FGW coffee service takes a downward lurch

[Squaddie]

I asked for a coffee on an FGW train today - and what I got was a paper cup of hot water, an unbranded sachet of instant coffee, a stick and the instruction to "make sure you stir it".

This would not be acceptable in any other cafe in the entire country, so why does FGW think it's acceptable on a train?

 

[ClevedonYellow]

Probably because you can't get off the train to buy one at a stop. It is the same as the airline industry!

 

[VP185]

Didn't know they did this fir coffee. I know they do a similar thing with tea, you get the cup of hot water and have to put the tea bag in yourself.
I can understand the reason for this though. If you've got to walk back from the buffet car to Coach A on a busy train you could potentially have one stewed cup of tea!!

 

[johnnychips]

That's ****poor. I've never known that on a plane, whether you pay for it or not. I'd complain.

I can see why caterers do the teabag thing as different people like different strengths.

 

[Squaddie]

Didn't know they did this fir coffee. I know they do a similar thing with tea, you get the cup of hot water and have to put the tea bag in yourself.

With tea it makes no appreciable difference to the end result whether they put the teabag in the cup for you or just give it to you. In fact, I know several people who prefer to put the bag in the water themselves.

My complaint here - and I certainly wasn't the only one in the carriage who expressed their disappointment with what they got at the buffet car - is that anyone in this day and age should think it acceptable that "a coffee" should be a sachet of instant granules and a cup of hot water. FGW will probably claim it's what the customer wants, but the number of passengers boarding with Caffe Nero and Costa cups suggests otherwise.

 

[Nozzacook]

I thought all first high speed services were equipped with a proper coffee machine. They certainly are on services to the West Country.

 

[David Goddard]

Write to Dan Paynes from FGW and see what he has to say...

 

[jimm]

Simply sounds like a case of a broken coffee machine to me. All the FGW HST buffets are fitted with one on the shelf behind where the stewards stand.

If the machine breaks down, then they will use hot water from the boiler in the kitchen and some instant so that some sort of service is still available, even if not up to your exacting standards in "this day and age" (those of us who remember BR buffets in the 1970s are having a good laugh at this point) though perhaps the steward might have pointed out there was a problem.

 

[Daimler]

I thought all first high speed services were equipped with a proper coffee machine. They certainly are on services to the West Country.

Indeed. The buffet car menu on their website would suggest this to be the case. Perhaps the machine was broken on this particular journey?

 

[capital12]

Simply sounds like a case of a broken coffee machine to me. All the FGW HST buffets are fitted with one on the shelf behind where the stewards stand.

If the machine breaks down, then they will use hot water from the boiler in the kitchen and some instant so that some sort of service is still available, even if not up to your exacting standards in "this day and age" (those of us who remember BR buffets in the 1970s are having a good laugh at this point) though perhaps the steward might have pointed out there was a problem.

Bet they still charged the same price though?!

 

[Doctor Fegg]

My complaint here - and I certainly wasn't the only one in the carriage who expressed their disappointment with what they got at the buffet car - is that anyone in this day and age should think it acceptable that "a coffee" should be a sachet of instant granules and a cup of hot water.

*raises hand*

 

[Squaddie]

If the machine breaks down, then they will use hot water from the boiler in the kitchen and some instant so that some sort of service is still available, even if not up to your exacting standards in "this day and age" (those of us who remember BR buffets in the 1970s are having a good laugh at this point)

I really don't think that expecting something better than an instant coffee is unreasonable, and this isn't the 1970s any more. Even the cheapest budget hotel usually provides a kettle and sachets of coffee granules.

 

[Hyphen]

Bet they still charged the same price though?!

I doubt the Buffet staff have the ability to edit the price of the item labelled "Coffee" on their ePOS tablet device.

Anything else the staff member did could then possibly be seen as theft of sachets of coffee (if not entered at all) or of taking money from the till (if entered but charged at a lower price).

And I'm sure you'll agree that if the coffee machine did break, they did the best they could by continuing to serve coffee anyway, rather than just not bothering at all.

 

[calc7]

I doubt the Buffet staff have the ability to edit the price of the item labelled "Coffee" on their ePOS tablet device.

This lack of functionality is of no concern to the passenger

Anything else the staff member did could then possibly be seen as theft of sachets of coffee (if not entered at all) or of taking money from the till (if entered but charged at a lower price).

And I'm sure you'll agree that if the coffee machine did break, they did the best they could by continuing to serve coffee anyway, rather than just not bothering at all.

I think the point is that the staff should be empowered in these situations to serve the customer as best they can. So, even if they (bizarrely) can't offer a reduction in price for an inferior product, they should at least put the coffee granules in the cup!

 

[GearJammer]

'FGW service takes another downward lurch'

I was expecting this thread to be about a failed train, or missed connections, non working toilets, poor staff attitude..... or something important, but no........

Its somebody moaning about they had to make there own bloody coffee!!!!!!!!



They'll be moaning that FGW should be stripped of the franchise because there was no one there to drink there coffee for them next!

 

[Squaddie]

I was expecting this thread to be about a failed train, or missed connections, non working toilets, poor staff attitude..... or something important, but no........

Its somebody moaning about they had to make there own bloody coffee!!!!!!!!

No, it's not a moan about having to make my own coffee - it's a moan about the quality of the so-called coffee. If they'd given me a cafetiere, a jug of boiling water, a bag of coffee beans and a grinder I'd quite happily have made my own coffee.

