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The Train Line Fail

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HST Power

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SS4 said:
Sometimes Indians are easier to understand than Geordies!
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I am actually partly from Newcastle but I don't have the accent! I think we've got a tough call there. We should run a test to find out!
 
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trentside

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At least the people from Newcastle understand what you're saying back to them. The drama a relative of mine had with the BT call centres got so bad she was just about to give up, when someone from their head office rang to apologise, and offer compensation for the hassle and distress they had caused!
 
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junglejames

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Blindtraveler said:
i like to book by phöe and frequantly p off tocs opperaters by booking for a different toc, to avoid using the middle east call centres. I'm not racist but having to spell stations like edinburgh really anoys me!
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Are there any TOCs with call centres in Middle East then?
Apparently I heard EC were sending their group travel call centre over to India/ Sri Lanka, or somewhere like that, but thats all i know of. Even thats bad enough though
 
SS4

SS4

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trentside said:
At least the people from Newcastle understand what you're saying back to them. The drama a relative of mine had with the BT call centres got so bad she was just about to give up, when someone from their head office rang to apologise, and offer compensation for the hassle and distress they had caused!
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That is true and to be fair I suspect people outside Brum/West Midlands have trouble understanding a Brummie accent (FTR it's not the same as a black country accent)
 
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junglejames

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HST Power said:
I am actually partly from Newcastle but I don't have the accent! I think we've got a tough call there. We should run a test to find out!
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Geordie accent is absolutely no problem at all to understand. In fact, I quite like call centres from there, because they are usually friendlier.

The Indian accent is more difficult to understand at the best of times, and a nightmare to understand at the worst of times.
So Geordie accent wins hands down. Never any problem.
Now if you had a really strong Glaswegian accent, then that could rival the Indian accent, but ive never had someone in a call centre with a really strong Glaswegian accent.
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SS4 said:
That is true and to be fair I suspect people outside Brum/West Midlands have trouble understanding a Brummie accent (FTR it's not the same as a black country accent)
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I have no problem with those accents either. A female with a strong Brummie accent can sound funny, but its easy to understand.
 
craigwilson

craigwilson

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SS4 said:
That is true and to be fair I suspect people outside Brum/West Midlands have trouble understanding a Brummie accent (FTR it's not the same as a black country accent)
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Indeed. You have to really try hard to convince some people of that though. As a Black Country lad it annoys me greatly! :lol:
 
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Blindtraveler

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tocs with indian call centres that i know of, mainly related to the trainline.

Xc, vt, atw, emt. Some departments of each e.g customer care and assisted travel are uk bassed though. Any more?

Jordies, brummies, black country all fine for me!
 
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ApAp

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junglejames said:
Apparently I heard EC were sending their group travel call centre over to India/ Sri Lanka, or somewhere like that, but thats all i know of. Even thats bad enough though
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Any evidence of that? A decent telesales operation based in Newcastle was always a nice point about GNER and I was happy that NXEC retained it.

One time many years ago I tried to call Virgin telesales (for Crosscountry, but I assume Virgin had one number for WC and XC) and it was an automated voice activated service, do they still use it? I gave up and called GNER.

If they are offshoring the call centre it's nice to see that the British government cares so much about British jobs (not to mention customer service) :roll:
 
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island

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I much prefer WebTIS (the system used by East Coast/Southeastern/etc.) to thetrainline.
 
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All Line Rover

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Mojo said:
I disagree but like with most things YMMV.
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Although I am from the north of England, I also find that most people in London are friendly too. Those who are not in a rush at least! People from Manchester/Liverpool are no friendlier in my opinion.
 
Bittern

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All Line Rover

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HST Power said:
I suppose so. I've lived in Newcastle and in London, and from what I've seen, they are much friendlier up North.
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I've been to Newcastle lots of time, but never stepped foot off the train. Perhaps I'll have to do so some time.

I'll admit this: The one time I was REALLY impressed by East Coast's customer service (I was in First Class) was when it was a Newcastle crew. The guard/TM and all the First Class hosts were extremely polite and efficient.

