Good customer service / bad customer service

[Oswyntail]

This http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article6950893.ece from the Times (10/12/9) just makes you want to despair that one small "rule" can torpedo a piece of excellent customer service.

 

[ukrob]

I realise you’re carrying out orders — but you can establish that wallet’s mine. If you destroy its contents, that’s criminal damage. I’ll report it to the police.”

Of course all the cards do not belong to the passenger to start with so that is an idle threat (generally they will remain the property of the issuing company).

Pretty standard policy I would have thought across retail in general. Keep a lost card for a day or so, then cut it up after ringing the 'lost or stolen' number on the back of it.

I do see the issue though in that he customer spoke to them to confirm.

 

[First class]

First of all, he should be charged an appropriate fee for the holding of lost property under ATOC guidelines which quote:

"A charge is normally made for the return of lost property in
accordance with the National Rail Standard for Acceptance,
Holding and Disposal of Lost Property."

Secondly, in the interests of security, cards should be cut up at all times. Why should the TOC carry the risk if the card goes missing and subsequently issues arise?

Third, if he had any cash in there, the TOC would be entitled to deduct an amount of 10% up to a £10 maximum, in addition to being charged the higher rate of the lost property Band (A).

All info is contained within the National Rail Standard for Acceptance, Handling and Disposal of Lost Property policy.

By my reckoning he should have been charged a Band A £20 fee and if any cash within a further £2 min/10%/£10 max fee.

The writer is such a ****** argh reading that makes me angry! Why is he ringing Network Rail Media Centre?? Report it to the police?

I'd leave his wallet where it was found. The TOC has no responsibility to do anything with it.

OK, there's been some miscommunication on VTs part - but his reaction was typical of someone who thinks they're better than everyone else and wants to get the world and their wife involved!!

 

[Oswyntail]

First of all, he should be charged an appropriate fee for the holding of lost property under ATOC guidelines which quote:

"A charge is normally made for the return of lost property in
accordance with the National Rail Standard for Acceptance,
Holding and Disposal of Lost Property."

Secondly, in the interests of security, cards should be cut up at all times. Why should the TOC carry the risk if the card goes missing and subsequently issues arise?

Third, if he had any cash in there, the TOC would be entitled to deduct an amount of 10% up to a £10 maximum, in addition to being charged the higher rate of the lost property Band (A).

All info is contained within the National Rail Standard for Acceptance, Handling and Disposal of Lost Property policy.

By my reckoning he should have been charged a Band A £20 fee and if any cash within a further £2 min/10%/£10 max fee.

The writer is such a ****** argh reading that makes me angry! Why is he ringing Network Rail Media Centre?? Report it to the police?

I'd leave his wallet where it was found. The TOC has no responsibility to do anything with it.

OK, there's been some miscommunication on VTs part - but his reaction was typical of someone who thinks they're better than everyone else and wants to get the world and their wife involved!!

If that post was not heavily sarcastic, then I truly despair. The rule books all seem to be intended to form an impenetrable wall between the customer and the railways. Remember, the customer had been tracked down, and had suggested a reasonable arrangement for regaining his property. This would have been acceptable in virtually any other customer/provider situation. And yet the railway reaction is to a) disregard what the customer has arranged b) charge him for it c) take the action most likely to inconvenience the customer and finally d) typically quote an obscure rule book that says they are entitled to do what they are doing. So many threads here (any on ticketing or routing for starters) take this stance. THIS IS WRONG AND CAN ONLY ALIENATE THE PEOPLE WHO PAY THE MONEY. There is no risk to the company; the man can assess the risk to his own cards and take teh action he feels to be appropriate. And as for contacting the public relations department, he's a journalist so that is his job if he feels there is a story in the public interest brewing. Or should he meekly accept this crass attitude on the part of the company and not try to improve things using the tools available to him?

 

[moonrakerz]

If that post was not heavily sarcastic, then I truly despair. The rule books all seem to be intended to form an impenetrable wall between the customer and the railways. Remember, the customer had been tracked down, and had suggested a reasonable arrangement for regaining his property. This would have been acceptable in virtually any other customer/provider situation. And yet the railway reaction is to a) disregard what the customer has arranged b) charge him for it c) take the action most likely to inconvenience the customer and finally d) typically quote an obscure rule book that says they are entitled to do what they are doing. So many threads here (any on ticketing or routing for starters) take this stance. THIS IS WRONG AND CAN ONLY ALIENATE THE PEOPLE WHO PAY THE MONEY. There is no risk to the company; the man can assess the risk to his own cards and take teh action he feels to be appropriate. And as for contacting the public relations department, he's a journalist so that is his job if he feels there is a story in the public interest brewing. Or should he meekly accept this crass attitude on the part of the company and not try to improve things using the tools available to him?

Hear, Hear !

 

[ukrob]

First of all, he should be charged an appropriate fee for the holding of lost property under ATOC guidelines which quote:

"A charge is normally made for the return of lost property in
accordance with the National Rail Standard for Acceptance,
Holding and Disposal of Lost Property."

Secondly, in the interests of security, cards should be cut up at all times. Why should the TOC carry the risk if the card goes missing and subsequently issues arise?

Third, if he had any cash in there, the TOC would be entitled to deduct an amount of 10% up to a £10 maximum, in addition to being charged the higher rate of the lost property Band (A).

All info is contained within the National Rail Standard for Acceptance, Handling and Disposal of Lost Property policy.

By my reckoning he should have been charged a Band A £20 fee and if any cash within a further £2 min/10%/£10 max fee.

The writer is such a ****** argh reading that makes me angry! Why is he ringing Network Rail Media Centre?? Report it to the police?

I'd leave his wallet where it was found. The TOC has no responsibility to do anything with it.

OK, there's been some miscommunication on VTs part - but his reaction was typical of someone who thinks they're better than everyone else and wants to get the world and their wife involved!!

That was a totally unexpected response from you. In the past you have sent (albeit extremely robotic) private messages if someone has a whinge about Merseyrail offering pretty good customer service. Going from the above post, I can now see you don't give a stuff about customer service and are some sort of jobsworth who has been brainwashed by corporate drivel who must use the rules down to the letter at all times - which is genuinely a shame as you are only young.

 

[tony_mac]

do railway companies really have the right to go through your wallet and help themselves to a proportion of the cash?

If a member of the public did that it would be called theft.

 

[Surreytraveller]

Any money in a lost wallet should be paid in at the nearest ticket office and a receipt placed in the wallet. Any cards should be cut up immediatley. This is to protect the staff handling them if any money should go missing after its been found. Otherwise just leave the wallet there and don't touch it.

 

[Aictos]

Well when I was working at Peterborough as a turnaround cleaner, we were always told by FCC that if we came across any credit cards or the like, we were to immediately hand them into the GNER booking office for safe keeping and for us to witness the cutting up of any credit cards for security reasons to prevent fraud.

I use the simple rule of handing in any credit cards to the booking office as soon as I can, although when it comes to season passes I do take them back to the issuing office personally if it's on one of my routes home which makes for great customer service.

 

[the sniper]

So in the end his cards weren't cut up, were they? And everyone was very polite to him. And to me the policy actually makes sense, even if it is inconvenient for the looser of the cards/wallet, not that the policy is set in stone as here it didn't apply.

Oh well, all's well that ends well...