Oh this sounds fun...
I sent this to First Great Western back in 2007...

"Dear Pointless Office Person

Guess what I did today.?

I went on a little trip from Weston-super-Mare to Bath Spa on a train. From Weston it was lovely. Had one of those Class 158’s you cascaded from Northern Spirit and aside from the awful vinyl treatment you have given the outside it is still a classy train with plenty of airy internal space and a fair amount of tables.

I had to change trains at Bristol and… what is this.?? Oh an HST. I like those because they don’t have the underfloor engine noise of the Adelantes or (God keep them away from me) a Virgin Voyager… but oh dear.!!! Some idiot has redesigned the inside. Now there are only two tables per carriage and everyone else (including myself, I am six foot four inches tall by the way) is cramped up in to one of those disasterous airline style seats with a back so high you have bugger all vision except left and right. It is like sitting behind someone with an enormous back.!

Please tell the designers that the internals on a Mark three carriage are perfectly laid out as it is. We are people, not cattle. The airline industry can keep it’s seating on it’s planes, I would prefer it if you did the same on your trains.

On the way back thankfully we boarded the old style HST interior (from when GWT ran them, before you, a company that had some clue about customer satisfaction (oh yes, I know all about you and your lack of that, you run all the buses around here as well)). Trouble is when we changed again at Bristol we boarded a Pacer which should have been withdrawn years ago. Standing room only it was and a friend of mine who gets that service regularly tells me it is like that every night. Why don’t you make it a bigger train. Or spot hire a few Mk2’s and a loco.? Can’t be that difficult surely.?

Maybe I should consider fare dodging.? Seems easy enough as on all four journeys (Weston-Bristol, Bath. And return) I did not have my ticket checked ONCE.! But I would never do that. I am too law abiding.

Let us all pray that, like the hairy chinned Mr Branson, you quickly lose your franchise for the GW lines and maybe then we will get a company that DOES give a toss about our views and DOES understand what PASSENGERS want from a rail service.

Oh nice big profits you made last year btw.

Byeee.!

(cc’ed to various news papers, the Rail Watchdog (heard in the Times you are having a few problems with them.?), Rail Magazine and also sent to the Pope because I truly think only divine intervention will help you understand how to run a railroad.)"

EDIT - and no it didn't work. The only reply I got was repeatedly bounced back between myself and some twat in the "customer annoyance department" that basically said "Fuck you, you just use our service what would you know?"
(elfinpunk Touching Cloth Since, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 17:22, 8 replies)

Are you a train spotter?

( rofl harris, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 17:24, closed)

Reformed.

(elfinpunk Touching Cloth Since, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 17:26, closed)

Good
As you were.
( rofl harris, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 17:29, closed)

But that'd
make him a train spotter again.

I take the OP's point about the seats, though.
(dxg, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 18:24, closed)

"Dear Pointless Office Person"
I find it best to have the reader on your side --- give him/her a laugh while slagging off the company. Never fails.
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 17:50, closed)

I added that after sending it, I think I gave it the "sir/madame" treatment.

(elfinpunk Touching Cloth Since, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 18:27, closed)

I'm unsure you had a case here
Most of your complaint seems to focus on dislike of certain carriages. I myself have some grievances about rail companies, but I reckon they get few complaints from people who've been forced to board trains they felt had design issues.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 22:53, closed)

With a well written and polite letter like that,
I'm amazed you got no response.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Fri 3 Sep 2010, 8:43, closed)