Complaint with Amtrak Conductor

[melsk]

I just returned from a trip from Oakland to Simi Valley Ca., My daughter and I were treated very poorly.

I am 72 years old and I have a hard time lifting my bag on the train I was met with a sharp response by the conductor,and then she made my daughter re-arrange the baggage to fit our bags into the baggage area. I spent close to 500.00 dollars for treatment like this.

This conductor spent a large amount of time talking to other passengers and not quietly. At one station I wasn't sure if I could smoke knowing full well that I had to be away from the train by so many feet, she snapped at me and made an extra point as to how far away I needed to be from the train, and proceeded to keep talking to these same passengers.

My daughters stop was the next stop in about an hour and a half, so we had lunch in the dining car and spent the rest of the time in our room not causing any trouble.

She also kept the upstairs bathroom locked next to her room which it wasn't easy having to make my way up and down the stairs. I asked if I could use that bathroom when we first got on the train she threw a temper tantrum and unlocked the door and then locked it again after I was done.

She only had one working bathroom for the whole car because she said she did not feel like unclogging the other toilet downstairs, and she refused to open the one upstairs next to her room. When we got to my daughters stop which is a quick stop she was no where to be found so I started to worry I rang the attendant bell down by the door, and she snapped at me when she came down the stairs, Saying when I say I am going to open the door I mean I am going to open the door.

I am not a mean person, I am pretty mild and nice but this women was very mean. I also have gotten food brought to my room and even offered this by other conductors, but when I made the request for dinner she said she did not have time and continued talking to other passengers. I had to plead with her to help take my bag off the train at my stop.

She also used foul language and talked down about her other co workers.

 

[MrEd]

Sounds like a sleeping car attendant not conductor.

Perhaps call 1-800-USA-RAIL and provide them with the feedback.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

It should be mentioned that this forum is not affiliated with Amtrak in any way.

We are a bunch of railfans who like talking about passenger trains.

 

[amamba]

Please do call 1800 USA RAIL and ask to speak to customer relations. Please note that as mentioned by the other posters, the person who provided the poor service was actually the sleeping car attendant.

 

[slimchipley]

Unfortunately this is far from an isolated incident. Discipline is almost non-existent and there is practically an infinte number of steps involved in a termination. The combination of shoddy equipment and surly staff has to be tough on repeat business... err passengers. Being treated like a guest or better yet, royalty would go a long ways toward covering up the poor state of the equipment and OTP.

 

[yarrow]

do call customer relations. we have traveled amtrak a fair amount and have had wonderfully memorable sleeping car attendants, average sca's and a few , like yours, who detract from the enjoyment of the journey

 

[Ryan]

Unfortunately this is far from an isolated incident. Discipline is almost non-existent

Management can't fix problems that they don't know about.

Definitely contact Amtrak and make them aware of the problem. To ID the person, you should be able to tell them the date that you were on the train and the car number that you were in.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I am 72 years old and I have a hard time lifting my bag on the train I was met with a sharp response by the conductor,and then she made my daughter re-arrange the baggage to fit our bags into the baggage area. I spent close to 500.00 dollars for treatment like this.

OK, I'll pick the unpopular stance, and say that whether you are 72, or 22, you have to be able to carry your carry-on luggage. If you can't, then you really need to find alternatives. A "red cap", checking the bags, and in your case, having your daughter carry it for you right from the start.

The baggage area is "self serve". If it is already full, then you are out of luck. Or as the conductor said, you might need to move stuff around to see if you can free up enough space for your bags.

The conductor is not a luggage porter.

 

[Bob Dylan]

:hi: Sorry ya'lls trip was ruined by such a lazy, uncaring person! :angry2: As others have said,this person was a Sleeping Car attendant, not the Conductor! Please call Amtrak Customer Relations (1-800-USA_RAIL). when the Computer answers ("Julie"), aks for "Agent", when the Agent answers ask to be transfered to Customer Relations and as was said, let them know about this exception to most Amtrak Adventures! We all hope this person is either retrained or let go, plenty of folks looking for jobs and we all can do our part to help rectify this kind of anomaly! Hope your meal and the rest of the Trip sort of made up for this jerk! ^_^

 

[Ryan]

The conductor is not a luggage porter.

