Poor handling of Customer dispute by Amtrak

[Northwestern]

Stories like this tends to make me very reluctant to recommend Amtrak to anyone.

After a “traumatic nightmare” on Amtrak, can I get my money back?

Kimberli Eicher and her daughter just experienced the worst Amtrak train ride imaginable. It was so bad that they canceled their return trip and flew home.

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I agree they wern't entitled to a refund. However, I think Amtrak management should have given them a partial refund if they had any concern about customer relations and customer satisfaction.

Richard

 

[Qapla]

It's interesting that we seldom see headlines/stories about those who had very satisfactory trips/experiences

 

[Steve4031]

It is the same with air travel. There are many trips that go well on Amtrak, but these are not newsworthy. Nor our the thousands of flights that take off and land on time and with no drama on board.

 

[Mailliw]

Her story has some holes in it. Did she actually tell anybody on the train she was supposed to be in a sleeping car or did she just sit in coach and fume?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It's interesting that we seldom see headlines/stories about those who had very satisfactory trips/experiences

Maybe not from actual customers but airlines and hotel chains often cite high approval ratings for almost everything they do. Just like when Anderson was attempting to refute claims that passengers were unimpressed with his new meal service. I've always found those results a little suspect so I started paying more attention after my flights and hotel stays. If you look closely you'll notice that after each question there are five or so responses but only one or two that are genuinely negative. So the answers will look something like this...

[ ]Amazing [ ]Great [ ]Good [ ]Okay [ ]Poor​

They also tend to ask the same question in more than one way and since they rarely release the full survey I suspect they simply weed out the lower scoring questions before publishing anything or speaking to the press.

Her story has some holes in it. Did she actually tell anybody on the train she was supposed to be in a sleeping car or did she just sit in coach and fume?

Just to be clear, you're wondering if someone who contacted Amtrak twice, wrote a trip report for her bank or credit issuer, and enlisted the help of a travel journalist/ombudsman may have chosen to remain silent during the actual trip? Seems a little unlikely to me. Then again I've seen Amtrak staff shout at customers with such authority and indifference to social norms that they never made a peep thereafter.

 

[Steve4031]

There are people on this forum who admit that they like some of the contemporary dining choices. So even though I absolutely abhor it some people like it. So it’s hard to empirically state that it’s a failure.

 

[The Commissioner]

It's interesting that we seldom see headlines/stories about those who had very satisfactory trips/experiences

When the dog bites the man, it's not news. When the man bites the dog, it is news.