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GA Season Ticket woes

Posted: Fri 19 Aug, 2016 12:15 pm
by daskier
Abellio needs to work on customer service.

I lost my season ticket yesterday so when I had a chat with the ticket office at HFE. They said as I purchased the ticket online they couldn't see the details and I need to liaise with them first. Fair enough.

This is where Abellio GA really needs some work.

On their website it tells you call their phone number but no details on what option to use.

1. Call 1 - selected option 2. Lady on line said she will deal with it and then put me on hold, 5 minutes later line hung up.
2. Call 2 - selected option 2. Said call option 3 or they can transfer me and told me they only work till 5pm. It was 6pm, so I said wouldn't they be closed and I should call tomorrow. The man said yes, but he offered to transfer me again! I checked and indeed they were closed.
3. Call 3 - selected option 3 - Told me to call trainline.
4. Call 4 - Called trainline - Told me to call Abellio as they don't do after sale but said I should selection option 6.
5. Call 5 - selected option 6 - Said I should call option 3, then hung up when I said I called this earlier.
6. Call 6 - selected option 3 - Said this is corporate accounts only, I explained why I called back but me on hold, 5 minutes later hung up.
7. Call 7 - selected option 8 - Selected 8 as customer service, and re-told whole story. They lady opened a case for me and put me on hold to confirm procedure (had to buy new tickets for remainder of season ticket and send via POST with cover letter and they they will process it).

Now, I thought as this situation is going to be quite common, that

a) Website would indicate clearly whom to call and or provide procedure.
b) Agents on the phone lines knew how the process worked. Even the customer service agent wasn't 100% sure.

The entire process was very unpleasant to say the least.

Re: GA Season Ticket woes

Posted: Fri 19 Aug, 2016 12:44 pm
by Golden
Maybe contact them on Twitter? I'm increasingly finding that this method can be more effective than a phone call!!

Re: GA Season Ticket woes

Posted: Sat 20 Aug, 2016 8:11 pm
by daskier
Good advice.

I'll definitely try that next time.

Re: GA Season Ticket woes

Posted: Sun 21 Aug, 2016 3:05 pm
by Alpha Papa
I agree - Twitter is definitely the most effective way of getting GA to respond in my experience. Their social media team seem well trained at dealing with issues like this. The fact that your request - and their response to it - is then being viewed by all of their followers probably helps.

Re: GA Season Ticket woes

Posted: Thu 25 Aug, 2016 1:04 pm
by beebopb
A couple of years ago I lost a season ticket (for the Hertford North line under FCC), which I'd bought online and had loads of trouble getting a replacement season ticket. In the end it got sorted out only when I emailed the Chief Exec of FCC directly, it then got sorted pretty quickly.