Creating an Ombudsman service to deal with rail complaints

[bb21]

Well, you didn't say you wanted an effective regulator!

Both DfT and ORR can be very effective if they wanted to be, in many areas, although I believe expertise can be lacking in other ones.

 

[gray1404]

I am sure Transport Focus ends up with loads of silly little complaints in it's case work, as does the Financial Service Ombudsman. The Passenger Railway Ombudsman would end up with the same but they would have to weed out such cases, and it would only represent a small % compared to the amount of passenger journeys made daily and complaints received. What is frustrating is that Transport Focus as no real power to compel a TOC to do anything plus TF now lack of knowledge. Also there appears to be nothing to deter the TOCs from wanting a customer to go to TF (unlike if you take your banking complaint to the ombudsman, it may cost the bank a lot of money).

As someone has mentioned too, an Ombudsman acts as a mediator between the two parties (the passenger and the TOC), whilst having an understanding of the rules and combined with the power to do something if needed.

I do think this is worth pushing for! (moreover given the continued failings of TF)

 

[bb21]

Transport Focus took less than 24 hours and a cheque from the rail company arrived 24 hours after that.

Transport Focus can be very good in some types of cases, but utterly clueless when they needed to get technical, to the point that even when presented with clear documentation on the rights and wrongs they cannot always make a correct decision. Massive lottery what outcome you might end up with in those cases and certainly a lottery in terms of qualification of their staff, some of whom can only be described as being useless.

I once had a complaint to Southern forwarded to SWT, which showed that they didn't even bother to read what I wrote in a two-page letter, and I am aware of another case from a fellow forum member, who had a complaint regarding SouthEastern forwarded to Southern.

Sometimes it is seemingly more about their attitude to their roles than anything else.

 

[Alex C.]

I hesitate to mention the number of transactions, interactions and processing tasks undertaken in the financial services sector...

The Financial Ombudsman handled nearly 450,000 complaints last year (and as per the comments previously, they are funded by the businesses they regulate - there is no charge to the consumer) - around 150,000 of these were non-PPI complaints. They also work on a model based on fairness rather than the law - they seek to establish if a business has treated their customers fairly, which may produce different outcomes than if someone took the company to court over the same issue.

One of the biggest benefits of the FOS is that it forces companies to ensure they handle complaints properly and consider everything - I work in the financial services industry and we know that a complaint to the FOS will cost us money - so we seek to resolve outside of them wherever possible. The FOS will also often include compensation as an element of a resolution - effectively starting at around £100 for minor inconvenience.

I think that if such a system were to come in, it would make sense for them to also consider penalty fare appeals.

 

[yorksrob]

Both DfT and ORR can be very effective if they wanted to be, in many areas, although I believe expertise can be lacking in other ones.

Although I'm sceptical that they would see it as part of their remit to look into issues raised by passengers, of the sort outlined in my previous post.

 

[bb21]

Although I'm sceptical that they would see it as part of their remit to look into issues raised by passengers, of the sort outlined in my previous post.

Unfortunately they have to prioritise issues they have in front of them. Limited resources and all that...

Some ticketing issues will be important with far reaching impact, whereas many other ones raised on this forum are simply insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

 

[AlterEgo]

Unfortunately they have to prioritise issues they have in front of them. Limited resources and all that...

Some ticketing issues will be important with far reaching impact, whereas many other ones raised on this forum are simply insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Indeed. The ORR is a very small regulator. They are taking consumer issues much more seriously than they have done in the past, but they remain very under-resourced for the task in hand.

 

[route:oxford]

I once had a complaint to Southern forwarded to SWT, which showed that they didn't even bother to read what I wrote in a two-page letter

A two page letter of complaint is far too long...

Brief, factual and very tight content that fits a binary response is what you need.

 

[yorksrob]

Unfortunately they have to prioritise issues they have in front of them. Limited resources and all that...

Some ticketing issues will be important with far reaching impact, whereas many other ones raised on this forum are simply insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

It does suggest that such local "planning" issues currently fall between two stools. Perhaps ombudsman investigation might be more appropriate as strictly speaking such issues might not be contractual.

 

[bb21]

A two page letter of complaint is far too long...

Brief, factual and very tight content that fits a binary response is what you need.

Two pages is fairly standard when the header (address areas, date, subject line, date, etc) and an opening sentence describing the core subject of what the complaint is about take up half a page, together with the final paragraph of the usual "Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon." plus space for signatures, etc, take up another quarter of a page. You'd do well to fit the rest onto a quarter of a page, containing even the most brief details of the matter you are complaining about.

Also remember that it is not a bog-standard letter of complaint when Transport Focus become involved. You are escalating the matter due to unsatisfactory progress so far, so additional details need to be included as to what progress has been made so far, etc.

That is assuming that you use a standard 12-point font and 1.25-inch margins. Perhaps you use a smaller font and/or ignore all parts of a letter which I consider essential for a professional presentation as detailed above. If I were to leave all those out and go for a 10-point font with half-inch margins, I probably can fit everything on one page too, but they are unlikely to be easy on the eye.