Ensuring Quality Dining Car Service

[John Bobinyec]

How does Amtrak do that? My family is currently on 2(26). Apparently the dining car staff is terrible.

• Forgot to go through the cars to take reservations, or did so late.
• Forgot to make seating announcements after announcing that announcements would be made.
• Mixing up meals. My wife's bacon order went to another table with a similar meal order
• Mixing up more meals. Medium/medium-well steak orders and rare steak orders were given to the wrong people at the same table.

Apparently, this is one of the most incompetent dining car staffs witnessed in a long time. Why does Amtrak not rectify this situation? Or - how will they?

I'm sure my wife will not call customer service. I'm sure she'll let the free marketplace rectify this. So - it is going to be up to Amtrak to seek out and correct these situations.

jb

 

[Paulus]

If you don't complain, how do you expect Amtrak to know of the situation so that they can take corrective action?

 

[obs]

Holidays are usually staffed by extraboard employees who are just learning the ropes.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Holidays are usually staffed by extraboard employees who are just learning the ropes.

This may be true due to Seniority etc ( do Senior OBS get Holidays off with Pay?)but the LSA isn't new, they are in charge of the Diner so the blame can go to whoever failed to run the Diner properly even with Extra Board Newbies!

 

[Steve4031]

IMHO it's still amtraks fault to not properly train them. Being new doesn't absolve one from these levels of incompetent.

 

[John Bobinyec]

I still think that Amtrak should hire independent auditors to ride the trains from time to time.

jb

 

[NW cannonball]

How does Amtrak do that? My family is currently on 2(26). Apparently the dining car staff is terrible.

• Forgot to go through the cars to take reservations, or did so late.
• Forgot to make seating announcements after announcing that announcements would be made.
• Mixing up meals. My wife's bacon order went to another table with a similar meal order
• Mixing up more meals. Medium/medium-well steak orders and rare steak orders were given to the wrong people at the same table.

Apparently, this is one of the most incompetent dining car staffs witnessed in a long time. Why does Amtrak not rectify this situation? Or - how will they?
I'm sure my wife will not call customer service. I'm sure she'll let the free marketplace rectify this. So - it is going to be up to Amtrak to seek out and correct these situations.

jb

I THINK that part of the "free market thing" is that, when you get much less than promised -- you yell and shout and say to anybody who will listen --

Those creeps ripped me off!! And hope that some government or social allies push back at ripoff creeps.

"Will not call customer service?"

Does not compute.

If you had really substandard service, you got allies here.

Document, complain, ask for similar problems with other travelers.

Thanks, help us fight non-providers if service everywhere -- on Amtrak, and especially in the Medical spae.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Or perhaps Amtrak should allow passengers to submit online trip reports - a means of giving Amtrak information without the need to further get involved.

jb

 

[NW cannonball]

Or perhaps Amtrak should allow passengers to submit online trip reports - a means of giving Amtrak information without the need to further get involved.

jb

Yes, some feedback report tied to a ticket but anonymised, like so many service providers do, as a matter of course.

Like the popups I get from almost anywhere "Please evaluate your experience with us"

Something like that could be a help for Amtrak to "enhance the user experience"

But Amtrak hasn't been "proactive" about user feed back lateley.

 

[Steve4031]

In the past I have received an email survey link.

There should be a procedure or process that allows every passenger on every train the choice to evaluate.

 

[iggy]

I have long advocated for secret shoppers on Amtrak - from all walks of life - not just suits. I've also advocated for higher-ups to ride unannounced - not in uniform - no badges etc - to see true operations. Every time I have seen management, supervisors or committee members ride - service levels are completely different than normal everyday operations. Things are done by the book - shortcuts not taken - conductors go out of their way to become fake friendly in many cases - list goes on.

NARP is still stuck in dark ages with their paper surveys - no online method to fill out or to submit unsolicited.

Only received email survey link once - looked like spam - had to investigate to see it was actually from Amtrak.

"Will not call customer service?" Does not compute."

Actually it does in almost all cases. Anyone who has done so with Amtrak or other companies knows this can be a hit and miss experience. Just recently having dealt with Amtrak on a service related issue - I can tell you it was like pulling teeth to get credited for 2 trips that were over 3 hours late each way - several phone representatives were less than helpful and downright rude.

