Obnoxious ticket vendor in Maynooth...

[Mark Gleeson]

This guy is known to Irish Rail management

He has resulted in a €32 payout to a passenger in recent times, probably the biggest payout for a non train related issue Irish Rail have admitted liability for.

If anyone out there has an experience, date and time please, you can email or pm it to either me or Mark Hennessy

This guy needs to be dealt with, that said don't try to be smart and try to force a reaction. If its during office hours call 01 703 2601 while at the booking office and see how HQ react, probably will freak the guy out

[twintown]

How in the world does he still have a job there? I will definitely be notifying the HQ if anything further happens. What happened today is just a testament to how much he has changed his ways. Does anyone know if its true they wont accept payment with more than 10 coins??

[Mark Gleeson]

Its not in the terms and conditions, though they do ask for exact change

[zag]

Asking for exact change is a joke. What on earth is so weird about IE cash offices that they above *all other retailers* have a problem on the change front ? I have seen hand scrawled signs indicating exact change only at a few stations, but if I ever turned up with only a fiver and wanted to buy a ticket for €1.50 or something I wouldn't take very well to being told that they couldn't accept my legal tender (and let's face it, we're not talking a €500 note here) for a ticket.

And as for this "10 coins only" thing - that is beyond a joke. What next ? "Today is Tuesday and I don't take more than 3 €2 coins on Tuesdays. Come back tomorrow and I'll sell you a ticket. But don't try coming with any of those awful 50c coins - I'm fed up of getting them on Wednesdays."

z

[andyl222]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Its not in the terms and conditions, though they do ask for exact change

so its not stated anywhere in the terms and conditions, that IR will only accept a 10 coin limit per transaction, this guy is an absolute cretin. for god sake, he's making up excuses to withhold tickets from customers, how has he still got a job????

[Thomas Ralph]

I know that several stations have drop-safe arrangements for notes for security reasons, and this may sometimes leave them short of notes, but really there should be no issues getting up to €10 in change at any time, at the very minimum.

[Mark Gleeson]

Well head office know the rules since they went to great lengths to ensure the ticket vending machines never issue more coin in change than the legal limit

Speaking as a former bank official, you get very very good at counting piles of coin quickly so it shouldn't be a problem, they ask for correct change now they don't want it, generally you need to buy in change (below 1 euro coins) in the retail business so we are doing them a favour

This guy won't last much longer

[ACustomer]

By all accounts, this guy should be severely disciplined and given a final warning, if not fired straight away. However no doubt this would cause a strike (and he knows it, so he carries on). Sad fact is that the unions will often defend the indefensible.

[Colm Donoghue]

Ah yes exact change only - you just look up the price of the ticket you want on irish rail's website in advance..... oh no wait, that's a big secret they can't be telling.

[MrX]

I had one of their ticket vendors shout abuse and chase me down a platform because I gave him a €2 coin that he didn't recognise. It was a coin from Finland and perfectly legal tender, he just didn't recognise it as such.

It was highly embarrassing, I'm not in the habit of trying to pass of fake coins and it was totally uncalled for.

I actually thought he was some kind of psycho who had been hanging around on the station as I couldn't understand what he was shouting at me.

(this wasn't at Maynooth, but I think their vendors really ought to get a good course in basic manners !)

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by MrX

I had one of their ticket vendors shout abuse and chase me down a platform because I gave him a €2 coin that he didn't recognise. It was a coin from Finland and perfectly legal tender, he just didn't recognise it as such.

It was highly embarrassing, I'm not in the habit of trying to pass of fake coins and it was totally uncalled for.

I actually thought he was some kind of psycho who had been hanging around on the station as I couldn't understand what he was shouting at me.

(this wasn't at Maynooth, but I think their vendors really ought to get a good course in basic manners !)

Finland, Finland, Finland... the country where I want to be!!

[Mark Gleeson]

The official line is

Irish Rail does not comment on individual staff

I get the feeling if I show up I'll get the full treatment

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

I get the feeling if I show up I'll get the full treatment

I am so tempted... but this is a family site.....

[andyl222]

Well I went to the customer services booth in Connolly today and asked about the limit of coinage accepted per transaction by Irish rail. The girl there said it was 25. I told her I was informed by a member of Irish rail staff in maynooth that the limit was only 10 coins (and that this occured on a sunday morning so was by no means a rush hour situation). She just said the guy 'was probably just being ignorant'.... so she accepts quite openly that members of irish rails staff can be ignorant to members of public, how can any company accept that?

[dowlingm]

andy

it's not like she's the guy's manager ffs. She gave you an honest and accurate answer which is more than you'd have gotten from an actual manager - an answer which in fact might have gotten her in trouble if an actual manager heard it since punishing truthful staffers is often felt more productive than punishing idlers and gombeens.

[Mark Gleeson]

This is the fairly typical response of a decent staffer, sadly this persons spirit will be crushed in due course by the mess that is Irish Rail

[Sealink]

Is there any update on MaynoothMan?

[Mark Gleeson]

He is still there but has 'calmed' down a bit

[gerrygerino]

Ive been using maynooth station for 4 years now, there are no station workers that i would term pleasant in the least... most recently i tried to bring my bike to dublin..... i forgot we were in the stone-age though because that has never been allowed...?This action was also met with a "what are ya bleedin thick" attitude but thats beside the point, being a regular user i have had the unpleasant experience of having to deal with these guys and none of them are good employees in my eyes, i have also gotten the 10 coins or less thing on more than one occassion... eventually i tried to pay a 4.30 fare with 10s and 20s at 7.55 monday morning that really pissed him off... and started my day off really well.... maybe we could orchestrate a mass action of this kind???!!!

[Colm Moore]

Any InterCity service through Maynooth using 22000 trains (most of them) should be able to take a bike. It fits vertically (wheel over wheel) in a cupboard near the two wheelchair spaces. You will need to get a staff memeber to open the cupboard.