Yet another great example of customer service

[IT-Girl!]

Apologies in advance for the long thread.
Yesterday (sunday) I went to the station in Portarlington to buy a weekly train ticket to save me queuing up this morning. I went in at about half 3 and there was an old woman there (practically blue from the cold - it's fairly drafty there at the ticket desk!) who had been waiting for half an hour to purchase a ticket for the Galway train and was getting worried about what might happen if she didn't get one before the train arrived. I knocked on the staff door and called out etc but there was nobody to be seen. Went out to the platform in case they were out there but unfortunately not. Tried ringing the phone there which I could see through the window, but it came up engaged.
I rang 4 different numbers in Heuston including one from 11850 which they described as a sunday customer service line. No answer anywhere. Got some numbers from Connolly, no answer there either. Eventually got through by dialling 8366222 and enquired if there were staff in Portarlington station, was put on hold. 10 minutes later while still on hold finally a car pulled up with a member of staff. The old woman had given up at this stage so there was me and a few others. I went to get my ticket and here is the conversation:

Me: Just wondering, were you gone on a break? We've been waiting for around half an hour, a few people left
Him: You'll need to take it up with someone else, I don't start until 4
Me: Oh right, was someone else supposed to be here then?
Him: Look, I just told you, I don't start until 4, take it up with someone else.
Me: Well could you not have put up a notice on the window?
Him: Are you f**king deaf? I said I don't start until 4, I get paid from 4 and not before that
Me: Well maybe you or someone could have used a bit of initiative and stuck up some sort of opening hours sign, it's pathetic.
Him: Yeah whatever, take it up with someone else

I went on to tell him how I thought IE was a complete joke etc and wouldn't it be great if we could all work like IE staff do.
Now I admit I wasn't very polite to him either, but I didn't curse and was just so shocked at his attitude and the way I was spoken to, totally unbelievable.

[Colm Donoghue]

Wow! nice guy.

According to this
http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/your_journey/your_station.asp?letter=P&action=showdetail&station_id=99

Portarlington station is open from 9am til 10:30pm on Sundays and Bank holidays.

I'd see about complaining about this in writing and when Irish rail don't respond within a short timeframe, keep us posted here.

See how many points of the customer charter they have failed
http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/home/customer_charter.asp

[IT-Girl!]

I have every intention of writing to Irish Rail about it and I'll let you know what I get back if anything.
I also meant to point out that I couldn't use the ticket machine either as it doesn't do weekly tickets which seems a bit stupid

[Garrett]

Hmmm, I wonder was it the same guy that pissed me off last January? Young-ish guy? I posted my experience on the forum back then:

http://forum.platform11.org/showthread.php?t=193&page=6
(Post #104)

[Mark Gleeson]

All I can say is after moaning about PSP man in Seapoint, who is seriously difficult to deal with on this forum he has vanished in the last week, either it was us or the resident senior IE manager who uses the station but it appears it has been 'eliminated'

The its not my problem line is crap, you are the face representing your company everything is your problem, sure its not his fault the other guy was on the mitch or whatever but still the 'not my problem bud' line isn't acceptable

In any business abusive language towards customer == P45 and I'd love to see them try a unfair dismissal case..

[Derek Wheeler]

Im so sorry, but as Im under the weather health wise, the mind doesn't think very straight. Nest time try this on him....

513

Problem solved!

[IT-Girl!]

Im so sorry, but as Im under the weather health wise, the mind doesn't think very straight. Nest time try this on him....

513

Problem solved!

I can't tell you how tempted I was to do that!!

[IT-Girl!]

Hmmm, I wonder was it the same guy that pissed me off last January? Young-ish guy? I posted my experience on the forum back then:

http://forum.platform11.org/showthread.php?t=193&page=6
(Post #104)

Small-ish, heavy, young-ish blond fella?

[CSL]

tip 1: turn on mobile phone recorder [ most of them have them ] and record the conversation ...


tip2 ; ask for the name ; if they won't give it ask for the supervisor's name and number

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Well if its anything like the DB 'I'm not giving my name to no one' attitiude - he should be easily identifiable to the company from their rota or equivalent, with time & date - as he said - he started at 4.

[IT-Girl!]

Finally received a response from Irish rail.

Fairly disappointing reply I thought!

