Twitter-the train driver's enemy

[NI 271]

Part of my job is dealing with complaints. I obviously have to be seen to be taking the complaint seriously, but I take most of what I'm told with a cellar of salt. Any sensible manager would do the same. Being seen on Twitter as taking a complaint seriously is not the same thing as actually taking it seriously.

Yep, have spent most of 2013 doing the same. Having seen first hand just how many complaints via the proper channels have little or no basis in fact (our staff complained when CCTV was introduced many years ago, but most now realise that it is often a splendid way to disprove spurious - or even fabricated - claims against them), I'm not over-enamoured with the idea of taking complaints via twitter seriously at all.

Any manager who doesn't keep a VERY open mind when dealing with complaints is a fool. There are occasions where a legitimate complaint may actually be factually correct, but even still there may be a legitimate reason for one of our staff to have done what they did. The thought that some companies automatically assume guilt on behalf of their employees is appalling.

 

[Howardh]

If someone complains about an individual (rather than, say, a service) on Twitter/Fecebook (etc) shouldn't the standard reply be *please put your complaint in writing and send it to the appropriate department* so if it's a genuine complaint they would be happy to do so, if it's a (false and) timewasting complaint they surely won't bother?

In my company e-mail complaints are rarely dealt with (as they are so easy to write and send) but proper letter ones are taken much more seriously.

 

[sheff1]

In my company e-mail complaints are rarely dealt with (as they are so easy to write and send) but proper letter ones are taken much more seriously.

I have never had an email complaint ignored by a company. If that ever happened I would make sure that company never received my custom again and I would be sure to tell friends/colleagues what had happened.

If someone complains about an individual (rather than, say, a service) on Twitter/Fecebook (etc) shouldn't the standard reply be *please put your complaint in writing and send it to the appropriate department* so if it's a genuine complaint they would be happy to do so, if it's a (false and) timewasting complaint they surely won't bother?

Agree with this. Complaints about individuals should not normally be in the public domain.

 

[Howardh]

I have never had an email complaint ignored by a company. If that ever happened I would make sure that company never received my custom again and I would be sure to tell friends/colleagues what had happened.

If I had a genuine colmpaint I would never send an e-mail, always a letter. If there was no *real* address for the company I would e-mail them and ask for a postal address. If they ignored/refused then I would research deeper until I found one (take one step forward, British Eurosport !!).

Believe me, e-mails do not carry the same gravitas as written complaints, but saying that my company is ran by people even older than me who, like me, consider e-mails trivial. Rightly or wrongly.

 

[infobleep]

If you don't mind me asking, why did you need to speak with British Eurosport? I've just signed up to their TV/online service as I'm not interested in any other pay for TV channrls.

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[JGR]

If I had a genuine colmpaint I would never send an e-mail, always a letter. If there was no *real* address for the company I would e-mail them and ask for a postal address. If they ignored/refused then I would research deeper until I found one (take one step forward, British Eurosport !!).

Believe me, e-mails do not carry the same gravitas as written complaints, but saying that my company is ran by people even older than me who, like me, consider e-mails trivial. Rightly or wrongly.

Why exactly is a formal complaint printed on some dead trees and hand-delivered more weighty than one with the same content delivered electronically?

I'm not arguing that a lot of people still feel this way, but I can't see any objective reason for it to be so.
Email is cheaper, more efficient and less hassle for everyone involved.
(Then again I work for a telecoms company, so I would be in favour of email...)

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have made formal complaints, though not to the railway, by e-mail and they have been treated just as seriously as if they had been in written form on paper.

 

[the sniper]

If I had a genuine colmpaint I would never send an e-mail, always a letter. If there was no *real* address for the company I would e-mail them and ask for a postal address. If they ignored/refused then I would research deeper until I found one (take one step forward, British Eurosport !!).

I'm fascinated to know what your complaint to British Eurosport was about?! Aren't they based in Feltham or something like that? You should have written to the folks in Paris, I did.

 

[Lankyline]

Any drivers or guards on here had their managers tell them about compliments received from passengers via twitter about their performance / service ?

Or is it still the case of complaints make headlines, we are too quick in this country to criticse poor service / performance yet too slow to compliment people for a job well done !

Seems people just expect everything to work perfectly everytime, then reality strikes !

 

[A-driver]

Any drivers or guards on here had their managers tell them about compliments received from passengers via twitter about their performance / service ?

Or is it still the case of complaints make headlines, we are too quick in this country to criticse poor service / performance yet too slow to compliment people for a job well done !

