Delivering high quality customer service
We are committed to the continual improvement of customer service. Listening to our customers is an important part of this.
We engage with our customers regularly using customer surveys, focus groups and face-to-face meetings such as ‘meet the manager’ sessions and customer panels. We also conduct occasional in-depth research into customer perceptions and continuously monitor satisfaction and complaints statistics. The three issues of most importance to our passengers continue to be the safety of our services, performance of trains and our management of service delays and disruption.
Customer satisfaction
Passenger satisfaction within the franchised rail sector is monitored on an ongoing basis by Passenger Focus, the independent national rail consumer watchdog.
First TransPennine Express and First ScotRail continue to demonstrate customer satisfaction levels above the national average and above average for their operator type. Although the most recent survey indicates a slight drop in overall satisfaction for First TransPennine Express, satisfaction levels are currently 12% higher than when we took over the franchise in February 2004.
Customer satisfaction in First ScotRail has been influenced by customer perception of how the company deals with delays. In response, First ScotRail is developing ways to keep customers better informed of disruptions, such as regular customer updates of what is being done to get services back to normal.
First Capital Connect has shown an overall increase in satisfaction levels with particular increases in passenger perception of train cleanliness, upkeep and repair. They were the most improved company in the survey.
At First Great Western we continue to face challenges in service delivery due to deep rooted problems with the network which are reflected in the lower than average passenger satisfaction rating. We recognise our performance has been below expectation and there is a lot of work to do to deliver performance improvements quickly. We are making significant investment to achieve this. We have also significantly increased the amount of compensation offered to passengers experiencing delays to double that in the Passenger’s Charter.
Complaints
The number of complaints received have in general either remained stable or reduced, apart from those relating to First Great Western for the reasons given above.
