Great Western Railway Reviews 

Perpetually late, wifi almost never works, train reservations often not working, trains are packed, compensation process clearly designed with enough friction in the experience to deter claimants.

Woeful.

Late Severn beach line waiting at the station for 13 minutes then had to stop for 8 minutes for another train to pass us
Worst train service

Useless.

Train to Paddington from Maidenhead is nearly ALWAYS delayed / has some sort of technical issue / red signalling issues. Literally about twice a week, wish I was exaggerating but I’m not. I’m constantly late to work. It’s embarrassing. Luckily my colleagues understand the unreliability of the commute but I can imagine some employers aren’t so understanding. People could lose their jobs because of this!

It’s nearly always full and you’re lucky to get a seat, at £4000 for a season ticket you’d expect better.

And they want to strike? It’s big juicy joke it seems.

So I bought a return ticket.
The outbound train was during industrial action.
I applied for a refund for the return ticket.
It took a month, but I was refunded for the outbound sector.
I questioned my refund and was told to put in another refund for the return part of my ticket.
I have been told I will not get a refund due to the fact that I applied for the refund over a month after the ticket expired.
Of course my original refund application was within the time limit, but GWR will not accept this.
Do not trust this company to refund you if your train is cancelled, this is an example that they will use any technicality to avoid giving money back.
In future, I will use Flybe, they have restarted the same route and are both faster and cheaper.
Badly done GWR.

It's -6 outside. And your waiting room doors are broken to be locked shut.

Waited an hour in this temperature for a train that was supposed to arrive at 08:23, constantly getting delayed, until they 'replaced' it with one that doesn't even go to the same stops and just spits you back out at Temple Meads to be funnelled into further delays yet again.

Pay your workers fairly. Treat them like human beings. My commute became a 3 and a half hour trip due to these strikes. This inconvenience is the company's fault, not the workers, and I've had to now spend a further £40 on an Uber in order to actually make it into Bath in time for an important meeting.

Always LATE OR DELAYED, what kind of a service is it!!!?? Shame on you!!! The people running this company should be publicly shame and named!!! Bunch of greedy dic.....ds!

My daughter has been using or attempting to use this line daily for college since September. A few times a week the crewkerne to exeter line has its timetable delayed, terminated a few stops in or just cancelled. Terrible service particularly for those who commute for education and work.

Appalling that your staff take pleasure in upsetting young children.
To be faced with a strike which we were not informed about on our outbound journey, for then the staff to laugh and enjoy the scene of my upset stranded 7 year old.
And they wonder why the public are not in support of strikes. Have some sympathy at the very least.

And when there are no strikes the trains are late, cancelled and filthy.
GWR are an embarrassment

Disgraceful service Filthy trains and toilets
LATE trains then you claim refund and they deny the claim
Appalling customer service Never want to use again
No better than a cattle train
GWR-CR-1608058

Rude staff, mostly late, overpriced

Can honestly say I will never travel with them again. Train was running late which I accept but then because it meant I just went out of off peak halfway along my journey the ticket inspector charged me a further £18.50
I'm in utter shock but had no choice but to pay.

First class has all the charm of travelling in an office washroom. Gloomy decor. Uncomfortable seats, supposed to be reclining but mine was jammed. Not enough sandwiches to go round. I was lucky though and had an egg roll (or more like a chemistry experiment with its 34 ingredients). Don't waste your money.

Horrific journey Paid an exorbitant price for first class booked seating ( they couldn’t get that right ) even for the other passengers. We were packed like sardines in seats that were really uncomfortable. food and beverage offering woeful coffee like dishwater, sandwiches offering poor very little available soggy crisps. Staff lovely but we would be have been better off in a wheel barrow
No consideration for disability or less mobile persons.altogether an awful experience.

First class here is a scam. Random noisy people sitting there and nobody comes to check tickets. If you paid extra to have a quiet trip you’re in bad luck.

Travelled back to Plymouth from London Paddington on 13th May, 2022. I was looked after by one of your staff, a lovely lady called Kayleigh Gentry/Scott.
She was so helpful and obliging, and made the journey very pleasant.

Truly awful trains are the IET, very uncomfortable and too hot. Travelled Exeter to Paddington today and couldn't wait to get off.

I think everyone has already said it, but here's goes again.
There is nothing great about the Great Western Railway, it's a disgrace to Brunel who built it in 1833.
The management can't have any pride in what they do.
First of all the ticket staff sell the wrong ticket to me, they did at one point try and charge me nearly £300 for a return ticket from Cheltenham Spa to London.
When the train eventually turned up, after a hours wait, nothing worked on the train.
The WiFi on both journey's
Most the toilets were not working.
The coffee was undrinkable, didn't even taste anything like coffee.
There was no cash allowed due to Covid, yet you had use a keypad, which everyone had been using all day, so much for health and safety.
In the end, even the credit card machine didn't work, so you couldn't even get a refreshments for the 2 hour journey, but the drinks trolley only came onto the train, an hour and quarter into the journey.
I gave up trying to get my money back for the incorrect ticket because everyone I spoke to would pass me onto someone else.
This must be your tactic on how not to pay people, they just lose the will to live, especially after the journeys.
Mr Hall

Station staff are consistently rude and unhelpful. Maybe some customer service training would benefit them? Might stop customers for being so disappointed.

Just spent nearly an hour trying to book two tickets for a next day single journey. The site kept telling me I needed to put something right when I had double checked info, then told me the seats I HAD to book if I wanted to travel were not available. Then the 'register' button was locked when I thought I was home and dry.
Total frustration. So I drove to Oxford next day instead.