Appealservice Reviews 

It’s a scam organisation set up to collect money from passengers with no way to appeal.

Absolutely terrible experience with West Midlands Railway
I lost my senior membership card during my journey to the platform. When inspector asked for senior membership card I thought it was with me. I showed him an e-valid ticket but he ignord it and asked me about my senior membership card, I couldn't find it, I found my previous year membership card. Basically, I thought I left it at home, then I checked and realised I have lost it. He said: I should pay, only £31.40. Then, he said, I need to go to court, gave me a penalty fare receipt with no clear explanation. He ran away and got off the train at the next stop. When I read the penalty fare, I noticed he charged me an extra £50.00.

I appealed and it was declined without any great investigation.
I ended up paying 4 times for a journey which normally cost me £32.00. This is an absolute ridiculous penalty. I saw he sold ticker to other passengers who did not have any ticket straightaway but did not check my valid e-ticker and charged me £81.40 because I did not have my membership card considering I am a pensioner.

What makes this even worse is the appeal process. I appealed because the penalty should never have been issued in the first place. Instead of properly addressing the actual facts, the response felt like a generic template, repeating general rules about tickets without dealing with what actually happened in my case.

This is what is so frustrating I paid for my membership card, the journery for that date and lost my membership card and end up to purchase the senior membership card again and pay for my valid returned ticker again.

This whole experience has been stressful, unfair, and incredibly disappointing. Based on how this was handled, I have very little confidence in either West Midlands customer service or the fairness of the Penalty Fare appeal process.

Absolutely terrible experience with Greater Anglia.

Before buying my ticket, I asked for help first because I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. I was not trying to avoid paying, and I was trying to sort things properly from the beginning. Despite that, the whole situation turned into a complete mess.

I ended up paying twice, which is already ridiculous in itself, but even after that I was still issued a Penalty Fare Notice. So to be clear: I asked questions first, tried to follow the correct process, paid for my journey, then paid again, and still got penalised.

What makes this even worse is the appeal process. I appealed because the penalty should never have been issued in the first place. Instead of properly addressing the actual facts, the response felt like a generic template, repeating general rules about tickets without dealing with what actually happened in my case.

This is what is so frustrating: I made an effort to do the right thing, I paid, and I still ended up being treated like I had done something wrong. Then when I challenged it, the appeal was declined without any meaningful engagement with the situation.

This whole experience has been stressful, unfair, and incredibly disappointing. Based on how this was handled, I have very little confidence in either Greater Anglia’s customer service or the fairness of the Penalty Fare appeal process.

No compassion for bereavement, did not take into account my circumstances. Waste of time. They represent greater Anglia and the whole system is not there really for the genuine hard working person who made a mistake. I tried to rectify my mistake - i am so gutted at how nasty and unhelpful appeals systems are - they are not really there to help anyone. What is the point of them

Do not pay them, they are just trying to get the money out of people even when you prove you had a valid ticket on the day. Now they say you should have shown it on the day even though my phone had died and NO ports to charge on the train! Told them I prefer to go to court but they keep sending emails to pay! Just scare-mongering. Not paying and waiting to see if we go to court to explain the situation. :-)

Totally useless, they don't comment on staff behaviour or how they acted around the issuing of a fine.

They just follow through on the fact that a ticket wan't bought, therefore appeal is unsuccessful!!

Amazing how any appeal cannot take into account train staff behviour, and the FACT that technical stopped any ticket being bought.

Useless, no matter how I tried to explain my ticket issue (with a reasonable evidences) they are still decided charge me. Just waisted my time with them. The gang company.

Total scam feeling from start to finish.
I was fined by Greater Anglia even though I acted in good faith, using my contactless card exactly as I had on other trains where it worked perfectly. The gate opened, I thought I’d paid — but apparently that means nothing.
The inspectors told me to appeal, which I did twice, and both times I got the same robotic rejection. It’s clear the whole process is designed to take money from honest passengers rather than treat people fairly.
Shameful customer service and a complete lack of basic human understanding. I’ll never travel with Greater Anglia again.

As countless others here have pointed out, this is a scam organisation - set up in cahoots with their fellow hustlers Greater Anglia in order to rinse some more cash out of rail travellers. Great British deception at its worst. Avoid any form of rail transport is the best way to steer clear of these parasites.

On our train back from an emergency hospital trip and after a long day, our phone batteries had died and so we couldn't produce our tickets. We asked the ticket inspector if he had a phone charger lead so we could show him our tickets, his unhelpful and unfriendly response was that its our responsibility to produce a ticket. Upon appeals and showing them that we had the correct tickets for the trip, they declined our appeal and still asked us to pay the fine. They will have to take us to court where we'll show our tickets.

This review is not about the fact that a penalty was applied — that part is understandable, even if the mistake was genuine. My husband, who is over 60 and currently undergoing chemotherapy, received a penalty fare because his Senior Railcard had expired. He didn’t notice the expiration because he doesn’t check his email often.
What I find unacceptable is the way the appeal process was handled. It gives people the illusion that they can explain their situation, but in reality, it makes no difference. Whatever the reason, the fine is upheld without any real consideration. So why offer an appeal if it’s just a formality?
I also find it unreasonable that people over 60 have to pay for a card that simply proves their age. It’s not like anyone can make themselves younger to get a discount. These companies clearly exist to make money by punishing people — and the amounts they charge are excessive.
The payment system adds insult to injury. The online payment site looks unsafe and outdated. If you choose to pay over the phone, you’re charged extra. If you use a postal order, there’s another commission. It feels like they profit at every single step.

