03.07.17
Watchdog sets out future lessons as GWR complaints soar after systems failure
Great Western Railway (GWR) has been criticised for its poor record of responding to complaints from customers by an influential passenger watchdog.
In a document released today, Transport Focus stated that from 2015-16 to 2016-17, the number of complaints made by passengers to the watchdog due to them not receiving a response or a follow-up shot up from 12 to 654 – a 541% increase in just one year.
Transport Focus specified that the problem came about due to the operator bringing in a new supplier for their contact centre service, which coincided with a major incident at Paddington and piled even more pressure on to the new customer service team.
In the document called ‘Rail passenger complaints backlogs: lessons for the future’, transport Focus stated: “Over much of the second half of 2016 and early 2017, GWR had problems with their ability to respond to passenger inquiries, claims and complaints.
“This resulted in a backlog that caused frustration and inconvenience to many passengers who had to wait several months for a response or compensation they were entitled to.
“Many of the passengers who complained to Transport Focus were very frustrated by months of repeated attempts to contact GWR with a complaint or a claim for a delayed journey only to receive no response. Others were disappointed by the lack of an additional ‘goodwill’ gesture for the poor service they had received.”
The ‘lessons for the future’ document went on to say that GWR had met all of the milestones in the recovery plan, and that the issue has been resolved.
The watchdog stated that the transition from suppliers for call centres should not be accelerated in order to reduce the chance that a major error occurs. It also highlighted that understanding the scale of the problem was key to resolving passenger issues like this one in the future.
Transport Focus added that offers of good will were essential to “turn a bad situation into a good one” for passengers who were unhappy with their experience.
Another watchdog, London TravelWatch also welcomed the measures suggested in the report. The organisation’s CEO Janet Cooke commented on the findings, saying: “It is important that all operators learn lessons when things go wrong on this scale.
“An unexpected surge in complaints can easily create a backlog and it is important that passengers are made aware when their complaints are likely to take longer than normal to resolve,” she continued.
“Good and proactive communications in situations like the one GWR found themselves in can help reduce the number of repeat complaints by passengers following up their original compensation claims, leaving customer service teams free to deal with the backlog.”
A spokesperson for GWR told RTM: “We are sorry to all customers whose complaints took longer for us to resolve than we would have wanted.
"We moved all of our customer service work back to the UK, and the move meant a number of responses took much longer to deal with than they should have.
“Having put a plan in place to remedy the situation, complaints and inquiries are being answered within our commitment of 20 days, and we are answering 80% of calls within 20 seconds of the caller choosing an option.”
Top Image: Johnny Green PA Images
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