My trip on WSMR

[robert2000]

It was really great, sausage batch was the best ive ever tried, the journey was smooth.

however, Ibought an underground zone 1 and 2 ticket on the train but it never worked at any underground ticket barrier, I had to be let through the barrier by a member of staff each time. A member of underground staff told me to exchange it for another one at a mainline station. But the member of staff at the mainline station told me that they could not change the ticket.

Who was in the wrong.

WSMR = for handing out valid tickets, but not to work through a barrier.
TFL staff = lack of ticket knowledge
mainline station staff = cant be bothered changing the ticket.

 

[yorkie]

This is the railways, so the passenger is always wrong :P or it's the fault of the "other" company. Whatever company you ask for help, even if it wasn't their fault, it's not their job to help you, it's the other companies job.. Sad, but in many cases, so true

I suspect that WSMRs machine was faulty. I am not sure if it is true that you should be expected to exchange the ticket, but if LU want you to exchange the ticket, then they should do it, if they can't then they should put up and shut up, IMO.

 

[devon_metro]

Underground tickets issued via Avantix often don't work in barriers.

 

[robert2000]

Also my morning train from wrexham was double booked, they said the booking system uses the new refurbed trains only. I kept my seat because i boarded at wrexham, whilst other passenger boarded at shrerwsbury.

the train back was refurbed, looks really nice.

 

[welshpickle]

Any National Rail or Lul ticket office should have exchanged the ticket, they can sometimes not work because: an encoding fault on the machine, a faulty ticket or simply your sticky fingers from your sausage bap across the black strip on the back of the ticket everyone who reserves a seat gets one, the reservation system is set up for the new sets, however when an old set is out the seat numbers don't match up, so the reservations are put elsewhere. Might take an extra 2 minutes to find the correct seat but they are there!

 

[robert2000]

in future i will buy my underground ticket at marylebone ticket machine.

 

[Squaddie]

I travelled with WSMR yesterday, from London to Wrexham and back, to visit friends. And I have to say that I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the service compared with that offered by most other rail companies in this country.

The train each way was a refurbished set, and was stunning inside and out. The calm, stylish grey interior was a stark contrast to to garish purple interiors favoured by First Great Western, and much more spacious than that on either FGW or Virgin. The staff were friendly and efficient, welcoming everyone on board and making a point of saying goodnight to everyone as we left the train at Marylebone.

Announcements were kept to a minimum, simply announcing the next station. Again, the contrast with FGW, on which the announcements are almost constant throughout the journey, was remarkable.

I don't normally travel in Standard on British trains, as I find the accommodation cramped and claustrophobic, but on this occasion I did, due mainly to the immense discrepancy between the Advance fares in Standard and First on WSMR. (£10 Standard, £55 First). And now that I have experienced WSMR's Standard accommodation I don't think I will ever have to splash out to try their First Class offering, as the seating was simply excellent.

There were just two aspects of the journey that were less than satisfactory. One of these is not the fault of WSMR, whereas the other could (and should) have been avoided.

The first was the seemingly endless period of slow running between Coventry and Tame Bridge. It rather undermined the impression of a sleek, efficient operation that was otherwise obtained. On the way back, the journey did seem very long and I think that the ideal way to travel to Wrexham might be to take WSMR out and Virgin First Class coming back (because at the end of a long day you just want to get home quickly).

The second was that on the outward journey, for some reason, the staff had not put the seat reservation tickets out, telling people to sit wherever they liked. This led to a fair bit of confusion and irritation, especially when a sizeable group boarded at Banbury to find that they could not sit together. (And the subsequent noise as the group chatted across the carriage all the way to Shrewsbury made the journey less pleasant for everyone). This is an oversight that should have been avoided.

Nevertheless, I will certainly be using WSMR again in future, and will be recommending them to everyone I know. Excellent work, chaps.

 

[Skip 10]

I travelled with WSMR yesterday, from London to Wrexham and back, to visit friends. And I have to say that I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the service compared with that offered by most other rail companies in this country.

The train each way was a refurbished set, and was stunning inside and out. The calm, stylish grey interior was a stark contrast to to garish purple interiors favoured by First Great Western, and much more spacious than that on either FGW or Virgin. The staff were friendly and efficient, welcoming everyone on board and making a point of saying goodnight to everyone as we left the train at Marylebone.

Announcements were kept to a minimum, simply announcing the next station. Again, the contrast with FGW, on which the announcements are almost constant throughout the journey, was remarkable.

I don't normally travel in Standard on British trains, as I find the accommodation cramped and claustrophobic, but on this occasion I did, due mainly to the immense discrepancy between the Advance fares in Standard and First on WSMR. (£10 Standard, £55 First). And now that I have experienced WSMR's Standard accommodation I don't think I will ever have to splash out to try their First Class offering, as the seating was simply excellent.

The only aspect of the journey that was less than satisfactory (and I realise that this is not the fault of WSMR) is the seemingly endless period of slow running between Coventry and Tame Bridge. It rather undermined the impression of a sleek, efficient operation that was otherwise obtained. On the way back, the journey did seem very long and I think that the ideal way to travel to Wrexham might be to take WSMR out and Virgin First Class coming back (because at the end of a long day you just want to get home quickly).

Also, on the outward journey, for some reason, the staff had not put the seat reservation tickets out, telling people to sit wherever they liked. This led to a fair bit of confusion and irritation, especially when a sizeable group boarded at Banbury to find that they could not sit together. (And the subsequent noise as the group chatted across the carriage all the way to Shrewsbury made the journey less pleasant for everyone). This is an oversight that should have been avoided.

