Trip Advisor, Customer Service and the future of our railways

It depends I think what the bad feedback is.

I've seen one bad TripAdvisor review from an over-entitled-feeling enthusiast complaining that they wanted to see a particular loco, so had travelled several hundred miles without checking beforehand if it would be visible, only to find that of course it wasn't operating and wasn't anywhere visible. That's not really something the railway can be blamed for, despite what that enthusiast thought!

 

One other served me a lamb hotpot which was supreme!

 

I was motivated by this thread to read through a load of Trip Advisor posts on WCR and Vintage. Both companies scored around 80% 4* plus 5* which seems a good overall performance. Most of the low scores were for the food or lack of heating. Some were failings eg lack of communication where things had gone wrong and poor response to complaints. Of course the high scores tend to be far more generic in nature because people are expressing appreciation. This is all very much like the hotel and restaurant trade where you get 'We turned up and no-one spoke to us for ten minutes'---one star versus 'we had a really fabulous weekend where everything was perfect'--five stars.

What struck me was how few were expressing concerns about the sort of thing which is the subject of discussion here. Some of the criticisms the fans have might seem a bit esoteric to the main market!

 

OK . The heritage experience is probably governed by most people’s experience with the National Trust. Yes, they have far more money than most other ‘heritage railways’ and other attractions but they do set the standard. A heritage attraction, a well preserved Stately Home, but the facilities that all tourists want. Clean modern toilets, decent restaurant and car parking.
As far as authenticity is concerned I’ve eaten in many NT restaurants that have been converted from cattle sheds or stables and yet still retain the atmosphere whilst serving excellent food.
Something the preserved Railways need to aspire to.

 

Railways need to remember they are in the leisure market and are competing for custom with every other attraction in their location, and one bad experience means that family are very unlikely to make a return visit, and will tell all their friends why, so that's possibly 20 odd families who may now be put off, multiply that each time, and it becomes a serious problem .

 

Baby Changing facilities are very important to many parents and grandparents.

30 years ago we were using those facilities on heritage railways for our Daughter.

30 years on, we're using the same facilities on the same heritage railways for our Grandson.

Sadly, they've not improved in the meantime.

 

Add the Ratty to that list as well for good food. They even do a little loyalty card. Every sixth (I think?) hot drink is free. The Ratty Arms across the way is also decent.

 

There is and there isn't.

Stock list saying where a loco,coach,wagon is and if its viewable or not.

So theres something to learn from it.

As well as having as much as can be possible a correct loco roster, something which the SVR do but I've not seen for other railways.

So thats two things that could have helped avoid the issue you describe.

 

My experience seems to be that it's more unusual for there not to be a loco roster somewhere than not. A stock list for all rolling stock including location is a big ask; it's quite likely it would go out of date very quickly, I tried doing one for the GWSR but gave up as things kept moving! I can recall several occasions when I've been on duty where disappointment has been expressed that a certain loco isn't in use, despite the fact we have a loco roster published on our website, on social media, and a helpful person on the end of a phone.
No, someone turning up unannounced expecting a particular item to be on view or in use has only themselves to blame if they're disappointed given the multitude of ways there are especially these days to find out in advance. Although having said that, I can't think of any instance I've had, either on duty or on C+W during a gala (where some folk want to see *everything*) where, if it wasn't possible to see what they wanted, they somehow decided that it was the railway's fault.

 

See this is the problem the wsr has you have fallen into.

Reasons why it can't be done,then putting the blame onto the public.

Nothing is too much effort if you want to put your mind to it.

its the 21st century we have the technology to make these things a reality,

I can preempt the reply to this,

"Why don't you offer your services to do such a thing?"

answer been there done that got the t shirt, too many politics involved etc etc,

 

The SVR Wiki maintainers try to do this for the SVR, but as you can appreciate it is a big job!

I've tried to find the review I was talking about, but annoyingly I haven't been able to, so I can't tell you if the person in question did ask at the time if they could see the out-of-sight loco, or just went straight home and grumbled.

 

But surely you balance the amount of effort involve with how many people actually want it? Maintaining a public register of every singe item of stock on your railway including location and keeping it up to date enough to be useful just to nullify one TripAdvisor reviewer, who'll still complain that what he wants to see is hidden away in the tunnel even though he came down on the off-chance that it was visible?
I like to think I accommodate people who visit the GWSR who want to view a specific item of stock very generously, if someone turns up out of the blue and they need accompanying, it's pretty unusual for me to not drop everything to show them round. But for a stock list itemising everything on a railway, just use the VCT!

 

Indeed, I was thinking of the SVR wiki, and I can certainly appreciate how big a job it must be!

 

One difficult I suggest is that we have lines where those in a position to influence things are often single men of a certain age who remember things as they were and who dont realise that things have moved on. Exactly the problem that Waverley experienced in the late 80's

 

"Set M - At Bridgnorth, no Hampton Loade, no Highley, no Arley, no Bewdley, hang on - it's going back again"

The worse thing we suffer is the auditors turning up once a year and as part of their checks ask to see "wagon x" or "coach y" - then it is a case of trying to find it!

 

One of the advantages of TripAdvisor is that it is not, by and large, gricer orientated. Thus those posting on it are not normally concerned unduly by the lococentric issues which are creeping into this thread in true NP fashion!

 

I once got chatting to some of the staff from a certain large multi-site museum (who do do pretty good food!), who admitted in passing that when one site closed and its artefacts were moved elsewhere, a couple of railway wagons could not be found. And they had much less space in which stock could disappear than you!

 

One of the issues mentioned above is shown by the number of people upthread who have said things like "we don't go to X because my wife doesn't like the toilets/the food/the view" etc. with an implied "but I don't care". If the management of those railways has the same opinion - that these aspects are things that their core supporters don't care about - it's not surprising they are losing custom.

 

The SVR's on-line roster includes the sets used each day as well as the locos, so any interested visitor this morning can expect to see 6 of set C on the 10:35 from Bridgnorth and 6 of set M on the 10:15 from Bewdley. I like to think the official site does pretty well in that respect.

As one of the unofficial Wiki updaters, we try to keep on top of which carriages and items of rolling stock are in service and which are stored or under overhaul but of course there is a limit; as you say, items frequently move around! Even the set configurations can occasionally change during the day - obviously shunts during the day should be avoided but they are sometimes necessary for operational reasons. I joined one set on New Years day which started with two Brakes in the set, picked up a third at Bridgnorth (is three Brakes in one set some sort of record?) and dropped off two at Bewdley to end with one, while only causing a very small delay in the timetable.

Oh, and as a one-time auditor, it was of course our duty to try to select the most awkward items to be inspected!

 

Many moons ago when I was Deputy C&W Manager at the SVR I had an auditor ask to see Loco 5690, when I told him that he could not see it as it was not here he was livid. He didn't seem to understand that our assets were mobile and not fixed in one place, I explained that it was out on rail tour duty somewhere in the North West of England. He seemed to think that we were trying to pull of some kind of scam, yes they do walk amongst us.