Great Western Coffee Shop

My printed timetable shows TC services from Temple Meads at 0640, 0700 (0620 from WSM) and 0730 (0649 from WSM) as does the .pdf file available from FGW's website. EastCoast's journey planner, from where I purchased my tickets, also shows the symbol for 'hot buffet'. The National Rail Timetable shows the 0630 as also having a TC

However, on the webpages detailing the Travelling Chef menus and services on which it it available there is no mention of these three services offering a TC. Anyone know which is right? I have emailed FGW but am unlikely to get a reply before I travel. I'd hoped to grab breakfast up to London on the 0640 on 24th Feb on which I have a 1st class ADV booked.

The 7:30 (which I often catch from Bath at 743)  usually has a TC.

No idea i'm afraid... Perhaps call Customer Services if you don't get an email reply before the 24th?

Always reluctant to call Customer Services as it costs money (I only have a payg mobile) and you can often be on hold for a fair while. However in this instance I have phoned to be told that the timetables show the services as offering TC's. I knew that! I wonder though whether the information available to CS advisors is anymore accurate than that available to passengers? The advisor wouldn't contact FGW Catering Dept for absolute confirmation, only logging my details for a response in the same time frame as expected by email, so bit of a wasted call.

Should I really have to just hope I'm lucky with my chances of grabbing a breakfast platter?

Departure time Origin station
(All Travelling Chef services available to Reading)
05.46 Exeter
06:58 Swansea
07.48 Plymouth
07.58 Swansea
08.55 Plymouth
11.28 Swansea
11.40 Exeter
15.00 Plymouth
18.03 Plymouth

These are the services with travelling chef according to the website. Hope this is of help

As I said, no mention of the departures from WSM or BRI, but timetables and JP's say otherwise.

Concur with Tim, the 0730 (Bristolian) usually has one.

Well, I've finally recieved a definitive reply from FGW Customer Services, and it is as I thought - there are no longer any TCs from Bristol Temple Meads. Quietly removed from service in Dec 2009. No mention in the reply as to why they are still showing as available in journey planners though. And the information I got over the phone was indeed incorrect. And yet again FGW failed abysmally to respond within 5 working days. First e-mail was sent on 16th February. Phone call made 17th February, Chase up e-mail sent on 23rd February, Forgot about it for a while then realised still no definitive reply so further e-mail sent 12th March:

Dear FGW,

I am sending this e-mail as I have recieved no further respone from FGW excepting the initial automatic e-mail notification of receipt of the message sent on 23rd February.
 
This auto-response told me I can expect a reply within 5 working days. As you can see the message was a reply to your response of a query made on 16th February for which I wanted further information as the the first reply didn't answer my original query.
 
My initial query was to get clarification as to whether there were still Travelling Chef services from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington on weekdays morning as your printed timetables and online .pdf timetables show, along with similar information in the National Rail timetable, from National Rail Enquiries and from online journey planners. Please could you read and respond to the questions raised in my e-mail of the 23rd February (included below - Case Ref: 5211211). I would also like to know why I have, as yet, not received a response to the e-mail of 23rd February when I should expect a reply within 5 working days.
 
I was looking for an answer before I made a couple of trips to London, first class, in late February/early March. As I had not had a satisfactory response (merely being quoted the information available from your website - which is contradicted in so many other places, including elsewhere on your own website) I decided against travelling to London, first class, with FGW and instead SWT got my business from Bristol to Waterloo. I intend to continue using SWT to Waterloo as I am very disappointed by the failure of FGW to respond promptly and accurately to my queries. The Travelling Chef issue is not the only concern that has made me switch to SWT - your appaling 15% increase in Off Peak and Super Off Peak singles in January, just three months after reducing them to half the return fare was disgusting.
 
If you have withdrawn the Travelling Chef services from Bristol, it is behoven of you, in the spirit of good customer service, to not have contradictory information out there and to make efforts to rectify any errors in said information.
 
Also, could you please furnish me with details of the services across your network that will be offering Travelling Chef, Travelling Chef Select and Pullman Dining after the May timetable change.
 
When, in the past, I have used the Travelling Chef I have found the quality and service to be excellent, the changes that were made to on-board catering following the withdrawal of the majority of the Pullman services were a great compromise, something I praised in previous correspondence to James Burt (former FGW Customer Service Director). However it concerns me that James' replacement, Neil Micklethwaite, has sought to further downgrade FGW's catering provision - having a Customer Service Director who is also Commercial Director seems a little contradictory. In fact the information about Neil on your website makes no mention of Customer Service whatsoever. Further biographic information about him found online, including his CV, apparently shows no previous customer service experience whatsoever. Kind of explains why customer service standards are again slipping at FGW. Too much emphasis on protecting the bottom line and shareholder interests rather than on better serving passengers.

