Great North Eastern Railway > Reviews > Monopoly A Game Anyone Can Play

Author's product rating:   

Frequency of trains	Satisfactory
Reliability of trains	Occasionally on time
Comfort of trains	Comfortable
On-board facilities	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Their Trains At Least Do Run
Disadvantages:	Appalling Attitude to customers if things go wrong

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

.. as long as you have a captive customer base.

I didn’t think there was a need for this opinion as I thought I’d berated GNER staff enough for their rudeness and ineptitude in my “Blood on the Tracks” opinion. It seems that is not the case. I’m also a bit perturbed that my last three opinions have been one star hatchet job diatribes. I really do prefer to write about things that I like, and nice things in general.

Before I launch into the op proper, I will just state that GNER are a train operator that runs trains up and down the east coast of Britain. When things go well they are pleasant and courteous and the trains are fine. If they are delayed unreasonably the give you free drinks/ meals and even partial ticket refunds (after you’ve filled in and sent off a complaints form). All this is fine.

So what’s wrong?

In the previous op I told you how rude and unhelpful their staff were. So I emailed customer care. I should have known better.

We had purchased Virgin tickets and realised these weren’t valid on GNER trains and so we would have to get our refund and purchase GNER tickets. Our complaint was about GNER staff, who should have been identifiable because of the time and location.

So here is the gist of the several replies that I have received so far from GNER to the following initial email:

=========
“On Saturday 28th April I and my partner were booked on the Virgin train
service to York departing from Newcastle at 8am. When the train arrived, we
noted that it was a GNER train. We were advised that the Virgin train
service had been cancelled and that our ticket was not valid. The conductor
on the service was unhelpful to the point of rudeness. When we asked him
whether he could endorse our tickets so that we could travel on the train,
he refused, saying "If I did it for you I'd have to do it for everyone."
This simply gave the impression that the whole thing was too much trouble.

We had to go to the ticket office, thereby missing the train where we were
greeted with the same unhelpful attitude. "It's Virgin, it's nothing to do
with us." We were directed to the advance sales desk where there was one
person on duty. We had to wait twenty minutes before receiving a refund.

We would like to know whether the GNER train that arrived at 8 am was a
scheduled service or a replacement. If it is a scheduled service, how can
the Virgin train run at the same time and in the same direction? If it was a
replacement, why was our ticket not valid?

I regard the attitude of the staff involved in this episode as entirely
unsatisfactory. "Customer care" appears to be a concept that is adhered to
when things are going well, but is rapidly abandoned when things go wrong.
This should be where it is most important. If you are empowered to sell
tickets for other operators, you should be empowered to give refunds or
endorse tickets for travel on another service without entering into a huge
performance that simply makes the customer feel like they are the problem.

I was also disappointed to note that there was no evidence of your
complaints policy on display.

This is not the way to make rail travellers return to the service.

I await your earliest comments.
=============================================================
Reply One:

“I am sorry that you had a problems when boarding on the 28th April. To
enable me to investigate the matter further, would you please be kind enough
to send me copies of the tickets you held. This will enable me to check the
type and class of ticket.”

Bear in mind the ticket was irrelevant it was the attitude of staff
*****************************========================================================

Reply Two:

“I am sorry that you felt that the station staff were rude. Unfortunately
they are unable to help when a service which is not GNER is cancelled. It is
never the case that one Operator's train replaces that of another. The
similar arrival times of the two trains would have been catered for by the
different platforms York operates. There are a number of lines both in and
out of the station, and it is likely that the GNER service would have
overtaken the Virgin service soon after its leaving York.

When you purchase a reduced price ticket for a service run by a specific
operator, then it is one of the conditions of that service that you use the
operator specified. This is the case across the board, and is only relaxed
during periods of extreme disruption, of which this was not one. I am sorry
if you found that this was not a good outcome, however at some level it is
the risk which is taken when a customer purchases a reduced price ticket. In
this instance, the complaint is more properly put to the operator
responsible for the cancellation.”

Completely missing the point. He tells us it’s Virgin’s fault and their trains are faster than Virgin, with a veiled implication that you buy a cheap ticket , you get second class service. Incidentally GNER tickets are accepted on Virgin trains.

*****************************========================================================

Reply Three:

“Once again I apologise if I was unable to respond in the desired manner. It
is true that we are disappointed when our staff are less courteous than we
expect, however without receiving a report from staff concerning the
incident, I am unable to assist further .

While it is certainly not the fact that a reduced tariff ticket affects the
treatment of passengers by staff, it remains the case that certain
conditions apply to such tickets, and with this in mind, the GNER on board
staff were absolutely correct to refuse the right to board the train.

In general we are lucky to have the high quality members of staff that we
do. We have received an overwhelmingly positive response about our station
and on-board staff over what has been a very difficult period. Indeed when
people did have cause to complain about our service they have very seldom
failed to add positive comments about GNER staff in mitigation.

As far as I am aware of the situation was handled properly; you were
informed that the Virgin service had been cancelled, and you were told that
the decision as to whether you would be allowed to board the GNER service
was discretionary on the COL's part, the COL made a reasonable decision
based on the circumstances, and you were then given the requested refund on
site. It is also true that at the enquiry desk, confronted with the nature
of your complaint the staff member was unable to offer any substantial
assistance, and had no option to respond in kind.

I would like to reiterate my apology if the manner of these events occurring
left you dissatisfied.”

So basically the GNER staff did everything right , and it’s tough if we bought a cheap ticket. Remember GNER staff sold us the ticket. While everything on the day was resolved , the staff were rude and unhelpful, and I feel less persistent people would have been fobbed off and effectively lost the money they had spent on the ticket.

*****************************========================================================

Conclusion:

I’m still trying to get this resolved by a proper formal apology and a commitment that staff will make an effort to resolve peoples problems in a courteous manner. I recently have been diagnosed with a potentially serious medical condition that means I’m not allowed to drive, so it’s either feet , bus or train for me. Why is it when companies (especially British ones) have a virtual monopoly (hence the title of the op) situation they treat customers like rubbish. British Telecom are just the same.

If I had a choice I would not use GNER or Virgin (or BT for that matter). Unfortunately I have no choice.

Sorry about the rant and length of this op. I promise the next one will be on something pleasant like Mr Kipling Cakes or something.