How long are Northern taking to respond to correspondence?

[Merseysider]

I have waited 2 months to receive a letter today stating I was delayed less than 30 minutes and not entitled to anything. I was delayed 2 hours!

It's appropriate at this point to forward the matter to Transport Focus. It may also help to send Northern a direct message over Twitter with your case reference, asking them to escalate it.

 

[Central Trains]

It's appropriate at this point to forward the matter to Transport Focus. It may also help to send Northern a direct message over Twitter with your case reference, asking them to escalate it.

Thanks for the advice. Complete joke! Sadly the Twitter team be able to help I asked about 4 weeks ago and all they do is point me to the telephone number at the customer experience centre, which I called several times!

 

[gray1404]

I notice that under old Northern the Twitter team used to be able to raise your case with Customer Services and have a Manager look at it. However, since the franchise change they simply direct you to the new outsourced Customer Experience Centre.

They (the Twitter) team also appeared to have no idea of the delays been taken to reply to correspondence at the moment. Given that the old Customer Relations in Leeds were replying within the 20 target, it is a if the new staff just sat around doing nothing for the first couple of months of the franchise.

 

[theblackwatch]

I think the Twitter and Customer Service team were actually the same people under 'Old' Northern at Leeds - I once reported an issue to them regarding a TVM via Twitter (as it was before 08.00 so I couldn't speak to anyone), I then rang up Customer Services shortly after 08.00, and the lady I spoke to knew all about it.

 

[Merseysider]

By chance, I discovered this evening that a friend who had been overcharged has been waiting 2 and a half months for a reply, despite sending another email to chase it up a month ago.

Old Northern's CR certainly had room for improvement, but at least they bothered to acknowledge correspondence. It's an absolute bloody joke.

 

[gray1404]

Perhaps we can start all contacting transport focus on mass now about not hearing back from Northern.

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Well I submitted Delay Repay which should entitle me to free day return ticket as I was delayed by 42 minutes on the out journey, and 46 minutes on the return. I submitted it about 3 weeks ago and I would very much like my vouchers so I can use them before the days get shorter and the places I want to go to are closed!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

.... it is a if the new staff just sat around doing nothing for the first couple of months of the franchise.

Wouldn't surprised me in the slightest. Don't think they've had a clue what they're doing since April 1st.

I think the Twitter and Customer Service team were actually the same people under 'Old' Northern at Leeds - I once reported an issue to them regarding a TVM via Twitter (as it was before 08.00 so I couldn't speak to anyone), I then rang up Customer Services shortly after 08.00, and the lady I spoke to knew all about it.

Certainly started out that way, not sure when it changed, but Twitter and Facebook were put into a "social media team" before the franchise change.

Well I submitted Delay Repay which should entitle me to free day return ticket as I was delayed by 42 minutes on the out journey, and 46 minutes on the return. I submitted it about 3 weeks ago and I would very much like my vouchers so I can use them before the days get shorter and the places I want to go to are closed!

There's always next summer......

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I don't know about correspondence, but it took me 23 minutes from being placed "on hold" to be able to speak to someone today. He said that they were based in Sheffield.

 

[gray1404]

I've written to Northen complaining about the length of time taken to respond and asking for it to be looked at by a Manager. I have asked for additional compensation for the delay in replying. If I do not hear back, I shall be taking the matter to Transport Focus.

 

[Silver Cobra]

I submitted a claim to Northern via the online system back on 10th June for a delay of 52 minutes travelling between Leeds and Blackpool North on 9th June, caused by a points failure at Bradford Interchange that held the train up for 35 minutes and it being eventually cancelled at Preston. Apart from the automated e-mail I got on the day, I haven't heard anything from them since. As the claim is only for £8 (£16 advance between Stevenage and Blackpool North via Leeds), I'm not that bothered to start chasing them up, but it's silly how long these claims are taking to process.

 

[gray1404]

I've written to Northen complaining about the length of time taken to respond and asking for it to be looked at by a Manager. I have asked for additional compensation for the delay in replying. If I do not hear back, I shall be taking the matter to Transport Focus.

