NJT Customer Service and Website

Thursday night, I call NJTransit to see if I could find a fairly quick way to get into Penn Station before 7AM without getting up extremely early (in my case 3:30AM which I ended up doing anyway.)

I get on the phone with an NJTransit representative after 10 minutes of waiting (which isn't bad.) My first conversation:

Me: Hello. I am trying to goto 24th and Madison and as I understand it from your website, your train arrives at NYPenn at...
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice): We don't goto 24th and Madison. We only goto NYPenn and Port Authority. We don't goto 24th and Madison. So where are you trying to go?
Me: Well, if you would have let me explain without rudely interrupting me, I looked at your website and it says the earliest train I can grab from Wayne Transit Center would be 6:19 which after a transfer at MSU, would put me at NYPenn at 7:45. I WANTED to see if there was any way I could get in earlier on another line.
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice): So what do you want me to do for you?
Me: I'll tell you what you can do for me. You can get me your supervisor
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice interrupting me): Hold on
Me: Yes. Please. Because you are being a jerk.
Customer Service Rep: You just lost your chance
(Click)

My second conversation, I got a nicer person who actually took the time to look up the schedule. Suffice it to say, she still could not help me. However, after looking up the schedule myself the next morning (after I got into Wayne Transit Center,) I figured out that another 5 minutes would have gotten me an earlier train which would have put me in NY Penn earlier.

In the evening, I got done with my business a little faster then I thought and I looked up via my blackberry the schedules and plotted my trip back. The website told me to get on the Montclair - Boonton Line and transfer at Newark to another train. I thought to myself "this has got to be wrong." Got on the train and asked the conductor - sure enough he said "yes. transfer at MSU."

Whoever runs the Customer Service at NJ Transit needs a lesson in customer care and whoever put the NJTransit trip planner together needs a lesson in programming.

You're certainly always welcome to rant here among friends and get stuff off your chest, but if I was in your shoes what would give me more satisfaction would be to post my complaint to the online feedback form at http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... ontactUsTo

Every time I've done that I've gotten a response that said they'd investigate, and I've usually gotten a follow-up that gave a decent explanation of their findings.

uzplayer wrote:Thursday night, I call NJTransit to see if I could find a fairly quick way to get into Penn Station before 7AM without getting up extremely early (in my case 3:30AM which I ended up doing anyway.)

I get on the phone with an NJTransit representative after 10 minutes of waiting (which isn't bad.) My first conversation:

Me: Hello. I am trying to goto 24th and Madison and as I understand it from your website, your train arrives at NYPenn at...
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice): We don't goto 24th and Madison. We only goto NYPenn and Port Authority. We don't goto 24th and Madison. So where are you trying to go?
Me: Well, if you would have let me explain without rudely interrupting me, I looked at your website and it says the earliest train I can grab from Wayne Transit Center would be 6:19 which after a transfer at MSU, would put me at NYPenn at 7:45. I WANTED to see if there was any way I could get in earlier on another line.
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice): So what do you want me to do for you?
Me: I'll tell you what you can do for me. You can get me your supervisor
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice interrupting me): Hold on
Me: Yes. Please. Because you are being a jerk.
Customer Service Rep: You just lost your chance
(Click)

My second conversation, I got a nicer person who actually took the time to look up the schedule. Suffice it to say, she still could not help me. However, after looking up the schedule myself the next morning (after I got into Wayne Transit Center,) I figured out that another 5 minutes would have gotten me an earlier train which would have put me in NY Penn earlier.

In the evening, I got done with my business a little faster then I thought and I looked up via my blackberry the schedules and plotted my trip back. The website told me to get on the Montclair - Boonton Line and transfer at Newark to another train. I thought to myself "this has got to be wrong." Got on the train and asked the conductor - sure enough he said "yes. transfer at MSU."

Whoever runs the Customer Service at NJ Transit needs a lesson in customer care and whoever put the NJTransit trip planner together needs a lesson in programming.

Not to defend the original customer service rep, but why even bring up "24th & Madison" to begin with? It had absolutely nothing to do with the question or the reply you were looking for. You might as well have said "I need to go to Kings Highway and East 38th Street in Brooklyn"....

