ddavids
New Member
I was stuck at Yeovil one Saturday night last year and we rang The help button and found it very hard to get them to understand enlish
Yes, I really do think it would be better placed in the UK, primarily because it's often quite difficult to be understood. And that's coming from someone who today speaks with an entirely Southern English accent and dialect, in case anyone was wondering if that was down to the Canadian roots. If I have to repeat myself five times, I don't know how someone with a glorious thick Scouse or Geordie accent (love them) would get through.EDIT: and many UK companies realised years ago that outsourcing call centres to Mumbai etc. was a false economy, and brought them back to the UK. How typical of the railway to be behind the curve!
I'm not sure if you were joking, but there is no office at Pier Head, for NRE or anything else. There's a waiting room for the ferry and a cafe, and that's about it. Tickets etc. are sold at the travel office at Esplanade, which is at the other end of the pier.What is the chance that the office above Ryde Pier Head is simply an automated switchboard with a few staff in keeping tabs over any faults?
Not only that but in recent years one on the Overground was giving the number is 0845... where as I thought it was now 0345....I always think it odd that quite a lot of stations have CIS that default to telling you to call NRE if there's no information displayed.
The chances of them being able to tell you anything useful are minimal.
Ticketing sites - maybe, last we heard no.If the railways were re-nationalised (OK, that's another discussion entirely (!) but let's suppose...) would we lose all the ticketing and enquiry sites like Trainline, Northern etc and simply have to rely one one, the NRE site/phone??
The last time I used one in the North...Where the help point buttons connects through to varies greatly depending on the TOC that manages the station.
These are the ones that i know of:
Chiltern Railways:
• Assistance: NRE - Mumbai India
****no other buttons****
Great Northern:
• Information: NRE - Mumbai India
• Emergency: GTR Control - Three Bridges ROC
Great Western Railway:
• Information: NRE - Mumbai India
• Emergency: GWR Control - Swindon
London North Eastern Railway:
• Information: LNER Control - York ROC
• Emergency: LNER Control - York ROC
London North Western Railway:
• Information: WMT Control - Birmingham
• Emergency: 999
Scotrail:
• Information: Dunfermline Control or Paisley Control
• Emergency: Dunfermline Control or Paisley Control
South Western Railway:
• Information: SWR Control - Basingstoke (but automatically redirects to NRE in Mumbai India if they do not pick up within a certain amount of seconds)
• Emergency: British Transport Police (0800 405040)
Southeastern
• Information: NRE - Mumbai India
• Assistance: SE Control - London KICC
Southern:
• Information: NRE - Mumbai India
• Emergency: GTR Control - Three Bridges ROC
Thameslink:
• Information: NRE - Mumbai India
• Emergency: GTR Control - Three Bridges ROC
West Midlands Railway:
• Information: WMT Control - Birmingham
• Emergency: 999
I am not sure about the other TOCs other than these ones.
So what happens when you press each button hugely varies depending on each TOCs.
Does it have to be Whatsapp or would it work through standard SMS?The vast majority of Help Point calls on our network, whether the assistance or emergency button is pressed, aren't genuine. It's often kids playing around, someone just pushing it for the sake of it and walking off etc etc.
For that reason, I think it would be folly to route emergency calls straight to a 999 operator. The TOC Control is the obvious home for them as the calls can be triaged, and contact made directly with the police / power isolated if necessary etc.
FWIW, we are in the process of renaming all of our "Emergency" buttons to "Assistance" as if someone is in difficulty with their journey or needs help boarding the train etc. we don't want them to be put off from pressing it as they probably wouldn't consider it an "Emergency"
We're also going to be putting QR codes on our Help Points which will encourage users to start a WhatsApp conversation with us as it's ultimately the same team who will be dealing with the enquiry and from a customer experience perspective, having a conversation on your own device - under cover - is a lot better than shouting into a lolipop on a wind / rain swept platform where everyone can hear the conversation!
Both numbers will connect, but the 0845 is rather considerably more expensive.Not only that but in recent years one on the Overground was giving the number is 0845... where as I thought it was now 0345....
Indeed and I thought 0845 numbers weren't supposed to be used now in caes such as this.Both numbers will connect, but the 0845 is rather considerably more expensive.
