Irish Times Letter Today

[Oisin88]

Madam, I commute each working day from Drogheda to Dublin. I use the 8:20am express, which is an Enterprise train from Belfast. The train rarely arrives at 8:20 and even rarer are the days when I actually get to sit in the seat I paid for. How is this acceptable?

I managed to decipher my way through the Irish Rail website to find a complaints contact. I think Irish Rail calls it Customer Service. Perhaps it should be called Customer Disservice. The website informed me that my "query" would be directed to the relevant person and I could expect an initial response within three days. Two months later I have not received any response at all.

Recently I decided to book a seat for a journey I plan to take to Limerick. I negotiated my way through the Irish Rail website booking facility. At the very end of booking my ticket I found out that I had booked only a single. No problem, I thought. I will call the number detailed in the confirmation email for changing bookings.

However, I was informed on calling this number that I could not amend the booking to a return ticket. On my request to cancel the original booking and book a new return ticket I was told I would have to pay a 20 percent cancellation fee.

I enquired what this 20 per cent fee was to cover. The Irish Rail representative said she had no idea why this fee was levied.

The above are only two examples of the never ending misery of having to use Irish Rail. Trains are often cancelled or late without any announcements to inform passengers. All of the trains at peak times are overflowing. This is the same on most commuter routes, I understand. While animals travelling by road are guaranteed by law a certain amount of space and rest on journeys the same cannot be said of the miserable commuter who pays for his journey but rarely gets a seat on the overcrowded trains which his taxes have helped to buy.

Can someone in Irish Rail actually reply to complaints or even this letter? - Yours, etc,

Interesting animal anology

[dowlingm]

this is how they do it over here:

Risk-free Cancellation
Plans change, mistakes happen! VIA understands and we're proud to implement a 24-hour grace period to permit you to cancel any Internet booking without service charges - even if the booking you made was non-refundable. Just remember to make any necessary cancellations within 24 hours of booking online and all will be forgiven. To err is human but, then again, VIA is the Human way to travel! Not applicable to e-tickets after train departure.

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Irish Times

Madam, - Like Aaron Flynn (October 31st), I commute to Dublin each working day, but from Dundalk. I too take the 7:57 Enterprise express from Belfast. About twice a week this train is a carriage short and so, like Mr Flynn, I have to stand.

My return journey is worse. There is no express service to Dundalk at a reasonable hour for commuters. Therefore I have to use a suburban commuter service via Skerries, Balbriggan, Gormanston, Laytown and Drogheda. There is barely standing room, let alone a place to sit.

For this service I pay €362 a month, or €4,340 a year.

This morning I rang the "Customer Service" number at Connolly Station. The representative was unable to offer an explanation as to why the southbound trains were shorter on certain days. He suggested I complete a customer feedback form and I "may get a response". Somehow I don't feel optimistic about forthcoming improvements.

I will wait (and stand) in hope. - Yours, etc,

MARIA MACKLIN, Ard Easmuinn, Dundalk, Co Louth.

Strange that IE quote €217 per month for the Dundalk Dublin monthly

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Strange that IE quote €217 per month for the Dundalk Dublin monthly

Perhaps he goes to Bray or some such or are IE misleading?

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Paul Mulcahy

Perhaps he goes to Bray or some such or are IE misleading?

Me thinks this passenger really needs to double check what they are paying for since the numbers clearly show the fare for the quoted journey to be over 50% less. Even with a short hop zone monthly purchased separately it would still be less than the quote it would be €314 even then Dundalk Bray or anywhere south of Blackrock as one is available should cost €227 (not confirmed)

Or have we found someone so flush that they have a first class monthly ??

Normal price for point to point 50 miles monthly is €217, Port Laois, Mullingar etc

Portadown is €324

And the train is not short when its 7 coaches it was never intended to run as 8 coaches its long if its 8 in fact and if its 8 it has little chance of making it on time

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

And the train is not short when its 7 coaches it was never intended to run as 8 coaches its long if its 8 in fact and if its 8 it has little chance of making it on time

He doesn't mention carriage numbers anywhere. Why do you not assume it is normally 7 coaches and sometimes 6? You should never assume things to be fact as it is the one way to annoy customers. Nothing is more irritating than someone who tells people they are wrong when in fact they do not know the facts.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

It's a 'she' by the way but true, I'm sure it's not the kind of response that would placate or satisfy the customer. (If they even get a response )

It's very easy to pick up on a technical element here or there to destroy a complaint without embracing the wider fact that a paying customer is dissatisfied. It's a handy way to discourage complainants and probably why people don't complain in this country very often, companies usually spend most of the time contradicting them or blinding them with science and statistics.

