Lost Property update please ...

[whole diary]

[grahame]

On an eventful return trip from London yesterday, my better half contributed to the workload of our good friends in lost property by leaving something on the train.   It was the heading for Cheltenham, and no doubt would be going back to Paddington later on.   

We have full details such as what it contained, where we were on the train, which train it was, and I've even got a picture of Lisa holding the item at Paddington before we boarded, so it should be pretty complete in terms of what we can provide.    Nothing of value, but some hard-to-replace items.  And it may have ( :-( ) looked like just a paper bag someone had abandoned.

Questions:

a)  I can see phone numbers for enquiries, but no email address.   Surely emailing in a "have you got" with pictures and inventory is going to be far better that having to translate from image to vocal for the guy / guyess at Lost property to translate back in some way.   How can we ask electronically?

b) Do we ask via Bristol (where the train was headed was an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) station) or via Paddington (as it might not have been serviced at CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains) but headed back to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains), or both, or are they in touch with each other and with a common database?

[phile]

I believe from stories I have read earlier you have to telephone somebody whose command of the English language is difficult to understand, which is poor customer service to start with..    FGW^▸ (First Great Western) refuse to give out the number of the Bristol T.M. Lost Property Office.   Hopefully another member will be able to fill you in with further details.   There was quite a lengthy post on the topic a while back and if I can trace it, I will post back.
a Post found on Board "Smokes and Mirrors" and also an earlier one on the same Board, the last post being in December 2012.

[the void]

If the item was found when the train turned around at Cheltenham, then the item will be at Cheltenham. At present, items found at Cheltenham are retained there. If you call (or email) Customer Relations, using the normal contact details they will check with Cheltenham for you. If Cheltenham do not have it, it is possible the item returned to Paddington, in which case you should check with Excess Baggage, which you can do via the form on their website.

[SDS]

The item is handed in to the location where the train terminates and then finds its way back to Bristol. The exception being that at London its handed into the rip off privatised Network Rail excess baggage.

[the void]

The item is handed in to the location where the train terminates and then finds its way back to Bristol. The exception being that at London its handed into the rip off privatised Network Rail excess baggage.

While this is the official version of the process, it's not actually quite true. There are currently a number of exceptions to the rule (such as Cheltenham) where items are stored locally and not sent to Bristol. Work is currently taking place to bring these stations into the fold. In any event, the best course of action is to always contact Customer Relations who will do all the legwork in trying to track the items down.

The reason that no direct number for Bristol Lost Property Office is advertised is simply because the resources to staff such a facility are not currently available. Customer Relations have access to the Bristol database and they have the resources to answer all calls.

[SDS]

While this is the official version of the process, it's not actually quite true. There are currently a number of exceptions to the rule (such as Cheltenham) where items are stored locally and not sent to Bristol. Work is currently taking place to bring these stations into the fold. In any event, the best course of action is to always contact Customer Relations who will do all the legwork in trying to track the items down.

Dunno when you last checked, but ive seen in the past huge sealed bags full of lost property from Oxford and Cheltenham being checked into Bristol LP.

[ChrisB]

Good to know Oxford's goes to Bristol - I would have thought it'd end up at Pad.

[grahame]

While this is the official version of the process, it's not actually quite true. There are currently a number of exceptions to the rule (such as Cheltenham) where items are stored locally and not sent to Bristol. Work is currently taking place to bring these stations into the fold. In any event, the best course of action is to always contact Customer Relations who will do all the legwork in trying to track the items down.

Dunno when you last checked, but ive seen in the past huge sealed bags full of lost property from Oxford and Cheltenham being checked into Bristol LP.

I've contacted customer services as suggested, via email as I was able to attach a picture of said item, and I'll let you know how we get on.   I was able to tell them service, date, carriage, content list too, so they shouldn't be short of data.

[JayMac]

Contacting 'Customer Relations' in regard to lost property will always put you through to an operative in a call centre in the Asian sub-continent. Even if you bypass the 'press x for lost property' menu option and go for the human interaction on 'option 4' (or is it '5'?), that human will still put you through to the 'Lost Property' option which is the aforementioned call centre in downtown Mumbai/Chennai/Bangalore...

...not sure where Serco (who bought Intelenet, who bought First Info, who were spun off from First Group) are based in India, but I share concerns about the language barrier. I've had two recent dealings with 'lost property' and I thought it may be possible to deal direct with the LP office at Bristol TM^‡(resolve) - no great hassle for me as a Bristol resident - but no, I still had to register the lost items with an operative elsewhere in the world. To be fair, the language issues are a two way street. I have a west country accent which might not be readily comprehended by someone in India who has learnt RP English.

"It were a gurt bag of stuff I left on train. Not only me daps, but a nice per of jeens n'all. I feels a right wazzock."

[grahame]

Email answer from customer services ... yesterday at 02:21, just over a week after my initial report

Thank you for your email of 24 February 2014. I was sorry to learn that you left your green carrier bag on our 16:15 service.

As you are already aware if found, your property will be forwarded to our Lost Property Depot in Bristol Temple Meads, where we will then ensure that it remains safe. We advise customers to allow a little time for any items found to be received and the details logged onto the system used by our Lost Property Team.

