Do I have ground for complaint (Cross Country Trains)

Sooler

sam93 wrote: »

CrossCountry said as a "goodwill gesture" they have given me a £5 voucher for my troubles etc. It can be used on other rail networks, not just XC.

You have endure another train journey to use the voucher?

sam93_2

UKTIM --- But they are aware of the situation. They are acknowledging their systems shouldn't fail. They may well improve it in the future.

Sooler --- That makes no sense but I'm guessing you mean that i have to endure another train journey for it to be worthwhile. Yes, but not necessarily with XC. I am sure that other train companies may be better - possibly worse. We will see.

Thank you HoneyDog.

uktim29

sam93 wrote: »

UKTIM --- But they are aware of the situation.

But they would have known at the time though as well.

d.edna

Not really a complaint, know a few of the guys down at cross country (did my year in industry on the railways) so this shall give them a laugh

I will explain why you don't have a complaint

sam93 wrote: »

Dear Sirs,

I would like to register with you my complaint about my journey from Bristol Temple Meads station to Manchester Piccadilly station (arriving at 15:02) on the 06/08/08 with Cross Country Trains.

Here is the first ground you don't have a complaint, I'm assuming you started at Bristol Temple Meads, With a Advance ticket costing no more than £20 with a mandotory not guarenteed seat reservation, 90% of the train possbly had the same ticket

I am disappointed with the service offered, because, on boarding the train I found my seat (reserved online a week in advance) had been taken by a fellow passenger, and was informed by this passenger that there had been double bookings on the seats, and problems with the reservation screens above the seats, and so, initially, she refused to give up her seat.

You could have just found another seat At least 15 seats in the carriage are none reservable

Upon further persistency the passenger allowed me to sit in the seat I had reserved. However, she was forced to move into another carriage with her luggage. (The issues were late confirmed over the speaker system that there had been “technical difficulties” with reservations)

The issue from what I have found out was the booking systems used by national rail didnt remove the seat from the system, How can this be cross countrys fault?
If you would have asked the woman to move and I would have been train manager (obviously on my year of industry) or some of the guards I know, would have told you to hush and find another seat because Its not the end of the world, I personally would have asked you to leave the train, (A complementary/mandortory seat reservation does not guarrentee a seat. ) thus making your advance ticket invalid

I then found that there was no place for my luggage to go (a suitcase which conformed to your guidelines on case size) in either the overhead, under seat or extra storage areas, in fact the luggage which was already placed in these areas was overflowing, blocking parts of the walkway, making it extremely difficult for people to move around. The result of this was that I sat with a large suitcase in front of me for a three hour journey, with no footspace at all – thus meaning I had to block the walkway with my legs.

Mostly people with advance tickets who want to move around quite cheaply do this, so can understand it being busy, Bet you did not look at the end of the carriage with all the luggage space, the luggage racks etc, so how can cross country be blamed for you not looking

This has caused both distress and concern for me as a passenger, as I am only fifteen I was concerned that I would stand throughout the journey – as others had done. For this reason I had pre-booked my seats in advance, online, in order to ensure that my process would be as stress free as possible. Yet the system seemed to have failed, and for no fault of the other passengers on board, or indeed myself, I found myself worrying about my journey, which was on the whole most uncomfortable.

Was it a blue ticket intergate reservation or a seperate reseveration? Neither guarrentee a system, and again I repeat its national rails seat system not cross countrys.

I would finally like to add that I had reserved a forward facing seat online, and instead was greeted with a backward facing seat , as I often get travel sickness when travelling backwards, this further added to my discomfort.

Seat reservations can be anywhere and if when you got your advance fare you noticed this, Rang cross country they would simply tell you to find another unreserved seat onboard

Oh customary mention of are you serious?

Therefore, I would like to know how this issue will be resolved for future passengers ,and also I would appreciate some token of apology from the company for this uncomfortable journey.

Why was it uncomfortable you were too stubburn to find another seat, The guard wouldnt have been bothered if you sat in another seat.

National rail resolved the problem rather quickly I believe

Oh sorry from the guy I know who cleans the toilets at Manchester Piccadilly

I look forward to hearing from you and to a resolution of this problem. I will wait for 10 days before seeking help from Passenger Focus. Please contact me at the email address below.

