Comments on: Thalys : a case on how not to handle customer support http://blog.readspeaker.com/2009/09/17/thalys-a-case-on-how-not-to-handle-customer-support/ A blog about speech-enabling online content Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Roy http://blog.readspeaker.com/2009/09/17/thalys-a-case-on-how-not-to-handle-customer-support/#comment-899 Roy Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:50:40 +0000 http://blog.readspeaker.com/?p=197#comment-899 Jaz, yes the various companies involved sure doesn't help out and that's an understatement! Jaz, yes the various companies involved sure doesn’t help out and that’s an understatement!

]]> By: Jaz http://blog.readspeaker.com/2009/09/17/thalys-a-case-on-how-not-to-handle-customer-support/#comment-898 Jaz Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:52:52 +0000 http://blog.readspeaker.com/?p=197#comment-898 Thalys is a hybrid of various rail companies, French, Belgian and Dutch. The co-ordination between them is awful which is why the admin is so poor. I travel twice a week between Brussels and Amsterdam and have today spent 1.5 hours trying to change a ticket bought online. I won't bore you with the saga but I failed, after trying 5 different numbers, because no-one in Brussels or Amsterdam would take responsibility for it. It is a virtual business model only, so tickets changes apparently have to be dealt with by one of the partnership companies, not by Thalys ...blah, blah, blah. If you travel with Thalys beware. If all goes well you'll be fine. It frequently doesn't on this route and the brittle facade of the organisation breaks down immediately and you're on your own, Bucko. For me it's NS HiSpeed or Belgian railways from here on. They're slower (for now) and cheaper but you know who you're dealing with and can sort stuff easily when things go wrong. Thalys is a hybrid of various rail companies, French, Belgian and Dutch. The co-ordination between them is awful which is why the admin is so poor.
I travel twice a week between Brussels and Amsterdam and have today spent 1.5 hours trying to change a ticket bought online. I won’t bore you with the saga but I failed, after trying 5 different numbers, because no-one in Brussels or Amsterdam would take responsibility for it. It is a virtual business model only, so tickets changes apparently have to be dealt with by one of the partnership companies, not by Thalys …blah, blah, blah.

If you travel with Thalys beware. If all goes well you’ll be fine. It frequently doesn’t on this route and the brittle facade of the organisation breaks down immediately and you’re on your own, Bucko.
For me it’s NS HiSpeed or Belgian railways from here on. They’re slower (for now) and cheaper but you know who you’re dealing with and can sort stuff easily when things go wrong.

]]> By: Emlar http://blog.readspeaker.com/2009/09/17/thalys-a-case-on-how-not-to-handle-customer-support/#comment-438 Emlar Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:03:31 +0000 http://blog.readspeaker.com/?p=197#comment-438 I was in the prior train (16h25) aiming for Bruxelles, and I can only agree to the story and conclusions you made. The management of all this was very akward, it went even more wrong when they told us, in the bus, that they changed their mind and were bringing us to Anvers instead of Essen like they previously said. Where we eventually got a train for Bruxelles. I was lucky enough to get into a bus, but some of my colleagues after waiting more than 1hour took a taxi to reach bruxelles for an additional 225€.... The funny thing is that we reached our hotel more or less at the same time (22h30). Except I won't have to go through a tough explanation to go through an exception expense report with my company ;-) I was in the prior train (16h25) aiming for Bruxelles, and I can only agree to the story and conclusions you made.
The management of all this was very akward, it went even more wrong when they told us, in the bus, that they changed their mind and were bringing us to Anvers instead of Essen like they previously said. Where we eventually got a train for Bruxelles.
I was lucky enough to get into a bus, but some of my colleagues after waiting more than 1hour took a taxi to reach bruxelles for an additional 225€….
The funny thing is that we reached our hotel more or less at the same time (22h30). Except I won’t have to go through a tough explanation to go through an exception expense report with my company ;-)

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