Praise for Virgin Trains (yes, really)

[Squaddie]

It's not often I think good things about the UK's rail network, and even less frequently that I say them out loud. But, fair's fair, Virgin have just surpassed my expectations.

About a month ago, on the weekend of the big snowfall, I travelled between London Euston and Blackpool South on a first class ticket. Due to the snow we were about half an hour late arriving in Preston, causing me to to arrive in Blackpool South an hour later than expected.

I wrote to Virgin Trains, expecting a refund of 25% of the cost of the single ticket, which is what their passengers' charter specifies. But yesterday I received vouchers for the entire cost of the journey, which is a significant, and welcome, amount of money.

So... thanks Virgin Trains.

(Although I still think your trains are awful, and the weekend snack box a joke. )

 

[pinguini]

Their customer relations are fantastic. I wrote an email asking why their peak services between Birmingham and Coventry were so overly crowded in standard, whilst there is carriage after carriage of empty first class seating. They sent me a £50 voucher as a thanks for my feedback!

 

[Simon11]

Hmm, should this really be praise for Virgin Trains?????

The cost of giving out this refund, isn't coming from Virgin's Trains profits as they are only on a management contract so therefore its coming from the tax payers. They are trying to bribe customers to like Virgin Trains, with the cost not hitting Virgin directly.

In respect to the post above, this clearly demonstrates Virgin's policy. Virgin should already know that their peak trains in standard are busy without requiring a customer pointing this out and have plenty of ways to work out what trains are overcrowded, to formulate a plan to solve the issue.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Virgin have always been reliable and I have had excellent customer service from them, whether I have been in uniform or not. No TOC is perfect (I should know) however they do a damn good job from what I have seen, yes they do a lot of spin but that is good business and the backing they got during the Franchising fiasco from the general public proved that.

 

[IanD]

Hmm, should this really be praise for Virgin Trains?????

The cost of giving out this refund, isn't coming from Virgin's Trains profits as they are only on a management contract so therefore its coming from the tax payers. They are trying to bribe customers to like Virgin Trains, with the cost not hitting Virgin directly.

This is not a recent thing, Virgin have been dishing out £50 vouchers for as long as I have been "giving them feedback" (which is since they took over the franchise). Yes, they are bribing customers in to liking them - which TOCs wouldn't? But the fact that this bribe is not hitting them directly is not their fault - they are simply carrying on business as usual until the franchise is sorted. If they suddenly changed their customer policy then that would not be good for business either. With some people, it seems Virgin cannot win whatever they do.

 

[bb21]

Their customer relations are fantastic. I wrote an email asking why their peak services between Birmingham and Coventry were so overly crowded in standard, whilst there is carriage after carriage of empty first class seating. They sent me a £50 voucher as a thanks for my feedback!

I am willing to bet you that it is largely because the £50. (Nothing wrong with it of course.)

The real issue probably remains unresolved as they are used to quickly reduce backlog of customer complaints/praises/whatever else.

This is not a recent thing, Virgin have been dishing out £50 vouchers for as long as I have been "giving them feedback" (which is since they took over the franchise). Yes, they are bribing customers in to liking them - which TOCs wouldn't? But the fact that this bribe is not hitting them directly is not their fault - they are simply carrying on business as usual until the franchise is sorted. If they suddenly changed their customer policy then that would not be good for business either. With some people, it seems Virgin cannot win whatever they do.

They were in fact coming from their own pockets for a period of time as this is not new. They have been doing this for a while.

I thought this practice had stopped.

 

[fusionblue]

I emailed them last year saying i travelled from London Euston to Manchester (and i've made this trip several times on the same fleet, in the past, with no problems) and the dizziness was so extreme i wobbled off the train like i was drunk. I tried to sleep through it but began to feel sick instead.

Their reply amounted to "oh, sorry about that".

 

[bb21]

I emailed them last year saying i travelled from London Euston to Manchester (and i've made this trip several times on the same fleet, in the past, with no problems) and the dizziness was so extreme i wobbled off the train like i was drunk. I tried to sleep through it but began to feel sick instead.

Their reply amounted to "oh, sorry about that".

Not sure what else you wanted them to say.

 

[fusionblue]

I was hoping for a bit of information as to what may cause the dizziness (dietary, poor sleep, focussing on fixed objects outside, or if it was that particular unit tilting too harshly etc) rather than saying they have been tested and most people are OK with them.

I don't get motion sickness of any sort (and haven't since!) so i was hoping for a bit of information really.

But it's an interesting counterpoint to praising them and getting vouchers for it.

 

[IanD]

I was hoping for a bit of information as to what may cause the dizziness (dietary, poor sleep, focussing on fixed objects outside, or if it was that particular unit tilting too harshly etc) rather than saying they have been tested and most people are OK with them.

I don't get motion sickness of any sort (and haven't since!) so i was hoping for a bit of information really.

But it's an interesting counterpoint to praising them and getting vouchers for it.

Looks like you may already have information about what may cause the dizziness and I doubt whether Virgin have a team of doctors on their customer support team to diagnose such temporary conditions.

 

[fusionblue]

Looks like you may already have information about what may cause the dizziness and I doubt whether Virgin have a team of doctors on their customer support team to diagnose such temporary conditions.

I got the information myself after their wonderful response. They may not need a medical team to answer questions but a link to their FAQ which can discuss it (which is not there) would have been sufficient.