People may recall me moaning about broken touch-screen TVMs, and indeed
I almost missed another train on Saturday because the Millennials in
front of me in the TVM queue were unable to get it to recognise
button-presses most of the time.

Anyway, I was at the station this morning and bumped into the people
emptying the cash and checking the ticket roll. I asked why the machine
had not been fixed, despite me reporting it perhaps a dozen times.

The answer was that it's well known what the issue is (software not
hardware, surprisingly; nor because the machine was dripping wet from
overnight rain) but HQ won't authorise an update because it would be too
expensive.
--
Roland Perry

On 07/02/2024 10:13, Roland Perry wrote:
> People may recall me moaning about broken touch-screen TVMs, and indeed I almost missed another train on Saturday because the Millennials in front of me in the TVM queue were unable to get it to recognise button-presses most of the time.
>
> Anyway, I was at the station this morning and bumped into the people emptying the cash and checking the ticket roll. I asked why the machine had not been fixed, despite me reporting it perhaps a dozen times.
>
> The answer was that it's well known what the issue is (software not hardware, surprisingly; nor because the machine was dripping wet from overnight rain) but HQ won't authorise an update because it would be too expensive.

That's interesting. We have already missed one train when all the ticket machines at Luton were faulty and there was a longish queue for the ticket office.

But there are at least three different failure modes of the machines that I try to use: sometimes when using the "collect pre-paid ticket" option after inserting a credit card one gets the message "Termination of ticket vending process" within a second or so (and this is repeatable). Some machines refuse to respond to touches at all, and sometimes one sees a machine frozen on some other screen with no way of getting it back to the home screen. The gate-line staff seem quite well aware of all these problems.

After I raised several complaints, GTR management got the local Station Manager to phone me a few months ago. It was a pleasant enough discussion and he seemed mildly interested in solving the problem, and said I could contact him by SMS whenever I experienced further failures. I duly sent him several more texts over the next few weeks whenever I found a broken ticket machine at his station. The net result: nothing from the first few, then one telling me to stop sending him texts. I have yet another complaint logged with GTR, and am hoping either for a deadlock message or that it will time-out with no response so I can take it to the Rail Ombudsman, as it is perfectly evident that they know what the problem is but simply won't fix it. Indeed I see some comparisons with the Horizon scandal: GTR management seem much more keen to rely on their own fault logs which fail to record most of these faults than take any notice of customer complaints.

I know from experience that the Rail Ombudsman is a completely useless body, but I think that it will cause GTR some time and effort and probably a fee as well when anyone complains about them.

--
Clive Page

On 07/02/2024 15:10, Clive Page wrote:
> On 07/02/2024 10:13, Roland Perry wrote:
>> People may recall me moaning about broken touch-screen TVMs, and
>> indeed I almost missed another train on Saturday because the
>> Millennials in front of me in the TVM queue were unable to get it to
>> recognise button-presses most of the time.
>>
>> Anyway, I was at the station this morning and bumped into the people
>> emptying the cash and checking the ticket roll. I asked why the
>> machine had not been fixed, despite me reporting it perhaps a dozen
>> times.
>>
>> The answer was that it's well known what the issue is (software not
>> hardware, surprisingly; nor because the machine was dripping wet from
>> overnight rain) but HQ won't authorise an update because it would be
>> too expensive.
>
> That's interesting.   We have already missed one train when all the
> ticket machines at Luton were faulty and there was a longish queue for
> the ticket office.
>
> But there are at least three different failure modes of the machines
> that I try to use: sometimes when using the "collect pre-paid ticket"
> option after inserting a credit card one gets the message "Termination
> of ticket vending process" within a second or so (and this is
> repeatable).  Some machines refuse to respond to touches at all, and
> sometimes one sees a machine frozen on some other screen with no way of
> getting it back to the home screen.   The gate-line staff seem quite
> well aware of all these problems.
>
> After I raised several complaints, GTR management got the local Station
> Manager to phone me a few months ago.  It was a pleasant enough
> discussion and he seemed mildly interested in solving the problem, and
> said I could contact him by SMS whenever I experienced further
> failures.   I duly sent him several more texts over the next few weeks
> whenever I found a broken ticket machine at his station.   The net
> result: nothing from the first few, then one telling me to stop sending
> him texts.   I have yet another complaint logged with GTR, and am hoping
> either for a deadlock message or that it will time-out with no response
> so I can take it to the Rail Ombudsman, as it is perfectly evident that
> they know what the problem is but simply won't fix it.  Indeed I see
> some comparisons with the Horizon scandal: GTR management seem much more
> keen to rely on their own fault logs which fail to record most of these
> faults than take any notice of customer complaints.
>
> I know from experience that the Rail Ombudsman is a completely useless
> body, but I think that it will cause GTR some time and effort and
> probably a fee as well when anyone complains about them.
>
>
Complaining to anyone below the level of "big boss" is often pointless.

