Do The Addresses Of Train Operating Companies Put People Off Writing?
I write the odd letter of complaint or praise to various companies, although I can’t remember writing one to a train operating company for some time.
I have a feeling it might have been to London Overground about something, but I do remember a reply, but what it was about, I have no idea.
In going through Chris Gibbs report on Govia Thameslink Railway, I asked myself, where their customer support is situated.
The page is comprehensive with the postal address being in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire.
So if you were complaining or praising something would you think that this disconnected address is in some anonymous Call Centre in Leicestershire and not bother?
I checked a few other companies.
- Chiltern – Banbury
- East Midlands Trains – Derby
- Greater Anglia – Norwich
- London Overground – Swiss Cottage
Incidentally, Great Western don’t say, but the address is Freepost GWR Customer Support.
I think the GWR approach is probably the most professional, as it means they can put the customer support in the most convenient place and if they should move it, the post will still get through.
IKEA Make A Mistake
For my kitchen, I need one of these sink cabinets numbered 901.049.37
The cabinet and the front were delivered as three items.
- TINGSRYD drawer front 60×20 wood effect black 402.056.79
- TINGSRYD door 60×60 wood effect black 702.056.68
- ME base cb f b-in oven/sink 60x60x80 wood eff bl 202.055.43
But I thought I ordered one with a drawer.
As the order was split down by a computer, the computer got it wrong.
But then I’ve always had trouble with IKEA’s computer system, as I wrote about in Infuriating IKEA.
These pictures show the current state of the unfinished cabinet.
I’ve e-mailed their customer service and not had a reply.
Incidentally, I can’t find a 60×60 drawer front on their web site.
A drilling tempolate would do, so I could modify the door myself.
But unfortunately with the holes, I have no idea, where to put them!
Has anybody got any suggestions?
Deutsche Bahn’s Idea Of Customer Service
To get back from Leipzig, I had two choices.
- I could go to Munich and spend the night in a hotel I know by the station and come home in the morning.
- Or I could go back in one day.
As I had bought a flexible Eurostar ticket for Friday in the early evening, I was thinking about the direct option.
But on Thursday night, I decided to buy my tickets for Brussels with a change at Frankfurt Airport, as I was offered a good value ticket in First Class with reserved seats, for less than it would have cost in Second.
It was probably just as well I bought the ticket, given what happened in Munich on Friday night.
I ended up with a bundle of tickets on three A4 sheets of paper.
Germany’s Idea Of A Ticket To Ride
Compare that with my tickets to Liverpool tomorrow.
The UK’s Idea Of A Ticket To Ride
Just two cards for my wallet with one up and one back.
I should also say, that to buy the German ticket, I had to queue up in a Ticket Office, as the ticket machine wasn’t allowed to sell me the ticket I wanted. Queuing included having to get a compulsory number from a machine, despite the fact there was only a few people waiting.
In the morning, the train left at 06:31, so as I was in First Class, I thought I’d go to the DB Lounge.
But as you can see it wasn’t open. Surely, if trains are running, the lounges should be open.
On the first train, I saw the steward once and didn’t get so much as a complimentary glass of water.
But judging by the emptiness of First Class, it doesn’t appeal to most passengers.
From Frankfurt Airport to Brussels, the second train had more passengers, but I did have to buy myself a Coke.
You get much better service on Chiltern Trains in Standard Class.
And who owns Chiltern?
Disappointing Cologne
Cologne and its station disappointed me.
I was hungry and the hotel wasn’t exactly brimming with gluten-free food options. Or guests for that matter.
In fact, the whole city centre was dead.
Was everybody tucked up in bed watching the vEurovision Song Contest or because of the attacks in the city centre in the New Year, does everybody not go there any more.
In the end, I got supper in an Argentinian steak house, where the food was a lot better than the service.
In the morning, I didn’t have a ticket, so I arrived at the station a bit early, only to find that the machines didn’t seem to see the ticket I wanted and the ticket office wasn’t open.
It was a repeat of the customer service of the night before.
There are a couple of things to note in the pictures.
- I had to go through all the rigmarole of getting a number to buy a ticket.
- I had masses of paper for my ticket compared to what I get in the UK.
- Comfortable seats were thin on the ground.
- There was a smoking area on the platform.
- Lots of trains seemed to be locomotive-hauled.
Eventually, I arrived in Brussels with plenty of time to spare.
But surely the biggest disappointment about Cologne is why the Germans haven’t developed it as a gateway for Cross-Channel passengers.
Consider.
- Cologne has very good connections to major German cities like Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, which are much better than those from Brussels or Paris.
- A lot of visitors to Germany from the UK, may be going to Cologne anyway, so why force them to change trains in Brussels?
- According to the Demographics of Cologne, the city has around a million inhabitants and is in a region of three million.
- Cologne is about the same size as Birmingham, Glasgow or Liverpool/Manchester, so it could probably sustain a direct service.
- If you need to waste an hour or so in Cologne, whilst changing trains, you are by the cathedral and the Rhine.
- Cologne to London by train must be around four hours, which must be very competitive with flying.
- A Sleeper train between London and Cologne would probably work. I’d use it!
I think the Germans can’t be bothered, as they’d have more passengers to cater for, who knew about customer service.
I know there’s the problem of Customs and Immigration, but if Deutsche Bahn were serious about running a service, I’m sure the problems are solvable.
I’ve been through small airports where excellent, efficient and probably very thorough systems had been setup to encourage traffic.
The problem could of course be the UK Border Force, who in my experience don’t seem to be the best in the world.
But then, the world needs to develop fast, efficient, automatic border checks, that I’m certain if we got right, would actually discourage illegal immigration.
As it is, we set up such weak checks, that they encourage criminals to encourage and fleece, those that might want to come to countries, where work might be available.
