Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2008 11:25:54 GMT
Woo another quality rant coming up
Earlier this morning I was planning to go down to Camberwell to visit my grandma who unfortunately isn't feeling very well. As I was in the Ealing area at the time I was planning on either getting the Central Line to Bank/Northern to E&C and then getting any bus (except the 12) to Camberwell, or just heading for Victoria on the District and then catching a 36 or 185.
Now, I've always had a BIG disliking for First, not just their buses but their railway services as well. Today they've surprised me by stooping to a new low.
I got to Ealing Broadway and there was a big queue (natch); however I eventually got to one of the ticket desks where I asked the guy there for a one-day Travelcard to be added onto my Oyster. He pretended he didn't know what the hell I was talking about and tried to make me put £5.40 pre-pay onto my Oyster instead I kept insisting with the Travelcard and he's like "that's not the way it works".
Firstly I'm sure you can put a one-day travelcard on your Oyster, and even 7-day or longer season travelcards. Even if in theory this isn't possible to do, I have done this numerous times at my local tube station, the most recent being on a visit to Islington Angel last week. Maybe this could be something to do with the capping system but my Oyster has failed to cap lately Secondly, the guy didn't even try and attempt to explain how the Oyster system is "meant" to work; he continued to try and get me to put pre-pay on. He even laughed at me at one point
Eventually he gave up and told me to try the automated ticket machines, so I did. I touched my Oyster on the reader (as instructed), selected the ticket I wanted (and for some reason the option to add one-day travelcards to your Oyster was missing here too :. So in the end I did plump for pre-pay and put £7 on.
But this isn't the end...
Once I had paid (with cash) the machine said that the transaction had been fully successful, and no reciept had come out. So I preceeded to touch in - and the barrier came up with code 3-something "Seek Assistance". I asked another guy near the barriers why this had happened and he said there was no money on the Oyster in the first place.
He did say that he'd let me through anyway but had I gone through I would probably get done for fare evasion of some sort by the time I got to Elephant & Castle
Instead he directed me to the ticket office (yes 15 more minutes queueing ), and eventually another station supervisor arrived. I told him what had happened, and he said he would find out. He took my Oyster and I was made to wait near the ticket machines while all the time a few passengers were looking at me like I was some sort of fare evader
After 10 minutes he came back and he said that no money was put onto the Oyster in the first place. Erm, how???
He also said that I hadn't got a reciept or anything - but that's because NO reciept came out Even if one had come out and I'd simply left it behind, the transaction would still have been completed and it would have shown up on the 'recent journeys' reciept that the station supervisor then gave me, but it wasn't there. I asked him what I was meant to do about it and he's like "I dunno it's not my problem"
So somehow First have taken £7 off me for nothing I know that FGW have been ripping off passengers and messing up the train service a LOT lately, but for me I've experienced problems with them today BEFORE I even got past the ticket barrier And I wasn't even going to use their trains, opting to stick to the tube...
I'm sure the station is managed by First as all the staff there wear the appropriate uniform etc.
Wasting a total of 30 minutes, and £7 disappearing from nowhere - that's the price I pay for attempting to visit a sick relative.
Before anyone asks I am in the process of sending a complaint to the appropriate people. They can't be doing this kind of stuff to their customers - taking money off them and having them supervised with arrogant and rude staff.
RANT OVER
Wow I sound just like gal06 ;D
Edit: I have posted this in the National Rail thread as it concerns a company operating NR services, but Mods if you feel it could be placed somewhere better then feel free to move the thread.
Earlier this morning I was planning to go down to Camberwell to visit my grandma who unfortunately isn't feeling very well. As I was in the Ealing area at the time I was planning on either getting the Central Line to Bank/Northern to E&C and then getting any bus (except the 12) to Camberwell, or just heading for Victoria on the District and then catching a 36 or 185.
Now, I've always had a BIG disliking for First, not just their buses but their railway services as well. Today they've surprised me by stooping to a new low.
I got to Ealing Broadway and there was a big queue (natch); however I eventually got to one of the ticket desks where I asked the guy there for a one-day Travelcard to be added onto my Oyster. He pretended he didn't know what the hell I was talking about and tried to make me put £5.40 pre-pay onto my Oyster instead I kept insisting with the Travelcard and he's like "that's not the way it works".
Firstly I'm sure you can put a one-day travelcard on your Oyster, and even 7-day or longer season travelcards. Even if in theory this isn't possible to do, I have done this numerous times at my local tube station, the most recent being on a visit to Islington Angel last week. Maybe this could be something to do with the capping system but my Oyster has failed to cap lately Secondly, the guy didn't even try and attempt to explain how the Oyster system is "meant" to work; he continued to try and get me to put pre-pay on. He even laughed at me at one point
Eventually he gave up and told me to try the automated ticket machines, so I did. I touched my Oyster on the reader (as instructed), selected the ticket I wanted (and for some reason the option to add one-day travelcards to your Oyster was missing here too :. So in the end I did plump for pre-pay and put £7 on.
But this isn't the end...
Once I had paid (with cash) the machine said that the transaction had been fully successful, and no reciept had come out. So I preceeded to touch in - and the barrier came up with code 3-something "Seek Assistance". I asked another guy near the barriers why this had happened and he said there was no money on the Oyster in the first place.
He did say that he'd let me through anyway but had I gone through I would probably get done for fare evasion of some sort by the time I got to Elephant & Castle
Instead he directed me to the ticket office (yes 15 more minutes queueing ), and eventually another station supervisor arrived. I told him what had happened, and he said he would find out. He took my Oyster and I was made to wait near the ticket machines while all the time a few passengers were looking at me like I was some sort of fare evader
After 10 minutes he came back and he said that no money was put onto the Oyster in the first place. Erm, how???
He also said that I hadn't got a reciept or anything - but that's because NO reciept came out Even if one had come out and I'd simply left it behind, the transaction would still have been completed and it would have shown up on the 'recent journeys' reciept that the station supervisor then gave me, but it wasn't there. I asked him what I was meant to do about it and he's like "I dunno it's not my problem"
So somehow First have taken £7 off me for nothing I know that FGW have been ripping off passengers and messing up the train service a LOT lately, but for me I've experienced problems with them today BEFORE I even got past the ticket barrier And I wasn't even going to use their trains, opting to stick to the tube...
I'm sure the station is managed by First as all the staff there wear the appropriate uniform etc.
Wasting a total of 30 minutes, and £7 disappearing from nowhere - that's the price I pay for attempting to visit a sick relative.
Before anyone asks I am in the process of sending a complaint to the appropriate people. They can't be doing this kind of stuff to their customers - taking money off them and having them supervised with arrogant and rude staff.
RANT OVER
Wow I sound just like gal06 ;D
Edit: I have posted this in the National Rail thread as it concerns a company operating NR services, but Mods if you feel it could be placed somewhere better then feel free to move the thread.