Excellent customer service by TPE

[Merseysider]

Well as we only tend to hear stories where things have gone wrong, I thought TPE's CR deserved a mention for putting things right.

On the 29th I was delayed by over 70 minutes having travelled on a ~15m delayed TPE from Manchester to Carlisle, (so missed connection) then the next hourly Northern stopper to Brampton.

I wrote in once I was home and received a full reply within 24 hours, explaining it was due to a signalling failure, apologising for the inconvenience, and that RTVs to the value of 1/7 the price of my weekly season would be issued, which arrived three days later.

Then on the 2nd, I was delayed by an hour as the TPE I was on was 30 down at Carlisle, which meant waiting for the hourly connection again. Similar story, full reply within 24 hours but an incorrect calculation of 1/14 in RTVs (presumably just saw the TPE delayed by 30m and forgot the last bit of my journey) although corrected it to 1/7 straight away when queried. Again, an apology and explanation, describing the incident as a train fault etc.

When I thanked them, and mentioned that their onboard staff had been great too, they said "We have set ourselves high standards for Customer Relations and I am glad these have been able to meet your expectations."

Anyone else been in touch with them recently?

 

[Elecman]

I was travelling on a TPE service that sat down for over 90 mins. Guard took everyone's details down and 2 days later I recieved a letter from TPE apologising for the delay to the train failure and asking me to reply Freeport with my tickets for an RTV refund.

 

[najaB]

...asking me to reply Freeport with my tickets for an RTV refund.

Wow, didn't know TPE had outsourced their customer services to the Bahamas. (Sorry, obligatory geo-nerd joke). Agree that they can do things well - the only time I've heard a guard telling people to make a delay claim was on a TPE service.

 

[dgl]

Wow, didn't know TPE had outsourced their customer services to the Bahamas. (Sorry, obligatory geo-nerd joke). Agree that they can do things well - the only time I've heard a guard telling people to make a delay claim was on a TPE service.

Had it on a FGW service from castle Cary to Weymouth once, can't remember how long the delay was but the guard came through informing everyone that they can claim a refund for the delay and gave anyone who wanted one a claim form/leaflet

 

[FenMan]

Had it on a FGW service from castle Cary to Weymouth once, can't remember how long the delay was but the guard came through informing everyone that they can claim a refund for the delay and gave anyone who wanted one a claim form/leaflet

Had a similar experience on a very late-running Virgin service into Euston on a Saturday night a few years ago, pre Pendolinos and all that. The guard came through, asking if any passengers' connections were jeopardised. The late running meant that it was highly unlikely I would make the last train of the night to Camberley, where I lived at the time. Virgin laid on a taxi from Euston and, being the only passenger heading to Camberley, had it to myself. The driver confided that he lived in Frimley, two miles away, and was rather pleased that Virgin was paying him to go home. In return he dropped me at my front door, meaning that I got home 10 minutes before my ETA if I'd caught the last train from Waterloo. I didn't bother asking for any compensation.

 

[AntoniC]

Last November I was travelling on LM, from Nuneaton to Liverpool South Parkway, changing at Stafford.

The first train from Nuneaton to Stafford was cancelled due to signalling problems further south, which meant I was at least an hour late and missed by booked train at Stafford.

The guard on the Stafford to Liverpool South Parkway train encouraged me to claim via their Delay Repay scheme for the delay so I did online.

Three weeks later I got a RTV for £9.70 (the cost of my single ticket) with no questions asked.

 

[DelayRepay]

I'm glad people are happy that they're receiving their compensation but a bit surprised people think it's something to be impressed by.

As a Thameslink user I've submitted more claims than I care to think about over the last six months. All have been paid out without any issue, and very promptly. I have already received my vouchers from the first couple of days of the flooding incident in January.

 

[Merseysider]

I'm glad people are happy that they're receiving their compensation but a bit surprised people think it's something to be impressed by.

As a Thameslink user I've submitted more claims than I care to think about over the last six months. All have been paid out without any issue, and very promptly. I have already received my vouchers from the first couple of days of the flooding incident in January.

I'd never been in touch with TPE before so was expecting them to take up to 28 working days to reply, similar to Northern Rail, who I contact much more frequently. Agreed, good customer service should be the norm but when you go from 4 weeks for a reply to 24 hours just by emailing a different toc then it does stand out.

 

[DownSouth]

I'm glad people are happy that they're receiving their compensation but a bit surprised people think it's something to be impressed by.

When expectations are sufficiently lowered, anything can become impressive.

 

[cjmillsnun]

I'm glad people are happy that they're receiving their compensation but a bit surprised people think it's something to be impressed by.

As a Thameslink user I've submitted more claims than I care to think about over the last six months. All have been paid out without any issue, and very promptly. I have already received my vouchers from the first couple of days of the flooding incident in January.

Thameslink have had a very unlucky few months. However good customer service isn't just getting it right first time, it is also the response when things go wrong.

 

[DelayRepay]

Thameslink have had a very unlucky few months. However good customer service isn't just getting it right first time, it is also the response when things go wrong.

Yes, and I suppose I should be grateful that they managed to dispatch my vouchers within 2 weeks, got my name right and calculated the refund correctly. But I have slightly higher expectations.

I have written to First Capital Connect twice, once to praise the way a member of their staff dealt with a vulnerable person and the second time to thank a member of their staff who helped me when I was running late for a job interview. These things impress me but sending a voucher, which they are obliged to send doesn't.

 

[Haywain]

Thameslink have had a very unlucky few months. However good customer service isn't just getting it right first time, it is also the response when things go wrong.

Indeed. Running some trains on time would be nice.

 

[jon0844]

But how could they demonstrate good customer service by running trains on time?

 

[fowler9]

To be fair to Northern when I sent them a complaint about a rail replacement bus not turning up they sent me within a week 4 daily passes to use any Northern service for free for the date I wrote on the pass. This could of course be related to Merseytravel billing them for four taxis from Liverpool South Parkway (I am guessing this is what happened since Merseytravel operate the station and they arranged the taxis since they knew no bus turned up). Over the coming week I used the bus replacement from Lime Street several times and questioned the driver as to why they had missed stops out. They denied doing so. Since then the bus normally turns up.

I used one of the passes to get all the way to York from Liverpool, when I left the station at Leeds at one point a member of gateline staff said he wasn't even going to ask me what had gone wrong for me to get it. A few conductors joked as well.

FTPE staff have always been brilliant. Never had cause to complain other than the fact I think the 185's aren't up to the services unless you are in first, and I don't complain to the staff about that.

 

[Deerfold]

the coming week I used the bus replacement from Lime Street several times and questioned the driver as to why they had missed stops out. They denied doing so.

Perhaps the drivers you spoke to weren't the one who missed the stop out?

 

[fowler9]

Perhaps the drivers you spoke to weren't the one who missed the stop out?

Perhaps, she said she was the driver though. It was the day after, she admitted to driving the bus and Northern Rail thought she was wrong about which stations she had called at. I imagine that is why they coughed up. Everyone knows they weren't stopping everywhere at least at that time.

 

[andyb2706]

I'm glad people are happy that they're receiving their compensation but a bit surprised people think it's something to be impressed by.

As a Thameslink user I've submitted more claims than I care to think about over the last six months. All have been paid out without any issue, and very promptly. I have already received my vouchers from the first couple of days of the flooding incident in January.

I agree with the other posters that a quick and good response is something to be happy to report.

I'm one of the first who will complain and make it public when things go wrong, however even though in an ideal world delays won't happen, but they do, TOC's should be praised and thanked when their response and actions to an incident are swift to resolve the problem.