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Avanti's... interesting Twitter policy

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richw

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as this means I’m stuck

exaggeration like this doesn’t help complaints. The customer was never stuck, just had a wait for the next train, which would have been sooner than arranging alternatives. If it was last train at night yes you’d be stuck, but not at this time of day.
when making complaints don’t exaggerate as that will rub the controller up the wrong way if he’s already under pressure, and especially someone who should know
 
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Bluejays

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Why is there always such a relish amongst many to sack people and complain. The 2 blokes working in the betting shop i visited on Monday were both useless and a bit rude. I gave them a bit back when they gave me attitude. But the idea of complaining to their employers, and calling for their sacking would never occur to me in a million years. People have real lives, expenses, mortgages. This 'sack em' reflex is just crazy
 

Bletchleyite

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Why is there always such a relish amongst many to sack people and complain. The 2 blokes working in the betting shop i visited on Monday were both useless and a bit rude. I gave them a bit back when they gave me attitude. But the idea of complaining to their employers, and calling for their sacking would never occur to me in a million years. People have real lives, expenses, mortgages. This 'sack em' reflex is just crazy

Did anyone say the "offending" Twitterer should be sacked? I didn't. He just needed a quiet word, and I suspect he received that.
 

Jordan1296

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I don't think I've heard the phrase "Wise up" since Pop Will Eat Itself in 1989. It's just a slightly colloquial version of "do the right thing" or "get educated", isn't it? Or does it have sharper connotations in Scotland?
It can be quite sharp, depending on how it is said, but it generally means "get a grip".
 

Bluejays

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Did anyone say the "offending" Twitterer should be sacked? I didn't. He just needed a quiet word, and I suspect he received that.
The tweet posted a few messages above mentions taking his job. It's a pretty regular themethemeq that pops up on here aswell.
 

FGW_DID

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I have seen the “customers” name mentioned on social media and it would appear mere mention of this “enthusiast” provokes some quite strong feelings amongst others in the enthusiast fraternity!
I got the impression the “customer“ is well known for being an @rse even with fellow spotters.
 

Class360/1

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This does not surprise me.

Some people lack intelligence, respect for others, are ignorant and take their job for granted. Sadly some of these people work as train Guards and other frontline roles in the rail industry, and that certainly includes ScotRail.

I've encountered quite a few individuals like this on the railway over the years.
Same with me, I’ve seen plenary of selfish, ignorant people over the years on the railway
 

Neo9320

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It’s twitter…if you’re not used to how people are on the platform then don’t use it. I get what people are saying about that ‘lack’ of customer service, but as other people have mentioned, this is probably a response from someone who doesn’t have social media as part of their remit. This was obviously an attempt of good humour gone sideways, give the guy a break.

posted from an owner of a digital marketing agency (that started at a time when twitter was just an idea in odeo)
 

_toommm_

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Don't know about a connection with buses and taxis unless that's the same one who spent years pestering TOCs for gen and who has tried dozens of times to rejoin this forum but keeps getting caught?
Is the guy who asks people not to call the police on him called Rhys? Always used to ask people with vague connections to the industry for unit numbers on services to Saltburn?
 

AgentGemini

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It did read a little bit snippy, didn't it? Avanti have apologised and hopefully Sean hasn't lost his job.
 

guard1

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As a relatively experienced railway worker myself let me just state that anyone who last longer than a month in the control room for a Toc deserves a medal. The amount of pressure that they are under these days is unbelievable, and 9 times out of 10 they are doing there absolute best under extraordinary circumstances.
 

Chew Chew

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I know for a fact if I spoke to someone at work in that tone I’d be out of a job immediately.
I very much doubt that as your employer wouldn't have followed their correct procedures and it would leave them open to you taking legal action against them.
 

Facing Back

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I very much doubt that as your employer wouldn't have followed their correct procedures and it would leave them open to you taking legal action against them.
Do you know what the correct processes are for the op? If he is a contract or agency worker then it is very possible it would be immediate and follow the company's procedures correctly. Likewise is this was considered gross misconduct for bringing the company into disrepute then company policy may allow for immediate dismissal.

That doesn't mean he can't take legal action - just that the company has follow their procedures.
 

jayah

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The Twitter exchange wasn’t that bad. Brusque rather than rude. Mountain out of molehill.
It was pretty awful to be honest. It certainly wasn't written by someone who believes that customers actually pay their wages. Its not as if an apology, followed by finding the times of the next train would even have been difficult.

If they were a known trouble causer, plenty about, just ignore or block.
 

Chew Chew

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Do you know what the correct processes are for the op? If he is a contract or agency worker then it is very possible it would be immediate and follow the company's procedures correctly. Likewise is this was considered gross misconduct for bringing the company into disrepute then company policy may allow for immediate dismissal.

That doesn't mean he can't take legal action - just that the company has follow their procedures.
Unless merseysider names their employer and their own name then we'll never know.

As much as people don't want to accept it, the customer isn't always right.
 

yorkie

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Unless merseysider names their employer and their own name then we'll never know.
I know what job they do and, while it may not be technically true to say they would be immediately sacked - yes the correct procedures would need to be followed - the reality is that in certain jobs if you behaved very inappropriately your job would effectively become untenable and you'd likely be suspended immediately pending disciplinary proceedings.

I've witnessed or heard of rail staff behaving in a manner that people like myself, @Merseysider and many others absolutely could never get away with at work, and yet very little appears to be done about it.
As much as people don't want to accept it, the customer isn't always right.
True but I've witnessed rail staff mistreating customers who are right, and I've also witnessed inappropriate behaviour or language when customers aren't right. If a customer is wrong, there are ways and means to deal with it. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I have to deal with challenging behaviour in my job and I can't say "but they were wrong" as an excuse for poor behaviour on my part; it would be laughable.
 

Chew Chew

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@yorkie

It appears that you're almost completely agreeing with my post!

Correct process needs to be followed, that's only fair for everyone.

I also deal with challenging behaviour in my work. Lots of us do, especially in a retail or customer facing environment.

Often, when you hear the customer's initial version of events they sound like they've been a victim of a horrendous chain of events and a cover up because that's is what they feel like at the time before they've had a chance to calm down and behave rationally.

When you speak to them later they often change what they are saying, that's just human nature as the anger levels have dissipated.
 

duncanp

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Even I can see that there is a 06:37 from Wolverhampton to Preston (operated by Avanti), which arrives at Preston at 07:51.

There is then a connection to Blackpool North at 08:25, arriving 08:49, which is 1 hour 17 minutes later than if the 05:48 had run.

It wouldn't take too much trouble for the person manning the Twitter feed to look this up, and convey the information to the passenger, along with an assurance about ticket acceptance, apologies for the delay, and advice about claiming delay repay.

It is not very professional to make sarcastic remarks to paying customers.

All over the railway there are, quite rightly, notices which say that rail staff should not have to suffer physical or verbal abuse whilst doing their job, even in times of disruption.

Why then do Avanti West Coast think it acceptable for their staff to verbally abuse customers in this way?
 

skyhigh

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Why then do Avanti West Coast think it acceptable for their staff to verbally abuse customers in this way?
Unprofessional yes, but the tweets could hardly be described as 'verbal abuse'.
 

robbeech

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Unprofessional yes, but the tweets could hardly be described as 'verbal abuse'.
It would be described as verbal abuse if it was a passenger talking to a staff member. Picking an choosing how to label something depending on who is to blame sounds very ‘railway’ I guess.
 

FOCTOC

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So, have you got "Sean" sacked yet? That presumably was the OP's ultimate wish?
 
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