Virgin East Coast Twitter

[yorkie]

... but we don't want to start blocking everyone who is mean to us.

Well you block accounts that do not use any abusive language whatsoever and simply provide corrections when incorrect information is posted.

So my suggestions would be, for a start:
1) Less incorrect information being posted
2) No blocking of accounts that provide corrections

And that's without getting into unrealistic suggestions such as not doing things the 'Virgin' way (ie. posting annoying memes) which of course I know won't happen.

That should not be asking for too much but I do not think there is any prospect of my suggestions being implemented.

 

[Chrism20]

Am I the only one finding this a bit strange?

I find it a bit bizarre that a company that is currently getting its arse well and truly kicked by the press, politicians and the public in general sends someone onto an online forum to meet the people and to talk about being a smart arse and giving people sarcy responses to shut them up.

 

[AlterEgo]

Am I the only one finding this a bit strange?

I find it a bit bizarre that a company that is currently getting its arse well and truly kicked by the press, politicians and the public in general sends someone onto an online forum to meet the people and to talk about being a smart arse and giving people sarcy responses to shut them up.

What makes you think they were sent?

 

[LOL The Irony]

Okay so, I'll just let it be publicly known that I work for the Social Media team for VTEC.

Just before I get a torrent of abuse or people asking my initials so they know which one I am, I'm trying to gain information from the community about our feeds.

Is there anything that we do well? Anything that we don't do as well on or could improve?

Cut back on the air of arseiness, if you want to post memes, post train related ones or make fun of your name (My friend recently found an old photo of me with a first class headrest cover. You can guess the part they circled.) or your situation. The press cant have a go at you if you use their ammunition on yourselves.

 

[MG11]

Cut back on the air of arseiness, if you want to post memes, post train related ones or make fun of your name (My friend recently found an old photo of me with a first class headrest cover. You can guess the part they circled.) or your situation. The press cant have a go at you if you use their ammunition on yourselves.

Curious, which part did they circle?

 

[47271]

Am I the only one finding this a bit strange?

I find it a bit bizarre that a company that is currently getting its arse well and truly kicked by the press, politicians and the public in general sends someone onto an online forum to meet the people and to talk about being a smart arse and giving people sarcy responses to shut them up.

Totally agree, it's bizarre, if they were remotely in touch with reality why would they care about what anyone thinks about them on Twitter any more?

Maybe it's the final throes of the self regarding delusional culture that was, sorry is, VTEC.

#AwesomeFail

 

[Qwerty133]

Totally agree, it's bizarre, if they were remotely in touch with reality why would they care about what anyone thinks about them on Twitter any more?

Maybe it's the final throes of the self regarding delusional culture that was, sorry is, VTEC.

#AwesomeFail

Do we really think VTEC would have bothered to find out if any of their staff had an account on here before asking for feedback?
Obviously as they wouldn't and he has been a member for over 10 years he has clearly posted of his own volition.
It is also likely that the staff who deal with social media would transfer with the franchise so actually any suggestions implemented could continue long past the end of VTEC.

 

[The North Briton]

Well you block accounts that do not use any abusive language whatsoever and simply provide corrections when incorrect information is posted
.

Agreed! You also block people who are merely critical, even if they are articulate and polite, yet you indulge others who come out with tirades of expletives. The latter should be blocked immediately!

 

[IainG81]

Am I the only one finding this a bit strange?

I find it a bit bizarre that a company that is currently getting its arse well and truly kicked by the press, politicians and the public in general sends someone onto an online forum to meet the people and to talk about being a smart arse and giving people sarcy responses to shut them up.

Quite agree with you last thing they need someone like that giving smart answers. I'm really not a fan of that even if it's attempted humour.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Curious, which part did they circle?

Virgin.

 

[Darandio]

I know it's only been 12 hours or so, but @warriorofrovac hasn't replied and I couldn't resist. Maybe they have blocked us.

 

[Carntyne]

With some of the attitude they have been given, no wonder. He/She have come on, probably off their own back actively looking to try and improve the service they offer. Worth keeping that in mind.

 

[Skimble19]

With some of the attitude they have been given, no wonder. He/She have come on, probably off their own back actively looking to try and improve the service they offer. Worth keeping that in mind.

Completely agree. I hope they do return as it’s a genuine opportunity to engage and potentially make improvements but wouldn’t be surprised nor blame them if they didn’t.

I’m not suggesting everyone needs to be all positive as I’m sure there’s plenty of negatives people have to give, but perhaps consider the way they’re phrased a little... otherwise it’ll just end up in the sort of content that gets ignored on Twitter..!