[Mark Gleeson]

The issue of missing coaches is quoted in the letter and is frequently mentioned on the Belfast line, primary issue here is getting home having to stand more or less the whole way to Dundalk, as we have shown plently of space on the Drogheda line to run extra trains we even managed to find some spare trains to run them thats the crux of the matter and is fully legitimate, on the other hand the fare quoted is most certainly wrong

For the specific train quoted I have the fleet details and I know its either 7 or 8 coaches, I'll spare people the offical stock list only to confirm it has both 7 and 8 coach trains on it. It is common to see 1 if not 2 of the 3 enterprise trains running with 7 coaches. Same goes on on the Cork line where it varies 7 to 9

For years the situation is 7 coach and where available 8. Back in 1996/7 it was decided to discontinue keeping a full spare set of coaches on standby (side effect was no backup when things go wrong) it was done quite rightly to turn up a few extra coaches since demand has grown significantly but the 8th coach is always on a knife edge, it goes through good and bad patches as refurbishment and overhaul takes place. If there ain't physically enough of them its impossible

The answer is very simple, we (as in Northern Ireland Office and DoT) never bought enough coaches to guarantee a 8 coach service 365, IE if had the guts they could explain there plan to deal with this, they have a plan for mid 2007 but they have not told anyone despite it being well known to us. Since its corparate policy in IE and in NIR not to blame there paymasters in Kildare Street and Westminister the real truth will never be printed on a response to a complaint, that is if you actually get one (8 weeks 3 days waiting now)

Derek can fill in the complete mess IE made of it in 1995 its a total cock up, it wouldn't be as bad as it is but the Enterprise coaches make the new Mk4 coaches look good

A little known fact is an entitlement for a 25% refund after 30 minutes if you are delayed on a enterprise service

The absence of IE writting back makes all this a lot more interesting, the first letter particulary is fairly watertight IE have no way out the proof is undeniable

[Oisin88]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Strange that IE quote €217 per month for the Dundalk Dublin monthly

Could the passenger be buying tickets each time they travel?
€20.50 a shot (return) about 18 times a month, works out ish. I know some people with logic like that, or else the patron is not aware of monthly tickets.

These letters are evidence of why:
(1) Irish Rail needs to sort out it's information and customer services.
(2) Irish Rail/The Government Needs to recognise Platform 11 to empower them to represent these people.

[Mark Gleeson]

IE will claim and have claimed that 90+% of all complaints are dealt with within 3 working weeks,

If we cannot give you an immediate response, we will send an acknowledgement to your letter within three working days of receiving it, and we aim to respond fully within fifteen working days.

8 weeks 3 days waiting here, second letter went in on Tuesday and I'm still waiting on €5.75 in a refund just goes to show

Do your bit complain the more complaints the better

[James Shields]

Regarding the "missing" Enterprise coach, out of the 28 Enterprise coaches, 16 are standards. That makes 5 for each of the three sets plus one spare. As far as I know the Enterprise "refurbishment" is still going on, with two coaches out of service at any time. As there ate only 12 coaches that aren't standards, that means that at least some of the time both out of service coaches must be standards, leaving one set a coach short. If any of the in service coaches develop a fault, that will leave another set short.

Incidently, the aforementioned Drogheda user mustn't be in any danger of losing their job for being late, otherwise they wouldn't be relying on the Enterprise. If they really needed to be in Dublin by 9am, they could just get up about 20 mins earlier and getthe commuter train, where they would have no problem getting a seat, and it's almost always on time. And if they don't need to be in Early and the Enterprise shows up looking a bit full, they could cross over to platform 2 where the 8:32 is waiting and it too has no shortage of seats (at least until it hits Balbriggan).

[Mark Gleeson]

Of course the enterprise isn't timetabled to get in until 9:05 anyway