Response from JR West
I received the following response from JR West. It is unedited, except to occlude my name.
Dear (my name) ,
Thank you for choosing JR West.
We are terribly sorry for our overdue response. Please allow us to respond to your valuable feedback.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you when changing tickets.
We confirmed what happened that day, and we found that the conductor of Ltd. Express YAKUMO No.18 could not provide the assistance you requested because he took too long to change the tickets.
Furthermore, the conductor of Shinkansen HIKARI No.522 Car No.8 was unaware that you wanted to change the tickets and informed you to make a fare adjustment at Tokyo Station. As for the conductor of Car No.5, he was trying to change the tickets but noticed he did not have enough time to finish making the change before train arrives in Shin-Osaka Station where he had to switch shifts with another conductor, so he explained the situation to the next conductor and passed your information.
We sincerely apologize that our conductors could not assist you and provide you with the information as you requested.
In the future, if we are unable to issue a ticket as requested, we will do our best to explain the situation to the customer and provide information that is satisfactory to the customer, even when the time available to respond to the customer's request is limited.
If you are boarding a train from an unmanned station and cannot change your ticket before boarding, please explain the circumstances and provide the detailed route to the train conductor or the ticket gate staff at the station you are transferring and change your ticket.
Please note that when the train is getting close to the arrival station, the conductor may not be able to provide sufficient customer service as they have to make safety checks and announcements at the time of arrival. In addition, depending on the situation of the conductor or station staff, it may take some time for them to assist customers with their request, such as ticket changes, etc. We ask for your understanding in this matter.
At the risk of repeating ourselves, we apologize for the great inconvenience caused to you. Thank you very much for your valuable feedback.
We hope you continue using the JR-West services.
Sincerely,
JR West Customer Service Center Customer Satisfaction Strategy Department Customer Satisfaction Promotion Office West Japan Railway Company