London Overground - rock bottom standards?

[RJ]

I went to Forest Hill today with what should have been a straightforward request - all I wanted was a Priv Single from Southampton Central to Ramsgate via Barnham.

Before even touching the computer, the clerk stated that he could not sell such a ticket (indignantly, not apologetically) as they could only sell tickets routed "Any Permitted." I then spent the best part of 5 minutes trying to get him to identify and issue the ticket before giving up.

Fastis+ is the only TIS I'm not familiar with, else I would have shown him how to do it. In my opinon, somebody who cannot sell a standard Anywhere to Anywhere ticket should not be working a window unsupervised. What a genuinely frustrating experience. I was doing rest day work in a booking office today but due to cash regs, I can't do my own tickets!

I don't know what kind of operation LOROL are running at Forest Hill. The other day I had to really speak to the gateline assistant because he left the gates closed and unattended for over 3 minutes. I found him on the platform chatting up one of the passengers and told him that people should not have to force their way through to enter and exit the station.

Is professionalism, politeness and the ability to perform basic tasks too much to expect in railway customer service these days? From a customer's perspective, a rude clerk who doesn't know how to sell tickets seems pretty useless.

 

[Be3G]

Before even touching the computer, the clerk stated that he could not sell such a ticket (indignantly, not apologetically) as they could only sell tickets routed "Any Permitted." I then spent the best part of 5 minutes trying to get him to identify and issue the ticket before giving up.

I wonder if this is at all connected with the fact that tube stations can only sell tickets with route ‘any permitted’?

 

[Prairie_5542]

It should have been £5! SDS via Barnham! Very easy fare! Came up on my tribute straight away! Why is it that some clerks make up their own stupid rules??

 

[Mojo]

I wonder if this is at all connected with the fact that tube stations can only sell tickets with route ‘any permitted’?

This isn't the case - a multitude of routes are available from Underground stations, although admittedly not all of the tickets that would necessarily be available from NR stations. Further Lorol and London Underground are different companies and use different systems.

 

[Be3G]

Hmm, when trying to buy a Stratford to Enfield Lock return route not via London from the tube ticket offices at the origin, I was told that all they can do is the any permitted ticket. I'd have thought they'd offer all the route options for a ticket within the London zones at least!

 

[Mojo]

Hmm, when trying to buy a Stratford to Enfield Lock return route not via London from the tube ticket offices at the origin, I was told that all they can do is the any permitted ticket.

The tickets that are available from each station is unique to that station; however the member of staff was probably saying for that flow all that can be issued is route Any Permitted.

 

[Deerfold]

The tickets that are available from each station is unique to that station;

Now *that* sounds complicated.

 

[maniacmartin]

This is totally expected for an East London line ticket office. It's also not a tricky task to issue such tickets from FasTIS - clerks on other TOCs manage to do it.

I think that there is such a deep-rooted belief among LO staff that they aren't part of National Rail that they assume they can't issue all sorts of tickets so they don't bother.

A lot of LO staff only seem to know about the journey planning (RJIS?) mode, where you enter a journey date and time and choose an itinerary, and then it displays the tickets, and they don't know/refuse to use the other mode where you can go straight down to the ticket you want without faffing with itineraries. Not having used a TIS myself, I've probably described that slightly wrong, but you get the idea.

Next time I suggest you buy using a mobile phone app and collect using ToD - only LOROL are against that too and won't even enable ToD at many of their stations. Otherwise, you need to cook up a fictional time that you want to travel, such that the fastest itinerary will be via Barnham and they can key it in.
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Regarding the rude clerk, there is no excuse for that. Luckily the rude members of staff at Surrey Quays haven't been there for a few weeks and have been replaced with friendlier staff. Perhaps they've been transferred to Forest Hill

 

[Paul Kelly]

Someone should write to Barry Doe with some of their experiences of the "We're not part of National Rail" variety with London Overground. I think the National Rail de-branding is a bit of a sore point for him and he would be interested to hear about this sort of thing, and would kick up a fuss about it.

 

[bb21]

Is professionalism, politeness and the ability to perform basic tasks too much to expect in railway customer service these days? From a customer's perspective, a rude clerk who doesn't know how to sell tickets seems pretty useless.

I give you one example where I was steadfastly told they could not sell a Boundary Zone ticket at Crystal Palace, and you can decide for yourself the answer to your question.

 

[bicbasher]

I'm a regular user of this station.

If you're lucky to get one of the ex Southern clerks (they're the older knowledgeable chaps) than you'll get what you require.

