Caring for Customers

The Media churn out another lazy rehash of the old familiar story, Mr Good trying to save money whilst Mr Bad wants to stop him firing all his workers, in this case all the London Underground Ticket Sales staff. If like me, you are an infrequent traveller to London, you always use the Underground as it is the only way to get about. As an aside, in fairness the Buses are getting better organised, (fantastic 'London Journey Planner' App)  but still the dilemma of  which Bus, where to get off and electronic display saying next due in 5 minutes whilst you wait for 25 minutes and still no Bus in sight. Back to my theme. A welter of overlapping tiers of travel options and an automatic ticket machine with an interface devised by the Devil himself, evil incarnate. I regard myself as reasonably technically competent, an average commuter, but my lack of routine familiarity with all the London travel options means I am defeated each and every time I attempt to use the automatic ticketing system. I need the human, even if scowling, face of the Ticket Sale Office to translate my simple travel plans into a sensible Ticket to Travel. Unless London has decided to commit suicide and turn its back on all those tourists that flood the Underground every day, what is it thinking.

Our Society is being driven top down by Accountant Rules. Sure, absolutely, the Money In has to exceed the Money Out, no argument. But Accountants do not have any formula to tell when Customers have had an unsatisfactory experience that they choose not to repeat. In the real commercial world out there, struggling to get by in the ongoing recession, they are highly tuned to the customer experience. They go out of their way to ensure the customer's residual recollection is favourable to them. Not that mistakes do not happen, of course they do, but it is someone's job to proactively respond with more than a smiley face and 'Have a Nice Day' to ensure any problem is fixed and they are left satisfied. Not so our quasi-private companies running our essential services. They are only in it for profit, customer, or consumer, satisfaction is of no account. Sure a stone-walling complaints procedure that at most logs the complaint then dead files it away. Their remit is not to provide a good quality service that meets the needs of the users, just to return a profit. Not just London Underground but a plethora of quasi-private service provider have all been hitting the news for failing to address their 'customers' needs. Take the water utility boards, responsible to safe discharge of sewerage, brushing aside one of several householders that have repeated (five times), raw sewerage flooding into their homes; or Environment Agency with responsibility to manage our natural resources, failing in their duty of care by allowing the Somerset Levels to be inundated for weeks on end; or our treasured NHS failing to provided basic care robbing their elderly patients of dignity; or Local Authorities not allocating sufficient Care Hours to enable carers provide a decent quality of assistance and so on, rail failings, postal failings and on and on. Staffed by dedicate people who joined to serve the public but in the end are undermined by administrations that can only see the profit line and have no motive to meet the needs.

As I argue elsewhere, (All Change)(Time to Stand Up) quasi-'competitive' private companies have no place in running essential services. The 'competition model' is an entirely false fabrication, no real viable alternate options exist, the customer is stuck and stuffed. Nothing wrong, in fact overwhelming reasons why, essential services should be State organised. Just a new leaner model of how to go about organising and arranging them and making them accountable. There is hope that we can get back to providing all the customers, that is us, with services that aim to at least meet the needs of its customers. Now that would be a refreshing change.

Misrepresentation

We arrived back for the first time into Gatwick and then had to make our way across into London. Gatwick Airport Rail Station is very confusing, very difficult to make visual sense of what platforms are where and when are the next trains. Usual long queues at the few manned ticket sales so tried the ticket machines. Very clunky, unfriendly and so slow in response. After several offers of alarmingly overpriced tickets, must have made a wrong choice, succumbed and asked for help. Got a through ticket to the underground. Several departure displays all showing trains to Victoria. Took the earliest, rushed down to the platform only to be greeted by man who explained the train had left several minutes ago, but it was still showing on the departure screen. So this elderly couple had to manhandle heavy suitcases back up staircase. Okay station is undergoing refurbishment. Bewildered as to which platform to now use asked and was directed to another platform. Train standing there, got in and was taken to Victoria. Only to be greeted by a big red penalty fare display board and an eastern european uniformed member of staffing barring exit until a penalty fare had been paid for using the Gatwick Express.

So what is wrong? I am well used to an integrated train system, where non-stopping trains or slow stopping trains both take you to your destination, all for the same ticket price. An integrated system where your ticket on one train is also valid on another. An integrated train system. Gatwick Express is happy to put display boards up and staff an exit point to extract a penalty fare but is not prepared to differentiate itself at the point of boarding. No members of staff here warning of a fare supplement, no differentiation here on the platform that this was a special platform for a differentiated service, no ticket machines here to check you had a valid tick before entering that platform or train. No. Gatwick Express are more than happy to exploit an integrated service, lull unaware passengers into using its service and only then declare itself to reap its rich harvest of penalty fares. What is wrong? I was denied choice. I was deliberately misled, mis-sold a service misrepresenting itself as an integrated service. I was not out to exploit or take advantage of something I was not prepared to pay for. I was just catching a train, the next train to Victoria but then was ambushed by Gatwick Express.



Not that either the train or the service or the platform were in any way remarkable, just a permutation on any other 'franchise'. Gatwick Express could not even bother to explain on the train electronic display what tickets were not valid nor what premium ticket was required. No they are more than happy to take the penalty fare money, at the end. This is what riles. It is rampant abuse of innocent travellers. Gatwick Airport supplies a constant stream of new innocent travellers for them to abuse and extort their excesses. Judging by the exit staff bulging belly pouch stuffed with money, Gatwick Express is on to a well paying earner. Several hundred innocent victims an hour fall into their extortion trap. Adding an annual bonus £1M into their coffers. Why should they spend money to alert passengers before boarding their cash cow.

Because it is not fair play, it is not the British way of doing things. We should not take advantage, financial of otherwise, of foreign guests or from the unaware. The government, that oversees the provision, should be very concerned at this tarnish to our nations image.