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Caledonian Sleeper

mde

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Joined
17 Nov 2016
Messages
513
This is indeed true. We regularly email our guests about alterations from our contact centre & Hotmail in particular never seem to get through. However it is something we are aware of. Surely CS should be too?
Serco’s internal IT support is of somewhat dubious quality, so, I’d wager they aren’t aware of it being an issue.
 
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Chrism20

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27 Feb 2013
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1,347
In an ideal word, alas we do not have a texting system. However, the techy guys can see if an email delivered and even if read. It is amazing how many people remember getting the email when you tell them the time they read it!
But there are a lot of delivered but unread emails, and getting them to check spam and junk folders reveals the emails. Apart from Hotmail, who seem to just "spam" everything before delivery.

Mass text systems exist, they aren’t expensive to operate and also operate within the parameters of GDPR. They really should not be relying on one channel to communicate with a customer.
 

Deafdoggie

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29 Sep 2016
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3,035
Mass text systems exist, they aren’t expensive to operate and also operate within the parameters of GDPR. They really should not be relying on one channel to communicate with a customer.

There really isn't anything wrong with just picking up a phone and calling people! CS really should be making more effort, to say "emails were sent" isn't a good enough response! There are not THAT many people on each sleeper that makes a phone call to laborious a task.
 

Essexman

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Joined
15 Mar 2011
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1,380
No lounge car on Fort William / Aberdeen northbound tonight but it seems passengers have been contacted.
 

GrimShady

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13 Dec 2016
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1,740
I wonder how long it will be before the constant failures end up on Reporting Scotland or such like.
 

BRX

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20 Oct 2008
Messages
3,597
CS is continuously audited on that sort of stuff by Transport Scotland's SQUIRE regime.

Whatever the penalty that they have to pay when the lounge car isn't available - it doesn't seem to be high enough to result in the lounge car being reliably available.
 

Romilly

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Joined
5 Nov 2013
Messages
1,712
No lounge car on Fort William / Aberdeen northbound tonight but it seems passengers have been contacted.
That's presumably because there was no lounge car southbound on the Aberdeen portion last night.
 

mralexn

Member
Joined
2 Nov 2010
Messages
460
summary of recent issues here, doesnt tell us anything we dont know, but useful to have in one place if you have not been following closely

https://busandtrainuser.com/2019/06/25/new-sleeper-turns-into-a-bad-dream/
"Even if everything is running smoothly you’d think paying £395 for a night’s sleep, albeit coupled with a 570 mile journey, would include more than just one complimentary hot drink with a measly breakfast. I was taken aback to find a few coffee granules, a cup of hot water and UHT milk sachets came at a charge of £2.70 on top of that £395 fare – what an absolute rip-off. You even get unlimited complimentary coffee in the cheapest Travelodge deal."

I can't believe that they give you one complimentary drink, that is really bad, especially after potentially paying £395 for a room. Is this rule just for the lowlander or both?

As far as I know GWR give you unlimited complimentary hot drinks on the Night Riviera, along with orange juice and bottled water, on a journey that is a lot shorter than the Highlander.
 

Tormod

Member
Joined
1 Mar 2017
Messages
66
Location
Leith
Sharing a berth is quite intimate - there are plenty of people who would have a real issue with that.
On a sleeper in Vietnam last year I had to share with 3 others, two of which were female. And that was the posh one! Difference is that I knew in advance.
 

185143

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Joined
3 Mar 2013
Messages
4,486
There really isn't anything wrong with just picking up a phone and calling people! CS really should be making more effort, to say "emails were sent" isn't a good enough response! There are not THAT many people on each sleeper that makes a phone call to laborious a task.
Back in February, I was contacted by phone and informed the train had been cancelled. This was around an hour before my booked departure time, and after the train should have left Euston. The decision had only been made about 15 minutes before that it wasn't happening, so not bad really.
 
Joined
6 Feb 2019
Messages
41
"Even if everything is running smoothly you’d think paying £395 for a night’s sleep, albeit coupled with a 570 mile journey, would include more than just one complimentary hot drink with a measly breakfast. I was taken aback to find a few coffee granules, a cup of hot water and UHT milk sachets came at a charge of £2.70 on top of that £395 fare – what an absolute rip-off. You even get unlimited complimentary coffee in the cheapest Travelodge deal."