[Mark Gleeson]

Well within the 4 week deadline :D

[Thomas J Stamp]

Ah, yes. Exceptional circumstances. Amazing co-incidence.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

They say the office was closed for a long period 'due to exceptional circumstances'. And what might they be exactly?

I agree, it's not a great letter, very cut and paste looking.

[Mark Gleeson]

Well it reads as a classic arse cover letter, passenger has got us in a corner hide hide hide. By now the two Liam's could/should know better

Note of course the lack of a plug for investment which is the classic copy and paste paragraph. Of course IE aren't investing a single euro in customer service training, well they might be but it sure isn't being experienced on the ground.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Note of course the lack of a plug for investment which is the classic copy and paste paragraph.

To be fair to IT-Girl, that may have formed the next three pages of the reply........

[IT-Girl!]

To be fair to IT-Girl, that may have formed the next three pages of the reply........

There was a second page (of very high quality paper I might add!! They must have a lot of money left over from the overpriced tickets) with nothing else except a signature of Melissa Quirke.

A few of the points I brought up in my letter to them were not addressed, overall I find it a very poor response!

Or maybe I should just be grateful I got any sort of acknowledgement at all.

I attach my original complaint.

[Colm Donoghue]

IT Girl, Would the points IE didn't answer be the ones they couldn't answer cos they were caught rotten. I got a high quality paper reply to my complaint that avoided all the points that nailed them...

Probably the same school of PR as our fine elected representatives use...

[Mark Gleeson]

It is an excellent letter of complaint

The problems are directly related to publicly stated Irish Rail customer service commitments, it leaves Irish Rail with no avenue of escape. The details given are specific enough to clearly identify the member of staff involved. If only more complaints where like that we really could start to twist the minds of IE staff

You should have got an acknowledgment within 5 working days and a response within 15 working days in 90% of cases. You didn't and to be honest everyone seems to be in that 10%

Most problems are satisfactorily solved at local or station level. However, Iarnrod Eireann undertakes that, if customers prefer or are still not satisfied, their attention will be drawn to the provisions of the Customer Charter

Now I've done some sniffing around and discovered that IE have a customer relationship management system called MySAP....... need I say more

[2Funki4Wheelz]

IE have a customer relationship management system called MySAP....... need I say more

Well we had SAP in my old company, it can do many things, despite a rubbish name!

To be honest customer service has nothing to do with computer systems - other than maybe to log and remind you of issues - its about people who know what they're talking about, an acceptance of responsibility and willingness to learn from the points raised.

[Mark Gleeson]

I know all about SAP but no matter the software, rubbish in is rubbish out

Of course if the CRM actually worked it would automatically print the acknowledgement letters itself to be signed

The commerically sensitive document tells us the 89% of complaints are concerning punctuality which doesn't really match with the real world

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Even auto letters are only partially useful - perhaps just to acknowlegde recceipt as you say.

People complain:
- to vent
- to be listened to
- to get some resolution/stop repetition of an issue

Autotext/copy & pasted feelingless letters where nothing changes because no one took the complaint seriously don't cut it.
I mean how many complaints do they get that they can't handle them all properly?

[Mark Gleeson]

Even auto letters are only partially useful - perhaps just to acknowlegde recceipt as you say.

There is a commitment to do this and it never happens

[CSL]

576
:) :) :) :) :)

[paddyb180285]

I was in Dalkey Station this morning to catch the 10:36 Drogheda service into town. While getting the ticket, there was nobody at the window. I didn't want to use the ticket machine as sometimes I have been given loose change and I had a €10 note at the time. I could see someone at the corner of my eye when I took a closer look through the window. So I knocked on the window to catch there attention. After a few seconds of being ignored, I said "Excuse me" in a polite manner.

I was approached and as he was serving me he started saying something. As I was getting money out of my wallet I didn't here him first time. So I said "pardon?" also in a polite manner. Than he said something along the lines of "would ever knock on the window of a shop?". I was speachless and he continued with "you shouldn't ever knock on the window of a shop. Its very rude? The train is in 8 minutes!". Even though I arrived in good advance, there should be at least one "shop keeper" at the tills at all times regardless of whether there is a rush or not especially when it is the only till in the entire shop. I walked off after this.

Nevertheless, I was absolutely appauled at the manner in which I was treated. I know Dalkey is serviced many times more frequently than Portarlington by train because it is serviced by the DART. However, it is IE duty to provide a courtious service. On the more positive side of things, I had a pleasent journey into town. It was on a 29000 series CAF 8-coach long Commuter train and they are very comfortable indeed.