How many of you can remember when each individual station had its own landline telephone number? And staff to answer when you rang? Not that they were always intelligible, or had any useful or accurate information to impart.
Nothing prevents providers (outside financial services where stricter rules apply) from operating whatever numbers they like for customer contact, as long as at least one of them is a "normal rate" number, generally interpreted as 01, 02, 03 or 080. The law says customers making post-sale enquiries must not be "bound to pay more than the normal rate".Indeed and I thought 0845 numbers weren't supposed to be used now in caes such as this.
It'll be WhatsApp only (certainly initially) with demand for old fashioned SMS being very much on the decline these days. Definitely something we could look at if there was a real demand for it, but offering either speaking with someone through the Help Point or via WhatsApp, seems a reasonable offering?Does it have to be Whatsapp or would it work through standard SMS?
Thats right,used to be in CardiffNational Rail Enquiries are based in Mumbai in India in an outsourced call centre. If you phone 03457 484950 you get connected to their Mumbai in India call centre. They have no staff in the UK answering phones.
SMS is certainly old-fashioned, but every single phone from every manufacturer still has access to it, and it works without a data connection. Not everyone has Whatsapp installed (or even wants to, speaking personally), and there's plenty of stations out there with little-to-no 4G coverage.It'll be WhatsApp only (certainly initially) with demand for old fashioned SMS being very much on the decline these days. Definitely something we could look at if there was a real demand for it, but offering either speaking with someone through the Help Point or via WhatsApp, seems a reasonable offering?
How would they deal with this…I was in Kendal once trying to find the time of a train going south, and I was repeatedly assured that there is no such station.
Surely no worse than how the National Rail Enquiries app on my Android phone deals with the first station..... it doesn't! No station found.How would they deal with this…
Hello, could you tell me the time of the next train from
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to Llanfairfechan please
You were spoilt if you "generally got through". We had a choice of two main stations to call, neither of which was likely to answer - and if someone did answer, they were at best unenthusiastic and often downright unhelpful.Yes indeed - if I wanted travel info I'd always phone the number for the nearest main station on the relevant route - and generally got through to someone who knew what they were talking about and was keen to be helpful...
You were spoilt if you "generally got through". We had a choice of two main stations to call, neither of which was likely to answer - and if someone did answer, they were at best unenthusiastic and often downright unhelpful.
The situation did have the good result that at a relatively early age I learnt how to plan journeys using the published timetable books that were available in the local public library. Separate books by region when I started doing that!
That's a fair point - obviously there are costs associated with SMS as well from a business point of view. But it's definitely something we'd look at if the demand was there.SMS is certainly old-fashioned, but every single phone from every manufacturer still has access to it, and it works without a data connection. Not everyone has Whatsapp installed (or even wants to, speaking personally), and there's plenty of stations out there with little-to-no 4G coverage.
I certainly appreciate that SMS usage is only going down and developing for multiple platforms adds complexity and cost. Please don't take this as an attack as I think adding a text chat service is a brilliant idea, but I strongly feel that private apps or services shouldn't take the place of more widely accessible options, particularly for things like accessing helplines.
(Another personal bugbear is What3Words, an app with a lot of flashy marketing and venture capital funding behind it but which adds no utility over simple GPS co-ordinates - which every phone sold in the last 15 years can access, and again without a mobile data connection. And when it goes wrong, it can have very serious consequences.)
WhatsApp etc sounds useful, but not 100% sure about use of barcodeThe vast majority of Help Point calls on our network, whether the assistance or emergency button is pressed, aren't genuine. It's often kids playing around, someone just pushing it for the sake of it and walking off etc etc.
For that reason, I think it would be folly to route emergency calls straight to a 999 operator. The TOC Control is the obvious home for them as the calls can be triaged, and contact made directly with the police / power isolated if necessary etc.
FWIW, we are in the process of renaming all of our "Emergency" buttons to "Assistance" as if someone is in difficulty with their journey or needs help boarding the train etc. we don't want them to be put off from pressing it as they probably wouldn't consider it an "Emergency"
We're also going to be putting barcodes on our Help Points which will encourage users to start a WhatsApp conversation with us as it's ultimately the same team who will be dealing with the enquiry and from a customer experience perspective, having a conversation on your own device - under cover - is a lot better than shouting into a lolipop on a wind / rain swept platform where everyone can hear the conversation!