PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Many tweets are wholly vague. I see people complain about the "Manchester train". TOC reply which train, I need to know to be able to help you - reply the Cardiff train - TOC - what time ?
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Twitter an Effective Method of Complaining ?
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RailUK Forums
It's a good method to get apologies apparently. Someone has made a website that tracks how long it's been since a TOC last apologised on twitter (and is going to be adding more TOCs soon)
https://www.sorryfortheinconvenience.co.uk/
https://www.sorryfortheinconvenience.co.uk/
HA. That is good.
Twitter is one of the few things that FCC/GTR Thameslink do relatively well.
The twitter team often seem to be relatively empowered and have a sense of humour at times. Both credibly more so than the majority of platform staff and drivers. But that's mostly not down to the individuals but I strongly suspect information flow within the company and the relative importance of PR over, say, providing a service with more than 60% punctuality...
In particular, if there are delays / vanishing trains, the platform staff and drivers are often poorly informed - through little fault of their own. The twitter staff will usually respond within ten minutes with semi-reliable information.
There are two residual issues - on mass disruption days obviously GTR don't have resources to respond to the mass of questions. Information for some of the biggest disruptions is pretty poor across all channels - trains, platforms, website, twitter, app etc. And some of the more recent excuses have been a bit flakey - particularly driver shortages (but why are there shortages, and did you really not known until 20 mins before...)
I'd also assert it's a quick and easy way to complain about toilets not working on trains and at stations!
The twitter team often seem to be relatively empowered and have a sense of humour at times. Both credibly more so than the majority of platform staff and drivers. But that's mostly not down to the individuals but I strongly suspect information flow within the company and the relative importance of PR over, say, providing a service with more than 60% punctuality...
In particular, if there are delays / vanishing trains, the platform staff and drivers are often poorly informed - through little fault of their own. The twitter staff will usually respond within ten minutes with semi-reliable information.
There are two residual issues - on mass disruption days obviously GTR don't have resources to respond to the mass of questions. Information for some of the biggest disruptions is pretty poor across all channels - trains, platforms, website, twitter, app etc. And some of the more recent excuses have been a bit flakey - particularly driver shortages (but why are there shortages, and did you really not known until 20 mins before...)
I'd also assert it's a quick and easy way to complain about toilets not working on trains and at stations!
Twitter is a mixed blessing.
On one hand, it's relatively useful for those who want a complaint heard fast and loud in public.
On the other, it's detrimental to the integrity of people who appear honest in public but can't help a petulant rant online. A case in point being Angela Gibbens of the British Council (yes it was Facebook but they're both tantamount to the same thing).
On one hand, it's relatively useful for those who want a complaint heard fast and loud in public.
On the other, it's detrimental to the integrity of people who appear honest in public but can't help a petulant rant online. A case in point being Angela Gibbens of the British Council (yes it was Facebook but they're both tantamount to the same thing).
Probably outsourced then!
185143
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Shouldn't imagine much has changed since this tweet last year...
Admittedly that's the overnight twitter team, but the point still stands!
Shouldn't imagine much has changed since this tweet last year...
Admittedly that's the overnight twitter team, but the point still stands!
The "real" daytime Twitter team will be UK-based. They recruited a couple of year ago in London.
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
The more complaints there are, heavier the workload for Customer thus creating a position where the delay in replying is increasing as much as the performance is decreasing.
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