Reporting a member of staff via Twitter - would you?

[jon0844]

I know we've had some threads that have talked about Twitter, and there are plenty of threads about staff that might need a bit of extra training.

As someone who has himself had problems with getting certain tickets, getting a season ticket changed and later refunded, getting an excess ticket (or upgrading an off-peak to peak ticket) etc - being told 'it can't be done' or 'the ticket doesn't exist'.. it's clear the best solution is to just go to another station or find another member of staff.

However that can be extremely inconvenient, and if you're trying to excess a ticket or buy one before travel, it can mean missing a train and being delayed. And potentially being unable to get what you want, pay more and then have to waste time trying to get it sorted later on.

As such, I wonder what people here think about reporting these people on a public service like Twitter, to the relevant TOC (or any company). I don't mean naming someone, but certainly reporting a problem and then giving the company information more information if and when requested privately.

I say this because, frankly, it's a lot easier to use your phone to report something than wait until you get home and have time to write a letter of complaint - with the high chance you'll just forget about it.. thus not solving the problem for your next time, or anyone else that will have the same problem because you kept quiet (and so did they).

Personally, I'd never write anything like 'this person should be sacked' as it's not up to me, but I don't feel there's any harm in using Twitter as a very quick way to get a response.

I got the idea to post this because on Saturday, my wife bought some clothes in Next. The cashier asked her if she wanted to get £10 off for having spent over £15 (more like £50 in this case). It sounded good, except the 'offer' was actually £10 off her next order. Fair enough - she'll buy something else later.

Then she was asked if she had a Next account, and she does. Not a problem, just fill in the voucher form with a different email address (so I used mine) because the offer wasn't for existing account holders. This started some alarm bells ringing, so I asked her; 'does this mean I have to open an account with Next? and she insisted that, no, I didn't. I'd just need to wait for an email that gave a voucher code to be used on any online order.

I filled in the voucher and handed it over to her, and she gave me the stub with the T&Cs which quite clearly said that a) The voucher cannot be used by an existing account holder (so the wife couldn't use the code) and b) A credit account needed to be set up (so the voucher would only work if I opened an account!).

The voucher was totally useless and she had lied to me. I was about to hand it back, but figured that she must get some small bonus for issuing one (rather like staff do for signing people up for a store card) and so I took it away instead with the intention of making a complaint.

I sent a Tweet last night to Next and they replied within minutes - at around 10pm! They asked a few details, apologised, and said they'll deal with it. I have no idea if they will, or what they'll do, but I know that if I had to write a letter and post it - I just wouldn't bother.

So what are your thoughts? Could people taking instant 'action' actually benefit the railway to improve training, or in extreme cases, filter out the bad staff that reflect badly on the industry made up of the very dedicated ones that have more work to do because of those that can't be bothered to do their job properly?

 

[rebmcr]

I don't think it's worth a complaint to Next — something you got completely free of charge being slightly less compatible than described.

It's not like you lost out or were inconvenienced in any way, you're in the exact same position as you would have been had the voucher never been offered.

 

[jon0844]

The offer was useless to me.. but I'm clearly going to receive emails from Next now, to try and get me to sign up an account. I ticked the box to say no third party contact, but we all know that this can - and does - still happen sometimes.

So I am a little worse off. Not in monetary terms, but as I didn't ask for any form of compensation - and I might just help Next stop paying commission to staff that lie to customers (like telling existing account holders to use another email address), I don't feel I did anything wrong.

In this case, they won't know exactly who it was that served me anyway.

 

[LCC106]

I personally think that if someone has an issue they should discuss it with the person directly. If that doesn't work and they wish to make a formal complaint, I believe an email or letter to be a better platform rather than raising something in the public arena. This is because lots of people rant on the likes of Twitter, which just makes them look foolish in the long run!

So my priorities would be:
a) speak to the person you have an issue with directly
b) email, write to or ring customer services
c) put all the basic details on Twitter if you must, but be aware that tweets can often get missed due to volume...

 

[fusionblue]

I complained to TalkTalk via twitter about their on-street sales staff constantly hassling me, and even lying directly to my face (saying that upgrading to fibre broadband will fix the "faulty landline" we have - it won't) when i falsely claimed i was a talktalk customer with a problem to see how they would respond.

Talktalk replied "please complete this form. we will respond by email".