I have now written to Martin Kearney, Head of Operations at Northern (hoping this is the correct person still in the post) explaining the problems with the Customer Experience Centre still have not responded to claims after 2 months.

 

[Merseysider]

I have now written to Martin Kearney, Head of Operations at Northern (hoping this is the correct person still in the post) explaining the problems with the Customer Experience Centre still have not responded to claims after 2 months.

My friend was entitled to £5.00 and it took them (Carillion?) over two months to send an irrelevant, incorrect email in response denying they were responsible. Clearly, these bloody morons have no idea what they're doing.

 

[gray1404]

I agree with you hence why I think as many people as possible should be raising with Arriva Rail North just how their outsourced contractor is not working.

If I still do not hear back within a few weeks I shall be writing to Ian Bevan, Managing Director.

You have a PM from me btw!

 

[Elecman]

I am writing now to Alex Hynes as I'm still waiting for a reply from April 30th!

 

[gray1404]

I shall keep this brief to avoid going off topic but I am also tempted to write (and encourage others to do so) to these senior members of Northern's Management about the ongoing failing of their guards [being incorrectly trained] and denying customers break of journey over the entire validity of their one calendar month ticket.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I have now written to Martin Kearney, Head of Operations at Northern (hoping this is the correct person still in the post) explaining the problems with the Customer Experience Centre still have not responded to claims after 2 months.

Left Northern Rail in December 2012. Daniel Edwards is the Head of Customer Service.

....If I still do not hear back within a few weeks I shall be writing to Ian Bevan, Managing Director....

Resigned 3 years ago. Alex Hynes is the current MD.

 

[323235]

I received a cheque for an overcharge at point of sale within two months of the initial contact, it took 5 weeks for them to respond initially.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

So Ill ask again because people are avoiding the question

What do you propose them to do about the long wait times?

I don't have a proposal for the Company, sorry.

But I do propose that passengers seeking compensation or whatever adopt a little more patience. The fewer follow-up requests there are to deal with, asking about outstanding correspondence, then whatever available resources there are, will be available to deal sooner with those outstanding issues.

Equally, the lower the level of additional and spurious correspondence that they have to deal with, the easier it is to get on with the task of processing the backlog with whatever resources there are : -

. . . but I am also tempted to write (and encourage others to do so) to these senior members of Northern's Management about the ongoing failing of their guards . . . . . break of journey . . . .

. . . I think as many people as possible should be raising with Arriva Rail North just how their outsourced contractor is not working.

If I still do not hear back within a few weeks I shall be writing to Ian Bevan, Managing Director.

Resigned 3 years ago. Alex Hynes is the current MD.

Encouraging other people to write letters about ancilliary matters or to long gone Executive staff is almost definitely going to reduce reponse time performance. Not improve it.

[This just created the image in my mind of someone dealing with blocked drains by pouring more water into them. And then pouring more water into non-existent drains - which all flows back into the original blocked drain. I don't think any more sophisticated or scientific metaphor is neccesary].

 

[yorkie]

I strongly disagree.

Unless the company issues a statement asking people for their patience, and promising that complaints dating back to April will eventually be processed, how can we be sure management are aware of these ongoing issues, and how can customers be assured that they are not being swept under the carpet?

I also encourage people who are still waiting to refer Northern to Transport Focus.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I strongly disagree.

Unless the company issues a statement asking people for their patience, and promising that complaints dating back to April will eventually be processed, how can we be sure management are aware of these ongoing issues, and how can customers be assured that they are not being swept under the carpet?

I also encourage people who are still waiting to refer Northern to Transport Focus.

Whoever you have included in "we" doesn't include "us", so you've chosen an unusual use of language.

Your disageement doesn't address the question asked by Clip and the response given by me. There is no possible connection between your wish (which I support) for communication with Company management which explains reponse times, delays, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability to the travelling public at large, and the suggestion that each passenger seeking compensation or explanations about guards' training on arcane conditions should contribute more to the backlog of correspondence facing front line staff.

The lack of connection between that reasonable request and the proposed strategy for widespread action is quite astonishing.

I'd be happy to assist with a meaningful dialogue with Northern's executive team, but cannot find any sympathy for an attemot to create a community of complainers adding to the problem (and not one which attempts to include me in the "we" of complainers).