Seems people just expect everything to work perfectly everytime, then reality strikes !

Managers do pass on tweets relating to complaints or praise. Praise is often passed on in a note and complaints are passed on as a 'please explain' ie asking for the drivers side of the story. No action is ever really taken as normally with complaint tweets there is another side to the story.

We have recently had a blind man confronting drivers whilst audio recording about lack of announcements and then uploading the clips to twitter. Drivers were originally unaware he was recording but no action was taken against the drivers complained about simply because we are not required to announce every stop. It's certainly not possible to do and the lack of announcements is a failing of the older rolling stock combined with DOO and nothing to do with a driver breaking rules despite what this guys twitter feed suggests.

 

[Tetchytyke]

In my company e-mail complaints are rarely dealt with (as they are so easy to write and send) but proper letter ones are taken much more seriously.

Or the letter complaints are conveniently lost in the post, which is a utility company specialism.

 

[Max]

If I had a genuine colmpaint I would never send an e-mail, always a letter. If there was no *real* address for the company I would e-mail them and ask for a postal address. If they ignored/refused then I would research deeper until I found one (take one step forward, British Eurosport !!).

Believe me, e-mails do not carry the same gravitas as written complaints, but saying that my company is ran by people even older than me who, like me, consider e-mails trivial. Rightly or wrongly.

Intra- and inter-business communication relies almost solely on emails now, so why should the customer-facing relationship be any different? When writing a formal complaint and sending by email, I will either write the email in a more formal style of English or send the letter as an attachment. Apologies, but I do feel this could be seen as an out-dated viewpoint.

 

[infobleep]

Managers do pass on tweets relating to complaints or praise. Praise is often passed on in a note and complaints are passed on as a 'please explain' ie asking for the drivers side of the story. No action is ever really taken as normally with complaint tweets there is another side to the story.

We have recently had a blind man confronting drivers whilst audio recording about lack of announcements and then uploading the clips to twitter. Drivers were originally unaware he was recording but no action was taken against the drivers complained about simply because we are not required to announce every stop. It's certainly not possible to do and the lack of announcements is a failing of the older rolling stock combined with DOO and nothing to do with a driver breaking rules despite what this guys twitter feed suggests.

I've got so use to hearing announcements that I once missed my stop because I was engrossed in reading something and there was no automated announcement on the rolling stock I was on - to old and not upgraded [FCC thameslink stock]

I'm sure that happens from time to time.

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[A-driver]

I've got so use to hearing announcements that I once missed my stop because I was engrossed in reading something and there was no automated announcement on the rolling stock I was on - to old and not upgraded [FCC thameslink stock]

I'm sure that happens from time to time.

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It probably does, especially when dark outside and on very busy trains but it's still not practicle to expect a driver to announce every single stop, especially on suburban trains where the driver could quite easily be stopping at 110 stations that day.

 

[infobleep]

I'm not saying it is. However if there is a guard on board, it should be. One guard did just that last week when in some of the carriages automated announcements were not working. Perhaps that went beyond the call of duty but I was grateful. He even apologised to those who were hearing him and the automated announcements.

Contrast that to the laylter running 18.40 Surbiton to Basingstoke tonight. We left 4-5 mins late. Not so unusual but doesn't happen all the time.

We must have been running slightly slower around Walton on Thames and then very slowly towards Woking. Outside Woking we stopped and they let the 18.58 to Portsmouth go first. We arrived into Woking 11 minutes late. During all of this not a word from the guard. Even the 19.24 service from Guildford, which was on time, had a general announcement from the guard

It's events like this which lead people to twitter, including myself and I do congratulate staff on twitter too. It works both ways.

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[Tracky]

Re: Letters or Emails

In my company, letters are scanned in and fed into the computer system so both types can be dealt with in order. Both are treated with the same level of importance.

 

[rich200tdi]

Good ol' Facebook has had a few disciplined/dissmissed at work!

 

[Bodiddly]

Reading this whole thread, a few things have surfaced, namely a large majority of the public can't be trusted to have a gripe about poor service without resorting to personal attacks on members of staff through social media and the apparent lack of understanding of the true facts by the management through the same tweets and FB updates. Unfortunately, this is technological progress at it's absolute worst. If you give someone the tool to vent frustration immediately after the cause, no wonder people have a go. It's another example of how society is becoming ostracised.
I can't say I have as much sympathy for train drivers as I do for the front line staff, as there are good locks on cab doors! On occasion where I wear my orange vest around the station (I'm depot based) I do realise I am representing my TOC and deal politely and courteously with enquiries from passengers, which normally has me pointing them towards the travel centre. I have come into contact with some nasty people who think they are the only person in the country who should get assistance. You need to smile, get on with helping people who appreciate it, and don't let it get you down.