Nevertheless, I will certainly be using WSMR again in future, and will be recommending them to everyone I know. Excellent work, chaps.

Sorry about the reservations, they hadnt printed out when I left Wrexham on friday morning, its been a problem of late. I didnt have a guards report to hand write the reservations either so I didnt know how many or where to put them out. Unfortunatly when I got home I checked my personal mobile as it had gone flat whilst I was in London and found that 1 of the other TM's had text me with the reservations on the friday night. I do feel it was my fault in a way and tried to explain why there was no reservations when I did carry out my ticket check. Lesson learnt next time, take personal mobile charger with me instead of just my company one Sorry.

 

[Squaddie]

Sorry about the reservations, they hadnt printed out when I left Wrexham on friday morning, its been a problem of late. I didnt have a guards report to hand write the reservations either so I didnt know how many or where to put them out. Unfortunatly when I got home I checked my personal mobile as it had gone flat whilst I was in London and found that 1 of the other TM's had text me with the reservations on the friday night. I do feel it was my fault in a way and tried to explain why there was no reservations when I did carry out my ticket check. Lesson learnt next time, take personal mobile charger with me instead of just my company one Sorry.

Gosh!

You mean that WSMR staff not only read these forums but reply to comments - and within minutes of a comment being made? That is simply amazing.

No need to apologise: these things happen. If anything, it endears me even more to the company to realise that it's run and staffed by real people!

You should all be very proud of the service you offer your customers.

 

[Skip 10]

Gosh!

You mean that WSMR staff not only read these forums but reply to comments - and within minutes of a comment being made? That is simply amazing.

No need to apologise: these things happen. If anything, it endears me even more to the company to realise that it's run and staffed by real people!

You should all be very proud of the service you offer your customers.

Thanks, Im just having a relaxing morninig as Im on a late turn hence the reason for being on here at this time, but I do know there are atleast 4 of us on here including the top man so we do try and keep up-to-date.

 

[MCR247]

Squaddie the MD is also a member here: WSMRMD I think

 

[royaloak]

, it endears me even more to the company to realise that it's run and staffed by real people.

And the rest of us in the rail industry are robots, nice!

 

[robert2000]

no you are not robots.

because robots would listen to what passengers want. lol

 

[Squaddie]

And the rest of us in the rail industry are robots, nice!

I'm sure there are nice people working for every train company, people who go out of their way to make sure that their passengers' needs are cared for.

But, to be honest, that is not an impression I have gained very often on my many, frequent travels on FGW, Virgin and other train companies. There have been occasions when the rudeness and indifference of station and train staff have taken my breath away, and my subsequent comments to customer service have apparently deserved nothing more than a standard, copy-and-paste reply dismissing every one of my points.

It is a sad indictment of the state of the UK's railways today that a train company that provides comfortable seating, a pleasant ambience and friendly staff should stand out in the way that WSMR does. That should be the very least that all train companies should be offering their customers.

But let's not turn this into a TOC-bashing thread. Let's keep it for comments about people's experiences of WSMR.

 

[royaloak]

no you are not robots.

because robots would listen to what passengers want. lol

Oh I think I know what you NEED, might not be what you want!
Don't you just love all these self righteous, hollier than thou prats that don't have a clue!
And you wonder why staff treat you the way they do when you have the attitude that (apart from WSMR) we don't listen, of course if what you said made sense then we might, just might, listen!

How many times a week do I help people over and above what I should do and not even get a thank you, won't bother this week, I will just ignore them and walk past, I mean i am apparently not helpful so why bother!

 

[the sniper]

Oh I think I know what you NEED, might not be what you want!
Don't you just love all these self righteous, hollier than thou prats that don't have a clue!
And you wonder why staff treat you the way they do when you have the attitude that (apart from WSMR) we don't listen, of course if what you said made sense then we might, just might, listen!

How many times a week do I help people over and above what I should do and not even get a thank you, won't bother this week, I will just ignore them and walk past, I mean i am apparently not helpful so why bother!

Why are you taking this so personally?

 

[royaloak]

After you hear the same crap 50 times it becomes rather annoying.

 

[merlodlliw]

Squaddie the MD is also a member here: WSMRMD I think

Correct, W/S gain a lot of information from this site.

 

[Squaddie]

And you wonder why staff treat you the way they do when you have the attitude that (apart from WSMR) we don't listen, of course if what you said made sense then we might, just might, listen!

How many times a week do I help people over and above what I should do and not even get a thank you, won't bother this week, I will just ignore them and walk past, I mean i am apparently not helpful so why bother!

Don't take it so personally. No-one has said that there are no helpful staff on other TOCs.

Nevertheless, it has to be said that few of the operating companies seem to listen to what passengers want. Take FGW: do passengers really want that dreadful purple and pink colour scheme, carriages without any table seats whatsoever and almost constant, deafening announcements from the train manager and buffet manager throughout the journey? (Apparently, we do - at least, that is what FGW customer relations told me when I raised those issues with them). Do Virgin customers want the seats so close together that their knees are touching the seat in front?

When you're trapped on a cramped and claustrophobic long-distance train, facing the next few hours with dread rather than the anticipation that train journeys should give rise to, and when you've just been told that there will be no buffet due to staff shortage, it's difficult to appreciate the quality of the train crew.

To the passenger, the train crew are the public face of the train operating company, and if you're having a crap journey you will inevitably blame them for it (even if the situation is beyond their control). And the times when a member of the train crew will even acknowledge that there is a problem, let alone apologise for it, are very few and far between.