Avanti's... interesting Twitter policy

[Doctor Fegg]

Twitter thread this morning (4.28am):

Customer: Good Morning, I’m a bit disappointed to see you have cancelled 1P38 0548 WVH BPN as this means I’m stuck, can you advise what I should do. Thanks in advance
Avanti West Coast: I'm sorry Rhys, I'm disappointed that there is a pandemic. You can catch the next service ^Sean
Customer: Loving the sarcasm Avanti, I don’t think it was unreasonable to ask what I’m expected to do given the fact the service has been cancelled. I appreciate you have a difficult job in control at the moment, but to say your disappointed there is a pandemic was unwarranted, cheers
AWC: Rhys without a pandemic we would have a full quota of train crew to be able to run a full timetable ^Sean
Customer: I am fully aware of that … but it was hardly unreasonable to request what I’m expected to do as a result. I’m disappointed with your first response to be perfectly honest, but no doubt you’ll say if you wish to make a complaint feel free to do so ….
AWC: Judging by the numerous comments that you have made to AWC it was taken as banter, I would have thought a spotter would know what to do..... M ^Sean
Customer: I don’t think anyone would take kindly to their service being cancelled at any time of the day regardless of who they are. And irrespective of if I’m an enthusiast or not, I have followed the appropriate path of asking next steps. Your here for customer service

(Original thread at https://twitter.com/westmidstrain/status/1470611675711684608)

I know that enthusiasts on Twitter can be a bit wearing at times, but that's a severe over-reaction to a customer asking for alternative travel suggestions. Needless to say it's being screencapped/retweeted in all the usual places. Not Avanti's finest hour.

 

[Kilopylae]

Unsurprising, given the railway's attitude to enthusiasts, though what is a bit surprising was that they were dumb enough to put it in writing in the public domain like that.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I saw that on Twitter myself and thought it rather sarcastic and badly done. I can't see that guy lasting long in the role after bringing the company into disrepute like that.

Twitter customer services generally has a reputation for being much less formal and more "bantery" than other channels, but the sarcasm and personal insults are unbecoming of any professional company.

 

[traingeek97]

Really poor judgement here and it doesn’t reflect well on the company’s brand. Somebody travelling at 4am is travelling for a reason so has a right to be disappointed at the cancellation of their train. The customer was a lot more polite than some of the other people they respond to.

I often think poor comms is half the problem on the railway. I was on a Southeastern service a few nights back when we were cancelled mid-journey because of what was announced as a ‘missing guard’. The general public quite rightly didn’t know that what they actually meant was that the guard relieving the previous guard wasn’t at the right location. It meant a number of station staff got shouted at by angry and drunk members of the public, who I’m sure would have been much more understanding with a proper explanation.

 

[Dave W]

I'd like to think this is merely a very poorly-judged effort at being funny, towards someone who they thought might engage (perhaps on previous experience), at exactly the wrong time, and then the exchange has degenerated. It certainly doesn't look great, and I imagine there'll be some strong words from management for them.

That said, I don't think it's fair that this example is used as the jumping off point for "the railway is terrible at comms" - that's a whole other argument.

Apologies for offence caused, maybe a free ticket somewhere, hopefully accepted, move on with life...

 

[robbeech]

I saw that on Twitter myself and thought it rather sarcastic and badly done. I can't see that guy lasting long in the role after bringing the company into disrepute like that.

Twitter customer services generally has a reputation for being much less formal and more "bantery" than other channels, but the sarcasm and personal insults are unbecoming of any professional company.

I saw this early this morning and I must admit whilst I’m not one to accept poor behaviour without comment (often sarcastically on my part which I appreciate isn’t always the best way) my first impressions were more that this customer is likely known to the social media team, potentially as problematic so whilst it’s clearly not on to reply in that way, there is likely more to it that we don’t know about.

As for them lasting long, I genuinely do not think many operators care so this person may be there a long time if they’re otherwise helpful.

 

[skh93]

Avanti have stated that they've now issued a private apology to said customer. Couldn't believe what I had read in that tweet this morning.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Twitter =/= Customer Service.

 

[DarloRich]

Well done Avanti - I am all for a direct social media policy. More please.

EDIT - I best be clear: That was an attempt to show how poorly sarcasm translates in writing

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Twitter =/= Customer Service.

It's actually very good for it, because it allows for very quick responses (something the railway didn't used to offer at all), and because everything is visible so people can see the good and bad side of a company in public.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's actually very good for it, because it allows for very quick responses (something the railway didn't used to offer at all), and because everything is visible so people can see the good and bad side of a company in public.

In theory maybe...
In practice, it leads to things like this thread. It also leads to a two-tier system for dealing with complaints: Don't have a Twitter account (for whatever reason)? Good luck even getting sarcasm out of an operator.

 

[A0wen]

Unsurprising, given the enthusiasts attitude to railway's, though what is a bit surprising was that they were dumb enough to put it in writing in the public domain like that.

Think I've fixed it.

 

[skyhigh]

As for them lasting long, I genuinely do not think many operators care so this person may be there a long time if they’re otherwise helpful.

Generally overnight the Control team manage Twitter replies at most TOCs rather than the normal social media team - in this case with some background knowledge I'm pretty sure it was a controller who sent the message. Maybe fed up with difficulties overnight, maybe there's more history to this but either way I wouldn't be totally surprised if the outcome of any complaint is that they get someone else to reply overnight instead.