[IT-Girl!]

On a slightly different note -
yesterday evening while boarding the 17:25 from Heuston the ticket checker stopped me when I showed him my weekly ticket. He asked me had it been stamped and when I said no he took it out of the sleeve and stamped it. He asked me had anyone explained why this needed to be done, I said no, even though it had been done only once before and I have been using weekly tickets now (as opposed to the annual one) for over a year. He said that they have to be stamped at least once in the week to prove that the ticket has been in use.
Now he was very pleasant and polite etc, but I don't understand this logic. Why do you have to prove that you've been using a weekly ticket? Surely all they care about is that I have a valid ticket with me when I'm travelling? And then why don't they stamp the monthly tickets once a week for the same reason?:confused:

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Surely all they care about is that I have a valid ticket with me when I'm travelling? And then why don't they stamp the monthly tickets once a week for the same reason?:confused:

I've asked the same thing about monthly tickets - mine has been stamped once the last two months and the delay at boarding waiting for everyone to remove their season tickets from the wallets is very frustrating. Once they see it is stamped at least once they let you through.

I think Mark Gleeson mentioned something about trying to catch fake tickets.

[MrX]

Ah don't worry, they'll catch that one fare evader, even if it means making life absolutely miserable for 99.9999% of their customers.

[Thomas Ralph]

On a slightly different note -
yesterday evening while boarding the 17:25 from Heuston the ticket checker stopped me when I showed him my weekly ticket. He asked me had it been stamped and when I said no he took it out of the sleeve and stamped it. He asked me had anyone explained why this needed to be done, I said no, even though it had been done only once before and I have been using weekly tickets now (as opposed to the annual one) for over a year. He said that they have to be stamped at least once in the week to prove that the ticket has been in use.
Now he was very pleasant and polite etc, but I don't understand this logic. Why do you have to prove that you've been using a weekly ticket? Surely all they care about is that I have a valid ticket with me when I'm travelling? And then why don't they stamp the monthly tickets once a week for the same reason?:confused:

That seems like a complete nonsense, once the ticket passes its valid-to date it's no longer any good.

[MidlandDeltic]

That seems like a complete nonsense, once the ticket passes its valid-to date it's no longer any good.

Apart from, if not stamped, and any question of a refund comes into play for any reason, there is no proof the ticket has been used. Not a perfect fix, but better than nothing. Alternatively, a stamped ticket prevents someone trying to get a refund on the basis of non-use. Belive it or not, there are people who try such things......and more than you might think (speaking from experience in the transport industry)

Sean

[Thomas Ralph]

Well, if you validate it at a ticket machine, the details will be recorded on the stripe.

[Trafford]

Apart from, if not stamped, and any question of a refund comes into play for any reason, there is no proof the ticket has been used. Not a perfect fix, but better than nothing. Alternatively, a stamped ticket prevents someone trying to get a refund on the basis of non-use. Belive it or not, there are people who try such things......and more than you might think (speaking from experience in the transport industry)

Sean

I did this. Is it not considered acceptable? I bought a weekly ticket on a Saturday and woke up dead on Sunday. Went to doctor on Monday and was off work for the week. I sent the weekly ticket and doctor's cert to IE the following week. That was 2 months ago and I heard nothing since. I would have thought under the circumstances I had a good case for a refund. No?

[Mark Gleeson]

Yes if you filled in the right form http://www.railusersireland.org/passenger_info/forms/ticket_refund.pdf

15 working days is the agreed timeframe, you did not state which route so I don't know which phone number to give

The doctor of course specifies a date thus who cares about when the ticket was validated last if at all

[Trafford]

Yes if you filled in the right form http://www.railusersireland.org/passenger_info/forms/ticket_refund.pdf

15 working days is the agreed timeframe, you did not state which route so I don't know which phone number to give

The doctor of course specifies a date thus who cares about when the ticket was validated last if at all

I'm on the Portlaoise route. I asked the staff in Portlaoise, and also rang the customer service number, and they both said I was just to send the ticket and doctor's cert (copies of them) to the Customer Service Dept., Heuston Station. Neither said anything about filling out a form. I did include a cover letter though.

[Mark Gleeson]

01 703 44 99