Oh, how annoying. I had a similar experience when I lost my wallet on a London bus - got pushed from pillar to post round the different bus depots and then just told to go online and fill out a form.
Last Christmas, I lost the necklace I'd worn since I was seven - probably on a tube, since (with hindsight) I remembered feeling a slight snap as I fiddled with my scarf. TfL lost property seemd quite efficient and helpful, even though I was fairly sure that it was going to be a pretty vain hope that it would be found.
They did eventually call me in because it was found, which meant I got very excited heading off to Baker Street to be reunited. Sadly, I'd lost a small, plain silver 'E' on a fine chain, somewhere around Bank. What they found was a 2" diamanté-encrusted blingin' 'E', on a chain good enough to hold a Rottweiler, in a bus depot in Fulham Broadway.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have called you in for this" said the man at the office as he looked at the form I submitted.
So they weren't actually all that ept, but at least I felt like everyone I dealt with genuinely wanted to find my E for me. Which sounds like the opposite of the experience you had; I guess it depends wholly on the individuals you end up dealing with.
How does one ring through to a station? A year or so ago, I entrained at Reading with only one glove[*]. Knowing I'd had two very little time ago, I reckoned I must have dropped one on the platform. I spent quite a lot of time attempting to work out how to call Reading and ask someone to put it somewhere safely for me, but everyone I spoke to said it wasn't possible to do call to a station. They're all about the centralised offices.
[*] While one glove is not exactly an insurmountable loss, it was half of a pair of almost brand new cycling gloves.
Actually my gripe with woolly gloves on bikes is that they aren't very good at being windproof!
Helpful despatchers are, well, helpful. I didn't really meet any. (The chap at Ealing who sent me off to Paddington actually seemed genuinely helpful and concerned; I think his advice was sound even though it didn't help at all in the event.)
I think in theory the system is sound. Paddington is a terminus, so a train which arrives is cleared, and things go straight to the lost property office which I can interact with betweem 8 and 5:30 (or something). So I should have been able to arrange to collect it from the office this morning.
It's entirely possible that some other passenger at Paddington spotted my tempting bag and acquired it, in which case it isn't entierly the system's fault. If no one pinched it, then clearly their system isn't working as intended.
I think the main trouble is that if you realise very quickly that you've lost something, you want quite a real-time reaction. And the system just doesn't allow for that at all - probably because it'd be more expensive, or (worse) require staff to act on initiative and do things which aren't in their job description. I think the system probably works as well as can be expected for things you realise are lost the following day or something.
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They did eventually call me in because it was found, which meant I got very excited heading off to Baker Street to be reunited. Sadly, I'd lost a small, plain silver 'E' on a fine chain, somewhere around Bank. What they found was a 2" diamanté-encrusted blingin' 'E', on a chain good enough to hold a Rottweiler, in a bus depot in Fulham Broadway.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have called you in for this" said the man at the office as he looked at the form I submitted.
So they weren't actually all that ept, but at least I felt like everyone I dealt with genuinely wanted to find my E for me. Which sounds like the opposite of the experience you had; I guess it depends wholly on the individuals you end up dealing with.
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[*] While one glove is not exactly an insurmountable loss, it was half of a pair of almost brand new cycling gloves.
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Helpful despatchers are, well, helpful. I didn't really meet any. (The chap at Ealing who sent me off to Paddington actually seemed genuinely helpful and concerned; I think his advice was sound even though it didn't help at all in the event.)
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It's entirely possible that some other passenger at Paddington spotted my tempting bag and acquired it, in which case it isn't entierly the system's fault. If no one pinched it, then clearly their system isn't working as intended.
I think the main trouble is that if you realise very quickly that you've lost something, you want quite a real-time reaction. And the system just doesn't allow for that at all - probably because it'd be more expensive, or (worse) require staff to act on initiative and do things which aren't in their job description. I think the system probably works as well as can be expected for things you realise are lost the following day or something.
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