Not too good... (First Great Western)

Member Name: driver

Product:	First Great Western
Date:	18/07/01 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: On time on a Friday night

Disadvantages: Delays, Poor customer service

I travel using First Great Western every couple of months to go to Devon from London for a weekend getaway.

In almost every instance, I have had to let their customer service line ring about 60 times before someone has picked it up, allowing me to purchase tickets ahead of time. Customer service tends to be curt, ineffectual and just lazy. They try at all costs to give you the main rail number to call (regardless of whether you need it or not) in the hopes of getting you off the phone. In all cases, the Apex tickets have been taken (even though I usually call about a week and a half in advance of the travel date. I usually pay almost £60 for a roundtrip ticket.

Trains are typically very prompt on the Friday night and the service typically runs fairly smoothly. Sunday nights, however, tend to be a nightmare. In the last year, they have sold me tickets and reserved me seats for a train time that didn't actually exist. Oops, they said. They have been late- up to an hour delayed. And they have been very low on food and drink (when they say they are stocking up at such-and-such a place, it rarely means stocking up). Trains have been crowded (forgetting to reserve a seat in advance means that you could inevitably have to stand for a good part of the journey.)

All in all, not my pick of rail companies.

Summary: