Virgin East Coast 17

The Virgin East Coast Trains saga gets more and more odd. Following on from yesterday's update I thought I'd give Mike an actual call. As in, a call on the phone.

I don't generally like calling people. I'm one of those people who gets a little anxious about using the phone and much prefer email. I'll use a phone as a last resort and, given how long this was going on for, I thought it time to break my normal "no phone" rule and pick mine up and call to find out what the hell is going on.

Turns out the number is no longer available!

The last email I have that was sent from Mike was on September 25th. The number I used was the one in the footer of that email. It doesn't work. There's also a land line given. Calling that gives the same result.

As of now, if I try and call the customer relations manager for Virgin East Coast Trains, someone who I was referred to by David Horne (the MD), I get a message that the phone isn't available.

I...

Erm...

What?!?

So, given that, I thought I'd drop David a direct message on twitter. We'd spoken that way back on August 9th when he requested my contact details. Nope. Can't send him a DM any more. Guess I got unfollowed.

So I've tried tweeting him instead:

Dear @DavidHorne, I seem to no longer be able to contact the @Virgin_TrainsEC customer relations manager (your idea originally). What next?

— Dave Pearson (@davepdotorg) October 19, 2016

This did get a reply from @Virgin_TrainsEC and I let them know what I was after. They say they've sent him an email too now:

@davepdotorg @DavidHorne I have just sent an email Mike and asked for him or one of the team to contact you asap. ^SH

— Virgin Trains EC (@Virgin_TrainsEC) October 19, 2016

Really, this is a silly mess again. My query is simple and straightforward. I'm simply chasing up two promises that were made by Mike, on behalf of Virgin. All I seem to be getting now on those two points is complete silence.

I'm really not in the business of telling people how to do their jobs but... wouldn't customer relations involve actually talking to customers and delivering on promises made to them when you do talk to them? That strikes me as the sensible thing to do.