Customer Relations Response Time

[sheff'd victoria]

Were just wondering what the feedback is on the time it takes either a T.O.C or Network Rail to respond to you if you either write, e-mail or phone about a comment or complaint.

We find Network Rail are very slow to respond via snail mail, we sent them a letter in May, it took 3 weeks to send up a letter back and their still have been no follow up letter from them on the report we sent in.

Northern Rail send this with their e-mails

" Thank you for taking the time to contact Northern, the train company serving communities across the north of England.
We aim to respond within 20 working days" .

Is 20 days to long ?

Your Views Please

 

[yorkie]

It's not uncommon for East Coast to simply never respond. So if Northern always respond within 20 days that would be pretty good! However it does say "aim to respond" so, in other words, they aren't promising anything!

 

[michael769]

Scotrail are pretty good at responding - alas my experience is that their response rarely addresses the issue(s) that I raise.

Network Rail have never actually responded to me in a timely manner - mostly they respond after I protest to Passenger Focus about their non-response.

 

[bluenoxid]

My experience on FixMyTransport has been that it has been incredibly variable for a lot of TOC's. My advice is to email all correspondence and initiate a chase after twenty days depending on the urgency of the issue.

If you don't get an automated response from the operator when emailing them, chase them within 24 hours.

Personally, I think twenty days is too long and the target should be ten days.

 

[leedslad82]

Were just wondering what the feedback is on the time it takes either a T.O.C or Network Rail to respond to you if you either write, e-mail or phone about a comment or complaint.

We find Network Rail are very slow to respond via snail mail, we sent them a letter in May, it took 3 weeks to send up a letter back and their still have been no follow up letter from them on the report we sent in.

Northern Rail send this with their e-mails

" Thank you for taking the time to contact Northern, the train company serving communities across the north of England.
We aim to respond within 20 working days" .

Is 20 days to long ?

Your Views Please

i've three times had cause to e-mail northern and always had a responce within 48 hours

 

[Greenback]

As someone who has previously been inovlved in customer relations and complaints for a major part of my working life, I can say that there are some of enquiries and feedback thats imply cannot be answered within the sort of timescales that organisations like to state.

As an example, my previous organisation said it would acknowledge all feedback on the day they were received, and would provide a full reply within five working days. It was impossible to asnwer anything other than the basic enquiries within that sort of timescale, especially if an investigation had to take place, or other members of staff needed to be talked to or consulted. Unfortunately, the organisation ended up being criticised almost much for delays in replying as it was for other matters, as the timescales were often completely unrealistic.

My feeling is that twenty days is too long a period, but unless it is recognised that some issues will take quite a while to address properly, then companies are likely to err on the side of cautionso that they can claim that xx% of their correspondence is dealt with within their published standards.

 

[igloo]

My recent experience with Northern was:

• I mailed them Fri, 9 Nov 2012 21:15:54
• they replied Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:59:30
• I replied Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:34:30
• they replied Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:40:04

so I would guess that 20 working days is a target that they aim to answer even the toughest of queries in, but that most will be handled much more promptly.

 

[Greenback]

My recent experience with Northern was:

• I mailed them Fri, 9 Nov 2012 21:15:54
• they replied Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:59:30
• I replied Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:34:30
• they replied Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:40:04

so I would guess that 20 working days is a target that they aim to answer even the toughest of queries in, but that most will be handled much more promptly.

I agree. I would say that the vast majority of enquiries are straightforward, and cna probably be answered within 24 hours as far as TOC's are concerned, but those issues that need to be escalated, or involve other departments, will take much longer.

Workload will also have an impact. If there has been a lot of delayed services, or general disruption, there will inevitably be a lot more enquiries and complaints to deal with, so responses should be much faster on 'quieter' days!

 

[maniacmartin]

It really does depend on the TOC. For example, FCC have never replied to or even acknowledged the letters I've sent them.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

From past experience VT take a month, sometimes a bit over when there's a string of incidents in and around the same time frame (like all the recent WCML distruption; time frame being about 2 weeks)