I can't believe that they give you one complimentary drink, that is really bad, especially after potentially paying £395 for a room. Is this rule just for the lowlander or both?

As far as I know GWR give you unlimited complimentary hot drinks on the Night Riviera, along with orange juice and bottled water, on a journey that is a lot shorter than the Highlander.

And breakfast is included too! I did the Night Riviera up from Penzance a month ago, paid £80 for an advance solo berth ticket. Unlimited tea and orange juice in the lounge car, followed by tea, juice and a hot bacon roll served for breakfast in the morning (about 5 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, cue me panicking that someone random had just burst into my room, and the poor attendant seeing a disheveled man wearing an eyemask and ear plugs flailing about in confusion)!
 

37047

Member
Joined
23 May 2018
Messages
248
And breakfast is included too! I did the Night Riviera up from Penzance a month ago, paid £80 for an advance solo berth ticket. Unlimited tea and orange juice in the lounge car, followed by tea, juice and a hot bacon roll served for breakfast in the morning.

Did that trip a couple of weeks ago (both directions) - excellent experience, fantastic service all round, couldn't fault it. Use of the lounges at PAD and PNZ was very welcome. I'll definitely be doing it again. I'll be interested to see how CS match up this autumn.
 

Bletchleyite

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Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,521
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"Marston Vale mafia"
On a sleeper in Vietnam last year I had to share with 3 others, two of which were female. And that was the posh one! Difference is that I knew in advance.

Sharing a larger room with 3 others is less intimate. I'd definitely rather a 6-berth couchette compartment than a 2-berth sleeper if sharing.

As for £2.70 for a cup of instant...what on earth are they doing serving instant? While I appreciate it might be too slow to do everyone a latte, they could at least get some quality filter coffee on, or even have mini-cafetieres for which I'd happily pay three quid. Having said that, near enough all UK hotels give you unlimited free tea and coffee, right down to a 20-quid-a-night non-ensuite B&B, and in a premium hotel that's likely to mean Yorkshire tea and possibly even a Nespresso machine or similar. What market was it they are in again?

(I suppose you could argue "the American market", where a request for an in-room kettle tends to bring a "wha?" type stare :) )

I think they need The Hotel Inspector throwing at them - they'd fail miserably.
https://www.channel5.com/show/the-hotel-inspector/
 
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sleeper fan

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5 Jun 2019
Messages
99
"Even if everything is running smoothly you’d think paying £395 for a night’s sleep, albeit coupled with a 570 mile journey, would include more than just one complimentary hot drink with a measly breakfast. I was taken aback to find a few coffee granules, a cup of hot water and UHT milk sachets came at a charge of £2.70 on top of that £395 fare – what an absolute rip-off. You even get unlimited complimentary coffee in the cheapest Travelodge deal."

I can't believe that they give you one complimentary drink, that is really bad, especially after potentially paying £395 for a room. Is this rule just for the lowlander or both?

As far as I know GWR give you unlimited complimentary hot drinks on the Night Riviera, along with orange juice and bottled water, on a journey that is a lot shorter than the Highlander.
I have to say CS really have missed a trick. Travelled on the Night Riviera on Sunday from Paddington and all hit drinks and juices are complimentary as are crisps and biscuits got give four of the latter and two of the former with each pair I got. All served in nice tea pots in the morning plus the complimentary stuff applied to all.sleeprt passengers unlike CS where you only get a table if you are first..and the first class lounge was far superior at Paddington than Euston. Did the Fort William from Euston last year..Doing the Highlander back from Inverness on Friday night so will be interested to compare the two. At the moment the Night Riviera is on top. Sorry to be off topic but thought I'd give an perspective of both trains. Hope all is working for Friday night.
 

Bletchleyite

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20 Oct 2014
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To be fair with a very short train on a railway designed for 10x26m does make it easier for them to provide lounge and seating coach capacity than CS. The seats don't even require reservations, as there is far more capacity than is ever likely to be needed on the overnight section, and adding another Mk3 if they did need to wouldn't make the train too long for Paddington.

