Happy Birthday @HauntedRockCake !

My dear friend Sandra celebrates her 50th birthday today, and I wanted to to wish her many happy returns...

If you are on Twitter, please wish @HauntedRockCake a happy birthday, I am sure all the wishes will make her smile!!!

An Email To The Bus Company...PART 2

To my surprise, I actually got a reply back from Stagecoach bus TODAY!!  At their customer service is quicker than their buses, although that would not be difficult...here is what they said:

Good Afternoon Mr May 

Thank you for your email and I am sorry to read that you are unhappy with the service you have received from us. 

Your email has been passed to Colin Ashcroft, Operations Manager for Basingstoke, who will come back to you as soon as possible but certainly within a week. If there is a need to do an investigation into your comments, they will let you know how long this will take. 

Please find a link to our Code of Practice for Customer Suggestions and Complaints below, which outlines our commitment to handling your feedback in a prompt and professional manner. 

Kind regards 

Rob Kerr 
Customer Services Supervisor
______________________________________________________ 
Stagecoach South Customer Services Team 
Stagecoach South  ‌  The Bus Station  ‌  Southgate  ‌  CHICHESTER  ‌  West Sussex  ‌  PO19 8DG 
Telephone:  0845 121 0190 ‌   Fax:  01243 528743 ‌   
Email: enquiries.south@stagecoachbus.com   Web:  www.stagecoachbus.com/south 
  
Our opening hours are: 
Monday - Friday 0700-1900 |   Saturday 0800-1800   |   Sunday 0900-1300 
  
Attached is a link to our company's complaints procedure on the website for your reference. 
www.stagecoachbus.com/codeofpractice.aspx 
  
Stagecoach (South) Ltd.‌ Registered in England & Wales No. 1673542 
Registered address:  Daw Bank, Stockport, SK3 0DU 


So, my thoughts have been passed onto the Operations Manager for Basingstoke and apparently will get a reply within a week...well, we shall see.

More on this as I get it.

An email to the bus company...

I have just written the following email to Stagecoach Bus complaining about their services (hey, there's a surprise huh?) and I thought that you might like a read.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to complain about the state of the bus service in my area.

I reside in Tadley, just outside Basingstoke and due to disability I am unable to drive, so when I need to get into town or the hospital (which is quite regular) I am reliant on the bus service (I would order a taxi, but it is too expensive for someone on benefits, although the way the prices keep increasing it will soon be about the same price) to get me there, but the problem is I cannot rely on the buses to be there on time.

If I have a hospital appointment, I need to make sure I'm at the bus stop an hour or more earlier (for a 15-20 minute journey) then my appointment to guarantee that I can get a bus there on time, and on more than one occasion it has been a case that I have waited over an hour for the bus to arrive and had to reschedule appointments.  I have asked at the bus station in the information desk about this and they say it was a day with not enough staff, but this must be the case a lot as it this almost an every day occurrence.

Then there is the case of multiple buses seemingly "vanishing".  This morning while waiting for the bus (over 40 minutes yet again) 3 Jazz 2 buses went up.....but only after the 3rd one did an actual bus arrive at our bus stop.  What is happening to all these buses?  If they are breaking down surely you should get better mechanics?

I don't expect the bus to be there at the exact time specified (we don't actually have a time specified for the bust stop, but 3-4 previous, which I take into account), with things like several passengers getting on a bus, or heavy traffic, but waiting 40 minutes or longer for a bus that is supposed to arrive every 20 minutes is an unacceptable way for this service to be run.

I was wondering if you could give an explanation for how bad the service is in my area.

I look forward to your reply.

Regards

Mr. S.B.May

I would love to hear what they have got to say for themselves, but I doubt they will reply...I mean they don't want to listen to me, I am a mere customer.  I'll keep you posted with any replies I get.