Are you serious? Might aswell send it now give them a laugh

lufcgirl

d.edna wrote: »

You could have just found another seat At least 15 seats in the carriage or none reservable

Last time I got on a cross country train, there were 6 seats unreserved on a 6 carriage train. For a 6 hour journey. I'm 24 and searched the train, thats all I found so go feed that back to your friends at Cross Country. Dates and times can be supplied on request!

d.edna wrote: »

Why was it uncomfortable you were too stubburn to find another seat, The guard wouldnt have been bothered if you sat in another seat.

Why should he/she have to find another seat when it wasn't their fault it was overbooked (and to be honest a total shambles)?! This is a child were talking about, travelling alone on a packed train looking for the comfort of something they'd been assured when they purcashed the ticket.

uktim29

lufcgirl wrote: »

This is a child were talking about, travelling alone

Whats his age got to do with anything? If he can manage to travel alone then surely even if he is technically a child he'd also be able to look for another seat.

lufcgirl

I agree Tim, your right and disregard what I just said. What I'm trying to say is that it's not their fault it was overbooked and the train was full.

d.edna

lufcgirl wrote: »

Last time I got on a cross country train, there were 6 seats unreserved on a 6 carriage train. For a 6 hour journey. I'm 24 and searched the train, thats all I found so go feed that back to your friends at Cross Country. Dates and times can be supplied on request!

Firstly, No cross country train runs in a 6 car config, they run in a 4 or 5 single config or a 8 or 10 (VERY rarely might I add) double train config.

At least 10/15 seats of each carriage are not reservable due to this very fact, Am I right in thinking you even looked in first class where theres hardly anyone? No I didn't think so

Why should he/she have to find another seat when it wasn't their fault it was overbooked (and to be honest a total shambles)?! This is a child were talking about, travelling alone on a packed train looking for the comfort of something they'd been assured when they purcashed the ticket.

Oh let them hide behind the child card, They didn't do this when they as they say threw a woman out of the seat, Seat reseverations are not guarrenteed, Why is a child doing the journey on their own? I for one would be questioning that.

How is it cross countrys fault when it is based on the National Rails seat reservation system.

Ok an example

Go into Sainsburys buy a Debenhams giftcard, You go to use it Debenhams but Sainsburys never activated it so the value is zero, Is that Debenhams fault?

Even if they booked the ticket through the Cross country website their booking was made with the trainline not cross country, Cross country are only the carrier your ticket is issued by another company*


* = for the exception of tickets bought at a Cross country operated station, for which there are no stations under cross countrys control.

lufcgirl

I may have got the six cars thing slightly wrong and it was 5. However you can't go in first class without a valid ticket, as i was told by the conductor on board. Maybe one car has 15 seats unreserved on a 4/5 carriage train but not every one.
My example is the 06.19 (not sure if it still runs cos I haven't been able to find it recently) from Newcastle to Exeter. There were 6 unreserved seats on that full train. I got off before departure and asked a steward where the unreserved seating was and they told me that was it. The conductor clarified this too. So either they were hiding seats up their backside or your lying?!

sam93_2

d.edna.

Your pickings of quotes were rather specialist. Let see, I would have found another seat, but oh, yeah as I said. The majority of seats were full, the rest - reserved There may be fifteen unreserved seats, but believe it or not people are still going to sit in them.

Secondly, I did look in the areas where luggage is meant to be left and, hmm as I said there was no space for luggage, in fact a large amount of the isle was full

Thirdly, why is CrossCountry using a system they have no control of - that is ridiculous. A booking reservation direct with the company's website goes straight to Trainline or whoever. This seems in the most part ridiculous.

Brining back the idea that I couldnt be bothered to find another seat, hmm, well that is just stupid.
a) I have the courtesy to not sit in another persons reserved seat
b) I would have moved if there were free seats.


I could go on, but to be honest I dont see the point in arguing about something quite as petty, which in fact does not concern you anymore. I asked for advice about the letter, I got (a little too late, from you may I add) some criticism back.

To be honest d.edna I think you should climb down off your high horse.

Also, doing the journey on my own - I think I am old enough. The big wide world doesn't suddenly change as you turn into an adult does it ?