While twitter is great, responses like mine above is the polar opposite of what you received. Customer service, in any context, comes down to serving the customer correctly and in a time-efficient manner. The platform in which it's handled should be totally irrelevant. If this is not done, then the inconvenience comes down to time wasted which is a disbenefit to that person.
You may not "lose out" but it's your time being used for no reason.

I think (in a railway context) it's two-fold because 1 if twitter teams don't handle it correctly and escalate to the right people to feedback then the appropriate staff won't see any further training and 2 the staff member will keep on doing it.

 

[maniacmartin]

I generally don't use Twitter in this way, partly because I hate typing on phones. I have in the past phoned up a TOCs customer services from inside the station though. "I'm in the station now and the clerk says it can't be done"

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

I've managed to report a flooded toilet in a train (185113) to twitter and TPE replied within 2 hours so I can't see it being too much harder with staff members.

 

[jon0844]

If you're a TalkTalk customer, they're extremely good via their forum and Twitter at dealing with things. The very first time you will need to give some details to them (basically giving permission to access your account) and from then on, they can deal with things in a matter of hours instead of days/weeks/never.

It's a shame they weren't so helpful because you weren't a customer.

As for speaking to the person directly that you have an issue with @LCC106, that's fine in many situations but not if someone at a station is insisting a ticket doesn't exist (like when I've wanted to go to Heathrow using Heathrow Connect and being told the only option is HEX or the tube).

I can say I'm unhappy with their service but how do I resolve things?

When they say they can't do a refund on a season ticket and you say they can, you're still going to get nowhere and probably get their back up too, as they're still not going to do it if they don't want to (or don't know how, but prefer not to admit the fact and stick with the 'can't be done' line).

Writing in is one thing, but it's the slowest and most time consuming option (and it costs you money). When I was MG11d, I wasn't about to write in and complain - I was sending emails that got it dropped that same day! I was NOT going to stand for weeks or months of hassle for suspected fare evasion over carrying a Z123 and Z456 Travelcard and not paying for an extra Z34 ticket to bridge the gap!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

If you follow any ToC's Twitter feed for more than five minutes you will see that plenty of people already report staff over the service. Some of it is genuine, some of it is clearly malicious. I just hope that the people who control the Twitter accounts have enough about them to filter things accordingly.

 

[jon0844]

I'd hope that anyone who posts maliciously would be found out and the TOC exposes them back for having lied, and then bars them from following them - something any Twitter user has the facility to do. It cuts both ways!

 

[district]

Not sure whether 160 characters (minus the TOC's twitter handle) is sufficient to give a clear explanation of what happened, or to discuss any sort of ticketing matter.

 

[jon0844]

It's actually only 140, less the TOC name!

In most cases, it's possible to say something that leads to an offline conversation by email/phone (them calling you) or a series of private messages.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Quite often how much help you get will depend on the person who is manning the account at that time. Certainly with the FGW twitter account I have got some very useful help in the past from a member of staff (who I am sure you all will know). At the same time, other members of staff have just linked me to their journeycheck page (which is often not updated at all).

 

[DaveNewcastle]

"Making a complaint" about a person in the course of their work is insidious. I avoid doing it even when it it is my responsibility to manage the person. It is depressing to read so many posts on this forum which criticise rail staff.

I have always sought to show positive support for people at work, to be appeciative when they do well and (when I'm able to) to give any meaningful support when they have not - this includes personnel working on the railways.

I didn't read the rambles about clothes and mobile phones.

 

[WelshBluebird]

"Making a complaint" about a person in the course of their work is insidious. I avoid doing it even when it it is my responsibility to manage the person. It is depressing to read so many posts on this forum which criticise rail staff.

Even when the particular member of staff is not doing their job correctly? Surely it is better management know that person is not doing their job correctly than letting it carry on?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Even when the particular member of staff is not doing their job correctly? Surely it is better management know that person is not doing their job correctly than letting it carry on?

OK. I conceed. Just as long as you are content that a random member of platform staff pops into have a word with your line manager where you work. To make a complaint about you and something you have or haven't done.

I'll repeat : it's an insidious behaviour and its rife in this forum.

 

[Roverman]

I know we've had some threads that have talked about Twitter, and there are plenty of threads about staff that might need a bit of extra training.

As someone who has himself had problems with getting certain tickets, getting a season ticket changed and later refunded, getting an excess ticket (or upgrading an off-peak to peak ticket) etc - being told 'it can't be done' or 'the ticket doesn't exist'.. it's clear the best solution is to just go to another station or find another member of staff.