You're certainly always welcome to rant here among friends and get stuff off your chest, but if I was in your shoes what would give me more satisfaction would be to post my complaint to the online feedback form at http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... ontactUsTo

Every time I've done that I've gotten a response that said they'd investigate, and I've usually gotten a follow-up that gave a decent explanation of their findings.
You're certainly always welcome to rant here among friends and get stuff off your chest, but if I was in your shoes what would give me more satisfaction would be to post my complaint to the online feedback form at http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... ontactUsTo

Every time I've done that I've gotten a response that said they'd investigate, and I've usually gotten a follow-up that gave a decent explanation of their findings.

I might just do that. I was on hold for a supervisor but I decided to let it go initially as I didn't want to remain on hold.

Not to defend the original customer service rep, but why even bring up "24th & Madison" to begin with? It had absolutely nothing to do with the question or the reply you were looking for. You might as well have said "I need to go to Kings Highway and East 38th Street in Brooklyn"....

Not to blast you mcmannors, but obviously you did not read my entire post. I brought it up as background and a GOOD customer service representative would have listened to my entire statement before interrupting me, in which I wanted to state that I checked on the website via the trip planner and wanted to figure out if there was an earlier train I could take in to NY Penn. It's background that would assist a customer service rep in helping me.

Unless if you are saying NJTransit Customer Service is not that smart... In that case, I won't disagree with you and rescind the blast

uzplayer wrote:

Not to defend the original customer service rep, but why even bring up "24th & Madison" to begin with? It had absolutely nothing to do with the question or the reply you were looking for. You might as well have said "I need to go to Kings Highway and East 38th Street in Brooklyn"....

Not to blast you mcmannors, but obviously you did not read my entire post. I brought it up as background and a GOOD customer service representative would have listened to my entire statement before interrupting me, in which I wanted to state that I checked on the website via the trip planner and wanted to figure out if there was an earlier train I could take in to NY Penn. It's background that would assist a customer service rep in helping me.

Unless if you are saying NJTransit Customer Service is not that smart... In that case, I won't disagree with you and rescind the blast

I'm with mcmannors on this. It doesnt pertain to your question, why bring it up?

Let me preface this by saying that one of my previous railroad jobs was working in supervision of passenger services employees for several years at a major commuter rail agency.

In some cases, I do think that the buffs on this site can "overexaggerate" their negative experiences on NJT in order to puff themselves up a bit. However, this one sounds completely credible to me. Mentioning 24th and Madison is not a big deal - that's the final destination. What would the agent have done if this were someone calling who had *no idea* whatsoever about how to get to 24th & Madison? A good one would look at his or her trusty NYC Transit map (they do have them), figure out the most expedient way to get there from PSNY via the NYCT network, and give that information along with the information about the earliest way to get there using NJT Rail and NYCT. A mediocre one would at least direct the customer to further information either on the NYCT website, or offer the NYCT transit information number.

It's understandable when T & E personnel are not able to answer a question like this - it's truly not their job (entirely...), and they generally have other duties that they need to take care of, such as the safe movement of the train. But in this case, answering questions about how to get to places using transit is the agent's ONLY JOB. It's experiences like this that invariably lead people to think that transit workers are surly. It's also a factor in ae decision that many agencies are thinking about taking (or have already taken) - to eliminate transit information agent positions in favor of providing a helpful and easy-to-use web site instead.

I'm with mcmannors on this. It doesnt pertain to your question, why bring it up?

It does pertain to my question as that was my end destination via. NY Penn. Whether you believe it was relevant or not, the bottom line is that I did not get a chance to continue talking and was rudely interrupted on the phone. A good customer service representative will let someone finish their statement. Additionally, for the record, 24th and Madison is only about 4-5 blocks away from NY Penn Station which makes it yet more relevant.

Let me preface this by saying that one of my previous railroad jobs was working in supervision of passenger services employees for several years at a major commuter rail agency.

In some cases, I do think that the buffs on this site can "overexaggerate" their negative experiences on NJT in order to puff themselves up a bit. However, this one sounds completely credible to me. Mentioning 24th and Madison is not a big deal - that's the final destination. What would the agent have done if this were someone calling who had *no idea* whatsoever about how to get to 24th & Madison? A good one would look at his or her trusty NYC Transit map (they do have them), figure out the most expedient way to get there from PSNY via the NYCT network, and give that information along with the information about the earliest way to get there using NJT Rail and NYCT. A mediocre one would at least direct the customer to further information either on the NYCT website, or offer the NYCT transit information number.

