Orl-BUF-agent "accidently cancels" res.:(

[BeccaN801]

Left Orlando on train 98 @12/19/04 it was 7 hours late getting in to NYP. :angry: Missed LSL to Buffalo. Went to Amtrak customer service, they said, nothing we can do not a guarenteed connection. I said oh yes it is, when I booked in Sept. i questioned it and even spoke with supervisor who said yep it was. (Had super's name) I went on to say even if I had a 5 hour window I would have missed connection.

At first they refused to put me up in New York , then said all rooms were sold out, finally said, ok we got you a room at Hotel Penn.

We went to Hotel Penn, first room had been used, and second room was worst then first. We checked out and used our own funds and went to the new DOubletree.

Nest day got train to Buffalo all went well.

Called on sunday 12/26 to get correct times for return trip beginning on 12/29, after the agent put me on hold , she came back on and said the agent at NYP customer service" accidently" canceled my return trip and they could not get me back to orl with handicapped space until 1/4. I blew a gasket. After calling customer affairs on Monday in Phildelphia , I was able to get handicap to NYP and viewliner sleeper to FL on 12/30. They waitlisted me for deluxe or handicap sleeper.

After I spent all day and night calling I was able to finally get the same thing on 12/29. ( I had to be to work on 12/31).

Finally at 10:00PM on 12/29 while laying over in DC I was able to get Deluxe bedroom.

Customer affairs was very nice and I have lodged a complaint againt folks in NYP, I found out this is NOT the first time they had done. this.

Glad to be home though.

 

[battalion51]

Sorry about your poor experience. It is surprising that Hotel Penn was a bad experience for you, I've only heard positives about it.

 

[Conrail]

poor thing

 

[lepearso]

Tell me something folks: why do we hear time and time again that the Customer Service people in the big city stations give people such a hard time? This story is one example. I have seen firsthand how the office in Chicago behaves toward people with missed connections, etc. I have read similar stories on various complaint websites. What's the deal? I know that working in customer service has to be an extra-ordinary job because you're dealing front line with people at their very worst. But at the very least they should have an attitude of helpfulness and goodwill on behalf of Amtrak, rather than be so defensive. Maybe I'm wrong on this, or maybe I haven't seen enough to know the whole story. For now though, I think that the big city customer service offices leave something to be desired!

 

[battalion51]

It really depends on who you talk to, and the day of the week. I haven't had much experience with the big city Customer Service, but I hae had some, and it was pretty good. When Amfleet (Jon) lost his cell phone in Chicago over the summer they called to see if it had been turned in, offered to let him call his parents to let them know it had been lost, and I think (IIRC) they even gave him a calling card. It's similar to the airlines on a smaller scale, there are many great employees in this company, unfortunately the bad apples tend to spoil things.

 

[BeccaN801]

I had to deal with Customer service in Union Station in DC and they were

FANTASTIC.

 

Just a few bad apples.