However that can be extremely inconvenient, and if you're trying to excess a ticket or buy one before travel, it can mean missing a train and being delayed. And potentially being unable to get what you want, pay more and then have to waste time trying to get it sorted later on.

As such, I wonder what people here think about reporting these people on a public service like Twitter, to the relevant TOC (or any company). I don't mean naming someone, but certainly reporting a problem and then giving the company information more information if and when requested privately.

I say this because, frankly, it's a lot easier to use your phone to report something than wait until you get home and have time to write a letter of complaint - with the high chance you'll just forget about it.. thus not solving the problem for your next time, or anyone else that will have the same problem because you kept quiet (and so did they).

Personally, I'd never write anything like 'this person should be sacked' as it's not up to me, but I don't feel there's any harm in using Twitter as a very quick way to get a response.

I got the idea to post this because on Saturday, my wife bought some clothes in Next. The cashier asked her if she wanted to get £10 off for having spent over £15 (more like £50 in this case). It sounded good, except the 'offer' was actually £10 off her next order. Fair enough - she'll buy something else later.

Then she was asked if she had a Next account, and she does. Not a problem, just fill in the voucher form with a different email address (so I used mine) because the offer wasn't for existing account holders. This started some alarm bells ringing, so I asked her; 'does this mean I have to open an account with Next? and she insisted that, no, I didn't. I'd just need to wait for an email that gave a voucher code to be used on any online order.

I filled in the voucher and handed it over to her, and she gave me the stub with the T&Cs which quite clearly said that a) The voucher cannot be used by an existing account holder (so the wife couldn't use the code) and b) A credit account needed to be set up (so the voucher would only work if I opened an account!).

The voucher was totally useless and she had lied to me. I was about to hand it back, but figured that she must get some small bonus for issuing one (rather like staff do for signing people up for a store card) and so I took it away instead with the intention of making a complaint.

I sent a Tweet last night to Next and they replied within minutes - at around 10pm! They asked a few details, apologised, and said they'll deal with it. I have no idea if they will, or what they'll do, but I know that if I had to write a letter and post it - I just wouldn't bother.

So what are your thoughts? Could people taking instant 'action' actually benefit the railway to improve training, or in extreme cases, filter out the bad staff that reflect badly on the industry made up of the very dedicated ones that have more work to do because of those that can't be bothered to do their job properly?

Its a difficult one the example you highlight, I am not sure that the member of staff had lied to you, possibly in order to achieve the 'commission'. It may be the case that they may not know all the individual Ts+Cs themselves. I think its more than likely that their manager told them that day to push these vouchers, explained some of the rules but not all of them and then left them to it. There may be a prize for the most sign ups, be it cash or vouchers or sweets, or more worryingly there may be a 'punishment' for not hitting an arbitrary number set by their manager.

As it happens I do not agree with till staff pushing this type of offer as it comes dangerously close to actually giving advice and as the account is a credit account this would almost certainly fall foul of the various regulations covering these products.

I also agree with your decision to complain away from the counter as lets be honest its not their fault that some bright spark at Head Office reckons that untrained till staff pushing store credit accounts is a brilliant idea!

 

[jon0844]

Yes, it might well be a manager pushing the staff. Hopefully someone will have a word with them. Of course, that 'word' might be to just carry on as it's all about getting people to open new credit accounts. If that's the case, next time we shop there we'll probably be offered the same thing and can simply realise that Next doesn't care.

As you say, it isn't just registering an account - it's applying for a credit account and giving permission for Next to do a credit check on you. All there in the conditions, which it's clearly vital to read as you can't go by what the staff say even when you actually ask a clear and obvious question.

To get on topic, imagine asking rail staff something like that and being told an answer that was totally and utterly wrong and the opposite of what is written in the NRCoC!

I didn't read the rambles about clothes and mobile phones.

I'm guessing you're having a bad month or something, as you've sniped at me a few times in recent weeks. I've obviously said something to upset or offend you, although I am not sure what, nor where anyone talked about mobile phones!

 

[district]

I would expect people to complain about me and my conduct if I was rude or failed to do my job correctly. Not all complaints are people saying ''fire him now or I'll write to my MP'', most I'm sure are useful ways for dealing with policies not being followed or rude/surly staff.

On the other hand, I think it is always good to send letters of praise when staff have gone the extra mile to help you, or simply if you think they are good at doing what they do.

 

[jon0844]

I think it is always good to send letters of praise when staff have gone the extra mile to help you, or simply if you think they are good at doing what they do.