Overground Customer Service At Work
You may ask, what this London Overground Customer Service Agent is doing on his knees at Hackney Downs station.
Overground Customer Service At Work
He’d spotted a raised man-hole cover and was taking a photograph to report it. He’d put a one pence coin by the hole.
A Raised Man-Hole Cover
Apparently, that is the standard for a hole being too big.
That is a very good practical way of measuring it.
A Problem At Barking Station
Yesterday, I had a small problem at Barking station, about getting my train back to the centre.
This is what I wrote to London Underground.
I visited Barking and had arrived on an H&C. So when I went back, the signs directed me to the sane platform, but there was no information there and no trains. So in the end I gave up and walked to the Westbound District Line platform, where I found a distressed elderly lady looking for a train to Paddington. Eventually, I shepherded her on a District Line train and I found a H&C at West Ham. The lady went off to try her luck on the Jubilee Line.
Not only was there no signs to the H&C and no trains, but there were no staff on the platform directing people to the trains that were running.
It wasn’t the standard I usually get at Dalston Junction or Barbican say!
It is very unusual that this happens on the Underground.
Service From Hackney
A week or so ago, I ran out of Visitor Parking Vouchers. Normally, I go over to the Council Offices in Hackney, as I’ve tried to buy them on-line a couple of times and I’ve not been successful.
So this time, last Friday, I filled in the form in the book of vouchers and posted it off with a cheque.
I was just about getting worried this morning about what had happened, especially as the cheque hadn’t been cleared.
Then the vouchers were hand delivered to my house at about nine o’clock in a hand-written envelope.
So all’s well that ends well!
Are Small Energy Companies Struggling?
I’ve just read this article on Blue and Green Tomorrow entitle ‘Unprecedented’ growth forces small energy suppliers to battle customer service issues. The first paragraph summarises the article well.
While dissatisfied energy customers are turning their back on the ‘big six’ suppliers, smaller firms are increasing their number of customers, but their exponential growth is also leading to higher complaints.
I have no current customer services issues with Ovo, who I switched to in December. Although earlier, I did have some issues with their login system.
I would expect that just like any new industry, these small energy companies will have customer service issues in their infancy, as more customers join before the staff are recruited and trained to deal with any problems.
In DB Style From Berlin To Heidelberg
I’d always wanted to go to Heidelberg, as it was probably the first German town, of which I knew the name. This was because I spent so much time from the age of about six watching one or other of my father’s Original Heidelberg printing machines. One is shown in this post. My simple job, was to call him, if the machines dropped any paper, which is a letterpress printer’s worst nightmare, as then other shets follow and paper goes everywhere, often damaging the intricately set type.
There is no museum in the town, but I just had to go.
So I bought an extremely expensive ticket at €215 for the journey, expecting a bit of DB TLC in First.
All I got was one cup of coffee which I had to pay €2.50 for.
My €2.50 Cup Of Coffee
But I suppose the seat was comfortable and I had most of the carriage to myself.
At least on my journey from Berlin to Warsaw, which is about the same distance, I paid only €79 and got a free cup of coffee and some biscuits that weren’t gluten-free.
As Berlin to Heidelberg is virtually the same distance as London to Edinburgh, I looked up the fares on the Scottish route. Today it would be £208, but tomorrow it would be £120. On the other hand for the German trip for say next Thursday, it will still be €215.
There is also one big difference in the UK, in that anybody, even Germans, over 60 can purchase for £30 a Senior Railcard, which reduces the prices I’ve shown by a third. And you can buy that at a ticket office, when you take your first journey. I did try to see if I could buy a DB Card, but the lady at the ticket office didn’t want to sell me one and didn’t have good English.
But the biggest difference between East Coast or Virgin and DB, is that on many long distance journeys you get snacks and endless tea and coffee thrown in with the ticket.
I have had customer service problems with Deutsche Barn in the past, most notably at Osnabruck.
No wonder the train was empty for most of the way!
Changing From A Large To A Small Energy Supplier
I recently changed from a large energy supplier; NPower, to a small one; OVO.
So how has the experience been and would I change now, knowing what I now know?
1. Costs
If I compare my actual costs for 2013, when I was with NPower to the estimated costs for 2014 on OVO, they are about the same at £143-145 a month for both gas and electricity. I suspect that for a modern three-bedroomed house, where I cook by electricity, do one load of washing a week and have a deep bath every day, that these figures could be a bit low.
But it is surprising how close the two suppliers are in terms of costs. Partly, this is because OVO set the level of the standing order based on what I was paying NPower
2. Account Management
I am just getting to grips with managing my account to my benefit.
In the previous section, I said that OVO set my initial payments based on my NPower usage.
I have now adjusted my standing order to my usage , as OVO allow you to do. I estimate that when I get this adjusted correctly, my bill could reduce to about £120 a month.
One thing that happens with OVO, is that if you are in credit, they give you a small interest payment. It may only be pence, but it’s more than a big supplier would give. You can also request that the balance be withdrawn to your bank account.
3. The OVO Web Site
Like all new web sites, the OVO web site has a few problems and could be better. In their case, things like remembering your login ID and the general handling of passwords are areas I would improve.
As to the login, they could do a lot worse than look at how Zopa has created a secure login. Zopa’s is certainly one of the best!
I would also recommend that you login once a month and give it a good look around.
4. Customer Support
I don’t think I have any complaint in this area.
You phone them on an 0800 number.
5. Would I Change Again?
Not at the moment, but if I did want to change, I’ve got a single A4 piece of paper with all of my details and relevant numbers on it, so change would be easy.
So for that reason alone, I would advise anybody to change at least once to an energy supplier with good paperwork and web site.
The Anonymous Widower 