Misinformed TM

[Daniel]

In practice everything does not go seamlessly. I've had several issues with Oyster myself and the amount of people who turn up at my window wanting their problems resolved on a daily basis is quite significant.

Ditto.

 

[penaltyfines]

I've contacted FGW through their website in the first instance, waiting to see what their reply is first off!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've contacted FGW through their website in the first instance, waiting to see what their reply is first off!

Reply from FGW Customer Services:

Question was:

- I have a Z12 Monthly Season on Oyster
- I buy a BZ2-Reading Anytime Day Return
- Can I travel on the HST non-stop service from PAD to RDG, as I have been informed by gateline and TM staff that without oyster readers the season ticket portion cannot be read and is therefore invalid?

Thank you for your email of 17 September 2010 with regards to your query on tickets.

I regret to advise that as the next station out of London Paddington is outside of boundary zone 2 you will be unable to use your Oyster card for this. The next station is Ealing Broadway and this is in zone 3.

Thank you again for contacting First Great Western.

Yours sincerely

Gareth Walters
Customer Services Advisor

It would appear this guy has no grasp on ticketing.

"Use your Oyster card for this" ?

The question was over the validity of the oyster medium, how does Zone 3 come into it? Would a Z123 travelcard be ok then?!

grrr......

 

[yorkie]

Forward it to London Travelwatch & ATOC, asking if they can inform FGW of their obligations to accept Travelcards regardless of what medium they're stored on.

That advisor may meet FGW's standards for an 'advisor' (!), but they sure wouldn't meet the standards of an 'advisor' on here!!!

 

[Wolfie]

Think you need to draw FGW's attention to Para 1.3 sentence 1 (unless they are now trying to opt out of being a National Rail company as well - a little bit hard as they are third on the list!):

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/misc/Oystercou.pdf

Is that "advisor" also breaking the last sentence of that para????

"Please note that staff and agents have no authority to make individual exceptions to the National Rail Conditions of Carriage or these Conditions of Use."

 

[Greenback]

Please remember that FGW's 'Customer Service Advisors' are very junior members of staff that have little or no nretailing and ticketing experience! They ar eprimarily employed to send out apologies for delyed and canceleld trains, trot out standard excuse on pre designed company templates, and tell customers who valuable their feedback is!

I wouldn't expect to get a sensible response from them, I would address the query to someone a bit higher up the ladder!

 

[jon0844]

If you don't know something, you simply say so and offer to pass the request on to someone who does.

FGW has failed miserably by allowing a junior member of staff to answer something incorrect, when that information could be taken as 100% accurate by someone who expects it to be true (or they wouldn't have bothered asking). If that information was then passed on, or even published somewhere, think of the damage that Mr Walters has done - and the trouble FGW may get into.

And all because too many people these days are afraid to admit they don't know everything. I never judge people because they don't know something, but I do judge those who try and lie or simply bluff - whether it's a customer service advisor, or a PCSO making up a non-existent law..

 

[TEW]

They are probably only repeating what they have been told. If you reply saying that they haven't answered your question it will get passed on to someone with more knowledge.

 

[penaltyfines]

I called FGW customer services yesterday and explained the issue to them, and got the following response e-mailed to me:

Thank you for your email regarding travelling from London to Reading using a combination of tickets including a Zone 1-2 monthly season ticket on an Oyster Card.

I can confirm that you do not have to be on a train that stops at the ticket changeover when using a combination of tickets if one of these is a season ticket as stated in section 19 of the national conditions of carriage and travelling on a High Speed Train on national rail with an Oyster Card within the zones is allowed.

Still not a perfect explanation of what I was saying, but that seems to cover it!

 

[Greenback]

If you don't know something, you simply say so and offer to pass the request on to someone who does.

FGW has failed miserably by allowing a junior member of staff to answer something incorrect, when that information could be taken as 100% accurate by someone who expects it to be true (or they wouldn't have bothered asking). If that information was then passed on, or even published somewhere, think of the damage that Mr Walters has done - and the trouble FGW may get into.

And all because too many people these days are afraid to admit they don't know everything. I never judge people because they don't know something, but I do judge those who try and lie or simply bluff - whether it's a customer service advisor, or a PCSO making up a non-existent law..

It's not a question of them not knowing, it's more the fact that they don;t know that they don't know! They are given only the most basic and rudimentary info about ticketing, and, as they say, a little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing!

They are probably only repeating what they have been told. If you reply saying that they haven't answered your question it will get passed on to someone with more knowledge.

Exactly right! Sometimes it's very difficult with many organisations, to get past the first line of enquiry handlers and on to someone who is actually able to answer the question with sufficient detail.

I called FGW customer services yesterday and explained the issue to them, and got the following response e-mailed to me:



Still not a perfect explanation of what I was saying, but that seems to cover it!

That sounds more like it!