And I should point out the same applies to the person from VTEC. This is a public forum, so certain comments, whilst true and honest, should be toned down and spoken as if talking face to face with the public.

 

[Chrism20]

With some of the attitude they have been given, no wonder. He/She have come on, probably off their own back actively looking to try and improve the service they offer. Worth keeping that in mind.

You are of course entitled to your opinion, however if I was a manager and any of my staff took it upon themselves to go on a public forum in a rogue manner and come away with some of the comments that they did last night I’d be reviewing their behaviour with my HR Manager.

Comments such as “Sometimes a sarcy reply will shut them up” and comments about smart arses could well be viewed as bringing the company into disrepute.

Now given that we have one well known transport correspondent from a Scottish newspaper reading the scotrail threads on here and on occasions in past quoting posters there is probably more and the last thing VTEC need at the moment is a member of staff going onto a forum decscribing paying passengers as sarcy etc.

 

[47271]

Do we really think VTEC would have bothered to find out if any of their staff had an account on here before asking for feedback?
Obviously as they wouldn't and he has been a member for over 10 years he has clearly posted of his own volition.
It is also likely that the staff who deal with social media would transfer with the franchise so actually any suggestions implemented could continue long past the end of VTEC.

Actually, fair enough, you've made me a little less cynical. And that isn't me being sarcy when I say that!

Looking at it the other way round it could be a genuinely concerned employee who wants to improve things when VTEC ships out, that explains the timing of the post, and rightly doesn't care what their boss thinks because the boss represents a dead brand.

 

[syorksdeano]

Okay so, I'll just let it be publicly known that I work for the Social Media team for VTEC.

Just before I get a torrent of abuse or people asking my initials so they know which one I am, I'm trying to gain information from the community about our feeds.

Is there anything that we do well? Anything that we don't do as well on or could improve?

Very brave and as Virgin would probably tweet

I just came here to read comments

But in all honesty I do think a few people answering the tweets at Virgin's seriously need to think when they are sending a sarcastic comment to someone. I've seen a few times where they have been really helpful and on other occasions I have just looked at the tweet and thought would you say that to someone's face.

 

[whhistle]

With regards to being told to go and kill yourself etc, then surely that is what the block option is there for...

You'll be surprised how awful Marketing departments can be.
Blocking a customer? They'll see it as the end of the world.

 

[Chrism20]

You'll be surprised how awful Marketing departments can be.
Blocking a customer? They'll see it as the end of the world.

I think that’s part of the problem. Given the majority of people who contact them on twitter are making queries/leaving feedback/complaining it probably should have been managed by operations/customer service rather than marketing, or perhaps two twitter feeds like TPE/TPE Assist and that way the marketing team can do whatever they like with it.

 

[route:oxford]

Virgin.

Oh right. I'd guessed "ass"

 

[SaveECRewards]

Originally VTEC ignored the Save East Coast Rewards Twitter account even when I was posting positive things such as excellent service on the 18:19 to Newcastle. Then ^NB (now left and working with GTR) joined and started interacting and things generally became a lot more friendly. Then criticism due to the new website and catering lottery meant a lot more angry Tweets and VTEC seemed to revert to ignoring again. I care about the service on the ECML more than many which is why I spend way too much time on this! Those who've been around long enough also know I'm happy to be positive when things are done right, I don't think it's fair to just be critical rather than look at the positive aspects too.

It annoys me immensely if someone in VTEC tells the customer some incorrect information, I provide the correct information and because VTEC are ignoring my posts they continue to provide the incorrect information to future replies. I'm not saying trust everything I (or any others) post blindly if they contradict what you said, but use it as a prompt to double check what you've said and make sure that any errors are also mentioned to other members of the Twitter team (there seems to be a lot of common errors going round such as reservations close 18:00 the day before travel, hasn't been the case for many years, I remember even reserving a train for later in the day in GNER times. These days some routes even sell advance tickets on the day which require reservations).

VTEC do block their critics. I've been blocked a few times but always seem to quickly get unblocked but those accounts that are critical but only have a small number of followers (e.g. @vtecwatch) got blocked permanently.

 

[Intermodal]

For once, VTEC Twitter advice is on point.

 

[Flyingsprinter]

If people tweet VTEC and get a daft, sarcastic, rude or even downright offensive replies like some have recevied on here, maybe the best cause of action is to screenshot it and email it to a tabloid newspaper? If the media get hold of a few they’ll post a story and more bad publicity is the only thing that possibly will make them up their game. Customers should not be treated in this manner. It’s down right disgusting.

