Having previously been stranded on broken down buses, ignored at bus stops and delayed innumerable hours, I'd probably be forgiven for thinking I'd seen the worst aspects of Arriva North East customer service.
Apparently not, because today for the first time I encountered blatant dishonesty and miscommunication by the north east's largest public transport operator.
It started at 7:33 am this morning when I was waiting for the 505. The minutes ticked by, as they often do with this service being habitually late. Using my mobile I decided to browse to the Arriva North East Facebook pages, where their Commercial Manager Mark Ellis goes by the name of "Arriva Bod", in the hope that a realtime update would be posted there. Fat chance, with some of yesterday's tripe about Saltwell Park adorning the top of their Wall.
By 8:10 am the bus still hadn't arrived so I decided to call the misleadingly titled Arriva customer services hotline. They might have a phone line, but there's certainly nothing hot about it. The phone rang and rang, but there was no answer. I rang again at 8:15 am and again the phone rang. It rang for so long, at least 3 minutes, that I'd pretty much abandoned any hope of being answered. Just as I was about to hang up someone picked up at the other end.
"Hello, Arriva Customer Services" bold as brass, as if I hadn't been waiting for her to finish her bacon sandwich as the phone rang off the hook. I explained the problem and she told me that no disruption had been reported, but she would contact the depot to see if they knew anything.
A few minutes of silence (Arriva are apparently too tight or disorganised to provide canned music) later she returned with the news that she'd spoken to both the Ashington and Jesmond depots and been told that several buses were off the road due to mechanical problems that morning. As a result they had withdrawn some services. My bus had been one of those hit by these unfortunate circumstances.
I didn't consider this to be a satisfactory explanation, considering the arbitrary way they had inconvenienced their stranded passengers. Somehow I managed to maintain my cool and posed the question: "So if you've known about this disruption for the last hour, how come it hasn't been posted on your Facebook page so people can try to make alternative arrangements?" She explained that the depot had been so busy sorting things out that they'd not had a chance to do that. I relayed the message to the lengthening queue of irate passengers standing at the stop alongside me.
Resigned to the fact the bus wasn't coming I decided to waste another hour of my life and catch the 9:10 am instead. This later bus, service 501, took a slightly different route so I had to walk to the bus station. On arrival at the bus station I was greeted by fellow stranded, frothing at the mouth with anger as they recounted their experiences that morning.
They too had attempted to catch the 505 earlier on, only to discover it had been cancelled without warning. Comparing excuses, of which Arriva have a book full, I quickly learnt that the people waiting at the bus station had been given a different explanation for the morning's derisory level of service. Instead of being told the bus had been cancelled, one of the Alnwick-based Arriva employees had told them that it had actually started further along the route at Felton, thus bypassing us folk closer to its timetabled origin.
Having received comments from former Arriva employees, I can fully believe that they were unable operate a full service this morning due to the woeful maintenance of their vehicles. What I struggle to believe is that a bus company, supposedly customer oriented, is so incompetent that it cancels services at the drop of a hat, fails to tell anyone and subsequently trots out a range of different explanations depending on who they're speaking to.
Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. Time and time again in my experience Arriva has set consistently low standards, which it fails to achieve.
Arriva North East really are the pits. Pathetic excuses, abysmal communication, inconsiderate drivers, poorly maintained vehicles and zero concept of customer service. I can't think of any better advert for buying a car.
Apparently not, because today for the first time I encountered blatant dishonesty and miscommunication by the north east's largest public transport operator.
It started at 7:33 am this morning when I was waiting for the 505. The minutes ticked by, as they often do with this service being habitually late. Using my mobile I decided to browse to the Arriva North East Facebook pages, where their Commercial Manager Mark Ellis goes by the name of "Arriva Bod", in the hope that a realtime update would be posted there. Fat chance, with some of yesterday's tripe about Saltwell Park adorning the top of their Wall.
By 8:10 am the bus still hadn't arrived so I decided to call the misleadingly titled Arriva customer services hotline. They might have a phone line, but there's certainly nothing hot about it. The phone rang and rang, but there was no answer. I rang again at 8:15 am and again the phone rang. It rang for so long, at least 3 minutes, that I'd pretty much abandoned any hope of being answered. Just as I was about to hang up someone picked up at the other end.
"Hello, Arriva Customer Services" bold as brass, as if I hadn't been waiting for her to finish her bacon sandwich as the phone rang off the hook. I explained the problem and she told me that no disruption had been reported, but she would contact the depot to see if they knew anything.
A few minutes of silence (Arriva are apparently too tight or disorganised to provide canned music) later she returned with the news that she'd spoken to both the Ashington and Jesmond depots and been told that several buses were off the road due to mechanical problems that morning. As a result they had withdrawn some services. My bus had been one of those hit by these unfortunate circumstances.
I didn't consider this to be a satisfactory explanation, considering the arbitrary way they had inconvenienced their stranded passengers. Somehow I managed to maintain my cool and posed the question: "So if you've known about this disruption for the last hour, how come it hasn't been posted on your Facebook page so people can try to make alternative arrangements?" She explained that the depot had been so busy sorting things out that they'd not had a chance to do that. I relayed the message to the lengthening queue of irate passengers standing at the stop alongside me.
Resigned to the fact the bus wasn't coming I decided to waste another hour of my life and catch the 9:10 am instead. This later bus, service 501, took a slightly different route so I had to walk to the bus station. On arrival at the bus station I was greeted by fellow stranded, frothing at the mouth with anger as they recounted their experiences that morning.
They too had attempted to catch the 505 earlier on, only to discover it had been cancelled without warning. Comparing excuses, of which Arriva have a book full, I quickly learnt that the people waiting at the bus station had been given a different explanation for the morning's derisory level of service. Instead of being told the bus had been cancelled, one of the Alnwick-based Arriva employees had told them that it had actually started further along the route at Felton, thus bypassing us folk closer to its timetabled origin.
Having received comments from former Arriva employees, I can fully believe that they were unable operate a full service this morning due to the woeful maintenance of their vehicles. What I struggle to believe is that a bus company, supposedly customer oriented, is so incompetent that it cancels services at the drop of a hat, fails to tell anyone and subsequently trots out a range of different explanations depending on who they're speaking to.
Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. Time and time again in my experience Arriva has set consistently low standards, which it fails to achieve.
Arriva North East really are the pits. Pathetic excuses, abysmal communication, inconsiderate drivers, poorly maintained vehicles and zero concept of customer service. I can't think of any better advert for buying a car.
1 comments:
I absolutely agree. A completely shoddy service all round. I might add that I have complained to them about the rudeness of their drivers and their general contempt for their customers and they didn't even have the courtesy to respond. We should start a campaign!
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