Is Amtrak padding their...

[cheapfurcoat]

As some of you may know, last month I had a pretty bad experience on a trip Cleveland to Oregon and back.

After several calls to Amtrak, they finally refunded to me the sleeping car portion of the ticket from Portland to Chicago.

I had stated to the persons at Amtrak that we had had problems on all legs of the trip except the Chicago to Cleveland leg.

So last Friday in the mail I recieve a survey from Amtrak requesting my opinion(s) and feedback on ONLY the Chicago to Cleveland portion of my trip.

This was the only portion of the trip where the train wasn't horribly late or stricken with operations problems.

So I ask WHY did they only want to know about the trouble free train ride?

You know, I got so frustrated having to answer the questions honestly with satisfactory or better answers that I wadded the survey up and threw it in the trash rather that give them positive feedback after that whole experience we had.

Has this survey been sent to anyone else here and were the circumstances similar?

 

[Trogdor]

As far as I can tell, those surveys are random. I've never received one, but I've heard of others that have. They probably pick a segment and a passenger out of a hat (or something similar) and send them a survey regarding that ride.

Not padded, just bad luck, I guess.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Your question make me wonder as the survey I got was for only the small San Deigo LAX Portion and not the whole trip.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

As some of you may know, last month I had a pretty bad experience on a trip Cleveland to Oregon and back.
After several calls to Amtrak, they finally refunded to me the sleeping car portion of the ticket from Portland to Chicago.

I had stated to the persons at Amtrak that we had had problems on all legs of the trip except the Chicago to Cleveland leg.

So last Friday in the mail I recieve a survey from Amtrak requesting my opinion(s) and feedback on ONLY the Chicago to Cleveland portion of my trip.

This was the only portion of the trip where the train wasn't horribly late or stricken with operations problems.

So I ask WHY did they only want to know about the trouble free train ride?

You know, I got so frustrated having to answer the questions honestly with satisfactory or better answers that I wadded the survey up and threw it in the trash rather that give them positive feedback after that whole experience we had.

Has this survey been sent to anyone else here and were the circumstances similar?

The heck with the survey, then. By what I read, it seems your whole trip "sucked" except that one leg! And chances are, despite the usual situations which arise out on the rails (late trains, freight derailments, tresspassers, etc) you had some "bad attitude" treatment from one member or more of the crew(s)! I'm glad to hear they partially refunded your accomodation charge, but did that give you satisfaction? If not, instead of just calls, why not put it all in writing and send it directly to David Gunn's office in WAS DC? I understand he is fairly good about answering his mail. He might take a while, though. It would be worth the try.

I hope you have a better experience should you allow Amtrak the opportunity again. Be well......

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

Probably since I’m on a long-distance train about two full weeks a month (5 trips a month on average), I get one of these surveys about every month. They sure look random to me, and they always concern themselves with a certain segment of a trip, e.g. CHI to DAL rather than all the way to SAS. The form is always the same. I can count on receiving one survey form for every five trips.

 

[Trogdor]

That is strange, as I have ridden several long-distance trains over the last few years (granted not twice a month, but add it all up, and I've been on around 20 LD train segments over the past 3 years), and I've never received such a survey.

I guess it's really random. If someone got a survey for SAN-LAX, then that means they also include corridor trains in their surveys. If that's the case, I've been on over 90 corridor train segments in the last few years, which makes the odds even more likely that I would have received one.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I, too, am sure it is completely random. I have gotten them before and in fact got one over the weekend. It was for the NYP to ATL portion only of my September Canadian trip.

When they ask what I am most concerned about, I usually put "punctuality" even when that segment of the trip has been pucntaul(which it was, in this most recent case).

 

[AKA]

I ask this question back on 28 Oct. I got a survey about my CHI. to CLE.portion only. Just a standard form letter, something like 21 qusetions. Mostly about on board service. Mostly self serving, but how will they know? Funny thing , this trip was great on time even!! Like you say maybe they only ask about the good ones.

 

[tp49]

I guess it's really random. If someone got a survey for SAN-LAX, then that means they also include corridor trains in their surveys. If that's the case, I've been on over 90 corridor train segments in the last few years, which makes the odds even more likely that I would have received one.

They do include corridor service as most of my riding is done on a corridor. 4 RT's a month and I usually get a survey about once a quarter always for a segment short of where I was going. The usual ones I get are SAC-Richmond, CA; SAC-EMY; or SAC-OKJ even though I usually go to FMT.