 

[Nym]

I can't say I have as much sympathy for train drivers as I do for the front line staff, as there are good locks on cab doors! On occasion where I wear my orange vest around the station (I'm depot based) I do realise I am representing my TOC and deal politely and courteously with enquiries from passengers, which normally has me pointing them towards the travel centre. I have come into contact with some nasty people who think they are the only person in the country who should get assistance. You need to smile, get on with helping people who appreciate it, and don't let it get you down.

This is why almost always without exception, if I'm with the travelling public (to/from work etc.) on my company's network, I'll always try to wear something over any PPE if it's cold, or remove anything with said company's logo if that's not possible.

 

[jon0844]

Right, I'm going to Tweet your boss to say that I saw you trying to hide your company identify from me!!

 

[AndyLandy]

Right, I'm going to Tweet your boss to say that I saw you trying to hide your company identify from me!!

Ahh, but you have to work out which his company is first!

 

[LBSCR Times]

Ahh, but you have to work out which his company is first!

I find it makes no difference who the company is, anyone in a 'railway industry' jacket will get caught.... and I've seen contractors get asked about trains too!!

 

[DeeGee]

Ahh, but you have to work out which his company is first!

I find it makes no difference who the company is, anyone in a 'railway industry' jacket will get caught.... and I've seen contractors get asked about trains too!!

That is because the travelling public don't know or care - and neither should they have to - whether the British Rail service they want to get is operated by NedRail or Deutsche Bahn.

 

[imagination]

What a pleasant individual...

https://twitter.com/Andy__Tyrrell/status/416301799898112000

And he accuses the person operating NRE's twitter account as being "a part of the reason why this country is going down the ****ter". Oh, the irony.

Some people are just beyond help.

 

[Monty]

What a tw@!

 

[Tracked]

What a pleasant individual...

https://twitter.com/Andy__Tyrrell/status/416301799898112000

And he accuses the person operating NRE's twitter account as being "a part of the reason why this country is going down the ****ter". Oh, the irony.

Some people are just beyond help.

he's also looking for a ladies' bike

https://twitter.com/Andy__Tyrrell/status/384650698316849152

 

[scotsman]

The obvious thing to say is "do nothing wrong, and you'll have nothing to hide" - except that that statement is bull in almost every scenario that it's applied to.

The idea of what a train driver does to Joe Public is entirely subjective: most haven't a clue and their ideas of what they do varies wildly.

Therefore, plenty of innocent things (using cab-to-cab/CSR) will result in false positives from people who think they're doing good. Of course, there's also the odd person who goes around and looks for things going wrong to report, too...

 

[455refurb]

The other day, on a LUL line (I shall not elaborate further), I noticed the driver had a pair of iPhone earphones on as the train pulled in - very noticeable as they're white, so show up in the dark surroundings.

I found this confusing, as I wouldn't have thought a train driver should wear earphones any more than a car driver should. Surely there are radio messages, alert sounds etc that he'd need to hear. However, who knows what he was listening to, if anything at all. I don't know the full details.

However - nothing to stop a Twitter-wielding member of the public jumping to conclusions & tweeting TfL publicly in under 140 characters that the driver was listening to his iPhone in the cab. This is why it's so dangerous, IMO. A general policy of not commenting & referring all complaints about staff to CS would be a good one.

 

[Carlisle]

I find it makes no difference who the company is, anyone in a 'railway industry' jacket will get caught.... and I've seen contractors get asked about trains too!!

I don't know if this is true but I have heard in the past where rail replacement busses operate , some TOC s have used taxis to move their train crew rather than the busses mainly for the above reasons

 

[sbt]

I find it makes no difference who the company is, anyone in a 'railway industry' jacket will get caught.... and I've seen contractors get asked about trains too!!

You don't need to be wearing a 'Railway Industry' jacket, or be anything to do with the industry. I'm a commuter and one of my ties is roughly the same colour as those worn by SWT managers. Suit, shirt, etc. is nothing like and I'm not wearing a namebadge or anything. I get approached several times a year for info, and yes, I have got the odd 'backblast' when I can't answer. They never give me enough time to explain I'm just another item of Self Loading Cargo like them.