The modern bus, the missing umbrella and the customer experience shortfall

In November, I found myself transferring between Glasgow airport and a hotel in the City centre. Unless really pushed for time I will always take the bus. I boarded the punctual and reguarly running 500 Airport bus run by a leading UK bus company I've always observed the bus has very comfortable seats and free wifi. Plus a strange hands free charging set up which I've never figured out and a contactless pay point which I do use. In fact, it fits the bill very well for a ￡14 return ticket. To look at you'd say it's a real asset to the overall FirstBus experience. That is until you need to go beyond the look and feel of the bus.

On this occasion when I got off the bus my ruck sack got caught on something coming down the stairs. It released as quickly as it was caught so I jumped off and walked on. After a couple of minutes I realised it must have been my umbrella's hooked handle which got caught. And sure enough when I looked at my ruck sack the umbrella was gone!

Photo by Engin Akyurt from Pexels

It wasn't a new umbrella. In fact, my two boys had mentioned more than once it needed replacing. But I liked that old umbrella with it's James Bondesque auto open button.

But that was it I thought, it's gone. Or so I thought.

The next day I boarded the bus to return to the airport. I had forgotten about the umbrella to be honest, thinking I could add it to my Christmas list. But as I disembarked I remembered and asked the driver who I contact about lost property. Now it's at this point that my perception of FirstBus' approach to customer experience goes from 'quite good' to a realisation that it's only surface deep. The presentation of the bus was slick, professional and expert. So my expectation of my request about my umbrella was equal to this.

How wrong I was!

The driver said if I went on the website I'd find a number. I said okay and mentioned how I lost it. This prompted him to reply that conicidentally he was the driver yesterday and he'd found it. If I hadn't have bored him with my lost umbrella story I may never have known. I was delighted he'd know more and asked where it was now.

How wrong I was!

He explained that he'd put it under the seat until the end of his shift. He left it there becuase the bus wasn't going back into the depot and he was. So I was informed it was the next driver's responsibility to drop it off and not his.

He then dug out a list of telephone numbers on a sheet and said which one I should call. He helpfully said make sure you tell them it's more than 24 hours ago (which it was anyway) or I'd be fobbed off that it can't be looked for yet, even though it would be there from yesterday. Slightly dissapointed, but now with the enhthusiasm of Dorothy searching for the Wizard of Oz, I jumped off the bus. I was on a mission. My umbrealla was known about and I believed I would locate it. I was close now.

How wrong I was!

I called the number given which was an IVR. It asked if I'd lost an item on a bus. I said yes and was put through to someone. The lady who answered was not Scottish, not that it should be a reason that she wasn't standing in the middle of a lost property room in the bus depot in Glasgow, but it did throw me. She asked if it was on a bus and if it was more than 24 hours ago. I started to explain what and when happened, but she stopped me and asked what I'd lost. The phone went quite and she came back and said it's not here. This is where I imagined an empty room miles away from Glasgow with someone holding the phone away from their ear but not looking at all.

I explained that the driver said he'd left it on the bus. Her reply was sorry but someone has stolen it. I said it was in the driver's cab area and would have been brought in when the bus was returned as explained to me by the driver. She said it's not in lost property so she couldn't help and I needed to log it as a 'lost complaint', but should point out it would be a on bus complaint, not a lost property complaint. She said the number was on the website. It seemed a little less likely I would find it now, but at least I'd get it 'logged' to be sorted out.

How wrong I was!

I called the number which was an IVR and it served me a few 'complaint' categories. I worked my way through them until I found on bus. The message said there was no one who could take my call but they could arrange a call back. It also suggested a link could be sent to complete a form. On the basis I was flying I felt this was the best option. I actioned this but the message then said there was a problem and it couldn't be sent. The connection then hung up on me.

Just 10 minutes previously I was given hope and convinced I'd get my umbrella back thinking how great the company was. To now realising that it was absolutely hopeless and what a waste of my time it's been.

On reflection, I realised that at EVERY step of this experience there was a cultural, 'not my responsibility' attitude from the people as well as the tech. No one wanted to own or resolve my problem, just kick it down the line.

And at no point was my feedback requested so I couldn't share what went wrong. Even worse, on the basis I wasn't able to log a complaint, there may well be an assumption internally things are better than they really are. I shouldn't have been suprised that I couldn't actually complain or leave feedback becuase that would have meant taking responsibility! I did send a note to the head of CX about what had happened. Guess what happened..................you guessed it.

Photo by burak kostak from Pexels

In summary, many often paper over poor experiences with tech and toys. But as soon as a customer needs to reach inside the company for help, its lack of customer centricity is exposed. As for my umbrella, I'm hoping Santa brings me a new one this year.

Posted by Christopher Brooks, MD Clientship