These kinds of companies operate just like parasitic businesses, thriving off ordinary taxpayers, with no respect or empathy for the people they penalise. My husband’s only trips are for medical treatment, but that clearly doesn’t matter to them.
I don’t expect anyone from the company to care or do anything, but at least I’ve shared my opinion. This entire experience has been unnecessarily harsh, disrespectful, and profit-driven.

One star is generous. My 17 year old son received a £99 penalty notice for purchasing a 16 to 17 year old saver ticket but had a 17 to 25 year old Railcard which did not match. A genuine mistake and we even had an email from GWR apologising for this, stating they would investigate to ensure this would not happen again. We attached this email to our appeal but we still lost. They have no interest in customer care and are very autocratic with no pragmatism applied to their decision making. I hope to never have the misfortune of dealing with this company again.

Useless they are some kind of partners of company you are trying to complain about.

The staff of Penalty Services operating on Merseyrail really do need to learn how to deal with issue correctly.
Only attitude is to issue a fine.
No discussion, no options to resolve.
I have seen recently a ticket officer in Cross Country rail dealt with a bigger issue than mine tremendously. Good customer service, re resolved for both parties, all amicable.
As for Penalty Services bully boys, really need to be trained in customer service.
One major issue I feel is that there seems to be no authoritative organisation that regulates or monitors these people's actions.
I appealed, and must say I do not feel at all that the process is independent, and then I wrote to Transport Focus who agreed with my appeal statement and the case details, and Penalty Services ignored their advice.
Please someone if you can, let me know who governs them and also how we can stop their attitude.
Nightmare company.

These people are scummy worthless pieces of trash. Their operators lie to you and set you up for failure from the get go. We had irrefutable proof that we had purchased he tickets but was running late because of lazy bus drivers and we had no option of missing that train because we'd miss our Eurostar. When we told the inspector, he gave us a fine and explained that we can collect our ticket at the next stop, post it on appeals service and we will get the fine overturned. We did exactly that and STILL got fined. Useless.

Tick-tock won't admit they are wrong I need them to reply as my solicitor needs answers but they won't answer to chat papers want story and I will give it to them

Really bad and no fair service
Don’t even contact them
They reject all the appeals, maybe they take a percentage of the unfair fines

I recently had an incredibly frustrating experience with the penalty fare appeal process for a fine issued by Northwestern Railway. Despite submitting not one but two appeals, providing clear evidence and context for why I believed the fine was unwarranted, the responses I received were dismissive, generic, and lacked any specific consideration of my points.

On my first appeal, I provided detailed information about my situation, including proof of my history as a compliant customer, the fact that I had already purchased a ticket at the correct fare, and an acknowledgment of my mistake. I made every effort to demonstrate that this was an honest error, not an attempt to evade paying the fare. My appeal was denied with a generic response that completely ignored my reasoning.

On my second appeal, I reiterated my points and emphasized the injustice of penalizing a loyal, long-time customer for a single mistake. I also requested that, at the very least, the fare reflect my railcard discount or the cost of the ticket I had already purchased but couldn't use. Again, my appeal was denied with no acknowledgment of my arguments or evidence. The lack of consideration for my railcard entitlement and the fare I had already paid underscores a lack of care for passenger rights and fairness.

The entire process felt disingenuous. While the company claims to offer a fair appeal process, it appears to be nothing more than a rubber-stamp system designed to uphold fines no matter the circumstances.

This experience has left me deeply disillusioned not just with the appeal company, but with Northwestern Railway as a whole. The system feels exploitative, and the appeals process seems to exist only to create an illusion of fairness.

If you’re a regular passenger who values fairness and customer service, beware: this company does not seem interested in treating its customers with respect or understanding. I’ve lost trust in both the appeal company and Northwestern Railway.

I urge both the appeal company and Northwestern Railway to rethink their approach to customer service. A fair, empathetic system that considers evidence and values loyal customers would help rebuild trust—something this experience has completely eroded for me.

Arranged for my car to have a few items to be to sirted. Agreed a price in cash (still gave email) when I went to collect it. He tried to tell me it was more money plus the vat, hence cash payment. One of the things he hadn’t done and I was still meant to pay for. Then as I hadn’t popped the cash round he emailed to say if he didn’t receive the money by a certain he would send the debt collectors round all for £80. Wouldn’t recommend him. Had someone else sort the light issue out with an extra charge on top. Total waste of my time and money.

I appealed to this supposedly ‘independent’ appeals service of no fixed abode (they operate out of a Regus building - as shady as it sounds), thinking they’d have my back. I was fined for parking at a station where the ticket machine was out of service and the mobile app wouldn’t let me upload a payment card. Apparently I was supposed to call the company or go to their website, having already tried the ticket machine and mobile app. I think they are in cahoots with the ticketing company. It doesn’t make sense that you wouldn’t side with the honest person trying to pay for a parking ticket but unable to do so due to the issuer’s failed technology. It’s a scandal waiting to unravel.