 

[Liverpool 507]

The day social media team reply with a dash and then their name, which wasn't the case here. One assumes it was a controller instead replying at that time of the morning.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Frankly, I doubt any regular traveller with Avanti West Coast would be surprised at this if they're familiar with the TOC's Euston gateline staff, whom according to my personal opinion have the worst customer service I've ever encountered. These Twitter responses are indeed sarcastic and unpleasant (and similar to those I've seen on EMR and LNER), and I'm glad that they've apologised to the user.

 

[Dave W]

The day social media team reply with a dash and then their name, which wasn't the case here. One assumes it was a controller instead replying at that time of the morning.

Have another look at the transcript - they definitely signed off with a name.

 

[Starmill]

I would argue strongly that this:

AWC: Rhys without a pandemic we would have a full quota of train crew to be able to run a full timetable ^Sean

is a stretch.

It's hardly as if Avanti West Coast were immune from cancellation of services due to train crew shortage before the pandemic! Certainly in general their depots were among the better staffed, but there were days of the year where they were always short.

 

[robbeech]

Think I've fixed it.

Unsurprising, given the enthusiasts attitude to being frequently let down by the railway , though what is a bit surprising was that they were dumb enough to assume putting it in writing in the public domain like that would yield anything positive

We could edit things all day but I doubt it would help.

 

[Starmill]

Think I've fixed it.

What has been put into writing which surprised you?

 

[SteveM70]

If that had been Northern during peak meltdown periods, that customer’s tweet would have been ignored for hours, whilst they happily replied to people entering their inane Twitter competitions, and then gone back with a “did you manage to get on the move?”

 

[robbeech]

If that had been Northern during peak meltdown periods, that customer’s tweet would have been ignored for hours, whilst they happily replied to people entering their inane Twitter competitions, and then gone back with a “did you manage to get on the move?”

In fairness unless I’m mistaken Northern’s team don’t operate 24/7 so they’d not have any chance of a reply until 0600 or so (which given the number of issues they have at night is frankly ludicrous, although I’m not convinced they’d be much use).

 

[Bishopstone]

The Twitter exchange wasn’t that bad. Brusque rather than rude. Mountain out of molehill.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Twitter exchange wasn’t that bad. Brusque rather than rude. Mountain out of molehill.

You think it is OK to speak publically to customers in a sarcastic manner like that?

I know there'll be some background, but it really does make them look stupid. I did a double take that it wasn't one of the parody accounts.

If that user was an issue in the past, they could:
1. Block them
2. Not reply
3. Reply with a generic one liner e.g. "We apologise for the delay this will cause to your journey. You can use your ticket to take the next train which is the NN:NN and claim Delay Repay as appropriate."

 

[robbeech]

You think it is OK to speak publically to customers in a sarcastic manner like that?

They’re only passengers afterall.

 

[AlterEgo]

The Twitter exchange wasn’t that bad. Brusque rather than rude. Mountain out of molehill.

It is rude to be so indifferent and sarcastic to a passenger your employer has inconvenienced by cancelling their train.

 

[DanNCL]

Appalling. Even some of the more “sarcastic” members of the LNER Twitter team wouldn’t do that. Completely unacceptable for any customer service role, if someone asks for advice on what to do you just answer the question politely no matter how much you resent the idea of having to do so.

 

[185143]

At the very least, I think it wholly inappropriate for a TOC suffering Industrial issues to say "If it weren't for the Pandemic they'd have a full quota of traincrew"!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The Twitter exchange wasn’t that bad. Brusque rather than rude. Mountain out of molehill.

It is rude to be so indifferent and sarcastic to a passenger your employer has inconvenienced by cancelling their train.

The thing that grates with me is the "pandemic-washing". We all know what the situation is, we're used to it by now. But it wasn't really useful for the customer to bring it up in that interaction. Perhaps "Sean" could do well out of a career in politics...

Maybe that customer had been difficult in the past, I gather that a small minority of enthusiasts on Twitter can make work difficult for a TOC Social Media bod... but Twitter is public, and if you say anything that might make you or the company look bad, it'll get noticed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It would have been better to give no apology and simply a factual "You can use your ticket on the next train" than a sarcastic one that was essentially a wordier "sorrynotsorry".

One of the skills required to work in customer service is dealing with awkward customers (either serially-awkward or on one exchange) while remaining polite and not bringing your employer into disrepute. This was unfortunately a fail.

 

[WelshBluebird]

I often think poor comms is half the problem on the railway.

I'd say it is much more than half the problem actually!
Most of the issues I run into are either poor communication from control to staff on the ground, poor communication from staff on the ground to passengers or poor communication via Twitter / the website / the app and customers.

Maybe that customer had been difficult in the past, I gather that a small minority of enthusiasts on Twitter can make work difficult for a TOC Social Media bod

And even if that is the case (that the team feels that customer has been difficult in the past) I do wonder what that actually would mean. E.g. I'm probably seen as a "difficult customer" for GWR and TfW on twitter, but only because they both seem to have issues with services when I travel! I don't want to be "difficult" but some of the situations some ToC's put customers in just aren't acceptable!