Have travelled on CS 5 times so far this year, in Double once, club once and classic 3 times, with one more journey to take on Friday in Classic. I like the Mk5s. I think CS have specified a really nice product, I'm always very comfortable in the bed, and especially if I'm in the middle of the carriage, get as good a night's sleep as I could ever get on a moving train going over some nasty rails once leaving the WCML.
The comment about how they'll look in 35 years, I will certainly echo. Internal maintenance doesn't seem to be great. Toilet panels missing, soap dispensers usually broken, loo roll holder broken, in room sink plugs broken. Doesn't bode massively well.
My main issue will mirror what other people have said, and it's Serco not providing the customer service level appropriate for the product level that they're offering. This usually only comes to light when something goes wrong.
Travelling EUS-FTW on Tuesday night, FTW was suspended, so had to go to Kingussie and change to bus, due to staff shortages. This is obviously a negative customer experience, compounded by me being moved from a middle one to the end compartment next to the toilets and over the wheels. The staff were certainly pleasant, but CS offered nothing to 'make it right' or by way of apology other than just offering empty words. Could have at least thrown in a bacon sandwich or a drink voucher or something that wouldn't have cost them more than about a quid, but the gesture means much more than that to the customer.
Reminds me of travelling in January when the upper bed was moist, only realised after having got undressed and into bed, so had to move to the next one, and the host stood there waiting for us to get dressed and move ourselves and baggage so she could lock the first one before unlocking the other, instead of just opening the connecting door for 10 mins while we moved. Or when I didn't get a text saying catering wasn't being offered due to short staffing, and when asked in the club car about it, host look like we just asked to sh*t on his mother (though this was in Mk3 days).
It's still the best way to travel across the country, and the base product is great, and I was hoping that Kathryn Darabandi would improve the customer service to true hospitality levels, but alas that doesn't appear to have happened. On a side note, for me staff generally seem to have improved since a few years ago.
P.S. No more branded CS towels appear to be being produced, they're less and less common!