Through the Night

[antongould]

Does anyone listen to 'Night Tracks'?

I do ……..

[DracoM]

Me too, but how do you contact the prog to tell them anything?

[antongould]

Me too, but how do you contact the prog to tell them anything?

I can’t, sadly, see anyway of doing so …..

[kernelbogey]

Visions of violinist playing and conductor conducting the Prokofiev, while the orchestra surges through the Mahler.

[kernelbogey]

Me too, but how do you contact the prog to tell them anything?

If I felt strongly about something - and I sense you do! - I would write a letter to Night Tracks, BBC Radio 3, London W1A 1AA.... but that'll cost you more than a quid, nowadays.

Isn't there a general 'feedback' email address advertised somewhere...?

[smittims]

In my experience 'feedback' to any large or national organisation is farmed out to a professional feedback agancy who may not even read your letter but send an automated response telling you how delighted they are to hear from you, how inevitably things don't always go right but they assure you of their best attention. And that's it: I've had this experience with TV LIcensing, the Census People, Scottish Power, etc. etc. Basically the public are a nuisance to these people unless their Direct Debit payments keep coming in.

[Bryn]

In my experience 'feedback' to any large or national organisation is farmed out to a professional feedback agancy who may not even read your letter but send an automated response telling you how delighted they are to hear from you, how inevitably things don't always go right but they assure you of their best attention. And that's it: I've had this experience with TV LIcensing, the Census People, Scottish Power, etc. etc. Basically the public are a nuisance to these people unless their Direct Debit payments keep coming in.

This morning I received an email on behalf of City Fibre regarding a telephone complaint I made to them about an Internet junction box they were preparing to instal on the footpath directly in front of my house. It was very much the pro forma type referred to by Smittims, stating that the complaint would be referred to the appropriate department. The thing is, they had already responded to the complaint by filling in the hole they had already dug, with cable emerging from it. They are installing it elsewhere, across the road, where it will not obstruct the footpath.

[Andrew Slater]

If I felt strongly about something - and I sense you do! - I would write a letter to Night Tracks, BBC Radio 3, London W1A 1AA.... but that'll cost you more than a quid, nowadays.

Isn't there a general 'feedback' email address advertised somewhere...?

You could always try this comments form, or alternatively send an email to the controller's assistant and ask for it to be forwarded to the programme.

[french frank]

You could always try this comments form, or alternatively send an email to the controller's assistant and ask for it to be forwarded to the programme.

Where did you find the controller's assistant email address, Andrew? I can't verify it.

[Ein Heldenleben]

If I felt strongly about something - and I sense you do! - I would write a letter to Night Tracks, BBC Radio 3, London W1A 1AA.... but that'll cost you more than a quid, nowadays.

Isn't there a general 'feedback' email address advertised somewhere...?

If you have a spare hour I could take you through the BBC complaints / feedback process (or how it stood in 2014). You might regret asking as it’s fairly complicated and I never really got my head round it .

Depending on how you complain and how serious the complaint is it might go to the outsourced complaints unit in Belfast (might be somewhere else now) , direct to the BBC Editorial complaints unit or straight to a producer. However you complain a copy will almost certainly go the production department for their response . They often draft the reply unless it’s really simple. The exception would be when there are very many complaints . Then a pro forma response is drafted - sometimes even with legal advice . So if you want a bespoke reply the secret is to complain about something relatively obscure.

[french frank]

So if you want a bespoke reply the secret is to complain about something relatively obscure.

My experience of that is that it went to the outsourced company (Capita?) and, whatever you wrote about, their reply always began "I understand you wish to complain about …" and then gave a résumé of what they understood the complaint to be about. That was the point at which I instantly gave up the will to live because their 'understanding' showed no understanding at all of what was being complained of; and it was unlikely they ever would understand because anything to do with Radio 3 might as well have been about life on Mars.

You do just as well to send it direct to the controller with "Please forward to the appropriate quarter."

[kernelbogey]

....that was the point at which I instantly gave up the will to live...

"Your call is important to us (though not important enough for us to employ sufficient staff to be able to answer within five minutes)... and please note that all calls are recorded for training purposes (as well as to provide evidence of your abuse of our staff in the event that the evasions we train them in infuriate you...) and enjoy the remainder of your day'.

[Ein Heldenleben]

My experience of that is that it went to the outsourced company (Capita?) and, whatever you wrote about, their reply always began "I understand you wish to complain about …" and then gave a résumé of what they understood the complaint to be about. That was the point at which I instantly gave up the will to live because their 'understanding' showed no understanding at all of what was being complained of; and it was unlikely they ever would understand because anything to do with Radio 3 might as well have been about life on Mars.

You do just as well to send it direct to the controller with "Please forward to the appropriate quarter."

A general complaint on programming policy is likely to get that sort of response from BBC complaints .,. There isn’t really a mechanism for taking issue with things like music selection policy or indeed the entire editorial direction of a channel unless you can show that in some way breaches BBC editorial guidelines. Producing material that the public don’t like , even actively hate , or think is rubbish , or not worthy of the BBC etc is not a breach of editorial guidelines. Quite a lot of people used to complain about why a story wasn’t covered or was covered but that isn’t the sort of complaint the BBC is obliged to entertain. As it happens I used to defend those sorts of decisions but I wasn’t under any obligation to do so.

[french frank]

A general complaint on programming policy is likely to get that sort of response from BBC complaints .,. There isn’t really a mechanism for taking issue with things like music selection policy or indeed the entire editorial direction of a channel unless you can show that in some way breaches BBC editorial guidelines. Producing material that the public don’t like , even actively hate , or think is rubbish , or not worthy of the BBC etc is not a breach of editorial guidelines. Quite a lot of people used to complain about why a story wasn’t covered or was covered but that isn’t the sort of complaint the BBC is obliged to entertain. As it happens I used to defend those sorts of decisions but I wasn’t under any obligation to do so.

That wasn't really the nature of the complaint. There were issues involving, for example, the conditions imposed by the BBC Charter, and the BBC's remit.

But you are right, the BBC has no mechanism for dealing with such things, and on the whole isn't really interested in complaints. The only success I've had is in sending corrections to their online news stories which usually provoke prompt action.

[Ein Heldenleben]

That wasn't really the nature of the complaint. There were issues involving, for example, the conditions imposed by the BBC Charter, and the BBC's remit.

But you are right, the BBC has no mechanism for dealing with such things, and on the whole isn't really interested in complaints. The only success I've had is in sending corrections to their online news stories which usually provoke prompt action.

Sorry to contradict but it’s obsessed with complaints which , in my view , contributes to its editorial timidity these days. You are right it is considered very important in news to correct errors as quickly as possible . It is difficult to “complain” meaningfully about general editorial policy to any one below Controller level and these guys tend to have a lot of what spies would call “cutouts”.