 

[gray1404]

Left Northern Rail in December 2012. Daniel Edwards is the Head of Customer Service.



Resigned 3 years ago. Alex Hynes is the current MD.

Thanks for this. It would appear Resolver.co.uk (the complaint resolution site I use to manage correspondences and where I was getting the details from) has got the old contact information. I shall drop them a line to update it with the right people.

Thanks again for your corrections!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Whoever you have included in "we" doesn't include "us", so you've chosen an unusual use of language.

Your disageement doesn't address the question asked by Clip and the response given by me. There is no possible connection between your wish (which I support) for communication with Company management which explains reponse times, delays, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability to the travelling public at large, and the suggestion that each passenger seeking compensation or explanations about guards' training on arcane conditions should contribute more to the backlog of correspondence facing front line staff.

The lack of connection between that reasonable request and the proposed strategy for widespread action is quite astonishing.

I'd be happy to assist with a meaningful dialogue with Northern's executive team, but cannot find any sympathy for an attemot to create a community of complainers adding to the problem (and not one which attempts to include me in the "we" of complainers).

Please accept my apologies for listing the incorrect people. My post above shows where this misunderstanding came from and how I shall try to get Resolver corrected.

I would like to keep this simple so simply state: What is wrong with wanting to raise an issue within Northern to try to 1. make sure that delay repay claims/customer service correspondences are replied to in a reasonable amount of time and 2. ensure that guards are giving the correct information to passengers concerning the validity of their tickets.

I see nothing wrong with the above two wishes. Attempts to raise this with Customer Service have failed so surely there is nothing wrong with taking it further up line.

 

[Merseysider]

Dave, whilst I have the utmost respect for you (and agree with most of your posts) I feel your synonym could be made more accurate somewhat.

Think of twenty thousand people pouring water (complaints) down that pipe of yours. The pipe is not blocked; rather it leads to Carillion's Customer Experience Centre.

The people working there have never handled water before (had a Northern contract before) and therefore don't know how to swim (don't have a frigging clue how the railway works), so gradually, although some can tread water for a while (some complaints are handled successfully), the water being poured down that pipe eventually drowns the lot of them.

But of course, the water keeps on coming.

 

[bb21]

Escalate it to Transport Focus, after all this is what their job is supposedly. I can fully support that after no response from the TOC and a reasonable period of time have elapsed (28 days per communication is what I tend to use).

Writing to the MD most of the time will see the letter forwarded to the relevant department, and unless you are an important person or have effective realistic threats that can be substantiated, little chase-up. I don't even get why some people feel writing to the Ops Director is even relevant, but the same principles apply in any case.

How do I know? Speaking from experience.

I strongly disagree.

Unless the company issues a statement asking people for their patience, and promising that complaints dating back to April will eventually be processed, how can we be sure management are aware of these ongoing issues, and how can customers be assured that they are not being swept under the carpet?

I also encourage people who are still waiting to refer Northern to Transport Focus.

Trust me, management will be aware. No TOC management team worth its salt will not be aware of performance levels of the Customer Services department.

Whether they deem it acceptable and wish to take steps to reduce it is a different matter, due to the complex nature of the possible causes. Volume of complaints can be highly variable too of course.

But Transport Focus is going to be the best bet, and they can keep a more consistent picture if everyone took that approach instead of heading for the MD, who frankly have far more important things to deal with.

 

[gray1404]

Just what is difficult about processing delay repay claims though. Seriously, the form asks for the most basic of details and this is checked against train running records and a reply (using a standard letter from a word bank) sent out with the cheque/RTV/journey voucher. Its not rocket science and I really can't get head around why Carillion seem incapable of doing this and have caused such a massive back log.

Northern need to bring back their Customer Service staff at Leeds or perhaps outsource it to the people who did customer service for First Group and VTEC in Plymouth!

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Just what is difficult about processing delay repay claims though. Seriously, the form asks for the most basic of details and this is checked against train running records and a reply (using a standard letter from a word bank) sent out with the cheque/RTV/journey voucher. Its not rocket science and I really can't get head around why Carillion seem incapable of doing this and have caused such a massive back log.

