islandwoman120

I just moved from London to the West Country - well, just before Christmas that is. I had 4 large suitcases, one US Postal Service M bag lovingly called a "Santa Sack' by the Suffolk railway staff who saw me with it, one large carry on bag, two laptop bags, and my person. All of this went on the railway to Ipswich, Suffolk back in October, where I was told by the staff at Ipswich Railway Station that 'that was not a suitable way to travel across Britain by the Railway' because it took too long to load onto the train as they had to keep to schedule. Being forearmed, and suitably chastened, I took pains to be more subservient when I had to take the train again, in December, complete with all my attachments, to relocate myself permanently to Frome. This time I got to Paddington station one hour earlier than my train departure time, and went in search of a porter to help me move my bags from the car in which they were located, to the station platform nearest to where I would have to board the train. I was prepared to wait for the hour or whatever time it took. Well - here is where I made my First Big Error. I approached a railway person masquerading as an old fashioned porter, and asked for help with my bags. This male person fobbed me off on his coworker, as he was busy with other jobs. So I asked this second man for help with my bags, to which I was told 'There are no porters at Paddington station'. I was surprised at this response, as I had received help at Liverpool Street Station back in October when I did my Ipswich visit, and London return two weeks later, and there was no mention of 'no porters'. In fact I had excellent service at Liverpool Station, with very helpful staff. So why should I have not expected the same at Paddington. Here is the reality: there are no Porters, they are called Customer Assistance Personnel. And this was a misnomer when I needed their assistance as you will soon read. The man who eventually agreed to drive his motorised baggage carrying machine to help me pick up my bags reminded me twice that no one at Paddington carried bags, but that he was allowed to help me with my needs. Read into that whatever you will, but that sure sounded to me like I would get a ride to my bags, load them myself, and offload them myself too. I was not a happy camper, as I am partially disabled, and lifting those darn bags one more time was enough to make me scream. But I digress. When we arrived 'car side', I told my friend that the Railway Person was not allowed to carry bags, at which point my friend erupted in a small tantrum and loaded the bags himself. The Railway Person was shocked, and stood to one side while my friend and I loaded the bags. Then he got into the driver's seat, started the vehicle, and turned on me verbally. I was told that I had lied, repeatedly, that I chose not to hear what I had been told, that though I had heard the words I chose not to believe them, and that I was a liar through and through. This went on for about 10 minutes, and as I was at a definite disadvantage, with all my belongings and my person loaded on this motorised cart, I tried to make amends and was told to be quiet, that the cart would be parked at the side of Platform 1 and I was to remain on the cart with my belongings until my train came in on Platform 2. At which time the man would return and drive me to my train. Talk about wondering about the lack of decent customer relations. I was ready to cut and run, but decided that there is a definite lack of understanding of the English language. I know what I heard, the railway person knew what he said, and somewhere in between was the truth. Most of the railway staff at Paddington seem to be African, from Africa, not the Caribbean. And my knowledge of African English is that it is very literal.

When I got to Bath Spa, the railway personnel looked at my pile of luggage and said 'I'm not carrying that', (to which I replied 'Neither am I') but offered to find the Real Estate Agent van which was to meet me at the station, and tell them to drive to a specific location which was more convenient for loading and unloading my effects. A passing lady offered to help with relocating my luggage to a convenient gate, having first mentioned that she had never seen anyone travel with so much luggage - until I told her I had just arrived from the wilds of Minnesota with all my worldy possessions! Then she became sympathetic.

So be forewarned: travel light, have suitcases with wheels, be prepared to help yourselves, and if you need help, don't ask for 'help with your luggage/bags'. Just ask for assistance. That word seems to cover all eventualities.

Mummy in the foothills

That is just awful treatment and worthy of a complaints letter to the rail service and the newspapers.

dunroving

In a situation like this, I would always, always politely ask for the person's name and employee number (if relevant - you know, taxi license number, whatever). Some of these people have such a brass neck that they wouldn't care, but generally as soon as an employee knows they might be reported by name, they calm down a bit.

I think as public sector workers get more overworked due to cutbacks, you will find more incidents of ill-tempered customer service.

derren7

Welcome to the UK!!!

dunroving

Actually, this reminds me of when I took Suzy back to the States from Manchester Airport. Obviously she was in a relatively large plastic crate and I was taken aback when I realised there was not a flatbed trolly/cart available to wheel her to the check-in desk. When I asked an airport employee, he told me there were no flatbed carts. When I asked him how I could get my two suitcases and dog to the counter, his response was a shrug that said, "Not my problem".

I ended up asking someone to keep an eye on her while I carried my bags to the counter (I guessed she was less likely to get stolen from outside the airport than my two suitcases), then I went back, took her out of the crate, and walked her on lead, dragging the crate behind me, to the counter. Inside the airport I was informed that dogs were not allowed in the airport unless they were (a) service dogs or (b) in a crate. My response was a shrug that said, "Not my problem".

islandwoman120

Nice response! I should have tried the shoulder shrug at Paddington!

sallysimmons

Honestly, I had no idea you could ask for help with bags at the train station. Just shows I was brought up in the old British Rail days

J.J

Regretfully, in some places which cannot be predetermined, arrivees whether expats or visitors can find themselves confronted with a level of service less than one would expect in 'jolly England', often from the people whose job it is to help, while the person in the street will be often obliging to assist.

Be prepared to encounter the most helpful people you will ever meet, yet also be prepared to shrug and forget them when the not so friendly cross your path, reporting those that have superiors, or taking your business elsewhere for shops etc.

Recently here, locally, when an elderly man collapsed on the pavement during rush hour the only person to stop to assist was a nurse, judging by his picture and name a possible immigrant. Other drivers just sat in their cars and watched - the nurse's new leather jacket he had used to cover the patient mysteriously disappeared.

