Lost property [left luggage]

[whole diary]

[railfan]

 I dropped a coat between platform 6 & 7 on Exeter St David's station..realised in time? spoke to train manager?who allowed me to look unable to see it I returned to the train same chap told me not to panic "We will sort it" he spoke to a cleaner on platform, when doors closed I realised I hadn't looked where I alighted, there in plain view was the coat! Too late as train was moving! Again Train manager? assured me he would phone Exeter St David's and get the coat sent to Birmingham...I relaxed and enjoyed the trip ....OK until I tried to check both by phone and on line all contact resulted in two hours of being sent by live and automatic systems round and round ad infinitum...This post is my last resort...in what I feel is a complete absence of anything resembling Customer service, let alone customer care! .....That said I love travelling by rail I apologise for the length of post, and would be grateful for any advice......The train was the 12'57 from platform 5 to Manchester Sun 6.10.13

[AMLAG]

Oh dear !.. how unfortunate that you dropped your coat and your initial search whilst your train was still in St D plat 5 (there is no plat 7) did not find your coat....regretably your experience is not untypical of the lengthy & roundabout procedures now applicable in trying to locate a lost item.
All lost property is these days centred on just a few major railway stations...FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s lost property concentration depot/office is at Bristol TM^‡(resolve) (in the subway).
The vast amount of lost/unclaimed items there as seen in the TV series on FGW would seem to indicate many passengers experience similar difficulties and just give up.

I remember years ago leaving a pullover in the Bradford/Paignton 'Devonian' which I realised as the train left St D; to then report it to a porter on the platform;his immediate actions (to ring a colleague at N.Abbot to retrieve said item and send it back to St D by next train),  saw it re-united with me in under one hour ..now that's service !   

Your best bet is probably to try and contact FGW Helpline 08457 000125 so contact can be made with the FGW BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) Lost property office where your coat should have ended up; ie. NOT at Birmingham.

[ellendune]

Getting back on topic.

My experiences with the helpline were that they were a call centre somewhere that that it did not really live up to its name (i.e. it was not that helpful). I eventually managed to get a phone number for the lost property office ( not idea where I got it from) and they were helpful, in that they had a coat of answering to the description.  A visit to Bristol Temple Meads did however produce the coat, and I was able to prove it was mine when they looked in the pocket and found an envelope with my name and address on it!

[Chris from Nailsea]

... and, with all this banter, we seem to have overlooked the convention of offering a very warm welcome to our new member, railfan - thanks for posting, railfan, and we hope that you get your coat back soon!

Chris from Nailsea. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Some other posts which appeared originally in this topic, discussing the use of station codes, have now been split off into a separate topic of their own, at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=13033.0

[railfan]

Many thanks to all who posted [including the welcome Chris!] I found this excellent site in absolute frustration! I am of an age where I recall courtesy,consideration,service as mentioned? of course it was indeed between platform 5-6 [shows my frustration?] I had tried all available [and unavailable!! ] Telephone numbers to no avail, I have been busy touring [by train!] which explains the delay in responding and thanking you all. I will take a look [at the contact nos post] to see if there are numbers I haven't tried ! As station staff [at least one] and train staff were well aware of my plight I really expected better! even at my age you can still be nieve