Yes, I forgot to say that. A very, very good point. And, I have frequently used Twitter to compliment a staff member or a company. I also hope that people can see that despite many negative stories about FCC, for example, I also defend them on a regular basis for the many things they do get right.

It's not about being all for or all against someone, but being fair, balanced and open minded.

I think that it's important to complain about a bad incident if you're normally always happy - because the company can do something about it. Otherwise, it can eat away at you and have you decide to boycott a business over something fairly trivial.

I'm sure some people might have a relatively minor mishap when using the railway and decide to simply drive next time (or not travel at all). I believe businesses really benefit from being given a chance to put things right.

 

[welshpax]

I have complained on many occasions about delays and staff issues, I see Twitter as another channel of communication with the TOC.

In my experience FGW and Virgin replied within minutes of my complaint and action was taken. You really can't ask for more than that really.

In relation to staff issues, I would never name people or ask for them to be sacked, but, I would highlight training issues if needed.

It also works both ways and I have had tweets made about me that highlighted so areas where I did not deliver the service my organisation required. Far from taking it as an insult I used that opportunity to improve!

 

[TDK]

Twitter works both ways and the TOC's should act both ways but they don't unfortunately. Not so long back a driver had to egress the passengers at a station and he was DOO due to an incident further up the line so the train could not continue.

A passenger then tweeted the company and totally verbally abused the driver using offensive language and if this was done to the drivers face the passenger could and should have been done for verbal abuse. The reponse for the TOC was " I am sorry to hear you are unhappy with the situations and we will look into this incident"

Surely the TOC should have replied "It is an offence to verbally abuse any of our staff and there fore we shall be taking your abuse further" However we will look into the incident and place a complete explanation on this incident when further information is available"

Another incident where a train came out of service because a mamber of public tweeted that there was the smell of burning and the driver was speeding causing the train to lurch violently, however when the train was checked and downloaded there was noting wrong, the smell was the brakes as they were wet!

On both these occasions no member of the public approached the staff with either complaint or anything.

So I think twitter is a crock of **** and should only be used for complaints that are valid and would inprove the service as a whole such as the 08.27 was overcrowded with standing room only etc. Not to be used to attack individuals.
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In relation to staff issues, I would never name people or ask for them to be sacked, but, I would highlight training issues if needed.

Only if you know the training needs and the training offered by the TOC of course. Someone maybe acting as they should and unless you know their training requirements you wouldn't know if they needed extra training

 

[district]

So I think twitter is a crock of ****

Surely it isn't twitter, but the people using it?

 

[bunnahabhain]

OK. I conceed. Just as long as you are content that a random member of platform staff pops into have a word with your line manager where you work. To make a complaint about you and something you have or haven't done.

I'll repeat : it's an insidious behaviour and its rife in this forum.

I have to agree with you on this. Twitter, Facebook, etc, makes it very easy for people to make some nasty complaints without thinking about it or simmering down. EG Somebody misses a train, claims platform staff stopped her getting on it when she could have done, makes false accusations etc etc, that then results in an investigation into platform staff. The company finds out that nothing was wrong, and just ****ed some money down the drain in the process, the passenger doesn't care about whether she missed her train, she was just a bit angry that she had, so chose somebody to blame. Twitter and Facebook should not be used to report people because they don't give you time to sit down and think whether a complaint really is needed!


In the case of the original poster, if you had gone back to the till, and asked for your details back, you would have had them back. So it was YOUR mistake and it is YOUR fault for not reading the T&Cs before YOU signed up to it.

 

[jon0844]

What has this got to do with what I said? I never said for people to make stuff up and lie to get people into trouble!

Can't anyone ever do anything wrong then? If so, why are there so many threads on here about such problems on a daily basis?

Nice to see I was wrong to ask a question about something instead of reading loads of small print. Suggests it's okay to be given duff info as you should then check to see if you were told the truth. What a fun game. Can anyone play?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I'm guessing you're having a bad month or something, as you've sniped at me a few times in recent weeks. I've obviously said something to upset or offend you, although I am not sure what, nor where anyone talked about mobile phones!

Unlikely. I find that it is rare to be inclined to make personal remarks.
I don't think I know who you are. But I do respond to what I read, and so if you sense some recurring criticism then I guess the cause might be found in what you have written a few times and not in who you are.
I will not enter into a personal dispute on here. Just as I will not criticise employees on Twitter nor in other public forum. Both are quite innapropriate.

 

[rebmcr]

If only it were feasible to have a few years mandatory time in a customer-facing job, for the entire population...