It's understandable when T & E personnel are not able to answer a question like this - it's truly not their job (entirely...), and they generally have other duties that they need to take care of, such as the safe movement of the train. But in this case, answering questions about how to get to places using transit is the agent's ONLY JOB. It's experiences like this that invariably lead people to think that transit workers are surly. It's also a factor in ae decision that many agencies are thinking about taking (or have already taken) - to eliminate transit information agent positions in favor of providing a helpful and easy-to-use web site instead.

I actually appreciate the conductors and engineers that move the trains. Furthermore, I got more help from the conductor on the train going back then I ever did on the customer service line as he told me that the website trip planner was wrong and to stay on till MSU versus Broad Street Newark to get the transfer back. It meant a layover difference of 1-2 minutes versus 19 minutes as the website mentioned.

Next time, i'm looking at the schedule myself. The website trip planner and customer service of NJTransit (exception to the second rep I got...she was nice but I think she was looking at the website too) are just not accurate. They should really look to improve what they do.

I'm looking at the Montclair-Boonton printed schedule and don't see an inbound train from Wayne before 6:19AM nor a transfer at MSU in the evening that would save any time versus changing at Newark Broad. In some instances you can save time by taking an M&E train from NYP to Newark Broad and then changing to a Montclair-Boonton train that originated in Hoboken. As someone interested in making an online trip planner, I'm interested in what trains you're referring to,

Also, only an employee on a train can tell you whether they're going to make a connection with a 1-2 minute layover. If you see it on a schedule, you takes your chances. I sometimes commute from suburban Philly to Morristown in the early morning, and it takes from 3.5 to 5.5 hours depending on how many 3- to 10-minute layovers I can make.. and it's rare that I can make all of them.

uzplayer wrote:

I'm with mcmannors on this. It doesnt pertain to your question, why bring it up?

It does pertain to my question as that was my end destination via. NY Penn. Whether you believe it was relevant or not, the bottom line is that I did not get a chance to continue talking and was rudely interrupted on the phone. A good customer service representative will let someone finish their statement. Additionally, for the record, 24th and Madison is only about 4-5 blocks away from NY Penn Station which makes it yet more relevant.

Actually, 24th and Madison is 8 short blocks plus 2 1/2 long blocks away from Penn Station, but that's besides the point... I would not rely on an NJ Transit employee to give information other than their own routes. While I agree they should not have interrupted you, and I agree that particular customer service rep acted like an asshole, I would say that they are under no obligation to give information pertaining to other agencies.

Again, what did mentioning 24th & Madison have to do with the question about whether there was an earlier train? If you wanted to inquire about an earlier train, all you had to ask was "is there an earlier train?" than the one you saw that got into Penn Station at 7:45.

jb9152 wrote:Let me preface this by saying that one of my previous railroad jobs was working in supervision of passenger services employees for several years at a major commuter rail agency.

In some cases, I do think that the buffs on this site can "overexaggerate" their negative experiences on NJT in order to puff themselves up a bit. However, this one sounds completely credible to me. Mentioning 24th and Madison is not a big deal - that's the final destination. What would the agent have done if this were someone calling who had *no idea* whatsoever about how to get to 24th & Madison? A good one would look at his or her trusty NYC Transit map (they do have them), figure out the most expedient way to get there from PSNY via the NYCT network, and give that information along with the information about the earliest way to get there using NJT Rail and NYCT. A mediocre one would at least direct the customer to further information either on the NYCT website, or offer the NYCT transit information number.

It's understandable when T & E personnel are not able to answer a question like this - it's truly not their job (entirely...), and they generally have other duties that they need to take care of, such as the safe movement of the train. But in this case, answering questions about how to get to places using transit is the agent's ONLY JOB. It's experiences like this that invariably lead people to think that transit workers are surly. It's also a factor in ae decision that many agencies are thinking about taking (or have already taken) - to eliminate transit information agent positions in favor of providing a helpful and easy-to-use web site instead.

