Well, they turn up. Thats a good thing I suppose. I have had quite a bad experience with them today. Train was nearly full at Temple Meeds. By Parkway it was building up, Cheltenham Spa, the train turned into a Cattle Truck. I found that to be the case on my return journey too.
In short:
Staff are adequate, I can't really think of any improvements

Trains are WAY TO SHORT. Putting a 5 car train onto a service that is supposed to go roughly 300-700 miles is not the best idea in the world

Punctuality: Constantly late, but that's partly due to congestion at New Street, services from Cornwall/Devon are normally on time

Prices? Well I wouldn't know, I bought my ticket from a First Great Western machine and I own a railcard. If i didn't have the railcard though, it's not worth £40.00 single between Bristol and Birmingham to sit on your own luggage

I often travel from Bristol Temple Meads to Penzance and I will go out of my way to get on a First Great Western. Their trains stink and are too small to handle Cross country services. A peak service from Birmingham to Plymouth with 4 carriages is a joke. The staff are fine, but the trains aren't up to the job.

I was interest to read other reviews of XC trains because my experience has been very different but then I must stress that my only journeys have been on a weekend on the longer routes where they operate car sets.

I have taken advantage of the weekend first (one way) offer of £15 to upgrade from the journey from Reading to York and have an enjoyable and uneventful journey. Found the staff pleasent and helpful on this journey (which I have done several times)

Tomorrow my experience may be different as I am travelling down from Newcastle to Reading overlapping peak times...

I would recommend going on cross country trains, they may be expensive and not as nice as some of those tilting virgin trains, but they are reliable, clean, the only thing I would disagree with is overcrowding, we had to wait another half a hour for a train because it was to busy, every seat was reserved, I think they shos should send more carridges / double train on the busier routes at peak times, but over than that, it was great! Much better than arriva!

Trains from Cambridge to B/ham are to short. Reliable mostly good staff. The service puctuality has improved since Arriva took it over but the service needs to improve with more than a paltry 1 an hour and only 2 coaches. Why only a maximum 3 car why not order more centre cars more seats more customers satisfaction. Service from Stansted in the evening end to early and start to late in the morning for the early flight departures. Sunday services from Cambridge to P/boro could start an hour or 2 earlier so that they give connections for Scotland. Why at P/boro do the arrivals from Stansted just miss north bound connection by 2minutes someone should look at this and think customers first not as an inconvenience

I've often remarked that Cross Country's motto should be "proud to be ****"

The conductors couldn't care less when the reservation system isn't working (which is most of the time) or when the train is late and you're liable to miss a connection. Their attitude seems to be that it's the passengers' fault for choosing to travel Crosscountry!

Overhead luggage racks designed by a maniac; you can barely fit a laptop on there. The dreadful lavatory smell permeates the entire carriage.

You may have no alternative but to use this rail company, but if you have a choice, use it and travel with somebody else.

If you are planning a journey via Cross Country (even if you are lucky enough to get a cheap fare about 12 weeks in advance) be prepared for the following-

-Someone sitting in your reserved seat, and a rude / hostile respose if you point this out.
-The seat reservation system not working. (Making 1. above even more complex)
-No room for your luggage (unless you can battle your way through to coach D where they now have luggage space but don't point this out).
-Cramped seating (only 4/5 carriages) and people standing / sitting in aisles / toilets.
-Filthy, pointlessly oversized toilets. (The automatic door locking system often fails).
-The air con to break down so you get too hot and bothered.
-No buffet. A very basic trolley serving tea and snacks. Beacuse the asiles get blocked with luggage / people etc the trolley eventually has to remain at one end of the train.
-The guard not to make an appearance when things get uncomfortable.
-General increased stress levels.

Bearing in mind the above, if it's the weekend and you can afford the extra cost, upgrade to weekend first.

As a regular commuter from Melton to leicester the service is unpredictable and poor value for money. Two cancelations at peak times in a week makes your morning hell. Be warned if you are getting a 5 o'clock train from leicester, two carrages = packed and angry passengers with no manners and never the will to stand up and complain. When you speak to the conductors they give you a lame poor excuse. Its down to one thing, save money on providing fewer carrages but stuff the quality of service...
Sadly if you rely on this service to get to/from work you are a sucker.

They actually make Virgin look good! Almost £16 for a return journey between Manchester and Macclesfield (17 minutes one way). At least you can get a decent fare with Virgin with long distances if you book in advance. No chance of this here. Hopefully they'll go bust soon.