 

[AlterEgo]

A passenger then tweeted the company and totally verbally abused the driver using offensive language and if this was done to the drivers face the passenger could and should have been done for verbal abuse. The reponse for the TOC was " I am sorry to hear you are unhappy with the situations and we will look into this incident"

Surely the TOC should have replied "It is an offence to verbally abuse any of our staff and there fore we shall be taking your abuse further" However we will look into the incident and place a complete explanation on this incident when further information is available"

Actually I'd argue that TOCs should simply not engage whatsoever with people who are abusive on social media. If you deprive unpleasant people of the oxygen that is attention, they will soon go away.

So I think twitter is a crock of **** and should only be used for complaints that are valid

Every complaint that is made is valid to someone, you know...the person that made it. They may well be barking mad, ill-informed or simply an attention seeker. But they will consider their own complaint valid.


For what it's worth, Twitter isn't an ideal forum to discuss staff complaints. It's a public forum and a company cannot be seen to publicly undermine its own staff regardless of the circumstances. Doing so is dreadful for morale. 140 characters is nowhere near enough to either complain in detail or respond appropriately.

However, if someone does raise an issue that is sensitive or involves criticism of an employee, they should be directed to give full details offline. Via phone or email is usually best.
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I've managed to report a flooded toilet in a train (185113) to twitter and TPE replied within 2 hours so I can't see it being too much harder with staff members.

Two hours is a pretty poor response time for a social media account. Most TOCs will reply within 5-10 minutes.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Just as long as you are content that a random member of platform staff pops into have a word with your line manager where you work. To make a complaint about you and something you have or haven't done.

I'll repeat : it's an insidious behaviour and its rife in this forum.

I don't quite understand your point. Are you saying that if you got sold the wrong ticket by a clerk, and they refused to correct it for you, you'd simply go home and write a letter?

Why wouldn't you politely raise the issue with their manager at the time? I don't believe appropriate and civilised complaining is "insidious" behaviour, though I will concede that there are some pretty ill-informed rants on this forum. (Not all rants are ill-informed of course!)

 

[Aictos]

If you're a TalkTalk customer, they're extremely good via their forum and Twitter at dealing with things. The very first time you will need to give some details to them (basically giving permission to access your account) and from then on, they can deal with things in a matter of hours instead of days/weeks/never.

It's a shame they weren't so helpful because you weren't a customer.

As for speaking to the person directly that you have an issue with @LCC106, that's fine in many situations but not if someone at a station is insisting a ticket doesn't exist (like when I've wanted to go to Heathrow using Heathrow Connect and being told the only option is HEX or the tube).

I can say I'm unhappy with their service but how do I resolve things?

When they say they can't do a refund on a season ticket and you say they can, you're still going to get nowhere and probably get their back up too, as they're still not going to do it if they don't want to (or don't know how, but prefer not to admit the fact and stick with the 'can't be done' line).

Writing in is one thing, but it's the slowest and most time consuming option (and it costs you money). When I was MG11d, I wasn't about to write in and complain - I was sending emails that got it dropped that same day! I was NOT going to stand for weeks or months of hassle for suspected fare evasion over carrying a Z123 and Z456 Travelcard and not paying for an extra Z34 ticket to bridge the gap!

And as a direct result of that MG11, a revenue brief was issued to all staff confirming that passengers CAN buy the tickets that you were using and they were perfectly legal.

 

[09065]

Twitter is actually a very good medium for the TOCs in terms of disruption information distribution. It is frequently acknowledged that on-board staff are not continuously available to give out information en-mass because they are dealing with the signaller/a passenger/a call of nature/control/a freaking out member of the public who has a phobia of enclosed spaces/a disgruntled spotter who really wanted to see that kettle that the train was blocking the view of.

The problem is that some of the Twitter account users at TOCs I have observed appear to have differing levels of communication. Some will engage in small talk with customers/staff/spotters, some will not. Some will respond to abusive comments almost in kind, some will ignore it. The indoctrination of consistency is unfortunately lacking even within the organisations themselves.

Indicatively some of the comments that are aimed towards the TOCs on Twitter have actually resulted in amazingly crass spoof accounts set-up by disappointed customers as well, many of them are as clueless about the management of a train operation as they are about most of what they say. It is also amusing to see the number of Twitter users who have "train enthusiast" Twitter profiles who join the ranks of "actually we are clueless", especially during disruption when they try to give armchair advise to the TOC Twitter staff.