'First Great Western - Do You Listen To Your Customers?'

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Fresh Business Thinking:

By Nick James

After a great 2 days of inspiration at the Likeminds Festival http://wearelikeminds.com/home in Exeter I left with a spring in my step and headed to the train station for my journey back to London with First Great Western.

I bought a reasonably priced ticket as I was travelling off-peak and looked forward to a relaxed journey home with my laptop in front of me ready to write up my thoughts and ideas.

The LikeMinds Festival was full of thought provoking people from the evergreen Chris Moss explaining how to implement a way that teams can re-arrange their working practices to get every other Friday off ^ to the Pirate that is Glenn Le Santo offering people the chance to ^Hoover their Brains^ on his narrow boat.

Alan Moore, author of No Straight Lines said; ^We are in transition. We^re moving from a linear, industrial world to a non-linear world.^

His talk was entitled; ^A navigation guide to a better future^ and I really wish that someone from First Great Western was in the audience ^ not just for this talk but for the whole festival - But more on that later!

People who took the stage at LikeMinds spoke passionately and they cared, they were also brave enough to admit their failings. The wonderfully youthful and smart Anton Chernikov founder of ^Good People^ declared that ^social enterprise is the future of businesses^ and the enigmatic John Richardson ^ enthralled us with the tale of his challenge to break par in a year.

Perhaps now is the time for a neat segue back to First Great Western ^ an organisation that are constantly below par and seem to have no social engagement - amazingly ignoring any mention of them on Twitter?

I can forgive the train being late but not the apology from the guard about the lack of air conditioning claiming that it^s been like this for weeks and no-one^s done anything?

My particular solution was to move to 1st Class ^ I sat there for an hour and waited for someone to ask me for my ticket ^ eventually I was approached and told that the upgrade was a whopping ^130.

The alternative was standing in a sweltering corridor so I agreed to pay and presented the same credit card that I used to buy my original ticket only to be informed that they couldn^t take this card on the train.

I was rudely given 2 options ^ use another card (I didn^t have one) or accept a ^170 fine. When I suggested that it wasn^t necessarily my fault to expect to be able to pay for the upgrade with the card used for the original journey I was asked if I wanted to be ordered off the train at the next stop.

Eventually we agreed to go our separate ways and I went back to the sauna that was standard class, standing room only and full of miserable FGW^▸ (First Great Western) customers.

From there I Tweeted a couple of times hoping to ^engage^ with someone who might care about their customers ^ not a dicky-bird.

So my plea to First Great Western is to send some people to the next LikeMinds Festival because you need to understand the world in which you operate, your people need to ^care^ and despite your monopoly you need to put your customers at the centre of your operation.

I will be happy to pay for the cost of a delegate place or here^s an idea - why don^t you sponsor the next LikeMinds Festival? You might find out that the only word that could be considered correct in your company name is 'Western' - which conjures up images of cowboys.

Anyway back to the 2 days in Exeter and I^ll let the brilliant Alan Moore have the last words ^ particularly apt for First Great Western - ^Stop using the word consumer and treat your customers as part of a community - it'll radically change the way you do business"

[ellendune]

Seems to ring true with msnuy views (including my own) expressed recently on http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10840.msg112366#msg112366 and widely refuted as naive by others.

There seems a fundemental failure among many to understand what customer service is all about.

[EBrown]

It appears the passenger has an issue reading and this fact magically is missing from his blog.

I'm not supporting FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) actions, but the signs are very clear, you need a First Class ticket to breathe First Class air. Perhaps, another option would have been to have moved to another STD carriage. If he wanted a First Class ticket, he could have sought the TM^‡(resolve) and purchased one (or just asked the Express Cafe host for help).

I have no doubt that if this was FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect), the blog post would be used as evidence for a Byelaw prosecution.

[Southern Stag]

Sounds like he was first offered to pay the difference between a Super Off-Peak single and First Anytime Single, the same price as would have been payable at the ticket office in advance. Sounds like he was then offered an unpaid fares notice because he didn't have any means of paying, the cost of which would have been the ^174 First Anytime Single, the only First Class single fare available. I'm not sure what he expected the guard to do, just to let him travel free because he couldn't pay?

[mjones]

But he did have the means to pay, he says he "presented the same credit card that I used to buy my original ticket only to be informed that they couldn^t take this card on the train."

It seems a reasonable assumption that the same card would be acceptable. So we have a customer willing to pay extra for a premium service, but ending up unhappy, with bad PR^▸ (Public Relations) for the company who ends up with less money than they would have received; simply because of their restricted choice of credit cards...

[bobm]

To be fair the resticted choice of cards may not be down to FGW^▸ (First Great Western).  We don't know what sort of card he had, but some require on line authorisation each time they are used.  Not a problem at a station or TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) but a bit more diffcult on a train.

[Andy W]

To be fair the resticted choice of cards may not be down to FGW^▸ (First Great Western).  We don't know what sort of card he had, but some require on line authorisation each time they are used.  Not a problem at a station or TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) but a bit more diffcult on a train.

