Virgin.  GWR did not ask me for further details as to my route but just made assumptions, wrongly, that I travelled via Bristol and Birmingham.  Needless to say I quickly put them right and also gave very low scores on the follow up customer survey.  I am still waiting to hear further.  I have heard from Cross Country and have told them that it is not their problem.  No word from Virgin as yet. 
Incidentally the route assumed by GWR may not even been valid on my ticket as I as the Cross Country Train arrived at Birmingham at 0958 and the terms of the rover state that you cannot board or alight from a Cross Country train at Birmingham prior to 1000.

[grahame]

Incidentally the route assumed by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) may not even been valid on my ticket as I as the Cross Country Train arrived at Birmingham at 0958 and the terms of the rover state that you cannot board or alight from a Cross Country train at Birmingham prior to 1000.

That's an actual not a scheduled time restriction.

The All Lines Rail Rover is not valid for boarding or alighting train services operated by CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, London North Eastern Railway or Virgin Trains before 10:00 Mondays to Fridays at the following stations:
Birmingham New Street

As the train in question arrives is not scheduled to leave Birmingham until 10:03, as I read it you are perfectly entitled to travel up on in from Bristol, and dally on board at New Street until 10:01 ...when you can legitimately get off.