The Riviera is a charming little operation, but it's a much simpler one with far fewer limitations and constraints than CS.
 

MrEd

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Joined
13 Jan 2019
Messages
587
To be fair with a very short train on a railway designed for 10x26m does make it easier for them to provide lounge and seating coach capacity than CS. The seats don't even require reservations, as there is far more capacity than is ever likely to be needed on the overnight section, and adding another Mk3 if they did need to wouldn't make the train too long for Paddington.

The Riviera is a charming little operation, but it's a much simpler one with far fewer limitations and constraints than CS.

I think that's a very fair analysis. CS (The Highlander in particular) is a very complex operation and the staff are fully stretched. The much longer journey time of the Inverness and Fort William sections in particular (compared with the Riviera) means that the lounge cars are routinely full to bursting (when they're working ;) ); it would never be feasible for every passenger to get a seat in the lounge for breakfast in the morning. Complimentary refreshments might be a good idea for CS to explore, but then again, I can't see that CS would be very happy about vital lounge space in the evenings being taken up by people simply enjoying free refreshments (and potentially stopping those who would pay for a full meal from using the lounge car facilities). I always wondered whether complimentary evening meals might be a good idea for First Class- then again, there probably isn't the lounge car space to offer this reliably.
 

Bald Rick

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28 Sep 2010
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29,070
The northbound lowlander has been in P15 at Euston since just after 2100; let’s hope this set boards on time and runs without incident for the first time in 2 weeks.
 

Essexman

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15 Mar 2011
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Relieved to arrive at Euston and find the Lowlander waiting for us in the platform.
 

Bletchleyite

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With regard to freebies, I agree it'd be awkward to offer it in the lounge car, that would have to give priority to those wishing to eat. But they could have a self-service tea and filter coffee station as long as you take it back to your bunk.

Crikey, they'd be shocked if they went to China, Russia or any other country that copies that style of operation - free hot water in every coach, bring your own tea bags! :)
 

Essexman

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15 Mar 2011
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1,380
With regard to freebies, I agree it'd be awkward to offer it in the lounge car, that would have to give priority to those wishing to eat. But they could have a self-service tea and filter coffee station as long as you take it back to your bunk.

Crikey, they'd be shocked if they went to China, Russia or any other country that copies that style of operation - free hot water in every coach, bring your own tea bags! :)

Free hot water - there’s not even any cold water for the basin, shower & toilet in mine tonight. Someone is coming to look but not optimistic that the missing water can be found.

Update - they didn’t turn up to investigate. Oh well it make spare me the water sloshing noise all night.

Updated again - attendant knocked on door at midnight. Consequence of boarding system where they all wait at rear of train. No water. Offered to move me to another berth but I declined as in bed by then.
 
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Essexman

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15 Mar 2011
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1,380
The northbound lowlander has been in P15 at Euston since just after 2100; let’s hope this set boards on time and runs without incident for the first time in 2 weeks.

It boarded on time. Let’s hope we can make it to Glasgow without incident.
 

7522

Member
Joined
28 Dec 2018
Messages
194
I must be mad booking now with all this current disruption but have just booked for 2nd September on Lowlander from Edinburgh. Hope things will have improved by then! This will be my first time on the sleeper.
 

Mainliner

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Joined
1 Nov 2010
Messages
255
Location
North Tyneside
Looks like a good night, here’s hoping they are starting to turn a corner.

It appears not, if as Essexman has just reported, trains are still running without any water at all in some en-suite berths. I certainly won’t be using it until after a reasonable period of trouble-free operation.
 

Essexman

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15 Mar 2011
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It appears not, if as Essexman has just reported, trains are still running without any water at all in some en-suite berths. I certainly won’t be using it until after a reasonable period of trouble-free operation.

Lack of water was the only problem. To be honest I’m just glad that it ran and didn’t break down on the way.
 

JModulo

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17 Nov 2013
Messages
523
Location
67A
Lack of water was the only problem. To be honest I’m just glad that it ran and didn’t break down on the way.

My toilet did have water on Monday night, but it kept flushing on its own every 15 minutes thinking it was blocked...
 

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