However it is becoming a more regular occurrence where LOROL have hired other staff who have no idea what you want unless you want an Oyster top-up or a single to London Bridge.

Yesterday I queued up to use the ticket office, after minutes of debating with a passenger about the price of one day travelcards for a family, the young clerk said to me along the lines of "Right, I'm closing, so make it quick" He did my £10 PAYG top-up in speedy time and then closed. (Ironically, one of the ex Southern clerks re-opened 5 mins later).

 

[bicbasher]

Another clanger at the Forest Hill ticket office yesterday. A chap in front of me asks how much the Oyster Travelcard cap is travelling to Balham and then into Zone 1. The clerk then claims the cap is the same as the off-peak paper travelcard at £8 instead of £7.70.

The clerk then sells him an £8 top-up. If they can't get that simple transaction correct, I dread to think what they do with NR fares if it's not an ex Southern clerk.

 

[Reason077]

It isn't the case that all London Overground ticket offices are bad. The guy at my local Overground station (on the Euston-Watford line) seems to quite enjoy the chance to sell more complicated tickets. I suspect they get a bit bored of spending most of their day topping up Oyster cards.

 

[Nym]

It isn't the case that all London Overground ticket offices are bad. The guy at my local Overground station (on the Euston-Watford line) seems to quite enjoy the chance to sell more complicated tickets. I suspect they get a bit bored of spending most of their day topping up Oyster cards.

Ah, but you see these will proberbly be Ex. Silverlink Metro staff so know what they're doing

 

[yorkie]

Another clanger at the Forest Hill ticket office yesterday. A chap in front of me asks how much the Oyster Travelcard cap is travelling to Balham and then into Zone 1. The clerk then claims the cap is the same as the off-peak paper travelcard at £8 instead of £7.70.

The clerk then sells him an £8 top-up. If they can't get that simple transaction correct, I dread to think what they do with NR fares if it's not an ex Southern clerk.

No harm done in this case as the customer would still have been charged the correct amount, but I am unsurprised that incorrect information was given out.
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It isn't the case that all London Overground ticket offices are bad. The guy at my local Overground station (on the Euston-Watford line) seems to quite enjoy the chance to sell more complicated tickets. I suspect they get a bit bored of spending most of their day topping up Oyster cards.

Some people did some 'mystery shopping' see Excess Fares: Recent Mystery Shopping There are some really good ones, but I get the impression that they are going beyond their training and showing initiative.

My experience of LO ticket offices is generally very poor, and I know of numerous others who have had poor experiences too.

 

[bicbasher]

Reading the thread that Yorkie linked to about the mystery shopper, the hiring of agency staff by LOROL would explain why may be considered complex issues are a problem at some LOROL stations, including Forest Hill.

The clerk on duty yesterday appeared to be not one of the regulars. I think out of the current staff at Forest Hill, there are four who are regular staff of which three are ex Southern. The rest appear to come in, do a shift are not seen for months, I suspect circulate among the other stations as I remember seeing one clerk also working at New Cross Gate.
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Next time I suggest you buy using a mobile phone app and collect using ToD - only LOROL are against that too and won't even enable ToD at many of their stations.

I think out of all their managed stations on the network only TEN (New Cross Gate to West Croydon/Crystal Palace) offer ToD and all are served by Southern services. (I haven't checked to see if Wandsworth Road and Clapham High Street have their ToD facility still).

I imagine it was part of the agreement of the transfer of stations from Southern to London Overground that certain facilities were maintained, such as ToD and sale of season tickets.

 

[RJ]

I went to Forest Hill today. More fool me for nominating it as the station I had to collect my Priv Season ticket from.

I spent 20 minutes at the counter trying to get it done, during which time the clerk managed to print out a Scholar Season with an EDUC discount, taking £217.60 of my hard earned in the process. After that, it still wasn't done. That ticket had to be non-issued of course, meaning I conveniently have to go without that money for a couple of days.

The clerk to their credit had a really great attitude but it's a nuisance being told to come back at another time. The ticket is supposed to start on Monday and I was there at that time because I don't have time tomorrow or Monday to go to Forest Hill. Which means a 15 day delay in getting the authorisation for another season ticket.

I really wish they would scrap the rule which says I can't do my own tickets!

 

[bicbasher]

More recently I've been getting the ex Southern clerks at the ticket office at Forest Hill, which has led less major issues. The only niggle was when I asked for a £6 Oyster PAYG transaction a week or so ago, the clerk pressed the cash button on FasTIS instead of card, so had to break a £20 note instead. He was really apologetic mind.