I have just binned my Season Ticket and requested a refund, bought a car and will now drive to work.
I have caught the trains reguarly for the last 3/4 years and it has gotten too much. As the OP says, you pay the same price for a ticket regardless of whether you experience any form of comfort. The train has to be running over an hour late for you to get a refund (although if you are a season ticket holder you dont... you get avaeraged out for the whole year with the TOC deciding whether they think they are punctual enough).
The problem I have with it all is if you dont like the service, you cant get a different service you're stuck with whoever operates on that line, so if there are any problems, you still have to pay them for the (dis)pleasure of the quite frankly god awful service.
If the government want Public Transport to be a viable option, then they need to do something to sort the service out, I for one will now be a single person commuter, clogging up the roads. And I feel shit for being driven to it!!