Northern need to bring back their Customer Service staff at Leeds or perhaps outsource it to the people who did customer service for First Group and VTEC in Plymouth!

That is an interesting point. Perhaps if they dealt with them correctly in the first place then people might need to waste their time with follow up calls to get them to correct their correspondence!

I have received a letter today in response to a delay repay submitted on the 15th July, so they have replied in not much over a month, which is a lot better than I was expecting.

The only down side is they have not actually dealt with the delay repay correctly.

I was with a group of 5 making a return journey.

We were delayed on the outward journey by 46 minutes due to a train fault, and were delayed on the return journey by 42 minutes due to another train fault.

I submitted that as we were delayed by between 30 - 59 minutes on each leg of the journey we were therefore entitled to compensation in the form of 1 single ticket for each person to anywhere on the network in respect of the outward delay, and 1 single ticket for each person in respect of the return delay. Thus we were entitled to 5 single tickets for the outward and 5 for the return, so 10 altogether. I asked for these tickets rather than the money.

As 4 of the tickets were the £10 Promotional tickets, and I was using a Priv Return at £9.95, then the free tickets were of far greater value for future journeys than the physical money I would be entitled to.

They sent me a cheque for half the cost of the total ticket value, and not the free journey tickets I requested.

The cheque for £24.97 was for the correct monetary value that I would be entitled to had I asked for the money, but I wanted the free journey tickets as they were of far greater value to my group.

So now I am having to get back in touch with them and ask them to correct it. So far I have spoken to somebody who says the person who originally dealt with it should be asked to deal with it again, but they are not in work till late next week, and somebody else is going to look at it if they get a chance as they are very busy and will ring me back if they do.

If they got it right the first time then I wouldn't be making them even busier.

Also to note, the cheque they have sent me is a bog standard hand written cheque with two signatories. My name, the amount and both signatures are hand written. Assuming they send out a lot of cheques as compensation surely this is a very laborious process and a better process could be put in place.

 

[Starmill]

I hear that automatic cheque issuing machines, for example like the ones VTEC use which send you a cheque as part of a sheet of A4 that can be torn off are quite expensive. I do wonder how many VTEC have too, because they seem to take a very long time to dispense cheques.

 

[gray1404]

I've still not heard from my claim which I submitted on 17 June, yet another poster has had a reply from 15 July. Madness. Time for me and my friend to complain to Transport Focus.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

My friend was entitled to £5.00 and it took them (Carillion?) over two months to send an irrelevant, incorrect email in response denying they were responsible. Clearly, these bloody morons have no idea what they're doing.

It is indeed Carillion, a quick google search revealing the following letter from the ORR to Northern approving the outsourcing.

http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/21355/northern-chp-dec-letter.pdf

Page 14 of the pdf states:

"Our complaints will be forwarded to the Customer Experience Centre in Sheffield which is managed by Carillion (a third party supplier) with whom we have a partnership agreement. This team will monitor and manage complaints and provide regular and transparent reporting through the Head of Customer Experience to us.
….
All Customer Experience Centre staff have been fully trained, including specific training for handling complaints and delay repay, combined with visits to other Arriva Train Operating Companies (TOC) and on-the-patch route and service training. We are also putting standards in place to ensure consistency and effective and efficient resolution of customers’ problems."


However, this post from jwos back in April reveals that few if any of the former Northern Rail Customer Relations team have transferred across meaning that the people dealing with Northern complaints now have little experience of the complaints they're dealing with!

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=2537915&postcount=21

 

[gray1404]

For the 2 claims submitted online on 17 June 2016: My friends cheque arrived yesterday. My didn't. I phoned the Customer Experience Centre today and gave my details (and my friends as we submitted the forms online within 2 minutes of each other). They said they had received both but mine had been overlooked by the person dealing with it. They thought they had dealt with the claim already as it was for the identical journey to my friends and both received together. The person I spoke to said it will be dealt with today. They did say that it takes a few days for the cheques to be signed though.

On a separate note, I received a free journey voucher from Northern 2 days ago for a claim I submitted to them on 21 July 2016 by post.

Hopefully my cheque will arrive soon and I then won't need to go to Transport Focus.