In a crowded parking lot, from a car that was way back in line, a man emerged to go stand in an empty slot and deny it's use to other motorists until his partner could get to bring her car around.

On the good side, Wilkinsons staff were very helpful when I needed a replacement part for a flat pack coffee table, they ordered the replacement without sight of the damaged piece and had it ready a few days later for my next visit to town.
Today I was just stepping into my house when a passer-by stopped and complimented me on the appearance improvements we had made to our house and garden since we took occupation.

On Banks, we went into NatWest just before Christmas, to open a new account, the person at customer service declared she had no staff, she as the manager had let them all take days off at the same time for 'shopping'. We were welcome to make an appointment for two weeks later when the staff would be back. That earned a Shrug from us!
So we went next door to HSBC where we were immediately invited to sit with an 'assistant' who helped us get signed up there and then.

dunroving

Actually, I noticed on a recent trip from Warrington to Glasgow that at Manchester Oxford Road station an older woman got off, and was met by a platform guard. He asked for her by name, stood with her until her connecting train arrived, carried her bag onto the train, and found her a seat. She wasn't posh or in First Class, either, so it must be possible to pre-arrange assistance if needed.

dunroving

I know my response would have been "or I could just walk down the street to another bank and open an account ....". I honestly think that some of these coal-face workers need to be made aware of what bad business practice their lazy attitudes constitute. Said with the right tone, I have found that these kinds of responses do have the right effect. (and if not, at least I feel better for having said something...)

Mummy in the foothills

That sounds very likely, sort of like if you need assistance when you fly, disabled people and those accompanying them need help with suitcases.
I know my Mom was coming to visit one year and was met in London by an airline person with a golf cart (she hadn't arraigned it she thinks check in in Manchester did) they took her hand luggage and loaded her up and drove her across Heathrow airport to her next gate, she loved it.

Beedubya

Rosie, I am sorry you had this terrible treatment and nobody should be spoken to in the manner which you have and you SHOULD report this person to his manager.

I am not at all sure about this porter business though, I think you will find assistance on public transport very thin on the ground. I often travelled on trains and never took more than 2 bags and it was a mad scramble of every man for himself getting on and off and as quickly as possible as to feel quite panicky if you had a heavy suitcase and a few people with cases were getting off/on. The trains do have a timetable to keep to and are full of lots of people commuting to and from work not just tourists and so on. To be honest if I had as much luggage as you had I wouldn't have even attempted getting a train, I would have found another means of getting it to Frome, such as a furniture removalist or a van with driver, etc.

I would say that I probably had as much as you when I moved to the Lake District and hired a van with driver taking me and my belongings up there, in my case luckily for me my sister agreed to do it and I just paid the petrol money, etc. but it wouldn't be that hard to find one in the local newspaper.

Did you pay for these bags in which case you should claim back from the railways? Now I think of it I am sure there are some kind of restrictions on the amount of luggage you can take on a train......

Yes just found the link:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passen...e_animals.html

J.J

As she had no staff that day no matter whatever I said would not have achieved a different result. Nor I did not know that any other bank would treat me any differently.
I called back later, canceled the appointment and explained that I went elsewhere.

As said in other postings, there are new ropes to be learned here in UK, just as there were when first moving overseas. I struggle with finding that things are different than when I left, or that my expectations are now different. Still happy to be here though, we have no desire for bouncing back to over there again.

islandwoman120

I did not know about asking for help with the bags either, until I got to Liverpool Street and the cabbie told me to wait whilst he got a Customer Assistance person (see - I am now well versed in the lingo!). The lovely man who arrived with the motorised cart was Caribbean and most helpful and polite. He did all the baggage carrying, and took them into the train and put them in the appropriate area. He also told me that he was calling ahead to Ipswich for me to be met trainside and my bags carried for me. Which is exactly what happened - I was met at the train door by a man with an umbrella as it was raining in Ipswich, then three young men with two trolleys took all my clobber across the tracks when the train had cleared the station - there being no lifts or underground tunnels at that station (they are being built and should be ready this year sometime). Great service, and I was appreciative - they did not want tips either - refused them. It was when I did my return journey from that station 2 weeks later that the senior person at Ipswich railway station told me that I should not travel with so much luggage. I agree with him...

I don't feel particularly singled out - just sometimes disappointed at what I find, but most of the time I am content. Life is much slower here than in the UK, and when dealing with overburdened government departments, I am learning patience. It took me 1 month to get a single document from the National Archives at Kew - in spite of emails and phone calls with a specific person. I still had to wait and jump through the hoops.....patience..

Beedubya

I think the service you received at Ipswich was the exception rather than the rule, you had great service and then of course we expect it to continue from other staff in the same industry, unfortunatly that doesn't always happen, a bit like JJ getting rubbish service from one bank and great service from the next.....

I'm not sure which railway companies you used, but I did find it all a bit confusing I have to say. The previous times I had travelled on trains was a LONG time ago in the days of British Rail, where it all seemed to be as one.....now you have all these little companies doing their own thing. So for instance travelling from Windermere it would be on First Transpennine, then change at Oxenholme and then it would be on to a Virgin Pendolino, both different companies with their own sets of rules and fares and of course service levels. I think it used to cost me about £36 return to Runcorn and I could never get it any cheaper, booking it online, paying last minute whatever. Yet my sister can get a Virgin Pendolino return all the way from Runcorn to London (!!) for 20 quid if she books in advance online!!!

And Rosie I am not 100% sure here, but I don't think Frome station is manned full time, the few times I departed to Bath or wherever on a Saturday it seemed deserted and I had to buy a ticket from the train conductor so don't show up with all those bags LOL!!