Nightmare on a Train

[stefanovic]

Yep. Trains are rubbish these days.
In the 1970's and 80's they were great and good value for money.
My most recent experience was catching a train from Birmingham to Preston and back the same day on Avanti.
On return, the 1717 was severely delayed. It should have pulled into Birmingham before 1900.
It eventually arrived at 2100.
For the first time ever I claimed a refund which should have been 100% of the fare, but only received a voucher for 25%.
Tried to phone them to complain but was put off by a recorded voice telling me I'd have to wait a substantial time to speak to a real person.
Trains and planes are just a <bleep> nightmare.

 

[AddisonRoad]

Yep. Trains are rubbish these days.
In the 1970's and 80's they were great and good value for money.
My most recent experience was catching a train from Birmingham to Preston and back the same day on Avanti.
On return, the 1717 was severely delayed. It should have pulled into Birmingham before 1900.
It eventually arrived at 2100.
For the first time ever I claimed a refund which should have been 100% of the fare, but only received a voucher for 25%.
Tried to phone them to complain but was put off by a recorded voice telling me I'd have to wait a substantial time to speak to a real person.
Trains and planes are just a <bleep> nightmare.

In that situation you should file a chargeback on your credit card.

 

[stefanovic]

With rail strikes now scheduled for the end of the month, once again it's the customer who is NOT king.
Granted, we did have them before, but I'll refer to a person I knew who had worked for British Rail and mentioned to me that the attitude of rail staff was:
"If it wasn't for the passengers we could run this train service."
The service can never now get better. It can only get worse and worse.
With eye watering fares and shoddy service it's proof that privatisation has solved very little.

 

[pendodave]

With rail strikes now scheduled for the end of the month, once again it's the customer who is NOT king.
Granted, we did have them before, but I'll refer to a person I knew who had worked for British Rail and mentioned to me that the attitude of rail staff was:
"If it wasn't for the passengers we could run this train service."
The service can never now get better. It can only get worse and worse.
With eye watering fares and shoddy service it's proof that privatisation has solved very little.

Ironically, the period under privatisation has had very few, if any strikes. What is often (nefariously) referred to as strike action by tame media and politicians is actually the choice not to work overtime.
Private companies are generally keen to avoid industrial action, and enter into negotiations to prevent it. They lose money and customers if they don't. The government now runs the railway and may have rather different motivations.