Ironically, I am a T&E employee who enjoys giving additional information, when time permits. I lived in brooklyn for 40 years, and I was a courier dispatcher for almost 20 years, so I know my way around NYC by both public transportation and by private vehicle. So, if somebody on one of my trains asked me for directions to 24th & Madison, I would be more than happy to provide them with that info. However, unless I am missing something, from what "uzplayer" posted, he didn't seem to be asking for directions to 24th & Madison, he was just asking about the availability of an earlier train to Penn Station. While I agree the customer service rep was rude, I still say that bringing up "24th & Madison" was not necessary.

I'm looking at the Montclair-Boonton printed schedule and don't see an inbound train from Wayne before 6:19AM nor a transfer at MSU in the evening that would save any time versus changing at Newark Broad. In some instances you can save time by taking an M&E train from NYP to Newark Broad and then changing to a Montclair-Boonton train that originated in Hoboken. As someone interested in making an online trip planner, I'm interested in what trains you're referring to,

Also, only an employee on a train can tell you whether they're going to make a connection with a 1-2 minute layover. If you see it on a schedule, you takes your chances. I sometimes commute from suburban Philly to Morristown in the early morning, and it takes from 3.5 to 5.5 hours depending on how many 3- to 10-minute layovers I can make.. and it's rare that I can make all of them.

I thought I saw one or two earlier trains out of MSU on the schedule. I could have also taken the Port Jervis Line and transfer to a train at Secaucus Junction which would have put me there early. Unfortunately however, that would have meant getting on the road much earlier.

Actually, 24th and Madison is 8 short blocks plus 2 1/2 long blocks away from Penn Station, but that's besides the point... I would not rely on an NJ Transit employee to give information other than their own routes. While I agree they should not have interrupted you, and I agree that particular customer service rep acted like an *, I would say that they are under no obligation to give information pertaining to other agencies.

Again, what did mentioning 24th & Madison have to do with the question about whether there was an earlier train? If you wanted to inquire about an earlier train, all you had to ask was "is there an earlier train?" than the one you saw that got into Penn Station at 7:45.

Ironically, I am a T&E employee who enjoys giving additional information, when time permits. I lived in brooklyn for 40 years, and I was a courier dispatcher for almost 20 years, so I know my way around NYC by both public transportation and by private vehicle. So, if somebody on one of my trains asked me for directions to 24th & Madison, I would be more than happy to provide them with that info. However, unless I am missing something, from what "uzplayer" posted, he didn't seem to be asking for directions to 24th & Madison, he was just asking about the availability of an earlier train to Penn Station. While I agree the customer service rep was rude, I still say that bringing up "24th & Madison" was not necessary.

It felt shorter walking back to Penn but you are more then likely right regarding the distance. As for mentioning my final destination, I think we can agree to disagree. You have to listen to what the customer wants to accomplish and it was the start of a question. First rule of customer service is to listen.

uzplayer wrote:Thursday night, I call NJTransit to see if I could find a fairly quick way to get into Penn Station before 7AM without getting up extremely early (in my case 3:30AM which I ended up doing anyway.)

I get on the phone with an NJTransit representative after 10 minutes of waiting (which isn't bad.) My first conversation:

Me: Hello. I am trying to goto 24th and Madison and as I understand it from your website, your train arrives at NYPenn at...
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice): We don't goto 24th and Madison. We only goto NYPenn and Port Authority. We don't goto 24th and Madison. So where are you trying to go?
Me: Well, if you would have let me explain without rudely interrupting me, I looked at your website and it says the earliest train I can grab from Wayne Transit Center would be 6:19 which after a transfer at MSU, would put me at NYPenn at 7:45. I WANTED to see if there was any way I could get in earlier on another line.
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice): So what do you want me to do for you?
Me: I'll tell you what you can do for me. You can get me your supervisor
Customer Service Rep (in a rude voice interrupting me): Hold on
Me: Yes. Please. Because you are being a jerk.
Customer Service Rep: You just lost your chance
(Click)

My second conversation, I got a nicer person who actually took the time to look up the schedule. Suffice it to say, she still could not help me. However, after looking up the schedule myself the next morning (after I got into Wayne Transit Center,) I figured out that another 5 minutes would have gotten me an earlier train which would have put me in NY Penn earlier.

In the evening, I got done with my business a little faster then I thought and I looked up via my blackberry the schedules and plotted my trip back. The website told me to get on the Montclair - Boonton Line and transfer at Newark to another train. I thought to myself "this has got to be wrong." Got on the train and asked the conductor - sure enough he said "yes. transfer at MSU."