In message <uq0l6l$1i4hn$1@dont-email.me>, at 19:20:54 on Wed, 7 Feb
2024, Bevan Price <bevanprice666@gmail.com> remarked:
>On 07/02/2024 15:10, Clive Page wrote:
>> On 07/02/2024 10:13, Roland Perry wrote:
>>> People may recall me moaning about broken touch-screen TVMs, and
>>>indeed I almost missed another train on Saturday because the
>>>Millennials in front of me in the TVM queue were unable to get it to
>>>recognise button-presses most of the time.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I was at the station this morning and bumped into the people
>>>emptying the cash and checking the ticket roll. I asked why the
>>>machine had not been fixed, despite me reporting it perhaps a dozen
>>>times.
>>>
>>> The answer was that it's well known what the issue is (software not
>>>hardware, surprisingly; nor because the machine was dripping wet from
>>>overnight rain) but HQ won't authorise an update because it would be
>>>too expensive.
>> That's interesting.   We have already missed one train when all the
>>ticket machines at Luton were faulty and there was a longish queue for
>>the ticket office.
>> But there are at least three different failure modes of the machines
>>that I try to use: sometimes when using the "collect pre-paid ticket"
>>option after inserting a credit card one gets the message "Termination
>>of ticket vending process" within a second or so (and this is
>>repeatable).  Some machines refuse to respond to touches at all, and
>>sometimes one sees a machine frozen on some other screen with no way
>>of getting it back to the home screen.   The gate-line staff seem
>>quite well aware of all these problems.
>> After I raised several complaints, GTR management got the local
>>Station Manager to phone me a few months ago.  It was a pleasant
>>enough discussion and he seemed mildly interested in solving the
>>problem, and said I could contact him by SMS whenever I experienced
>>further failures.   I duly sent him several more texts over the next
>>few weeks whenever I found a broken ticket machine at his station.  
>>The net result: nothing from the first few, then one telling me to
>>stop sending him texts.   I have yet another complaint logged with
>>GTR, and am hoping either for a deadlock message or that it will
>>time-out with no response so I can take it to the Rail Ombudsman, as
>>it is perfectly evident that they know what the problem is but simply
>>won't fix it.  Indeed I see some comparisons with the Horizon
>>scandal: GTR management seem much more keen to rely on their own
>>fault logs which fail to record most of these faults than take any
>>notice of customer complaints.
>> I know from experience that the Rail Ombudsman is a completely
>>useless body, but I think that it will cause GTR some time and effort
>>and probably a fee as well when anyone complains about them.
>>
>Complaining to anyone below the level of "big boss" is often pointless.

Part of the problem at the moment is nobody knows who "the big boss" is,
and I assume the "Fat Controller" project is another casualty of our
current too-little-too-late government.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 7 Feb 2024 10:13:58 +0000, Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk>
wrote:

>People may recall me moaning about broken touch-screen TVMs, and indeed
>I almost missed another train on Saturday because the Millennials in
>front of me in the TVM queue were unable to get it to recognise
>button-presses most of the time.
>
>Anyway, I was at the station this morning and bumped into the people
>emptying the cash and checking the ticket roll. I asked why the machine
>had not been fixed, despite me reporting it perhaps a dozen times.
>
>The answer was that it's well known what the issue is (software not
>hardware, surprisingly; nor because the machine was dripping wet from
>overnight rain) but HQ won't authorise an update because it would be too
>expensive.
>
There are some of us whose fingers don't get recognised by some touch
screens. I had that trouble with every one of the screens in the
booking hall at Paddington once but not with the vast majority of
other screens.

In message <i4r8si1tah3bi5sm3s55jhvt8mfvbso6mf@4ax.com>, at 05:59:50 on
Thu, 8 Feb 2024, Charles Ellson <charlesellson@btinternet.com> remarked:
>On Wed, 7 Feb 2024 10:13:58 +0000, Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk>
>wrote:
>
>>People may recall me moaning about broken touch-screen TVMs, and indeed
>>I almost missed another train on Saturday because the Millennials in
>>front of me in the TVM queue were unable to get it to recognise
>>button-presses most of the time.
>>
>>Anyway, I was at the station this morning and bumped into the people
>>emptying the cash and checking the ticket roll. I asked why the machine
>>had not been fixed, despite me reporting it perhaps a dozen times.
>>
>>The answer was that it's well known what the issue is (software not
>>hardware, surprisingly; nor because the machine was dripping wet from
>>overnight rain) but HQ won't authorise an update because it would be too
>>expensive.
>>
>There are some of us whose fingers don't get recognised

Maybe there are, but we are talking about touch screens which are
dysfunctional for everyone.

>by some touch screens.

There are several quite different technologies, and some would work if
you poked the screen with a stick.

>I had that trouble with every one of the screens in the booking hall at
>Paddington once but not with the vast majority of other screens.

--
Roland Perry