Infuriating commutes are normal: some mornings the Tube stops every 30 seconds.
Most get mad, others get even: this daily reality led entrepreneur Zevi Sternlicht to set up Reeclaim, a website which automatically seeks refunds from Transport for London.
Technically, you’re entitled to a refund when your Underground or DLR journey is delayed by 15 minutes, or for 30 minutes on the Overground or TfL Rail. But when Sternlicht was finally filled out the refund page on TfL’s website, he realised how complicated the whole process was.
“You had to fill in the station you left from, the one you arrived at, whether it was on the Underground or Overground. It was time-consuming and a lot of it could be automated,” says Sternlicht. Using his background in programming, he did so.
Input your TfL account details, which are encrypted and stored securely, and the site does the hard work for you, scanning your journey history daily and submitting a refund form to TfL if you were delayed.
Since Reeclaim launched last year its users have taken a million journeys. The average single refund is around £3.40, though over a year the site estimates customers could reclaim as much as £359, and an app could be coming soon.
Next, Sternlicht wants to expand to other lines, like the dreaded Southern rail network.
“Many people don’t think they're delayed enough for a refund,” he says. “You don’t think about the two-minute delays waiting to leave a station. But it accumulates.”
If TfL approves your claim, money is returned to your card, or Oyster account. None of the money goes through Reeclaim.
“It goes straight from TfL to the consumer. The plan is to never charge the commuter.”