And the reply:

Dear Mr ******

Thank you for your emails of 23 February and 12 March 2010 regarding the ongoing complaint you have with the incorrect advertising of our Travelling Chef services, I am sorry for the delay in my response. I regret this has been because I had to contact the relevant managers in head office to ensure my response was correct and due to recent changes in the catering team a response was not forthcoming as quickly as hoped. Pleas accept my apologies for this and I trust I can now explain the Travelling Chef situation.

I can confirm that Travelling Chef on the Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington route was removed in December 2009, this decision was taken after reviewing passenger loading, fleet availability and the food sales on this route.  The 0730 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington (0649 ex Weston-s-Mare) had been in decline for the last few years and have seen daily figures drop from around 50 meals back in 2005 to a figure closer to 10, we clearly could not allow this to continue to operate as a loss making service and this is why the decision was made to withdraw these services. With regard to the 'off peak' trains back to Bristol TM that you mention, these are the return leg of the journey of our Travelling Chef Select services from Hereford, although they are middle of the day we are seeing strong growth on the offer and therefore these have been kept and will be reviewed again before the next timetable change.

I am aware that you were under the impression that the Travelling Chef was still operational on the morning Bristol Temple Meads services due to the information on the downloadable PDF's on our website. As these services were part of an ongoing review the decision to remove them after the timetable booklets had gone to print and it is for this reason they still show in the timetable. These timetables are of course subject to change and only correct at the time of print but I apologise for the confusion caused nonetheless. The online PDF's are taken directly from the timetable which is why these are also wrong but I have now reported this to our website management team so they can look at changing these to display the correct information.

Thank you once again for getting in touch and bring this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely
*** *****
Customer Services Team Manager

I thought that one of the reasons that times are set so well ahead is that the timetables and other service information sheets could reflect the services actually scheduled. Not that I would object to a last minute decision to add a few extra trains our way from May  ;)

The TC was on the Bristolian last Friday, and cooked the usual nice omelette. Although there were no cards on the tables in first, and you had to go to the buffet to order it, so no wonder they don't sell many meals if it's not promoted.

If what you say is true John R - and I've no reason to doubt you - then it's just a bloody waste of time bothering to try and sodding well find out anything from FGW Customer Services, obviously. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

Get your flipping act together FGW.

Angry? Me? You're ******* right I'm angry.

Well I do dream about food sometimes, but I'm pretty sure that omelette wasn't a figment of my imagination.  ;D

 ;D ;D
Thank you John R, perfect reposte to my earlier angry rant... I've calmed down a bit now.

I must say using SWT instead of FGW simply for the reason that the level of catering is slightly reduced (yet still miles better than on SWT) and the fact that the email didn't get replied to instantly seems somewhat odd.

I've never experienced any issues with FGW customer services.

I've just looked on the FGW website and it does seem to have been recently updated w.r.t travelling chefs. Interestingly the 1106 Pad - Ply has the Chef available as far as Bristol  ??? :D

what seems to happen is if the two empty stock departures from bristol to hereford at approx 230am and 430 am are formed of stock which cannot accomodate a chef ie 2/7 or mini buffet..the displaced chef usually works on the Bristolian...iam afraid the old adage applies here ...either use it or lose it

You forgot the "appaling 15% increase in Off Peak and Super Off Peak singles in January, just three months after reducing them to half the return fare was disgusting".  I know any fare rise is never going to be warmly greeted, but I believe the fares in question are still cheaper than pre-Sept 09 prices, but hey ho.

Slightly reduced? From freshly prepared food served on a proper plate to nuked baps. That's not slightly reduced in my eyes. Slightly reduced to me would mean one or two TC items not being available.

And it may seem odd, but if I'm not happy with a service then I reserve the right to take my business elsewhere - it's just a shame that FGW still get a healthy chunk of my SWT fare if I buy tickets onboard from SHH, plus their ORCATS share for BRI-SAL. But that's the best I can do short of taking the coach.

And I'm not asking for instant responses but the initial query was made on the 16th February, the phone call on the 17th was a waste of my time and money and the definitive answer (ie not the incorrect first email response) was given on the 19th March. Hardly instant.