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I am vexed: one man's fulmination against 118 118

by Tarinder Sandhu on 19 October 2007, 09:12

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118: what an utter waste of money

Echoing the glitzy words of Gladiator's Emperor Commodus: I am vexed. More to the point, I'm not just vexed, I'm very vexed by the wholly incredulous ineptitude of the buffoons that work at the telephone-directory service 118 118.

My acerbic fulmination against this 'helpful' service centres around its abject inability to provide me with accurate timetables for my train journey home from London Marylebone to Leamington Spa.

Just last night I phoned this so-called helpline, requesting information in regards to the last train from Marylebone to Leamington. I was told, in quite uncertain terms, that the latest train would leave the station at 23:54 and a change would be necessary at Banbury. Fair enough, I said, and thanked the voice on the other end of the line.

Hot-footing it to the station from a late-night meeting in Covent Garden and making the last train was something of a relief, as you can imagine. Now imagine my utter annoyance at realising that I'd been lied to, duped, by some buffoon who had obviously been unable to read a very basic timetable and had given me clearly erroneous information. The train terminated at Banbury, it transpired, some 25 miles south of Leamington, and I had to grab a cab to my home, costing Ā£35! (of HEXUS money that could be better spent enriching your reader experience.)

I accept the fact that we're all human and anyone can make a mistake. What really, really narks me off is the fact that a similar travesty of illiteracy on 118 118's behalf occurred just three short weeks ago when a good friend and I were travelling back on a Saturday night. Another 118 118 representative spectacularly failed to read a timetable and advised us that a later train was available, and we ended up paying an extortionate taxi fare back home.

I don't absolve myself of blame in this matter, folks, as I should travel with an up-to-date timetable, but - for the love of Ganesh and a pantheon of gods from differing religions - surely I should be able to rely on a service that's quite happy to pillage my phone bill? Do I ask for too much?

In our present-day culture that sues for the most minor of grievances, why cannot 118 118 be held accountable for the extra expense I've incurred due to its inability to provide me with correct travel guidance? I feel like putting my fist through one of those skinny, overly energetic characters on the adverts. Yes, we're really vexed


HEXUS Forums :: 19 Comments

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train times:

0871 200 4950 - annoying voice recognition

08457 48 49 50 - human operator

why call 118 118 ?
I'm sure I'm missing some info here, but you were told you'd have to change at Banbury, so surely with the train terminating there, the idea was you got on a different one?

Also, if you have GPRS on your phone, you can use TheTrainLine, which gives you access to train times without the potential for human error. I used it all the time when I was using the trains regularly.
mebbe this is the reason why ‘118 118’ television adverts continue to have such a bull**** theme, instead of showing a real world example of how the information it flogs can always be relied upon in difficult and/or very important circumstances…?

should we all hold our breath and see if the person right at the top of ‘118 118’ cares enough about its customers to post an apology here, and truthfully explain what has already been done to guarantee the accuracy of the information charged for… and what that guarantee means to people who are left out of pocket…?
Silent Shark,

Yup, you're right, but there was no later change, as promised.

There is a later train from Banbury to Leamington on Fridays, and I reckon that the operator read that timetable.

I admit that it's partially my fault for not travelling with an up-to-date timetable, as well, but I'm still miffed why I was given bum information.
I gave up with 118 118 after around the third call to them. I was fed up of having to spell Walsall for them.