On Sep 29, 12:26*pm, "Graham Harrison"
wrote:

I can't make up my mind whether some of these problems stem from the person
in the ticket office, the local manager or the TOC. * Experience with a
range for FGW offices tends to suggest a localised problem rather than the
TOC because I've had some (one in particular) refuse to sell valid
combinations where others might grumble at the amount of work but do as
requested. * The one that refuses to sell certain things has been doing it
since Thames Trains days and the staff in the office haven't changed much so
I'm guessing it's totally localised. * I did complain on one occasion and
things improved for a while but a recent incident shows they are back to
their old, bad, ways again.

In this case the person acted rather oddly towards me when I explained
what I wanted (using the same language I had on previous successful
occasions). Part of the problem was that he "explained" to me why it
was impossible to get a ticket to do what I wanted on a number of
obviously incorrect bases. Since previous ticket sellers have sold me
tickets that they thought would work, and since he was obviously
reasoning incorrectly, I wasn't immediately convinced. He also began
by saying he "didn't know" but only became categorical later.

For example: he explained that if I bought a ticket via Cambridge that
would be using FGW trains and the money would go "into their pot"
whereas a ticket via Tottenham Hale would be a different train
company. As a result I couldn't buy a ticket that went over both.

This was so breathtakingly wrong I didn't really know how to react - I
mean pretty much anyone who travels at all by trains knows you can get
tickets that use more than one company, eg (I hadn't realised this at
the time) FP = Shelford via Cambridge.

He implied that I could have a ticket and risk what National Express
would say (i.e. whether they would accept it) and didn't seem to think
it was his job to help me find a suitable ticket.

He was quite cross with me by the end. I asked for a complaint form
and that made him crosser. He called me back and asked me how I needed
a complaint and then harangued me a bit. Eventually I had to break it
off and go. Really good not customer service.

Thanks for the help. I tried reading the routing guide for the first
time last night. Hmmmm. Its not the easiest work to absorb and I'm not
sure how the underground fits in. I wish there was someone you could
ask (I thought this was the train staff).

Francis