Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all,

Has anyone had any problems regarding a compensation claim?

I made one in August 2017 following delays, was told a cheque was being sent, rung up 2 months later to be told they'd sent it to the wrong address and a manager needed to speak to me. Since then I've rung up on a monthly basis to spend ages waiting and then be told exactly the same thing! They never call back and I reckon they're stalling until I give up. Has this happened to anyone before? It's now been nearly 7 months!

I even recommended crediting my GWR account as it could be done instantly and then at least the money would have to be spent with them, alas I was told no.  ???

If anyone from GWR reads this the ref is GWRR170918BHGY.

Please sort out your customer service!

Welcome to the forum, Wrightly ... no guarantee that anyone from GWR will read this and pick it up ... but it wouldn't surprise me.  Please let us know what happens ... and please come back to us if nothing happens.

This forum does disclose email addresses, etc ... however, should anyone from GWR get in touch with any of the admins about this, we can pass on the message to you (via personal message system).  That will allow GWR to respond even if the GWR person hasn't registered as a member, as my email address is public knowledge.

Whether it was due to this forum or pure coincidence, I had reply from GWR a couple of hours ago and things are hopefully now sorted.  :)

Thank you for the update, Wrightly.  :)

To have your outstanding claim from nearly seven months ago resolved within 24 hours of your posting here on the Coffee Shop forum does suggest to me that someone from GWR did see it, and dealt with it.  ::)

Thank you for your action (albeit belatedly), GWR.

CfN.  :-X

Glad to hear it got resolved eventually - against the backdrop of the overall woeful level of customer service offered by GWR, the delays in response to communication/compensation claims stand out as particularly appalling and have been ongoing for well over a year - was there any explanation as to why this claim took so long and also do any of those with "inside knowledge" have any updates on if/how GWR are addressing the situation with a view to improvement?

In my experience, the only way to catalyse a response of any sort is to email Hopwood directly, cc'ing as many newspapers/politicians as possible.

The last note I had with a compensation cheque said there had been delays due to the number of claims received and also the moving of the operation back to the UK.

Interesting. I wonder how much GWR wasted on offshoring this function no doubt thinking it would save money, realising it wasn't working, and then bringing it back on shore again.

Having been involved in a similar exercise a few years back for a far larger Business, at the least I'd put it in the high six figures range by the time a new supplier has been sourced and is up and running.

Let's hope they've learned the lessons and resource it adequately this time, as the volume of complaints/compensation claims is only going to rise as the dismal service continues.

It was offshore with Serco (formerly Intelenet, formerly FirstInfo) and is now UK based with the woeful Capita.

Not sure which is worse. Using operatives with a poor grasp of UK rail idiosyncracies. Or using a company notorious for cost cutting, poor staff relations and being a jack of all trades but master of none.

When was GWR/FGWs customer service at its best? When it was run by FirstGroup's FirstInfo, effectively in house. When was the social media at its best? When the operatives were directly employed. The rot set in when Serco, then Capita, took over.

It tells you a lot when one of the best customer service staff FGW ever had, (known in these parts) decided on a career change. Instrumental in setting up FGWs social media, which was fantastic before being outsourced, he now drives trains.

Yep agreed - this is an ongoing infuriating issue. Not looking forward to seeing how long it takes them to pay up for the void day(s) this week..when they get declared

Will they get declared though - given the snow was 'inclement weather', and nothing to do with the railway, im certainly not expecting them to be generous and void it?

As of yesterday, Thursday has already been declared a void day, I just hope it applies to all routes...

Is GWR’s social media not operated by them?

GWR never actively chose to offshore the function - the FirstInfo business was sold (by FirstGroup not FGW/GWR) to Intelenet Global Services (who were already handling the National Rail Enquiries contract from Mumbai). Intelenet retained the contact centre in Plymouth, but they did move some of the work streams out to their Indian contact centre. When the contract came up for renewal (it is a FirstGroup contract - it covers TPE and Hull Trains in addition to GWR) it was awarded to Capita and all work streams moved onshore as a result. GWR do have an in-house Customer Support team too, still based in Plymouth. This team was set up after Intelenet bought FirstInfo. They handle all the difficult stuff (like all the emails sent to Mark Hopwood) and sort out all the cock-ups that Capita make.

Confirmed that void days were declared on 1 and 2 March (except LTV on 2nd).

Shall we have a sweepstake to figure out how long it'll take to get a refund for these void days?

Aren't void days added onto the expiry date when a season ticket is renewed unless its not renewed.

I'm still waiting for a response to my claim for the cancellation of my outward and return booked journeys from 24/02/2018 - ha-ha.

Re: void day compensation - adding them to the end of the season ticket is one option, but they can also be taken as cash. So long as you can find someone who knows how to process them..which to date has proved almost impossible.

I opt for cash since I renew my annual season ticket on the last day of the year..adding even a day would push my subsequent ticket into the next year (raising the cost).