You can then contact them on 03457 000 125, to give a description of the item lost, and hopefully, arrangements can then be discussed about how to reunite you with your item.

Thank you once again for contacting us.

So - I phoned, spoke to a gentleman who asked me for my reference number - which I did from the above correspondence.  He asked me for all my journey details (with a need to spell out certain place names) and he double checked that with me.  He logged it into the system, and then he read to me (!) a description of the items as he had in front of him a copy of my email to customer services - apparently, it had been registered as an enquiry and not a report of lost property.   He has now logged it as a report and took a phone number to call back within 7 days.

I can't help feeling that a lost property form / email interface might be a bit more efficient and might save customers some frustration and save First a bit of money too.  Sure - leave the old system for those who don't have internet access or prefer to talk through / describe things, but surely there's a data entry form that the gent I spoke to uses and parts of it might be made web-able;  from how he spoke and his lack of knowing some of the railway place names / geography, I don't think he was a Bristol local so it has to be on the computer somehow.

Having said that ... if the system works, gets us the item back if it was handed in or found, then that's good and it may be a question of "it's not broken so it doesn't need fixing".   Bit awkward to make suggestions say "why do you do it this way?" when the whole need to use the system is because of our mistake ...

[grahame]

I'm learning a lot here - chasing the hard-to-replace but no-huge-value bag that we left of the train just over two weeks ago.  How can we be together again?

Thread one ...

1. I wrote in to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) by email, enclosing a picture and full description, note of which train, which date, and even which end of which carriage.

2. A week later, a reply to my email tells me to phone in and register the lost property;   I tell them nothing new in that phone call, and indeed they have the email in front of them with the description.   It's unclear whether the photo is there.  I am promised a call back within 7 days.

3. 7 days later, I call in.  The lady I speak to reads out the description, says she doesn't have the photo, tells me that we're on the list to call back but they probably haven't got to us yet, and that the matching is purely on description not on pictures.   And she helpfully explained thread two

Thread two ...

1. If the property were collected off the train, it would have been forwarded to Bristol Temple Meads

2. At Bristol, a description is logged into a book

3. The book is sent to Plymouth for data entry, and then emailed to the matching centre, which I understand to not be local

Together ...

Matching is done between the two sets of text descriptions.

If there's good news it's phoned through

And then the item(s) can be collected / shipped / posted.

Now - I know that lost property must be a bloomin nuisance, and it was very silly of us to leave the item on the train, so we're rather in the wrong here - so we've not exactly got any high moral ground from which to ask questions.   But ...

* Wouldn't it be a good idea to let us loosers enter our descriptions, data, photographs, etc, via a web form?

* Wouldn't it be a good idea to check what's been turned in at to the central location actually at that central location - a pad with camera would seem to take out multiple steps, and if the matching was done there ... there's a chance for the matcher to say "let's take a look".

Am I naive in thinking that a system with less steps and photographic data would re-unite a higher proportion of property with its owners, and increase the revenue?   Or is the income from returning property so low that it's more important to keep the costs down than to get the return rate up?

I don't suppose we'll get the stuff back ... but the lady on the phone did say they would call us again in a further 7 days, and suggested that if I was near to Bristol I pop in with the reference number.

A final throught - after Cheltenham, the train went back to Paddington.  If the bag was found there, it'll be on Platform 12, right?   I don't suppose the two databases are linked ... is it worth getting in touch there too?

[LiskeardRich]

I think they could save costs by simplifying processes, from your post Grahame. Several unnecessary steps in that process.
I bet they could provide you a free return to Bristol to visit the office to look, for less that all those processes cost in man hours, and technology costs

[JayMac]

And ultimately, as you rightly point out, your property could've ended up at Paddington, where there's another Lost Property office totally separate from FGW^▸ (First Great Western), with no data links between them and FGW.

Oh, and that office at Paddington. They never answer their bl***y phone, or reply to voicemail messages, so the only way of being certain your property has or hasn't ended up there is to go there yourself.

The sheer amount of lost property that is in storage and then goes to auction, is, I suspect, not because people fail to claim it, but because the system FGW currently have in place is not fit for purpose.

[johoare]

And ultimately, as you rightly point out, your property could've ended up at Paddington, where there's another Lost Property office totally separate from FGW^▸ (First Great Western), with no data links between them and FGW.

Oh, and that office at Paddington. They never answer their bl***y phone, or reply to voicemail messages, so the only way of being certain your property has or hasn't ended up there is to go there yourself.

The sheer amount of lost property that is in storage and then goes to auction, is, I suspect, not because people fail to claim it, but because the system FGW currently have in place is not fit for purpose.

I'm more than happy to go ask at Paddington for you Grahame if that would help..

I remember when there was also a Lost property office at Reading for example (I am sure there were more) where there was a number you could actually contact them on too.. I can't believe it has had to change that much since then (but it has)

[grahame]

Jo, I trust our property far more in your hands that theirs  ... I'll forward the email with which I originally registered the property with FGW^▸ (First Great Western), including the picture and if you get a chance - great.   Then we'll meet up some time and I'll owe you pint or three (whether or not you find the illusive bag!) - THANKS!