You may not think it's important, but it's little things like the quality of the food and drink available on board that create the experience. Some people have higher expectations of travel than merely being transported from A to B for the lowest possible price.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Do FGW still pour a perfectly good cup of coffee/tea down the sink if placed in the cups intended for standard class passengers if you're a first class passenger?

 

[SPADTrap]

This lack of functionality is of no concern to the passenger

Well by very definition it must be if you want said product?

 

[Andrewlong]

How much were FGW charging for this on board cup of coffee?

 

[jimm]

No, it's not a moan about having to make my own coffee - it's a moan about the quality of the so-called coffee. If they'd given me a cafetiere, a jug of boiling water, a bag of coffee beans and a grinder I'd quite happily have made my own coffee.

You may not think it's important, but it's little things like the quality of the food and drink available on board that create the experience. Some people have higher expectations of travel than merely being transported from A to B for the lowest possible price.

You're having a laugh, aren't you? So FGW (and other TOCs as well, presumably), should carry a spare coffee machine on all their HSTs just in case you happen to be travelling on the one train in however many thousand they operate when the machine has broken down?

When the coffee machine broke at work the other week, people coped with a kettle and some instant until the repair man turned up (which took rather longer than the average train journey), as we're a good 15 minutes' walk from anywhere offering more exotic varieties of coffee available "in this day and age". The sky didn't fall in and no-one got in a lather on the internet as a result...

There are plenty of more pressing issues with FGW's service across the board than a lack of frothy, overpriced coffee on the odd train.

 

[Temple Meads]

You're having a laugh, aren't you? So FGW (and other TOCs as well, presumably), should carry a spare coffee machine on all their HSTs just in case you happen to be travelling on the one train in however many thousand they operate when the machine has broken down?

When the coffee machine broke at work the other week, people coped with a kettle and some instant until the repair man turned up (which took rather longer than the average train journey), as we're a good 15 minutes' walk from anywhere offering more exotic varieties of coffee available "in this day and age". The sky didn't fall in and no-one got in a lather on the internet as a result...

There are plenty of more pressing issues with FGW's service across the board than a lack of frothy, overpriced coffee on the odd train.

Great post, agreed completely.

In my opinion, if you let something as minor as an inferior coffee spoil your journey, you get annoyed too easily...

 

[Goatboy]

And I'm sure you'll agree that if the coffee machine did break, they did the best they could by continuing to serve coffee anyway, rather than just not bothering at all.

Instant coffee and ground coffee are not the same product, so charging the same price for them when one is swapped for the other doesn't seem acceptable to me. Instant coffee is inferior in taste and, as a result, cheaper to buy/

 

[Flamingo]

This whole thread is a storm in a teacup...

 

[455driver]

So FGW should carry a spare coffee machine on all their HSTs just in case you happen to be travelling on the one train in however many thousand they operate when the machine has broken down?

Why not?
They all have a 'spare' power car at the back in case the one at the front breaks down!

 

[Goatboy]

You're having a laugh, aren't you? So FGW (and other TOCs as well, presumably), should carry a spare coffee machine on all their HSTs just in case you happen to be travelling on the one train in however many thousand they operate when the machine has broken down?

Nope, there should just be a discounted 'Instant coffee' option on the EPOS machine for when the proper machine breaks. Thats all you need.

When the coffee machine broke at work the other week, people coped with a kettle and some instant until the repair man turned up (which took rather longer than the average train journey), as we're a good 15 minutes' walk from anywhere offering more exotic varieties of coffee available "in this day and age". The sky didn't fall in and no-one got in a lather on the internet as a result...

Were you charging people for the coffee you were making?

There are plenty of more pressing issues with FGW's service across the board than a lack of frothy, overpriced coffee on the odd train.

It seems the problem is on this particular train there was very much NOT a lack of overpriced coffee. Infact it was the most overpriced coffee yet offered on a train

 

[island]

This whole thread is a storm in a teacup...

A coffee cup, surely?

 

[CarltonA]

I remember being gobsmacked at Luton station in 1981 when I was charged 70p by the BR buffet for a coffee. On the whole, things have improved greatly in railway catering since then.

 

[yorksrob]

I remember being gobsmacked at Luton station in 1981 when I was charged 70p by the BR buffet for a coffee. On the whole, things have improved greatly in railway catering since then.

That's £2.28 in today's money according to the inflation calculator, so even prices seem to have improved.

I really think outlets would sell so much more if they brought the price of tea down to below a pound. For a teabag and some boiling water, I bet there'd still be a decent mark up for each cup as well.

 

[richw]

For a teabag and some boiling water, I bet there'd still be a decent mark up for each cup as well.

When I was working in the catering trade;
a teabag cost less than 1p each,
the paper cup were about 3.5p each,
mains water was around £5 a cubic metre, (the cups were 0.3litre, so 3300 cups of tea could be made from £5 of water),
the little milk portions were about 2p each and as standard I gave 2 with a cup of tea.
as sugar portion was around 0.5p each.
So a cup of tea cost me less than 10p to produce, and I sold for £1.00.
A coffee cost me about 20p to produce, and sold for £1.50.

 

[jon0844]

All FGW need to do is apologise that the coffee machine isn't working and ask if instant is okay instead? Thus, people can say 'yeah, that'll do' or 'ergh, no I'll have tea instead'.

Problem solved. No fuss. No need to write to your MP or the Daily Mail.