I recently had occasion to try purchase Group Save 3 Off Peak Return ticket from our local FCC station ticket office but could not do so as the ticket printer was faulty - it printed 5 of the 6 tickets before failing .
So I had to purchase the tickets from a TVM, which did not seem to have an option for Group Save 3. I followed it up with FCC customer services to get a refund in the difference in cost between the group save and the undiscounted OPR tickets. This has all been sorted out fairly efficiently but what I want to raise for discussion is the text of the email, largely repeated in a letter that came with the rail travel vouches for the difference and quoted below:
We want to give our customers convenient ways to buy tickets and the machines are a valuable facility for the many people who use them. Any member of staff will be happy to help you use a machine or if you travel when there are no staff available, you can call the Customer Relations Team on 0845 026 4700 and we will do our best to help. However, I would like to inform you that You can purchase Group Save 3 or 4 from the ticket machine but only from the Shere machines i.e. the newer style machines. The older S&B machines are unable to provide this service.
We are keen to incorporate customer feedback into our service and I have logged your comments regarding the ticket machines. This will help us identify areas where our service can be improved.
1) As there was only one member of staff in the booking office wrestling with his machine, and a queue of other customers behind us he was not really in a position to show us how to use the machine and in normal circumstances is the ticket office clerk likely to lock up their office to show passengers how to use a machine?
2) With a few minutes before a train going are you going to call a premium rate number to get a TVM tutorial?
3) How is the average passenger, or for that matter a knowledgeable one as I might regard myself, going to distinguish between makes of ticket machine (none of which have any makers plates on them) and which are newer or older. Our station has 4 machines of 3 different types.?
4) What sort of customer service is it that different machines offer different ticket type options?
5) Nowhere do customers services suggest how to find the GS options, its not under railcards as it is online.
6) Subsequent research suggests that it is shown as part of the ticket options when you key in your destination having selected number of passengers BUT ONLY FOR CERTAIN DESTINATIONS, not for all by any means and not for the journey I wanted to do.
It seems to me that customer services is focussing on the problem from a rail insiders POV rather than the passenger which cannot be good.
So I had to purchase the tickets from a TVM, which did not seem to have an option for Group Save 3. I followed it up with FCC customer services to get a refund in the difference in cost between the group save and the undiscounted OPR tickets. This has all been sorted out fairly efficiently but what I want to raise for discussion is the text of the email, largely repeated in a letter that came with the rail travel vouches for the difference and quoted below:
We want to give our customers convenient ways to buy tickets and the machines are a valuable facility for the many people who use them. Any member of staff will be happy to help you use a machine or if you travel when there are no staff available, you can call the Customer Relations Team on 0845 026 4700 and we will do our best to help. However, I would like to inform you that You can purchase Group Save 3 or 4 from the ticket machine but only from the Shere machines i.e. the newer style machines. The older S&B machines are unable to provide this service.
We are keen to incorporate customer feedback into our service and I have logged your comments regarding the ticket machines. This will help us identify areas where our service can be improved.
1) As there was only one member of staff in the booking office wrestling with his machine, and a queue of other customers behind us he was not really in a position to show us how to use the machine and in normal circumstances is the ticket office clerk likely to lock up their office to show passengers how to use a machine?
2) With a few minutes before a train going are you going to call a premium rate number to get a TVM tutorial?
3) How is the average passenger, or for that matter a knowledgeable one as I might regard myself, going to distinguish between makes of ticket machine (none of which have any makers plates on them) and which are newer or older. Our station has 4 machines of 3 different types.?
4) What sort of customer service is it that different machines offer different ticket type options?
5) Nowhere do customers services suggest how to find the GS options, its not under railcards as it is online.
6) Subsequent research suggests that it is shown as part of the ticket options when you key in your destination having selected number of passengers BUT ONLY FOR CERTAIN DESTINATIONS, not for all by any means and not for the journey I wanted to do.
It seems to me that customer services is focussing on the problem from a rail insiders POV rather than the passenger which cannot be good.