Many companies count on customers getting worn down or frustrated - so that they no longer bother calling or speaking out.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

How about getting rid of the unions these employees go running and hiding behind when discipinary action comes their way! That combined with the recommendations above of customer oriented supervision and evaluation will weed out problem employees straight away and motivate all employees to maintain high standards.

 

[Paulus]

How about getting rid of the unions these employees go running and hiding behind when discipinary action comes their way! That combined with the recommendations above of customer oriented supervision and evaluation will weed out problem employees straight away and motivate all employees to maintain high standards.

It's not the fault of the unions, it's entirely the fault of management. Unions aren't some magical "get out of disciplinary action" card, managers simply have to make sure to do things by the book is all.

 

[John Bobinyec]

How about getting rid of the unions these employees go running and hiding behind when discipinary action comes their way! That combined with the recommendations above of customer oriented supervision and evaluation will weed out problem employees straight away and motivate all employees to maintain high standards.

It's not the fault of the unions, it's entirely the fault of management. Unions aren't some magical "get out of disciplinary action" card, managers simply have to make sure to do things by the book is all.

I agree. Being a member of a union ensures that a process is followed when disciplinary action needs to take place. It does not mean that there is no disciplinary action at all. It seems that Amtrak management has largely taken its eye off the ball, either by choice or because the lower levels of Amtrak management have been eviscerated by upper levels of management so that they can no longer do an effective job.

jb

 

[MARC Rider]

How about getting rid of the unions these employees go running and hiding behind when discipinary action comes their way! That combined with the recommendations above of customer oriented supervision and evaluation will weed out problem employees straight away and motivate all employees to maintain high standards.

Jeez, I'm sure glad I don't work for you. Things aren't 100 % the way you like them and you're ready to do disciplinary action. Let's look a al the shortcomings listed by the original poster:

1) Reservations not taken in a timely manner: Perhaps this is a management issue related to staffing levels and the ultimate capacity of how manytotal people the dining car can serve. The one time it happened to me, it was a full train holiday weekend, etc.I was in coach, the sleepers were full, and it was obvious that most coach passengers were not going to be served. A different dining system that would dispense with the need for dinner reservations would be helpful, but I think they'd have to hre more people to be able to serve everybody. Could they make upthe expense with increased revenue? I can't answer that one, I'm not in the food service business.

2) Forgot to make seating announcements. land restaurants don't make seating announcements You show up when your reservation is due. I've never artocularly paid attention tot he announcements on the train anyway, I head for the diner at the time of my reservation. (and I've never been asked for the little chit that I'm given for the rezzie, anyway. So just show up at your appointed time.

3 and 4) Mixing up orders: The problem isn't that the orders get mixed up. That happens anywhere, What would interest me more is how the waitstaff handles the mixup when it's pointed ut to them. Again, in my experience, Amtrak dining car waiters are generally no worse than waitstaff at other restaurants I've patronized. There are some really good ones and some whose service could be improved, but I'v never had any that were so bad that I flt the need to contact management to let them know they have problems.

One bad experience doesn't mean that all of the employees are worthless idiots who should get the sack immediately. And, as some have pointed out, many issues may be caused by management who have designed a system that is to cumbersome or complex to allow efficient service at the current staffing levels.

 

[haolerider]

How about getting rid of the unions these employees go running and hiding behind when discipinary action comes their way! That combined with the recommendations above of customer oriented supervision and evaluation will weed out problem employees straight away and motivate all employees to maintain high standards.

It's not the fault of the unions, it's entirely the fault of management. Unions aren't some magical "get out of disciplinary action" card, managers simply have to make sure to do things by the book is all.

I agree. Being a member of a union ensures that a process is followed when disciplinary action needs to take place. It does not mean that there is no disciplinary action at all. It seems that Amtrak management has largely taken its eye off the ball, either by choice or because the lower levels of Amtrak management have been eviscerated by upper levels of management so that they can no longer do an effective job.
jb

I would say that all levels of management are responsible for poor customer service. It's not so much that lower levels have been eviscerated, but that the lower level management have not been encouraged by middle and upper management to focus on consistent customer service. Operations continues to focus on "running the railroad" and those damn passengers just get in the way! To work effectively, the disciplinary process needs to be constantly enforced by management! If poor service continues without a disciplinary process it is ineffective. Continuous filing of complaints must happen, and if they are not, the problems will never stop!