Firstly if FGW only accept certain cards this should be stated upfront. People do get on umannned stations where this is critical. Secondly if they can't take the payment on the train they can take the card details for payment by a ticket office. Thirdly I don't see it as unreasonable to wait for the guard / TM^‡(resolve) whatever and then pay when they perform the ticket check (he didn't go rushing to the toilet to avoid paying).
The only thing that can be confirmed is that FGW staff know how to spell - they all know there's no f'in customer service. (Industry Insider and a few others this does not apply to you).

[Southern Stag]

He was offered the cheapest fare for his journey, which was ^130, he was not charged extra for simply taking a seat. Because he didn't have anyway of paying he was offered an UPFN^▸ (Un Paid Fare Notice (used on XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)))) I expect, which is the opportunity to later pay for his journey, but that had to be issued as the full fare rather than the excess that he was previously offered, but that is a standard process for issuing a UPFN. He could have sought a refund for his unused ticket then.

[eightf48544]

The one question no one's asked is why was the airconditioning not working in Standard Class and had it been out of action for a long time as implied in the article?

Paying even ^130 not to fry seems a bit steep.

[bobm]

I have no idea how the electrics works on an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) but I have never been on one where the aircon was not working throughout the train.  There has occasionally been one coach which is warmer than another - seems strange that all standard class would be non functional and all first class working.

[vacman]

He was lucky to be given the opportunity to upgrade on the train as upgrades should be done before boarding the train, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations have information posters that say which cards are valid and it clearly says on the ticket office windows that "SOLO AND ELECTRON CARDS ARE NOT VALID FOR ON TRAIN PURCHASES", now i am making an assumption here, and that assumption is that this individual had a solo or electron card which can only be used at a terminal with a live connection as they do not guarentee payment without authorisation, also, there are notices in every carriage and doorway of first class saying that you must have a first class ticket and that if you don't you will be charged the full first class fare for the journey. What does Mjones expect FGW to do? let them go for free? hardly fair on the other first class passengers who have paid for first class, discretion has been used in every aspect of this case, if it were a "Jobsworth" then the passenger would have been reported for travelling with an in-valid ticket, and wouldn't have been offered the chance to just pay the difference between the fares and once you are in first class then technically the option of just moving is also a no-no, basically this is someone who thought they'd try their luck and got caught out!

[John R]

OK, but if he bought his ticket online, he would not have seen the notice on the ticket window. And even if he had bought at a ticket office, why would he be expected to take any notice about a possibility (buying on board) that he was not at that stage interested in. Remember, he didn't expect to want to upgrade to first class. So in that scenario, maybe it wasn't reasonable to expect him to know that his card could not be used on the train?

 

[vacman]

OK, but if he bought his ticket online, he would not have seen the notice on the ticket window. And even if he had bought at a ticket office, why would he be expected to take any notice about a possibility (buying on board) that he was not at that stage interested in. Remember, he didn't expect to want to upgrade to first class. So in that scenario, maybe it wasn't reasonable to expect him to know that his card could not be used on the train?

 

or there are also the huge Penalty Fare notices at Exeter St David's that mention that you risk a PF^▸ (Penalty Fare) by travelling in First class with a std ticket? I know the PF posters are not very obvious being huge and bright yellow and black..... I don't see what the gripe is here? like i said, are you saying that he should just have been allowed to travel in FC^‡(resolve) on a std ticket? a certain amount of responsibility does lie with the passenger here, if you want to upgrade on the train then the done thing is to find the guard and make yourself known not just sit there and hope for the best, this is indicated by the notices in first class as well, if it was hot in a certain carriage then move to another std coach.

[John R]

No, I'm not suggesting that he was allowed to stay in standard. I just don't buy your argument that he should have realised that his card could not be used.

I'm all for reducing ticketless travel. Someone got on in first this evening at Swindon and after a glance dived straight into the toilet and didn't come out until Chippenham (despite having been waiting for 10 mins next to the gents on platform 4 at Swindon). But sadly I didn't see a member of the train crew to make comment that they may wish to investigate.   

[LiskeardRich]

He was lucky to be given the opportunity to upgrade on the train as upgrades should be done before boarding the train, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations have information posters that say which cards are valid and it clearly says on the ticket office windows that "SOLO AND ELECTRON CARDS ARE NOT VALID FOR ON TRAIN PURCHASES", now i am making an assumption here, and that assumption is that this individual had a solo or electron card which can only be used at a terminal with a live connection as they do not guarentee payment without authorisation, also, there are notices in every carriage and doorway of first class saying that you must have a first class ticket and that if you don't you will be charged the full first class fare for the journey. What does Mjones expect FGW to do? let them go for free? hardly fair on the other first class passengers who have paid for first class, discretion has been used in every aspect of this case, if it were a "Jobsworth" then the passenger would have been reported for travelling with an in-valid ticket, and wouldn't have been offered the chance to just pay the difference between the fares and once you are in first class then technically the option of just moving is also a no-no, basically this is someone who thought they'd try their luck and got caught out!

He states it was a credit card, which wont be a solo or electron