Well that's unbelievably poor as there is a full catering depot at Edinburgh so there should have been the ability to reload any stock required there!
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London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service
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HaxbyTraveller
Member
Possibly a whole different thread, and I wouldn't want to get this one distracted onto it; but, since you ask: I think this is a problem with business today (UK business especially), not just rail. The focus of accountants is on cost, on profit. This should be secondary, it should result from the business rather than be the business. The business you are in is what you are supposed to be good at, and if you are good at it then (allowing for not going crazy with the spending) the customers will appreciate you and spend with you. I worked for a big IT company where they thought to improve profits by driving down costs, it worked for a while but then it had a major effect on quality (no training, no development of product) and that drove down profits more. VTEC are solely driven by costs - and paying a massive amount to a government that doesn't care about travellers north of Stevenage doesn't help - so they don't care about lack of crew on trains, don't care about customer happiness. And despite the 'cheerfulness' of the crews, I would say that the lack of interest in providing service to passengers has filtered down to them. Having a plate slapped in front of you with a cursory 'enjoy' is not a way of increasing my 'at seat dining' or whatever term we now have.
But of course it is a monopoly, so VTEC (and every other company running our 'privatised' rail network) couldn't give a monkey's really
Oops - didn't answer the question! Well, I'd say a rail enthusiast, and engineer, or even a regular traveller would understand better
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HaxbyTraveller
Member
I wrote to Richard Branson and the chef whose name is on the menus. I told the chef he should be ashamed to be associated with this paltry service (didn't get a reply). I did get a reply from the customer service manager and we had a to and fro of emails in which he threw up the oft-misused argument that the old style paid for dinner service was losing money and so had to go (I pointed out that it was all down to how you arrange your accounting. If a service is a 'profit-centre' then it can lose money, if it is a service as part of the overall deal then it can be absorbed as part of the costs of providing the service ie. First Class). I sent him some pictures of the miniscule portions, the 3 cheesy biscuits and tiny slice of apple, that kind of thing. He stopped replying - probably couldn't think how to explain why one apple has to be sliced up to serve the whole carriage!
HaxbyTraveller
Member
The point - I'm afraid Mr (or Ms) Moderator - is that isn't unbelievably poor these days. It is entirely believable because service consists of an insincere 'have a nice day' rather than actually providing service
Blindtraveler
Established Member
increasingly common from what I hear sadly
leightonbd
Member
You weren't on the 1830 on Tues 27th by any chance? Of all the trains to pull the catering on ... the word was 'no chef'.
Like you, I self cater but on the assumption I will get something on the train also. The tannoy at KGX was announcing at about 1800 'no hot food' so at least some people would have had some chance to plan.
Also had the experience (1030 EDB to Aberdeen) a while ago, where at Haymarket the crew were saying 'unable to load food at Waverley'. The train had passed through platform 2, past the Rail Gourmet facility!
I am never sure if it is cockup or conspiracy with this service but, as is the case if you go right back to the start of this thread, 'the only thing that is certain is the uncertainty' about EC catering.
misterredmist
Member
HaxbyT has it bang on, nothing good comes from having the bean counters being in command. They never build anything up, they just remove what's appealing about a product or service until it has lost it's original advantages altogether......
They work to the 'knowing the cost of everything but the value of nothing' school of economics!
Alan
jon01
Member
Travelling on the VTEC 09:08 KGX to Peterborough (Arrives 09:59) on a Wednesday in August
Will I get a cooked British breakfast before I leave the train at Peterborough?
Would it be better to order one of the lighter options, so at least I get something?
Thanks everyone!
Will I get a cooked British breakfast before I leave the train at Peterborough?
Would it be better to order one of the lighter options, so at least I get something?
Thanks everyone!
Blindtraveler
Established Member
Meanwhile you lord it in cattle with a freshly cooked chicken Tica, mushroom rice, Poppadom and a couple of full size cold ones?
The Exec seems to be the peak service that cops it almost every time.
With the frequency that it happens I'm surprised no one has challenged them for advertising something (even if it is complimentary) that is routinely not provided.
There is the magic asterisk of absolvement: "subject to availability".
Although there presumably comes a time where even that can't save them: at what point does a repeated lack of availability become false advertising? Even if it isn't deliberate (he says uncynically).
Exactly, advertising rules will apply for something even if there is no charge and the manner in which they promote it as being a benefit of First Class leads one to expect "A full compliment of luxurious extras" to be available unless there is a rare issue.
With phrases such as that when you click on the why upgrade button it's clear they are using it to entice people to upgrade and the (lack of) hot food service on the Exec is clearly not a rare issue going by the number of times westv has posted on here about it.
HaxbyTraveller
Member
I emailed the customer relations manager with my observations on the reduction in size/choice again. I got the standard reply 'I'll reply as soon as possible ...'
Then: nothing.
Then: nothing.
dave87016
Established Member
I share others thoughts regarding VTEC first class service in recent months , I now get a food bar voucher buy it for £4 and have £5 to spend ( 10% discount) a cheese Ploughmans on artisan baguette does the trick if I'm hungry due to the small portions of first class meal
TT-ONR-NRN
Established Member
If you're travelling on a four hour journey from Edinburgh to Inverness and you get the complimentary meal straight away, will they still provide you with snacks later in the journey?
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Vary's a bit depending on crew but if you have the meal on departure you'll usually be offered snacks later on but not usually sandwiches (unless they've got loads of spares and are feeling generous).
TT-ONR-NRN
Established Member
Ok thanks, is that the same on Saturdays
Yes but sandwiches only no complimentary hot food.
Thats a 20% discount!
The cheese ploughmans is £4, so if dave87016 only buys that with his voucher it's a 0% discount.
dave87016
Established Member
Oops blonde moment thanks for pointing out my embarrassing error
dave87016
Established Member
I usually get the cheese Ploughmans baguette & a brew or crisps & chocolate bar along with it
So it's £5 for the baguette and a cup of tea. That does not seem like a good deal to me, even on a train.
At least you don't order the ham & cheese baguette with a hot chocolate. Just those come through at £6.65 at the full price. Let's say you want more than just the sandwich for your lunch, so you add a bag of popcorn. Now your total is £9.05. I don't think I've ever known such an expensive selection of drinks and snacks. Hopefully you're not travelling with a child, which would add a further £4 if you wanted to get them a snack box, or £2.20 for a tiny box of jelly beans shaped like a train.
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Blindtraveler
Established Member
As the sinics appear to be out and about then I'll jump in here and say that IMO not only is VTEC's bacon roll not as good as VTWC its I think more expensive?
Butts
Veteran Member
Perhaps you could also consider the "free versions" in 1st Class - who is tops ?
If it's in a proper roll there is nothing in it imo. VTWC went through a phase of bacon ciabattas in first which were more than chewable.
HaxbyTraveller
Member
You also take your life in your hands having a drink on some of the trains. I'm trying to type this on the train and can barely keep focussed because it is bouncing around so much. I'm surprised that more people don't end up with hot coffee in their laps (or laptops)