Virgin Trains has won the British Quality Foundation’s 2011 BQF Achievement Award for Customer Satisfaction, sponsored by Oracle.
The company was chosen by an independent awards jury for its ‘outstanding levels of customer satisfaction and evidence that the levels achieved resulted in loyal customers’.
Overall customer satisfaction has risen consistently over the last 10 years, with customer complaints decreasing by 90% over a period when passenger journeys have doubled.
Complaints are currently running at 2.5 per 1,000 passenger journeys, compared with 23 a decade ago.
The company has transformed the organisational culture by making the customer the main priority and focusing employees on providing excellent customer service.
Virgin Trains say they have ’empowered staff to act on their own initiative when dealing with customer issues, and this has encouraged them to be innovative in developing their own ideas for improvement’.
Joe Goasdoué, Chief Executive of the BQF, said:
“Winning a BQF Achievement Award is a fantastic result for any organisation and Virgin Trains has shown just why a single-minded focus on the customer is the fast route to success.”
Tony Collins, Chief Executive of Virgin Trains, said:
“In the latest National Passenger Survey, in Spring 2011, Virgin Trains was rated best long-distance franchise operator for overall satisfaction, scoring 90% for the third survey in a row.
“I am proud of the way our people embrace the Virgin philosophy of putting the customer first and this Award is down to their efforts.
“There are always areas where we can do more, and we will continue to strive to improve.”
Other BQF Achievement Award Winners included Co-operative Banking Group, Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies (IA&DT) and Skanska UK.