But a sleeping car attendant is, and that's who she was talking about.

 

[leemell]

I am 72 years old and I have a hard time lifting my bag on the train I was met with a sharp response by the conductor,and then she made my daughter re-arrange the baggage to fit our bags into the baggage area. I spent close to 500.00 dollars for treatment like this.

OK, I'll pick the unpopular stance, and say that whether you are 72, or 22, you have to be able to carry your carry-on luggage. If you can't, then you really need to find alternatives. A "red cap", checking the bags, and in your case, having your daughter carry it for you right from the start.

The baggage area is "self serve". If it is already full, then you are out of luck. Or as the conductor said, you might need to move stuff around to see if you can free up enough space for your bags.

The conductor is not a luggage porter.

On the other hand a good manger cheerfully fills in on any of the jobs in their area and a conductor is also a manager. They should also solve any problems rather than just saying the customer shouldn't do this or that.

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

I hate it when people get treated this way. It really makes Amtrak look bad.

We really do feel for you. and we are sorry that the trip was that bad.

I hope that if you do choose to travel Amtrak again, that you will have a much better experience.

Anthony

 

[Devil's Advocate]

OK, I'll pick the unpopular stance, and say that whether you are 72, or 22, you have to be able to carry your carry-on luggage. If you can't, then you really need to find alternatives. A "red cap", checking the bags, and in your case, having your daughter carry it for you right from the start. The baggage area is "self serve". If it is already full, then you are out of luck. Or as the conductor said, you might need to move stuff around to see if you can free up enough space for your bags. The conductor is not a luggage porter.

I can't wait to read your explanation for why the restrooms were locked. Please don't keep us waiting...

I hate it when people get treated this way. It really makes Amtrak look bad.

Or maybe this is the real Amtrak and we just don't want to admit it?

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

Sunset, I havent had any horrible experiences on my trips. The majority of the crews I have encountered have been great. A few bad apples can spoil the bunch.

The restroom shouldnt have been locked regardless, and there is no need to snap at people when they use the call button,

I think the term "real" is more perception than anything. Whats real to you may not be the case for someone else, myself included.

Ant

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I can't wait to read your explanation for why the restrooms were locked. Please don't keep us waiting...

Well, if you could actually read, you would have known that I was only commenting upon if the conductor is responsible to handle carry-on luggage, or not.

That's why I only quoted the paragraph pertaining to that.

 

[Ryan]

Well, if you could actually read

Was that really necessary?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I can't wait to read your explanation for why the restrooms were locked. Please don't keep us waiting...

Well, if you could actually read, you would have known that I was only commenting upon if the conductor is responsible to handle carry-on luggage, or not. That's why I only quoted the paragraph pertaining to that.

So you're saying you agree the restrooms should have been unlocked and available?

 

[Texan Eagle]

Unfortunately this is far from an isolated incident.

True. I experienced both ends of the spectrum of Amtrak employees on a single trip last weekend on the Sunset Eagle (yeah that's what I like to call #422). From Tucson to San Antonio we had a very friendly sleeper car attendant who came by each room every couple hours to ask if we needed anything, kept the bathrooms clean, coffee and juice station well stocked and engaged in friendly chat if one wanted to. From San Antonio onwards, we had a I-hate-my-job-and-I-will-make-it-obvious SCA. He was nowhere to be seen at or after boarding, did not put the bed up while we were away for breakfast, we had to make our own coffee, the wet towels were thrown all over the shower with no attempt made to clean up the place. No prizes for guessing who out of the two got a good tip.

Same story in the Dining Car. The attendant who dealt with our breakfast and dinner was rude, banging the pen and cups on the table and yelling at people who do the blasphemous mistake of sitting opposite each other instead of side by side in a half empty Dining Car and never told us what options we had for dessert. During lunch we sat in the other half of the Diner and had a cheerful attendant who personally introduced himself to all guests, asked nicely what they'd like to eat and made some jokes too.

I was lucky that I got to see both sides of the coin but it is ridiculous that Amtrak allows such a huge disparity in customer service by its employees. If I only got to experience the surly ones, I'd think twice before booking a train ticket next time.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Unfortunately this is far from an isolated incident.