My opinions of the "north", though, are balanced out by the WORST Virgin Trains crew I've ever, EVER experienced - they were from Liverpool. I went to the loo, a member of staff was standing there and the door was open, I asked "Is it out of order?", thinking she was checking it, and she said: "No - I'm using it!" in the most blunt manner imaginable. If I was her, I would have at least said "No sir, the toilet is working - you're welcome to use it", and then gone and found another one.
 
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HST Power

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First_Class said:
I've been to Newcastle lots of time, but never stepped foot off the train. Perhaps I'll have to do so some time.

I'll admit this: The one time I was REALLY impressed by East Coast's customer service (I was in First Class) was when it was a Newcastle crew. The guard/TM and all the First Class hosts were extremely polite and efficient.

My opinions of the "north", though, are balanced out by the WORST Virgin Trains crew I've ever, EVER experienced - they were from Liverpool. I went to the loo, a member of staff was standing there and the door was open, I asked "Is it out of order?", thinking she was checking it, and she said: "No - I'm using it!" in the most blunt manner imaginable. If I was her, I would have at least said "No sir, the toilet is working - you're welcome to use it", and then gone and found another one.
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East Coast are my top company! If I have to go by HST, then I go with them! I've only ever taken a few trips with Virgin from Euston to Manchester on the good old Pendolino. If I had been you, I would have asked for that staff members name and lodged a complaint. Behaviour like that is rude, unnaceptable and unecessary.

When I once went with Thomson (never again) on a flight to the Maldives, the check in staff were brushing their hair and painting their nails whilst I talked to them! The lady who was supposed to be helping me didn't even look up! I suppose we all have our expierences of nightmare service! :|
 
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HST Power said:
East Coast are my top company! If I have to go by HST, then I go with them! I've only ever taken a few trips with Virgin from Euston to Manchester on the good old Pendolino. If I had been you, I would have asked for that staff members name and lodged a complaint. Behaviour like that is rude, unnaceptable and unecessary.

When I once went with Thomson (never again) on a flight to the Maldives, the check in staff were brushing their hair and painting their nails whilst I talked to them! The lady who was supposed to be helping me didn't even look up! I suppose we all have our expierences of nightmare service! :|
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Oh AND I was sitting in Coach K on that Pendolino and for the rest of the journey I could hear that woman in the kitchen laughing at the top of her voice! It drove me nuts!

What happened to you, though, would never happen to me, as I don't like flying personally. The UK is a good enough place for me! There are plenty of things to do, and some bargain rail fares to be had.
 
willas00

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island said:
I much prefer WebTIS (the system used by East Coast/Southeastern/etc.) to thetrainline.
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I prefer the WebTIS system too, I personally tend to find I can get the cheaper fares using WebTIS rather than The Train Line system
 
transmanche

transmanche

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junglejames said:
Apparently I heard EC were sending their group travel call centre over to India/ Sri Lanka, or somewhere like that, but thats all i know of.
Click to expand...

ApAp said:
Any evidence of that?
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East Coast's telesales operation is actually still run by National Express, but they recently lost the contract to Intelenet & Atos. Although almost 200 jobs will be lost in Newcastle, there was no indication that jobs would be going overseas - more likely to Plymouth & Fort William.
 
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HST Power

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willas00 said:
I prefer the WebTIS system too, I personally tend to find I can get the cheaper fares using WebTIS rather than The Train Line system
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As I previously said, I've never actually got a discount from them. They are just the same.
 
willas00

willas00

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HST Power said:
As I previously said, I've never actually got a discount from them. They are just the same.
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Well I noticed in the past I've been able to find the advance tickets easier using WebITS.

However I tried South West Trains yesterday (Because they are now giving cash back on Quidco) and of course it uses The Train Line and it found all the cheap advance fares I wanted for my journeys for tomorrow so I'm happy I got Cash Back too rather than using WebITS and not getting cash back but still finding the advance fares :D
 
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