The Sleeper's Blog

Andrew Sharp   30/10/2017 at 15:06

So Grand Central and Hull Trains are second worse in complaints/100,000 passengers. Aren't these, with Heathrow Express, the top-scoring train companies in customer satisfaction in the NRPS? To save you looking it up, the answer is Yes - Heathrow Express and Hull Trains both have 97% of passengers scoring the service good or excellent, and Grand Central is 94%. So why are they bad for complaints? Is there a problem with the methodology? Using a rate/100 000 passengers ought to smooth out the different passenger volumes.

J, Leicester   31/10/2017 at 09:16

Speaking as somebody who uses more "regional" and "rural" routes regularly, the spike in complaints about ticket buying does not surprise me. The introduction of "penalty fare" stations in particular bothers me, if only for the inconsistency of guards. Nowadays, if you ride without a ticket it's pot luck as to whether you face A) a guard with common sense who will issue you a ticket, B) a jobsworth who will threaten you with a penalty or C) nobody at all, followed by similar treatment to B once you arrive at your destination. People want a human touch. They want to get onto a train and have someone there to buy a ticket from. They don't want to have to use a machine on the platform and then be treated like a criminal if they don't, which can happen for a multitude of reasons from it being out of order, not accepting change, arriving too close to the train's arrival to buy from the machine or there being too long a queue to use it. The lack of advice on which tickets to buy for your destination from the machine pales in comparison to the information a good guard can give you too, and the complexity of the ticketing system leads to many buying the wrong ticket, which the "B"s of my list will then chastise and possibly fine you for. At change stations, too, buying an onward ticket often leads to an inquisition from staff as to why you didn't have a ticket for your full journey in the first place, another example of passengers being treated like criminals despite honest intentions. It's just another in a long line of moves that have stripped the "soul" out of the railway and reduced passengers to a mere inconvenience, and one of the few reasons I have any sympathy for those guards striking over DOO who actually do their job as it should be done. Which would be A in my list, of course.

Bryan   01/11/2017 at 17:01

As investment in services continues, it is interesting that the type of complaints being received is changing. And, having missed a number of trains due to ticket machine queues, I am not surprised that this issue is becoming an increasing issue. The abject failure of train companies to simplify fares, and lack of ticket office staff, also means that you often don't believe that you have got the best ticket. The number of complaints received per 100,000 passengers can reflect dissatisfaction with an operator but it can equally reflect the fact that complaint addresses are well advertised and people expect a reasonable response. Having dealt with Heathrow Express and Virgin West Coast complaints departments, for instance, it is no surprise that they get a relatively high number of complaints because those complaints are taken seriously and the operator is generous with compensation. One damning insight is "When asked about how they felt about the train company after complaining, 12% of complainants felt more positive about the train company, and 56% more negative". Having worked in customer service, I know that some people will never be satisfied with a response, but that really demonstrates a failure of customer service to me.