How to deliver really dreadful online service - TFL

Transport For London this week demonstrated to me just how to handle Customer Service badly. They emailed to say "Thank you for your email. I apologise for the delay in our response. Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions.  Your feedback has been noted and passed on to the relevant department for consideration."

So far so standard - except that they have taken so long to respond that I have absolutely no idea what I had complained about. And being completely indifferent to delivering Customer Service, TFL don't bother to give any hints. Hints like echoing back the query/complaint that I made.

And that is pretty important because ordinary people like you and me don't get to email TFL directly (which would leave a copy of our email on our system). I'm not against being asked to fill out a form (structured information is cheaper and quicker to deal with) but good behaviour requires that the organisation then send the complainant a copy of what has been written.

The only-via-form + no-copy mechanism is ideal for organisations that expect to fail in responding promptly and helpfully - rather like the "would you like the receipt in the bag trick", it reduces the chance that complainants are going to manage to pursue their grievances.

Is it a good way of running an organisation? Does it show you as trustworthy and responsive? Of course not, but it buys an easy life in the short term.