 

[me_little_me]

When Amtrak starts learning customer service and enforces the standards with their onboard crews instead of having such a wide variation in service, things will change. Until then, you will see the widest variation in service of any company.

 

[The Whistler]

Whether Amtrak knows it or not the demand for first class service on air travel is increasing worldwide. The Asian countries are leading the way as there is a large demand there.. Instead of cheapening the service it might be of great benefit for Amtrak to increase service levels. This may create higher ridership and higher revenue. Instead what do they do? They start to cheapen the service with making petty cuts that will eventually drive passengers like myself (that pay the highest prices) away. Dumb!

 

[FormerOBS]

1. Amtrak does have independent "spotters" who ride the trains and evaluate service. I don't know what qualifications they may have.

2. Senior O.B.S. employees do not get holidays off with pay unless they are able to schedule their vacation during the holidays.

3. It is highly unlikely that the entire dining car staff is from the extra board.

4. Yes, the LSA-D is in charge, and should be held accountable.

5. Unions are not the problem. If an employee is brought up on charges, the Union serves in the role of "defense attorney". A Company representative serves in the role of "prosecutor". The arbitrator is the "judge". If the Company can't present a convincing case, the employee wins. If this process were not in place, then the employee would be found guilty by the Management, without the influence of a defense attorney or independent judge. Since it is obvious that employees sometimes win their cases it is clear that, in the absence of the Union, the employee's fate would be in the hands of a manager who couldn't win the case. I get very tired of people who criticize Unions, simply because the Union presents a case that has more merit than Management's case against the employee.

Tom

 

[FormerOBS]

Sorry. Can't get this thing to edit. Just wanted to add that the Union doesn't always win. Fortunately, neither does the Company.

Tom

 

[Steve4031]

Now I would be great at being one of those secret riders.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sorry. Can't get this thing to edit. Just wanted to add that the Union doesn't always win. Fortunately, neither does the Company.

Tom

Thanks for the info Tom! This is way it should be, fair for labor and management!

I think of the NFL where the Commissioner is Judge, Jury and Executioner and willy nilly dishes out " punishment" to the field hands, er players!

Even though it's reprehensible what he did, its good that Ray Rice won his appeal to an aribiter since the CBA wasn't followed in this case by an unfair and illegal " Czar".

 

[iggy]

"1. Amtrak does have independent "spotters" who ride the trains and evaluate service. I don't know what qualifications they may have."

If true they either don't do a good job - have very low service quality standards or are not taken seriously by management. Because well known easy to see problems are NOT being resolved. And these are things that don't require more money or investment.

"2) Forgot to make seating announcements. land restaurants don't make seating announcements You show up when your reservation is due"

Sometimes announcements are made to coordinate seating. Meaning if running behind a 6PM reservation could be announced at 6:30 etc = example. I think I've read here where some employees don't like reservations just showing up - before call goes out for them - even if they are showing up at scheduled time. Can create congestion in small space while waiting etc.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

"2) Forgot to make seating announcements. land restaurants don't make seating announcements You show up when your reservation is due"

Sometimes announcements are made to coordinate seating. Meaning if running behind a 6PM reservation could be announced at 6:30 etc = example. I think I've read here where some employees don't like reservations just showing up - before call goes out for them - even if they are showing up at scheduled time. Can create congestion in small space while waiting etc.

Keep in mind "Land Restaurants" are much larger than an 85 foot by 10 foot Diner and they will stack you in the bar if they are running behind. Many clip joint restaurants will do that even if they have tables ready at the assigned time. Getting stacked into the Sightseer or AmLounge, also a small often overcrowded space is not always a good option.

A good Lead worthy of his paycheck will keep close track of the time flow and if they start to run behind will make quick update announcements on the 1MC keeping reservation holders updated.

 

[zepherdude]

The issues could have been from the kitchen, one chef would cause terrible disruptions, broken equipment as well. All this blame, indignation and name calling but no one knows what really happened. Believe me, stuff happens in any (every) food operations at some time.