Honestly, starting next post I’ll go back to the usual
light posting full of photos! But I want to say this because someone needs to
say something about this sort of crap. And even though my anxiety issues (that
and not wanting to get thrown off the train at the next station) prevented me
from speaking up at the time, I’ll do it now. Because frankly, better late than
never.
And I feel people deserve to know what kind of bull
crap goes on, on NMBS trains.
Yesterday, Bert took the 14.31 train from Antwerp
Central station with end station Louvain.
We decided, just like quite a few other people, to go
sit down in the bike compartment, because there was quite a bit of space there.
Between Berchem and Lier station, the conductor came
in to sort out some announcements. Nothing dodgy there. A lady also came in,
wanting to speak to him, and she proceeded to apologise and ask if she could
speak to him. Said lady was white, but she had a clear eastern European accent.
Spoke perfect Dutch though, just with an accent. The conductor proceeded to
bark at her that he needed to get on with his job first and that she had to
wait.
Which was rude.
She sat down, he did his announcements, and then he
gave her his attention.
Turns out, she had wanted to buy a single ticket to
wherever she was going (which could be any station along that route where the
train stopped, and also irrelevant for this post), but the clerk at the ticket
booth had sold her a return ticket. So she wanted to know if she could get a
refund and how, because obviously she didn’t need the return trip and had
overpaid.
The conductor was EXTREMELY rude. He talked to her
literally as if she was a particularly stupid child. Which was bad enough in
itself, but then he proceeded to LIE.
And this is a lie that has been maintained by the NMBS
for a while.
He claimed that the weekend ticket is half price of a
regular (weekday) ticket. Meaning she only paid for one way anyway.
He literally fobbed her off with that lie.
And then when she thanked him for his explanation and
apologised for even asking a question (which she really shouldn’t have had to
do) he said “that’s fine. By the way, nice try.”
EXCUSE ME?! I can imagine that conductors deal with a
lot of crap, and sometimes you get fed up and snap at someone that is really
grating on your nerves because they are being rude etc, but this lady was kind,
polite and basically ripped off and simply wanted to know what to do!
And not only did he snap at her, he proceeded, in
front of an entire train section, to imply that she had tried to do something
unfeasible!
That sort of bullshit is simply not ok.
I don’t really want to go and point the finger saying
he was racist, but the fact that he was friendly and acted normal (or at least
less like a total dick) to people that were white and clearly Belgian (had no
accent) leaves me to believe that her ethnicity had something to do with his
behavior.
Now, let me explain where he lied, because it’s very
easy to prove.
A weekday ticket to Antwerp from where I live costs
€9,60.
A weekend ticket to Antwerp from where I live costs
€5,80.
Weekend tickets literally state “red (reduction”.
50%”.
Now, I know I’m not good at math, but any person that
is, as well as any calculator, will quite happily confirm that 50%, and thus
half, of €9,60 is in fact NOT €5,80 but €4,80.
Which happens to be the price of a SINGLE trip from
where I live to Antwerp.
And that goes for ANYWHERE.
You pay a certain fair on week days.
During the weekend the tickets are discounted (not
50%, but the price is significantly less, which is great, don’t get me wrong, I
love the weekend ticket price!).
A single fare, regardless of the day of the week, is
always half of the full, week day, price.
Which is very easy to see if you look up the fares on
the NMBS website, so you can see that I’m not making this up for yourself.
Also: if you need a train ticket in Belgium on a day
that falls in between a bank holiday or the weekend (like yesterday), ALWAYS
check the prices at the ticket desks manned by human employees.
Case in point, website price for a return ticket to
Antwerp: week day price of €9,60.
Bert and I paid €5,80 weekend price because they
counted it as a weekend ticket as it was an extended bank holiday weekend price
wise. At the ticket desks.
So yeah, handy tip right there that can save you a few
€.
Basically, I just wanted to point out that once again,
the NMBS doesn’t give a shit about customer service, and habitually employs
people that lie and are rude.
Obviously NOT every NMBS employee is like that, I’ve
met some absolutely lovely people that work for the old firm (bonus points for
the ones that get that reference!), but they are few and far between.
Should anyone wonder why they are allowed to carry on the way they do: they are a goverment owned company, and basically the government protects them (in every situation that does not involve a strike) so they get away with this kind of shit (and much, much worse).
Like I said, I just wanted to speak up, with a delay,
against the BS I witnessed.
I wish I had been less scared of that kind of conflict
situation and said something yesterday, but I feel that making this post is at
least better as remaining completely silent and not saying anything.
Mind you, the NMBS will pretend they take this post to
heart, and nothing will change, but at least I’ve put it out there.
And people now know how the ticket system works, price
wise, which is at least informative I feel.