Whoever runs the Customer Service at NJ Transit needs a lesson in customer care and whoever put the NJTransit trip planner together needs a lesson in programming.

As much as I respect jb9152's opinion, I'm going to agree with mcmannors on this one. What could possibly be the benefit of telling the customer service rep where your destination was. It is useless information. There are very few reps and they have to handle hundreds of calls a day. They don't have time for your nonsense information that has nothing to do with anything. Don't waste either yours or the rep's time by telling them where you final destination is, what you're doing in the city, who you might be meeting... it doesn't matter and no one cares.

As for the customer service rep interrupting you, I can fully understand why they might have cut you off. Despite my interactions on here with rail buffs, I have, and continue to, deal with customers on a regular basis even when not officially on the job. Often times they unintentionally don't let you help them. If someone comes up to me, I'm interested in putting them on the best train to get them to their destination and moving on to the next person. I don't care about who you're supposed to meet or why you are going to your destination. If people preface their interactions with that type of information, I'll simply ask "where are you going?". I'd like to think I do it in a professional manner but I'm sure that they are people who have felt as if I was being rude. Whether or not the rep was rude with you is all subjective. jb9152's comments about rail buffs inflating stories is very valid and leaves me wondering exactly how rude the rep actually was. Whether they were rude or not though, it was very stupid of you to call them a jerk. Obviously they will not be inclined to help you when you are insulting them directly. They are paid to help people, not be verbal punching bags.

About your travel itinerary, I'm not sure how you can make the claim that arriving at Wayne/rt.23 station 5 minutes earlier would have gotten you into PSNY earlier. The 6:19am is the first train to depart. I'd love to hear you're explanation of that claim. Also, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the train you were told to transfer to at Newark Broad St. for your return trip, was the same train you eventually got on at MSU (I'm thinking trains 6263 and 1009). This would mean that you were in fact getting accurate information. Also, I'm not sure why you mention that one of the reps you were talking to seemed like she was looking at the website as if that was a bad thing to do. How exactly do you expect the reps to give accurate information without reading the schedules?

Lady with luggage at Rahway: "Where does this train go?"
Me: "This is the Trenton train."
Lady turning to her travel buddy while walking away: "This isn't the train. It goes to Trenton, not Princeton."
Left her at Rahway.

It always helps to ask the right question. Where are you going? Don't need a street address. Just a station. if she asked if we were going to Princeton, the answer would have been yes, and she could have been there alot earlier. As for the rude customer service person. I agree, no need to be rude.

TheTroll wrote:Lady with luggage at Rahway: "Where does this train go?"
Me: "This is the Trenton train."
Lady turning to her travel buddy while walking away: "This isn't the train. It goes to Trenton, not Princeton."
Left her at Rahway.

It always helps to ask the right question. Where are you going? Don't need a street address. Just a station. if she asked if we were going to Princeton, the answer would have been yes, and she could have been there alot earlier. As for the rude customer service person. I agree, no need to be rude.

Yep, asking "where does this train go?" instead of "does this train go to ____?" has got o be the stupidest question people ask. Because 99% of the time, people are not going to the final destination of the train. One time somebody asked me "where does this train go?", and I replied that "we parallel McCarter Highway for about 2 miles, we swing off Amtrak territory just past Hunter interlocking onto Conrail, then we parallel Route 22 for a bit past Weequahic Park and into Hillside...", and suddenly the person asked "Do you stop in Westfield??" I replied, "Yes, that's all you had to ask!"

Sorry, guys, but I can't agree. When I was in charge of that function at another commuter road that shall remain nameless, the agents had one job and one job only - to dispense transit information, all transit information including that of connecting services where possible and practical, courteously. It's not their job to make a judgment as to the "appropriateness" of someone's information request, or the form it takes (i.e. mentioning a final destination, etc.). They get paid to do one thing, one thing only, and do it as well as they can.

As I said, I never beat on train crews when I supervised them over their inability to answer some customers' more complex transit questions because I understood the nature of their jobs; it's not a primary job duty to do that. I think it's commendable that mcmannors would take the time to help passengers out in the way he described. But an information agent? You get paid to do one thing. If you don't do it well, then maybe you should be considering another career.