True. I experienced both ends of the spectrum of Amtrak employees on a single trip last weekend on the Sunset Eagle (yeah that's what I like to call #422). From Tucson to San Antonio we had a very friendly sleeper car attendant who came by each room every couple hours to ask if we needed anything, kept the bathrooms clean, coffee and juice station well stocked and engaged in friendly chat if one wanted to. From San Antonio onwards, we had a I-hate-my-job-and-I-will-make-it-obvious SCA. He was nowhere to be seen at or after boarding, did not put the bed up while we were away for breakfast, we had to make our own coffee, the wet towels were thrown all over the shower with no attempt made to clean up the place. No prizes for guessing who out of the two got a good tip.

Same story in the Dining Car. The attendant who dealt with our breakfast and dinner was rude, banging the pen and cups on the table and yelling at people who do the blasphemous mistake of sitting opposite each other instead of side by side in a half empty Dining Car and never told us what options we had for dessert. During lunch we sat in the other half of the Diner and had a cheerful attendant who personally introduced himself to all guests, asked nicely what they'd like to eat and made some jokes too.

I was lucky that I got to see both sides of the coin but it is ridiculous that Amtrak allows such a huge disparity in customer service by its employees. If I only got to experience the surly ones, I'd think twice before booking a train ticket next time.

Have you called customer service to tell them about the bad and the good? At times it might seem pointless, but it is important to let them know 'both ends of the spectrum.'

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

Amtrak cant handle what is never reported. If people reported things more often, then maybe something would change. It takes the same amount of time to report an experience to Amtrak that it does to type it out here in a post.

 

[MrFSS]

And this is probably one of those passengers who will never come back here to read all these responses.

How many times do we see this?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

And this is probably one of those passengers who will never come back here to read all these responses.

How many times do we see this?

In the time I've been here, I've lost count. I wonder how many of them think they are complaining to Amtrak? (Even though, if one does even the slightest poking around, it is pretty clear IMHO that AU is not a part of Amtrak.)

 

[George Harris]

I am 72 years old and I have a hard time lifting my bag on the train I was met with a sharp response by the conductor,and then she made my daughter re-arrange the baggage to fit our bags into the baggage area. I spent close to 500.00 dollars for treatment like this.

OK, I'll pick the unpopular stance, and say that whether you are 72, or 22, you have to be able to carry your carry-on luggage.

Well, Mr. Cho Cho, when you are 72 and wobbly get on/off at a station without checked baggage, have trouble moving your stuff and the ATTENDANT won't help, call us and tell us that you still consider this stuff acceptable behavior. I have seen the conductor be helpful on more than one occasion. It should be normal for people that are employees of a company offering service to the public to be helpful. They should if they know which side their bread is buttered on.

 

[guest--on the Pacific]

One or more of the moderators of this forum have said that Amtrak managers DO read this forum. Assuming this is correct, what do they think when they continually read about inconsistent service?? More importantly, do they act upon it? Does someone monitor the customer relations tallies and determine that there is indeed a problem with a given train, or a given SCA or DCA?

It seems to me that any Amtrak manager with a sense of pride in the organization would be pulling his or her hair out when reading horror stories such as the woman from Oakland to Simi Valley recounted. The vexing thing for me is that there doesn't seem to be anything systemic that Amtrak management has done about such inconsistent service. Only the most abject apologist for Amtrak would at this point deny that service is frighteningly inconsistent.

I don't mean firing each and every employee who can be identified; that isn't realistic.

But does anyone know if Amtrak has instituted changes in its training programs for SCAs and similar employees? Are there periodic meetings where SCAs for certain routes or regions get together and have general flaws pointed out in overall service (not individual targeting of persons)? Are customer relations complaints ever shared with employees in group meetings? Is everything (I shudder to think) done by memo with awful government-speak language?

Certain companies are outstanding in their consistency of service? It's not brain surgery! Why can't Amtrak management cull those things that work and strive to implement them? And if Amtrak management has attempted to do so, why have their efforts seemingly failed??

 

[the_traveler]

I can't say for certain, but I'm almost sure that some actions have been taken. You may not hear about each and every one, but they may have happened.