Amtrak's 1-800 number anyone have any problems

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Save Our Trains Michigan

Conductor
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
1,805
Location
Harrison Michigan
I just wanted to ask all of you if you have ever had problems with Amtrak's 800 # Agents giving the wrong information to passenger's i have had my share with them. :)

For Exsample

Not giving AAA Discounts when passengers ask for it

Wrong fare information

Not taking the credit card over the phone

not upgrading passengers to 1st class but tell them they have been upgraded.
 
I wouldn't say that Amtrak agents give out wrong information. I would say that Amtrak agents are often told wrong information which they in turn give out not knowing any different.

The problem of Amtrak agents not knowing the status of a train has been ongoing for years. But, again, an agent only knows what they have been told. If a conductor or station master fails to call in and report a train's whereabouts, or if a dispatcher parks Amtrak in a siding moments after a report has been sent, the agent or the Julie system may give out erroneous information without any intention of misleading a caller.

I believe, and I may be wrong, that Amtrak is doing a better job of reporting the correct status of a train. I myself hear less and less of an agent saying a train is on time when in fact it is running far behind schedule. I think what happens more often these days is that Julie says a train is 30 minutes late when it is in fact 45 minutes late.

You fellas that track trains as hobby feel free to tell me if I'm completely wrong on this.
 
Im not realy getting at the Train Status issue im getting more at the Live Agent making the Reservation for passengers failing to give correct pricing and not putting in discounts that the passengers have asked for also the new one is there telling passengers is that they can't pay by creidt card over the phone if a station is unmaned which is wrong the Agent can take your creidt card over the phone it will show up on the trainlist as a AP ticket that the conductor has. :)
 
Yea the biggest problem with Julie right now is her estimated AR and DP times. For instance, lets say the coast starlight is running 5 hours in Oakland, CA. Well if you call, she will tell you that it is running 5 hours late but that she expects it to arrive 3 hours and 15 minutes late in LAUPT. Now, you and I both no, that train is not making up ANY time, except for the occasional padding here and there (but not before having lost additional time beforehand). Its very frustrating. When people call 1-800-USA-RAIL who do not have any idea about Amtrak and how it works, they will take this information to mean something. They will believe the estimated arrival times and end up sitting at a station for hours more then they needed to.
 
Sorry 'bout that BNSF. I totally misunderstood your original post.

I have no conjecture why a live agent would say that a certain discount is not available when it certainly should be. Amtrak is usually clear about which promotions do not apply with other discounts, so I see no reason why an agent would use that policy on other fares that can and should allow discounts.
 
The biggest pain of talking to Julie is getting background noise that triggers her to say something like I"m sorry I didn't understand that, I think you said ..... Is that correct. This is a bigger problem if you are traveling and in a loud station.
 
AMTRAK-P42 said:
Yea the biggest problem with Julie right now is her estimated AR and DP times. For instance, lets say the coast starlight is running 5 hours in Oakland, CA. Well if you call, she will tell you that it is running 5 hours late but that she expects it to arrive 3 hours and 15 minutes late in LAUPT. Now, you and I both no, that train is not making up ANY time, except for the occasional padding here and there (but not before having lost additional time beforehand). Its very frustrating. When people call 1-800-USA-RAIL who do not have any idea about Amtrak and how it works, they will take this information to mean something. They will believe the estimated arrival times and end up sitting at a station for hours more then they needed to.
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Quite.

For fun, track #30 on the web when it hits, say, Harpers Ferry or Rockville instead of WAS. It seems Julie's arrival times at endpoints is a great deal more optimistic than the arrival times at intermediate points.

Speaking of #30(25), it's stuck somewhere between HFY and RKV for no readily apparent reasons. By Julie's figures, it should have arrived at WAS by now (that is, posting time).
 
lepearso said:
Sorry 'bout that BNSF. I totally misunderstood your original post.
I have no conjecture why a live agent would say that a certain discount is not available when it certainly should be. Amtrak is usually clear about which promotions do not apply with other discounts, so I see no reason why an agent would use that policy on other fares that can and should allow discounts.
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Not a prob just wanted to know if this happened to anyone on this fourm i get many complaints about this.
 
Somehow I don't think Julie was put in place to give people the correct time to go and photograph the train or to be tracking the train for your own hobby. No wonder the lines are busy with railfans calling about insignigicant things like that........as well as using the website to track trains. You are mis-using Amtrak's assets and then complaining about Amtrak not being efficient. Seems pretty silly to me.

As far as discounts not being given; it may be that some of you are trying to use a AAA discount without paying attention to the 3 day advance purchase requirement. This is new and is causing some confusion.
 
haolerider said:
Somehow I don't think Julie was put in place to give people the correct time to go and photograph the train or to be tracking the train for your own hobby.  No wonder the lines are busy with railfans calling about insignigicant things like that........as well as using the website to track trains.  You are mis-using Amtrak's assets and then complaining about Amtrak not being efficient.  Seems pretty silly to me.
Click to expand...
There is absolutely no difference in procedure to calling as a passenger or as a rail fan. The information that Julie gives is the EXACT same to both passengers and railfans. Second, the line is never busy, Julie can accommodate HUNDREDS of phone calls at a time, I have never once, over the past 3 years, been given a busy signal when trying to get in contact with Julie. "Mis-use" of Amtrak's assets, haha, no seriously, are you joking? I'm not the kind of person to get easily offended, but please do not come to an Amtrak-rail fan related board and tell people that their hobbies are "Insignificant".
 

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