Paddington delays and "Information"

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I read Jester's reply as tongue-in-cheek and so somewhat supportive of staff - funny how the same post can come across in different ways ... let's ask by p.m.

I've met a couple of real "corkers" in my time ... but that's very occasional and I can't think of any recently.  On the other hand, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has some fantastic staff on the job and I / we really appreciate them.   That's not just because some may happen to know me / my forum connections and treat me different - they do it for everyone.   I don't know what's going to happen at franchise change time, but the operational staff are good for the 90% + and, goodness, don't even suggest their wholesale replacement.

[Ollie]

I would have read it as tongue in cheek if had left off the final bit about new people coming to do the job better.

Potentially I've read too much into it and that is probably as I see it as aimed at myself or a colleague and don't see the funny side of it.

[Phil]

Must confess Ollie mate, I read Jester's comment as sheer sarcasm - I actually assumed s/he was a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) employee!

I can see now how the statement is very much open to being interpreted literally though and speaking as a forum moderator, would like to offer my apologies to yourself and any other employees reading this for some of the comments made on this public platform for which I accept partial responsibility.

Frustration sadly often comes out as anger and whilst I'm the first to defend freedom of speech and the right for everyone to express themselves, people do sometimes need a little help in getting across the point they are really trying to make - hence Graham's offer to intervene with a private message or two.

[Tim]

I was caught up in this fiasco (and a 25 min delay going into London am) .  Ended up getting the HEx and a shared taxi to Reading to get round the problem. 

Personally, I thought staff at Padd did a reasonable job of keeping people informed (there was clearly a limit to the amount of information they knew themselves)  although the Tannoy announcements were very hard to hear.  Either the hardware is rubbish or a mumbler has been chosen to be the announcer

Does anyone know if I'll get a refund?

[ChrisB]

Hmmm - vandalism is usually excluded.

[johoare]

I would have read it as tongue in cheek if had left off the final bit about new people coming to do the job better.

Potentially I've read too much into it and that is probably as I see it as aimed at myself or a colleague and don't see the funny side of it.

But we all know you're very good at your job Ollie...

[jester]

Apologies if anyone was upset, and yes it was a little sarcastic. But yes, its unfair to tar all the employees with the same brush. I too have met some great members of staff on a day to day basis, but  'down-feeding' of info sometimes frustrates them and then they may be a bit different.

[Ollie]

Thanks for the replies.

I apologise for not taking it how it was intended

[hornbeam]

Ollie,

    I didn^t wish to cause offence.

    Personally over a period of time I^ve dealt with more unpleasant than pleasant staff. This includes gate staff at Reading, Drivers and Reading platform staff. I get annoyed that many times after trying to engage and be friendly I just get meet with a blank face, and if I treated my customers like I^ve been treated I^d have been sacked long ago. It didn^t help that a few months ago when I did complain about a conductor, the reply that came back was a copy a paste job saying how they were sorry how I found the driver rude.

I have also seen firsthand the ^ tough deal with it altitude^ from management. I^m not saying every member of staff is bad, far from it, but what I am saying is my own experiences have hardly been great and I feel the industry as a whole is terrible with customer service. That said, a few customers could do with a change of attitude too. It also seems, no matter who the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) is, when there is a problem information just breaks down completely.

[bobm]

I have only once had to complain about a member of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff at Reading. That was a few years ago and that was concerning the use of the lift even though I had a valid train ticket. (For those who don't know it is possible to avoid the ticket barrier by using the lifts thus they are monitored by CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision).)

Other than that I have never had any member of staff be rude to me or to anyone else in my hearing.

Where they do fall down is by omission if you like. When things go wrong they do not seem to have the information to assist. Whether that is because there is no information to be had or they haven't been motivated enough to go and seek it I don't know.

There are bad apples in every barrel but my experience is generally a good one when it comes to FGW staff.

[broadgage]

IME^▸ (in my experience) the on train staff are usually polite and helpfull, with rare exceptions.
Station staff are often less polite and/or less helpfull, though remember that station staff may not be FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

I have however seen numerous examples of unreasonable customer expectations, including "why is the taxi queue so long" and "the beer is too expensive in the station pub, typical FGW rip off"
AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) FGW cant control either the supply of taxis or the price of beer, which was reasonable in any case.

As regards delays, information provision could be improved, as could facilities for those delayed.
An unavoidable delay of say an hour, seems much longer on a windswept platform without toilets, shelter, or refreshments, than it does with these facilities.