Never given too much. But given very good customer service on four particular occasions:
1. I had an advance with Cross Country and connections from Cranbrook to Cambourne changing at Exeter St Davids. The weather was really bad that evening but there wasn't any 'do not travel' warning. Just a warning of disruption. Arriving at Exeter St Davids the train was cancelled. I asked staff (GWR) who explained that Cross Country were terminating at Plymouth all evening and ticket acceptance was in place with GWR. Though my booked train was running (to Plymouth only), I was advised to get the next GWR service straight through as the connection may be missed at Plymouth. The journey went very badly - there seemed serious line issues. We were at Totnes for ages. Not enough information to know whether or not there was time to go and get some food. Things got pretty scary as we entered Cornwall. The traction was causing real issues, so a speed restriction had to be imposed the whole way from Plymouth to Penzance. I think it was 60mph. There were several long delays. Then approaching Truro we were held again at a station for ages, with a report that the train in front had slipped on the incline due to how bad the rail traction was. The GWR guard was quite useless. He seemed to be panicking. He caused a lot of panic on board by basically saying he had no idea if he could sort out any transport for people who had missed the last connnections of the night to Newquay and Falmouth. Every time we were held again at a station, the fear increased that our service was going to be cancelled and he would fail to sort out any onward. Yet another member of staff stepped forward. I am not sure what role she was. She was not the guard/train manager (that was the man who was panicking) - she had GWR uniform on. I suspect she may have been travelling as a passenger actually (I think she was a train manager just not for this train?), but got involved as things fell apart. It was she who went around and asked people where they needed to go. Then she managed to get a taxi company sorted for Par station to take people to Newquay (after the man just said that Control had found no free taxis on their listed companies. Was she more persuasive?). Usually scheduled replacement transport to Newquay goes from St Austell not Par but as she was alighting at Par (she said it was 'her station' - going home I think), she agreed to effectively be station staff to ensure the passengers met their taxis. At Truro, one of the staff had managed to arrange road transport in advance, and someone was ready on the platform. We limped into Camborne at 1am! Between 4 and 5 hours late. The male guard had seemingly regained his composure - I think her help had really helped him. I don't think he was in anyway bad staff, just the situation was too much for him, maybe not experienced. Certainly not malicious. After all he helped someone over the bridge at one station where we had a long dwell time and they were getting a Sleeper - I think they had been sent by GWR down the line on our train a few stops then back up again on the sleeper (their intended train) due to the extent of delays as there were no waiting rooms open that late! As we rolled into Camborne, the station lighting was out! I know this is unlikely to be strictly permitted, but to avoid any further disruption, the guard got out and shone his torch down the length of the platform so we could all just about make our way safely along the platform and out of the station. He didn't dispatch until everyone had left the platform. I found somewhere to get food at 1am, even though it was a bit greasy - more of a clubbers takeaway than a top quality one! Staff experience on the journey was a bit mixed - but Cross Country not only offered delay repay of the full price of the advance single, but also threw in a complimentary ticket for use anywhere on their network - due to how scary that journey was on their ticket, even though it was in the end not their train.
2. I had an advance from Edinburgh to London Terminals with Virgin (via West Coast). There were serious over head line issues between Lockerbie and Carlisle. No Virgin west coast services were operating out of Edinburgh. But they arranged ticket acceptance on Scotrail, including the fast trains via Falkirk High (not just the Bathgate line as some operators have done!). After walking to Glasgow Central, it was chaos, with queues out the door, but they were getting people on trains and they put on an extra Preston service to take the overcrowding pressure off the Euston one, as they had a spare Pendolino in the station due to earlier disruption. A couple of special stop orders later, we finally arrived at Euston at 12 midnight or so. The train manager was good. He came round checking if people needed anything. I was going to Woolwich Arsenal. I didn't have a ticket yet as it is contactless, so strictly no contract was in place yet. But he called Control and they agreed to get me to Woolwich if needed. When the delay got worse, due to the special stop orders - I know one was Rugby as the last connection to it was missed - he activated the agreement to get me road transport, also as he saw how tired I was due to the extreme delays that day, and with several changes on TFL to do, I could easily fall asleep on a tube and end up off route, even if I could get to Woolwich - it looked very tight. Just about doable, but minimum connections for all last tubes and less than the minimum connection at London Bridge, but doable if everything on time. Arriving at Euston, a number of us were taken to the waiting room which was opened for us, then taken down to the taxi rank. I was just going to Woolwich Arsenal. Other people were being taxied to Windsor, Farnborough (Hampshire) and the Sussex coast (Hove?) respectively, while someone going to Heathrow had been given a taxi at Watford Junction complete with a print out and a contact phone number for the taxi if any delay as no station staff were left there. It was all managed really well.
3. SWR and Southeastern worked really well together for once, mainly thanks to 2 excellent SWR guards and the Controls working together to arrange a taxi from Axminister to Cranbrook when a Southeastern delay had led to the final Exeter train being missed at Waterloo, only an Axminster one left.
4. I was travelling from Exeter St Davids to Manchester Piccadilly on Cross Country when the points failed at the exit of the Weston super Mare loop (if it had been spotted earlier, we could have diverted via Weston non-stopping) and we were stuck there for over an hour. Train terminated at Bristol Temple Meads and told to get next one which was right behind. But the train manager came round with forms for delay repay and onward assistance, and collected them all in again. Within 2 weeks, I had a cheque for the full value of the delay repay and also a complimentary Cross Country ticket. The latter was above the call of duty as the issue was a points failure.
Could also throw in a fifth? Scotrail staff (in the First days) accepting Pollokshields West tickets to Pollokshaws West after a ticketing confusion. Seemed an unofficial easement at least at the time going by what the guard said. I think there's a strong case for either an official easement or changing say Pollokshaws West to West Pollokshaws to reduce confusion. An easement may be cheaper.