 

[MG11]

If people tweet VTEC and get a daft, sarcastic, rude or even downright offensive replies like some have recevied on here, maybe the best cause of action is to screenshot it and email it to a tabloid newspaper? If the media get hold of a few they’ll post a story and more bad publicity is the only thing that possibly will make them up their game. Customers should not be treated in this manner. It’s down right disgusting.

I agree, if you stayed in a B&B and were spoke to like that, then you'd never go back. There are some good members of their Twitter team though. They've always been helpful to me. It's just, as many have said on here some times they cross the border between being professional and being inappropriate. I feel bad for the Twitter team member on here though, I appreciate they just wanted pointers to improve their job and got shot down in flames (metaphorically). I think Virgin should take a leaf out of XC's book regarding Twitter, as the people on that feed are always professional, informative and do post GIFS etc, but they always maintain professionalism.

 

[SaveECRewards]

I think Virgin should take a leaf out of XC's book regarding Twitter, as the people on that feed are always professional, informative and do post GIFS etc, but they always maintain professionalism.

At least one of the XC team (they also cover Grand Central) came from VTWC. The XC role is not a total social media role, they work in control and have other duties too. VTWC used to take this approach but changed it to be a wholly social media role for the day shifts quite a few years back. VTEC are the same as VTWC in this regard, a dedicated social team during the day and the night shift is managed by the control team.

At VTEC one issue is consistency, e.g. some on the team can reserve bikes on board, others can't. This just makes it look like they're being fobbed off if someone gets a bike reserved one week and then told to phone when they ask someone different the next week.

 

[SGS]

Spectator columnist calls VTEC twitter feed "plain unhinged": https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/04/has-virgin-trains-lost-the-plot/

...My objections to Virgin are not just aesthetic. My deeper worry is that the crazed branding goes hand-in-hand with other errors of judgment: financial, perhaps even mechanical. If you misjudge your passengers so profoundly — Agent Wakefield! — why would you get the other elements of running a train company right? And it’s true, the more you examine the design of a Virgin train, the less it really makes sense...

 

[backontrack]

Totally agree, it's bizarre, if they were remotely in touch with reality why would they care about what anyone thinks about them on Twitter any more?

Maybe it's the final throes of the self regarding delusional culture that was, sorry is, VTEC.

#AwesomeFail

#FailAwesome

 

[SaveECRewards]

Spectator columnist calls VTEC twitter feed "plain unhinged": https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/04/has-virgin-trains-lost-the-plot/

It was unfortunate she decided to use that particular quote as an example. I’ve spoke to ^BG (who posted this tweet) about mental health issues and it’s a topic he cares about, so there’s no doubt in my mind that that Tweet was genuine.

There’s a lot better examples they could have used. A lot of people (including me) commended him on that tweet.

 

[backontrack]

Sometimes a sarcy reply to someone like that will often shut them up...it's a bit of a reality check for them as they didn't expect to get a reply from an actual human being...other times, it's someone just frustrated in which case it definitely does come off as unprofessional...it's a fine balancing act.

Similarly, you can ignore some and they won't post again as they just wanted to vent...there are others that you'll ignore and that'll ignite a crusade in them to troll you online trying to get a rise...I've had that a lot where the individual has jumped on my reply to other people...which doesn't look great for us either. We can block them, sure! but we don't want to start blocking everyone who is mean to us.

Well in any case here are my suggestions:

1). Consistency. Your job is, very obviously, to provide help for people, so do that well and you'll be doing your job well. In terms of bikes (to refer to an example cited earlier in the thread), you need everyone to be saying the same thing.

2). You - collectively - could maybe be a little more transparent, and honest, with the consumer?

 

[ainsworth74]

It was unfortunate she decided to use that particular quote as an example. I’ve spoke to ^BG (who posted this tweet) about mental health issues and it’s a topic he cares about, so there’s no doubt in my mind that that Tweet was genuine.

There’s a lot better examples they could have used. A lot of people (including me) commended him on that tweet.

Yes, I would agree with that. It was quite a good article but it was disappointing that she chose that Tweet as an example when I also consider it to have been very good.

 

[Chrism20]

I think that part of the article could have been written better and there are numerous other examples that could have been used, however I also think the tweet could have been better written.

The over-personalisation of things is one of the big problems with virgin twitter. Something reading along the lines of what pops up at the end of a TV programme saying you can contact X, Y or Z is what should have been written along with a link to the Samaritans.

That might sound harsh and I apologise now if anyone feels it is but it’s the adhoc actions like that which help create articles like that. Something more professional and to the point rather than a ramble about broken hearts and pain would probably have struck a better chord with the writer.

In short for things like that there should be a set script in place.