Wednesday 12 December 2012

You can help some of the people...

While I love all our customers unconditionally, some are easier to help than others.  I'm not sure whether the passenger I met on Saturday in Hedge End should be chided for his stupidity or commended for his honesty, or maybe both!

Two teenage boys got on together and one of them asked me how much it would cost for a return to Eastleigh.  "Five pounds", I replied.  Crestfallen, he turned to his friend and said, "sorry mate I haven't got enough, we can't go."

Not one to lose a sale easily, I asked how old he was.  He looked at me as if I was his parents, and asked why I wanted to know.  I explained, with heavy emphasis, that child fares apply up to fifteen, so if he told me he were fifteen, the fare would only be three pounds.

The penny dropped with his mate straight away, and we each looked expectantly at our friend while we waited for him to spot his cue.  Eventually, after much thought, he got ready to speak...  "Aw man, that sucks, I'm sixteen!"

11 comments:

  1. I commend the lad, but am not too sure about you'tr leading them in to temptation. :D

    Would a larger operator have approved attempting a sale in similar circunstances, or would rules prevail? Hmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I admit to using similar tactics - any money through the farebox is better than lost passengers. I wouldn't say that's the official line of my employer though :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. So what did you do? We must know!!

    I'm with DD here - better £3 than nowt, and as long as you clearly explain it's a special one-time favour, good PR as well!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also agree with DD's philosophy and encourage my staff to think in the same way.

    In this case, I gave the lad the chance to reconsider his age and after further thought (assisted by a hefty thump in the back and some unflattering name-calling from his friend) he remembered he was in fact only 15. By an amazing coincidence, his mate turned out to be 15 too!

    So that's £6 gained as opposed to nothing, and more importantly they went off down the bus calling me a "legend", and that has to be good for the prospect of repeat business - which has to be the ultimate objective.

    I disagree with you, greenline, on the "one-time favour" point though. I'm sure you would advocate delivering that message in a friendly way, but even so there is a risk of undoing some of the goodwill if I sound like the finger-wagging authority figure again.

    I would far rather they go away thinking they've found a great wheeze to get to Eastleigh for £3 each. I feel quite strongly that if the customers - especially that younger generation - think they've got one over on us, but actually we know about it all along and understand that it is part of creating happy customers, everyone's a winner!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed. It does depend on the circumstances every time, and I too encourage my drivers to not be too dogmatic.
      Whilst this got Velvet £6 instead of £0, we mustn't forget that Velvet is still £4 short on the deal. As a one-off, that's acceptable, but I well remember the French exchange students on my bus route in 1981 - the first English they learned was "under 16" or "only 15". Some of the girls were gorgeous, and in no way only 15, but it was impossible to challenge them, so for that month the takings weren't so good!

      Delete
    2. There is an extablishment in Hampshire (now only served by Velvet) where the first thing all the incoming students seem to learn is 'I am 15'.

      Many of them look nearer to 25, and what used to annoy me more was that it's a Christian establishment :(

      Delete
  5. I commend the customer service aspect of this but I personally would object to the fact that an authority figure is encouraging a young person to lie. If I was the young person concerned I would still have got off as I hate lying and would have felt guilty about it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Would it not just make it easier for all concerned to offer discounts for everyone under 19?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In Nottingham Premiere offer discounts for under 22s

      Delete
  7. Anon @ 14:01 - Not really, as all you're doing is moving the problem to the 19th birthday.
    So, Phil's story would still apply, only for "15" read "18" and for "16" read "19"...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think it would be helpful if they recommend a discount to kids who are under 18 most especially in students.
    Here in our city, students are given 10% discount in their fare.

    ReplyDelete