Based on my conversation with Mr. Sachin of IRCTC customer care (telephone) at 10.15 AM, 15 July 2011, as per his advise I had sent this email for the IRCTC records and support. And nothing has come out of it so far.

- On 10 May 2011, I was booked to travel by train number 12288 DDN KCVL SUP EXP from MADGAON (MAO) to KOTTAYAM (KTYM) in the 3AC class. PNR 2648159749.

- On that day after reaching the station, I was informed by the reservation counter staff, that the entire computer system linkage with Delhi IT HQ had crashed and as a result there was no update availability on my status. [This was further confirmed by Mr. Sachin on 15 July 2011, that the Railways reservation system indeed had a technical error on that particular day, and even today the PNR is shown as full wait listed, chart not prepared.]

- I was also unable to cancel the ticket, since the system was non-functional.

- I had to purchase an ordinary ticket and travel by the same train.

- I was advised by both the MAO Station Master earlier as well as later by the TTE on board the train, who was carrying a chart with him showing that my status was WL/1 and therefore as my e-ticket was not confirmed, I would be automatically provided a full refund of my fare by IRCTC to my Credit Card account.

- Further it was re-confirmed to me by the IRCTC customer care centre on phone when I contacted them on around 10.30 AM on 12 May 2011, that as I was fully wait listed, my refund would be automatically done by the Railways within a period of 60 days. I remember only that the person I spoke with was a male customer care officer. I do not recollect the name of the person, as it has now been over 63 days since I spoke with the individual.

- Now it has been 65 days since the date of the journey, and I have still not received the refund.

- Yesterday, around 12.30 PM, I again contacted the IRCTC customer care (telephone), as I wished to ascertain the reason as to why my refund had not been processed. I was advised to send an email to care@irctc.co.in on this matter, which I promptly did so. I received and automatic response with the reference [IRCTC #1659151].

- Later at 17.29 PM, I received an email from etickets@irctc.co.in, composed by Mr. Hassan stating that a refund would not be possible, since I needed to file a TDR within 30 days to claim the refund.

- I have responded at 18.01 PM yesterday itself, to Mr. Hassan on etickets@irctc.co.in with a copy to care@irctc.co.in stating that as per the rules printed in the e-ticket issued by IRCTC on behalf of Indian Railways states in the refund section that "For refunds of Fully waitlisted E ticket after chart preparation, customer needs not to apply to IRCTC for cancellation and refund. Their tickets will be cancelled online by Railways and refund shall be credited to user/agents account automatically." I received an auto-response indicating reference [IRCTC #1660310].

- Today morning, I have again called up the IRCTC customer care (telephone) as I have not received any response. This time, the call was connected to Mr. Sachin, who has been helpful in explaining that due to the technical issue, the ticket was not cancelled automatically by the Passenger Reservation System (PRS). Further he has advised me to send a full and detailed mail stating the course of events and the issue.

Finally, the issue is that IRCTC and the Indian Railways need to refund a sum of Rs. 912 to me, since I was unable to utilise the e-ticket, for which I paid in advance. That the PRS developed a technical issue and that the ticket still remains uncancelled is not something that I as an ordinary citizen is aware of. And no body has correctly advised me correctly to proceed for a TDR process, despite my checking multiple times with various sources including the IRCTC customer care, the MAO station master and the TTE on board Train No. 12288 of 10 May 2011. In fact, I have been wrongly advised that the money will be automatically refunded to my Credit Card account within a period of 60 days.

REQUEST:
I would really appreciate further support on this matter by IRCTC to take up this refund issue with the Indian Railways. To ensure that this matter is also noted by Mr. Rajiv Gupta, GGM Operations, IRCTC, I have copied this mail to his email id as well.