tpexpress.co.uk

Incredibly disappointed with customer service, lost £50 on rebooking

I recently organised a work daytrip to Newcastle and booked my tickets via Transpennine Express. At the outset I made an error and booked the return tickets for the following day, not the same day. So, I followed the process on their website to amend the date of the return tickets which involved paying a £27 fee for the higher price of the new same day return tickets and an admin fee. I got a confirmation email telling me we'd booked the new tickets and seat reservations, however the actual tickets themselves never materialised neither via email or on my account on TransPennine's website.I called the TransPennine Express customer helpline and was told that due to a computer error my change of tickets had not been processed and my only recourse was to repurchase the tickets and request a refund for the old ones. This posed a few issues. First, the tickets I needed together were now £30 more expensive. Moreover, as I was paying out of pocket for a sizeable group trip that would not be reimbursed by work for several weeks. I could barely afford the initial cost let alone the further £99. I was also shocked that I was told I was not eligible for any refund for the £27 fee I'd paid to change the tickets in the first place, even though the error was a result of Transpennine's computer system. I was told by Sammy on the phone that if I rebooked the tickets and requested a refund, I would at least be given reimbursement for the £67 I'd spent originally on the return tickets. Today I got an email telling me my refund request was rejected, which led me to reach new lows of disappointment.All in all, while I made a small initial error, the failures of their system and customer service unnecessarily cost me over £50 additionally that I really couldn't afford and wasn't able to get reimbursed. I've reapplied for a refund but I am just incredibly disappointed and sad about this issue.Another element which was very frustrating was that I had to call Transpennine Express customer service four times and each time I waited on hold for over half an hour. While I don't expect to immediately go through to an operator, over 35 and in one case 45 minutes is an extremely long time to be on hold and suggested to me they were understaffed and overworked. The staff also didn't seem to know what to do when it went wrong and couldn't understand why my tickets hadn't come through.Overall an incredibly stressful experience and means I will avoid TP at all costs from now.

Date of experience: Jul 15, 2025