Customer called '˜whinging' in leaked Stagecoach email

Stagecoach has apologised to an angry customer after he was described as '˜whinging' in an internal email that was accidentally sent to him.
John Doswell was described as whinging by a member of the Stagecoach team in an accidentally leaked email. Picture: Derek MartinJohn Doswell was described as whinging by a member of the Stagecoach team in an accidentally leaked email. Picture: Derek Martin
John Doswell was described as whinging by a member of the Stagecoach team in an accidentally leaked email. Picture: Derek Martin

John Doswell from West Durrington received the email from the Stagecoach customer service team in Chichester after he asked for a refund on a bus ticket.

The 75-year-old said he ‘couldn’t believe it’ when he read the contents: “It was totally out of order and is no way to run a business and have a relationship like that with your customers.”

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Mr Doswell was on a bus from the town centre to Tesco Extra in New Road when it broke down in Columbia Drive, and he decided to walk the rest of the way.

He emailed the customer service team for a partial refund of his ticket, but weeks went by with no response. Then on May 5, the community centre manager received an email which said: “Attention Stagecoach Worthing from Chichester. Not sure why letter from whinging John Doswell was sent here. Please send a Pulse Timetable to him in the hope he will use us again but without complaining... don’t know some passengers!!”

In response, Mr Doswell said: “I wasn’t whinging, I was merely making a statement; they hadn’t provided me with the service that I paid for.

“I’m disgusted at their attitude towards customers that have a genuine concern.”

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Gordon Frost, operations director for Stagecoach South, said: “Stagecoach treat all comments, good or bad, as valuable feedback on the quality of our services.

“It is deeply disappointing to read that one individual, within a depot that was not connected to the original complaint, felt the need to share their inappropriate feelings on the matter.”

He said Stagecoach would contact Mr Doswell directly to carry out ‘a full investigation’, and offered him ‘our unreserved apologies for the views expressed in the memo, which are not representative of the company’s attitude and approach to customer comments’.

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