My Favourite Public Service

An excerpt from the online customer complaint form I have just filled out on the Transport for London website:

Incident No 1: Saturday 4 November 2006: The bus driver operating the replacement service between Edgware and Hampstead did not know the route. He missed out all the stops from Hendon onwards, and ended up illegally doing a u-turn on the Finchley Road near Swiss Cottage, thus endangering the lives of his passengers. He then had to be directed by passengers to Golders Green. This is dangerous and UNACCEPTABLE. Your representative was most unhelpful (when I called the travel helpline while still on the bus). Please retrain your staff, as their response to any type of complaint, whether made calmly or angrily, is defensive, dismissive and patronising, thus inflaming customers' anger. I KNOW the disruption will ultimately improve the service - I EXPECT this, as I pay vast sums of money for the service. I look forward to a full and reasonable explanation for the shambolic service I received on Saturday, and your full assurance that you will never again let down your PAYING customers by putting an untrained, unsafe replacement bus driver with no sense of direction or map on the roads again. I also await your assurance that where you know in advance that there will be delays, you will do everything you can to minimise further delay and disruption. As you will see from this and the following 2 complaints, you did not reasonably take actions to this effect last weekend. Any protestation to the contrary would be quite alarming, in terms of what you regard as reasonable service. I would also be grateful for monetary compensation.

Incident No 2: Sunday 5 November 2006, around 11.05 am: Before descending to the underground at Hampstead station, I asked a member of staff how long the wait for trains realistically was. He assured me it was “every 6 or 7 minutes”. On the platform, the information board said 5 minutes until the next train. This information remained for 5 minutes, at which point all times disappeared, and customers were once again left stranded with no information – most reassuring in this age of heightened terrorism alert. I eventually located a group of London Underground staff sitting around socialising on the opposite platform. When I reminded them that as paying customers, we were at least entitled to the basic courtesy of information, I was once again met with the infuriatingly patronising and defensive response that all London Underground staff seem to be so proficient in. In my own line of business, I am considered a representative of the company for which I work. If a customer complains to me about another business unit, it is my job to take responsibility, rather than inform them rudely that it is “nothing to do with” me. This is a basic principle of good customer service, and it is time for London Underground to teach this to its staff.

Shortly afterwards, the announcement was made that due to an engineering fault, Hampstead station was closed, and customers were told to leave the station. I asked a member of staff at the exit about replacement transport (there was none) and alternative bus routes, to which his helpful and articulate response was “Um, I THINK there MIGHT be a bus stop OR SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE round the corner, going down to Camden OR SOMEWHERE”. It surprises me that given the frequent delays, engineering works and engineering faults on London Underground, coupled with the advance notice of severe disruptions to the Northern Line last weekend, your staff are apparently completely ignorant of alternative local public transport links. I would be grateful for your assurance that staff will be trained immediately to improve their knowledge, so that they are able to help paying customers, rather than standing around redundantly and sharing their unhelpful attitude with paying, confused, delayed, inconvenienced customers.

Incident No 3: In general (but in particular, at Belsize Park this morning), it is disconcerting to arrive at various Northern Line stations in the mornings, to discover NO staff, but a sign – usually supposedly written 5 minutes ago – reassuring customers that a “good” service is in operation. Especially when the train then takes in excess of 7 minutes to arrive, and then stops inexplicably between stations in the freezing cold, sometimes with no update or explanation from the driver, while other members of staff march self-importantly up and down the carriages, clutching walkie-talkies and ignoring customers. I would be grateful for your reassurance that your staff will be visible and available at all times, and will ensure that ALL travel information is up-to-date at ALL times.

PS, please sort out this online form, which is flawed; I was unable to select the subject of my complaint as you do not have an "other" option. No doubt this will further delay any action you intend to take to improve the inadequate service I have suffered.