(01 Aug 2014, 2:50 pm)Dan wrote I was told, in the original e-mail from Customer Services, that my complaint was passed onto the depot. It was the depot who provided the Customer Services representative with the information that the bus operated on-time. I know fine well that this is not correct. If it was, I would have had my photo, and I wouldn't have lodged the complaint. I arrived at the stop 5 minutes before the bus was due, so it must have been at least 6 minutes early. That, in my eyes, is the lie. Why the depot would lie to this Customer Services representative I do not know, but I am 100% certain that it did not operate on time.
It was 6+ minutes early at Monkwearmouth, so this would be replicated at the depot too - assuming the running times back to the depot are realistic (which I'm sure they would be). If the driver had his foot down all the way from East Boldon to Monkwearmouth, he could have perhaps managed to get back 2 minutes quicker than the scheduled timings - and he would have made this time up when passing the Greyhound Stadium at full speed, given that the driver certainly shouldn't be speeding through East Boldon. 6 minutes early is just a complete joke though, and he must have passed a timing point early to do that (despite what Customer Services has told me).
With regards to the whole running board/depot thing... My issue was that the Customer Services representative asked me if she could check any other times for me, and I did (when it actually arrived back in the depot versus the time scheduled to on the running board), and she chose not to answer - and instead suggested that she made a mistake and the bus actually left the East Boldon timing point 12 seconds early.
It isn't the first and it won't be the last.
Cust Svcs have to rely on the information they have been given from the depot.
If that information seems accurate, then it is the poor customer who is made to look silly.
Look at how many reports of missing buses are on operators fb pages, for a response to come back from the 'bod' stating the bus is/was running and it has been confirmed by the depot.
The operators hold the records and it is upto the passengers to prove those records are inaccurate.