Southern Reviews 929

The rather irritated train manager announcement requesting passengers to listen to the announcements as only the first 8 carriages were at the platform.

This is arse-about-tit - it isn't customer's responsibility for putting trains that are too long into stations that are too short...

However my trip has been good, on time and seated

Was trying to buy a ticket via website. After the payment (successful one) I got a message that my basket is expired. My account was charged but I haven’t got any ticket.

Every time I try to get a train from Chichester to Brighton always a problem. Points failed. But seriously always something

Terrible staff behaviour, trains mostly late, very expensive, no wi fi network at all. If possible to give them negative stars i would have given that.

Please take care everyone when purchasing tickets now after the recent change in conditions as if you make a mistake as I did, it can cost you!
My mistake for not noticing I know but when I booked a ticket, same day, to go to work, the app had defaulted to 2 Adults after I'd previously booked 2 tickets for my partner and I to go up to London the weekend before. I didn't realise until I saw the amount on my bank account online (via Paypal) and wondered what it was and on looking into it found I'd actually booked 2 tickets that day, but had obviously only used one of them to go to work!
However, because you cannot get any refund now unless you booked the ticket in advance and then only up to the night before, my extra unused ticket was totally non-refundable, though it was booked on the day anyway. Tried calling them to explain the mistake but it was a point blank no so I've lost over £61!
Lesson learned but I think that if a ticket is clearly unused, which they can tell it is, I think it is pretty harsh in this day and age to just keep someone's money for something they never needed or used!
Again, I know it was my fault for not noticing, but I hope they put this extra money they've got for nothing to good use - I expect lots of improvements on the lines with the extra money they'll undoubtedly get from me and others to suffer a similar misfortune!

This train operator did not give me a refund for its poor service. On Monday 23rd March the trains were delayed so much and the service was so bad that I had to leave the station and take 2 buses home. I tried using delay repay, and submitted receipt evidence, but they falsely believe the train got to my destination, and got there early. There was no train to my destination at the time. I got home disrupted and an hour late than usual, paying for my bus ride.

Delay Repay glitched or hallucinated and Southern blamed me. I’m posting as I’m keen to make people aware that their system is denying perfectly submitted claims, and they don’t seem to want to look into this. The Head of Customer Relations claimed I was in the wrong when I tried to explain the error to help them fix it. It seems fixing issues is not of interest to them.

I know I did it correctly because it accepted the exact same details (remembered by the system) when I resubmitted. I think they’ve turned their code to slop with AI.

The delay itself was nearly 2 hours. Standard Southern experience; classic last-minute stop cancellations and mismanagement of situations that were originally beyond their control, but worsen greatly once within it.

Overcrowded, wifi not working, toilets not working, wrong announcements. Dreadful experience

It was during the 1800's that our railways were laid down, many during the Railway Mania of the 1840's. Yet somehow, despite the route being the same every day, after 200 years they cannot run a train on time.

In winter there's half a nanometer of snow on the line. In summer the driver can't tell if the signal is red or green. In autumn it's leaves on the line, and in spring there's a light drizzle. I am coming to be of the opinion that unless we plan to operate our train lines outside of the troposphere we should probably build them to tolerate the English climate.

Why is this railway service still working??!!!.. it should have been shut down a long time ago and start from scratch by a new company

They cancelled my train to work last minute and so I missed my bus which is an hourly bus and as a consequence I had to order an Uber ride to get to work on time. They have refused to compensate me for this money which I think is completely unacceptable.

Late again this morning from Barnham to Southampton so I missed my train up north and had to pay extra 😒 southern trains need to go. Always late or issues with staff.

All seats in train are dirty and stained basic cleaning not ev3n being done.
The toilet carriage is ashitshow dirty stained smeared floors.
I know Britain is skint but cleanliness can still be achieved so yuck

An amazing journey.From the moment this guy made his first announcement we new we where safe.We where on the 13.58 on 14/03/26 service on from Brighton to Littlehampton.Peter was so engaged ,totally security aware and ahead of his game.Ive travelled this route a thousand times but never had this attention to detail.Please pass on this compliment.Well done Southern.

I am writing to formally complain about the conduct of a member of your staff at East Croydon Station at approximately 8:55–9:00pm.

My mother, who is disabled and unwell, was spoken to in an aggressive and unacceptable manner by a female member of staff. She repeatedly shouted at my mother approximately seven times to “press the assistance button.” My mother was clearly unwell and vulnerable at the time, and there was absolutely no justification for speaking to her in such a harsh and dismissive way.

As her daughter, and a visibly Muslim woman, I also felt that we were treated with particular hostility and disrespect. The staff member was dismissive, rude, and spoke to us as though we were beneath her. No passenger — especially a disabled and unwell individual — should ever be treated in this way.

We initially approached another staff member, who appeared confused about the situation and was not particularly engaged with our concerns. However, a different member of staff later approached us, apologised sincerely, and treated us with kindness and professionalism. This demonstrates that respectful conduct was entirely possible in that situation.

The behaviour of the first staff member was aggressive and completely inappropriate. She had no right to address my mother in such a manner. Her conduct reflected very poorly on your organisation. I would also question whether she has received adequate training in how to communicate with passengers, particularly those who are disabled or vulnerable.

I request that this matter be investigated thoroughly. CCTV footage from approximately 8:55–9:00pm should clearly show the interaction and the manner in which we were treated.

Please confirm that this complaint has been received and inform me of the outcome of your investigation. I would also like to know what action will be taken to ensure this does not happen to other passengers.

not only did the train delay its leaving, midway through the journey it decided it was no longer stopping at dorking, the final stop, therefore i was left more stranded than i was if i hadn’t even bothered getting the train, this was a late train too making it extremely difficult to get out. Totally unacceptable, if this was a one time inconvenience fair enough but southern railway has been poor everytime i have used it! only plus if they have chargers

Train almost late everyday, cannot even claim a late repay for replacement bus when train cancelled. Price is expensive and ticket collector is rude as well.

poopy train, need to sign in for internet, it smells, euw. Also too expensive for a poopy train ride.

Just met Ellie the conductor on the Seaford train 7.57am Sunday morning and she was absolutely brilliant. Helpful engaging and a breath of fresh air!

Very poor train service and even poorer customer service. Avoid wherever possible.