National Express steals from honest customers

I am occasionally astonished at the poor quality of so called 'customer relations' departments. They seem to exist only to annoy angry customers still further. The reaction is all too often 'you are lying to us' or 'yes we believe you but we couldn't give a toss'. Sometimes companies manage to do both at the same time, illogical though it is.

A couple of weeks ago I lost a train ticket somewhere in the underground. At the gate, I showed the London Underground guy my receipt, and he immediately opened the gate and let me through, no questions, no moaning, he just did his job sympathetically and with understanding that it is an easy thing to do.

The contrast between London Undeground and National Express couldn't be greater. I went to their ticket booth to get a replacement and showed the guy there the receipt and he said 'if you've lost your ticket, you need to buy another one'. We can't replace it.' After trying and failing to get him to see some sense, and seeing that all I was managing was to indulge his power fling, I gave up and bought a new ticket. What a prat! On the train and in ipswich, the people were far more polite, but still refused to refund my ticket, accepting that I was telling the truth and had paid twice for the journey but insisting that they could do nothing because of their 'policy' of not refunding claims of lost tickets. Even a letter to 'customer services' with the receipts proving the double payment only received the same story. Why is it that these companies complain that customers abuse their staff, and people sometimes dodge fares, when they are only too happy to charge twice for the same journey when they can, effectively stealing from their honest customers?

I used to be an honest customer. I'm no longer a good one, and I will do all I can to minimise their future earnings.