21 October 2016 - 19:03 Paddington to Penzance terminated at Reading

[whole diary]

[Worcester_Passenger]

Hooray. I've had a "we're sorry for the delay" letter from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), which includes

        To help put things right a cheque for £60.00 will be sent to you, to cover the cost of your journey. This will be with you soon.

This relates to a journey that I made on August 15, when a bridge bash meant that the 17:22 Paddington - Hereford was cancelled beyond Moreton-in-Marsh and we ended up with road transport.

Four months...

I'll report back when the cheque arrives.

[JayMac]

May I suggest that you avoid holding your breath waiting for the cheque. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

On the other hand, why couldn't the writer of that letter have simply enclosed a cheque with their letter? 

In one of my previous employments, working in the complaints team of a large organisation, I would have strolled over to the accounts team and asked them to issue a cheque for the relevant amount, payable to the complainant, so that I could tuck that into the envelope with my letter of (genuine) apology. 

And we didn't (weren't allowed to!) take four months to get to the stage of even writing such an apology letter. 

[JayMac]

What you have to remember though is that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) customer Service has gone from crap (Serco) to Crapita.

It's no wonder one of the brightest stars of GWR Customer Service (well known to many on this forum) has jumped ship. I suspect he's not alone.

[Worcester_Passenger]

May I suggest that you avoid holding your breath waiting for the cheque. 

Agree completely.

On the other hand, why couldn't the writer of that letter have simply enclosed a cheque with their letter? 

In one of my previous employments, working in the complaints team of a large organisation, I would have strolled over to the accounts team and asked them to issue a cheque for the relevant amount, payable to the complainant, so that I could tuck that into the envelope with my letter of (genuine) apology. 

And we didn't (weren't allowed to!) take four months to get to the stage of even writing such an apology letter. 

Agree completely

[jdw.wor]

I have had a slightly different experience today. I have received a compensation cheque for a journey in the summer. The accompanying letter starts; "Further to your recent contact with us"!! My claim was sent the day after the delay

[LiskeardRich]

On the other hand, why couldn't the writer of that letter have simply enclosed a cheque with their letter? 

In one of my previous employments, working in the complaints team of a large organisation, I would have strolled over to the accounts team and asked them to issue a cheque for the relevant amount, payable to the complainant, so that I could tuck that into the envelope with my letter of (genuine) apology. 

And we didn't (weren't allowed to!) take four months to get to the stage of even writing such an apology letter. 

My former employer, financial insdustry, we had a maximum of 8 weeks or we had to pay an automatic fine.

We also when agreeing to compensate or refund, could raise a BACs form, through a support central form on the intranet. It submitted to the cash office, who processed BACs requests at 1300 daily.

[grahame]

What you have to remember though is that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) customer Service has gone from crap (Serco) to Crapita.

It's no wonder one of the brightest stars of GWR Customer Service (well known to many on this forum) has jumped ship. I suspect he's not alone.

There's a public (world) post here on Facebook.  I am noting that a career and role change may sometimes be triggered by a desire to leave something behind, but that's often outweighed by a desire to take on new challenges ... no assumptions should be made about any one individual.

[TaplowGreen]

.........almost 7 weeks in we have some progress (well, sort of) - after being told it was likely to take another 3 weeks to get a reply, I emailed Hopwood directly and have just received this.........

Dear Neil
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email to our Managing Director, Mark Hopwood.

Thank you for writing and we will respond to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards
Kellyann Steer| MD Correspondence |Great Western Railway  

"MD Correspondence" is certainly a grand title, let's see if it carries any influence!!! 

..............odds on a reply this side of 2017 anyone?

Still no reply................and I had an awful nightmare last night, I dreamed I was going to catch the 1903 to Plymouth tonight............can you imagine what it's going to be like???

I assume it's pretty futile to ask if any extra services to the Westcountry are being laid on tonight?



 

[LiskeardRich]

Westcountry services though cornwall yesterday were full and standing. Struggled to get to the door at destination

[Bob_Blakey]

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) it seems that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are running 3 additional services today as follows:

1Z78 1033 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - PNZ
1Z93 1236 PAD - PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)
1Z85 1436 PAD - PLY

[grahame]

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) it seems that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are running 3 additional services today as follows:

1Z78 1033 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - PNZ
1Z93 1236 PAD - PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)
1Z85 1436 PAD - PLY

I'm already getting a lot of "out of office" messages so it's probably a sensible day to redistribute resources this afternoon / evening.   Who knows - the 19:03 may not be quite so bad tonight with some traveling earlier, and others perhaps waiting until tomorrow as they don't have to rush back late on Sunday (come to think of it - they can't rush back late on Sunday!)

[JayMac]

Or early on Monday.

[plymothian]

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) it seems that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are running 3 additional services today as follows:

1Z78 1033 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - PNZ
1Z93 1236 PAD - PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)
1Z85 1436 PAD - PLY

I'm already getting a lot of "out of office" messages so it's probably a sensible day to redistribute resources this afternoon / evening.   Who knows - the 19:03 may not be quite so bad tonight with some traveling earlier, and others perhaps waiting until tomorrow as they don't have to rush back late on Sunday (come to think of it - they can't rush back late on Sunday!)

I also expect the lifting of restrictions today is also a deliberate decision to spread the super/off-peak load across the whole day.

[IndustryInsider]

Three extra daytime trains is a good move by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) using stock when it available - we all know that later in the evening it isn't.  I see that all three are healthily reserved.  We'll wait and see what the 19:03 looks like tonight.  I would imagine there will be a few less commuters using it as a reasonable percentage won't have gone in today or will be leaving work early (or possibly staying late for post work drinks) - more so than on Maundy Thursday for example.  And 'plymothian' makes a valid point about spreading the load. 

That being said I doubt it will be empty!