STILL no 2013 Select Package - RIDICULOUS!

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
After reading through this whole topic.. I gotta ask.. Are you sure you earned select status for the year? I think that's the only good explanation for not receiving a packet. Call me whatever but my gut says you didn't earn Select Status.
 
Acela150 said:
After reading through this whole topic.. I gotta ask.. Are you sure you earned select status for the year? I think that's the only good explanation for not receiving a packet. Call me whatever but my gut says you didn't earn Select Status.
Click to expand...
The fact that the OP earned Select Status is not in question. AGR Insider acknowledged that.
 
My two cents:

The elite membership credentials and materials are benefits earned by what has to be the top 5th percentile of all Amtrak customers. As such, one would think that a process would be in place to ensure, to the extent possible, that the materials owed to those customers are sent in a timely manner. The default failure in the mailing process should not be to do nothing and wait for the call (and in this case, get the call, fail again, and do nothing again).

Were I in charge of the world (shudder at the thought), I would have the fulfillment company (likely a private firm, by the way) prepare an exceptions report for every mailing. The exceptions report would list all the unfulfilled mailings and the reason why those mailings were not made. Then, someone could parse that report, highlight silly stuff like duplicate ZIP+4 codes, manually override the exception, and get those sent out. I’d rather have a handful of actual mailings end up in the wrong place than have all the questioned mailings not even go out in the first place for fear that a couple might get mislaid.

The other aspect is that there should be a way for AGR to force out a single or handful of special elite membership mailings on an ASAP basis rather than have to simply dump issues like this back into the hopper for the next regular process. Yeah, I guess that would cost a few dollars more, but in cases like this, they have already failed to provide a promised benefit to one of their best customers, so that would seem to me to be a justification of the cost, and an indication to those customers that Amtrak cares.
 
OP, I'm just curious if you've tried to get the USPS to correct the zip code problem at your location. If they correct it in their database, then wouldn't that solve the problem, though not necessariloy for this particular mailing?
 
AmtrakBlue said:
OP, I'm just curious if you've tried to get the USPS to correct the zip code problem at your location. If they correct it in their database, then wouldn't that solve the problem, though not necessariloy for this particular mailing?
Click to expand...
That's my next project, having been blissfully unaware of these two long-dormant or obsolete ZIP+4 codes until yesterday. I'm left wondering still, though, why no one else has ever had problems getting mail to me. A thorough review last night revealed various mailings using two of the three Zip+4's, but not the third. My incredulity is to the logic of if there are three, don't send to ANY! That piece of brilliance is due to a decision by either Amtrak or their fulfillment vendor.
 
Acela150 said:
After reading through this whole topic.. I gotta ask.. Are you sure you earned select status for the year? I think that's the only good explanation for not receiving a packet. Call me whatever but my gut says you didn't earn Select Status.
Click to expand...
Yes, in fact I was within shouting distance of Select Plus.
 
By the way, My "union employee" rant is NOT about AGR Insider, who is a peach among peaches, nor aimed at the mailing house vendor per se, although Dante Aligheri may have written of a special level of hell for them had he known them, but rather at the seemingly disinterested front line phone "support staff" (allegedly) at the Philly-based AGR Select "special" phone line. If they're the cream of the crop, for Select members, I shudder to imagine....
 
Here's the counter to the very good argument, "What do you expect? Running one for you only?"

This is not a regular new rider generic AGR membership card. This is a Select package. We're not quite half way through the year. How many Select packages could they possibly need to run? If someone is newly Select eligible already in 2013, chances are they're going to be Plus or Executive by year-end anyway. Eligibility is based on calendar year business. At the BEST circumstances, needing to run ANY Select kits is likely pretty close to a one-off by its very nature.
 
FWIW, on FlyerTalk, there is another AGR client, who goes by the handle "ne52" having EXACTLY the same problem I am. There is a serious "decision tree" issue at work here. I would like to know that Amtrak will put as much effort into correcting this on a macro basis, so it doesn't repeat, for ANYONE, as AGR Insider is on a "retail level" micro basis. I'm sure AGR Insider has other duties she can better apply herself to. Life is too short to tie good people up with cleaning up the messes made by poor systemic decision-making.
 
VKurtB said:
By the way, My "union employee" rant is NOT about AGR Insider, who is a peach among peaches, nor aimed at the mailing house vendor per se, although Dante Aligheri may have written of a special level of hell for them had he known them, but rather at the seemingly disinterested front line phone "support staff" (allegedly) at the Philly-based AGR Select "special" phone line. If they're the cream of the crop, for Select members, I shudder to imagine....
Click to expand...
Actually you could find yourself talking to someone in California or Philly. In fact I believe that the larger AGR facility is in California; so the odds are good that you're getting someone in CA.
 
VKurtB said:
Here's the counter to the very good argument, "What do you expect? Running one for you only?"
This is not a regular new rider generic AGR membership card. This is a Select package. We're not quite half way through the year. How many Select packages could they possibly need to run? If someone is newly Select eligible already in 2013, chances are they're going to be Plus or Executive by year-end anyway. Eligibility is based on calendar year business. At the BEST circumstances, needing to run ANY Select kits is likely pretty close to a one-off by its very nature.
Click to expand...
I fully understand that you're not a new member. Doesn't change the fact that they run off new cards for all program levels once a month. And if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that there are easily 20 to 30 newly minted select members each month of the year. Probably a dozen or so newly minted Select Plus members per month and 2 or 3 new Select Exec's each month. And I would not be at all surprised to learn that my estimates are low. They're not gearing up the machinery for just you.

Yes, February is their biggest month no question. But new people join AGR all the time and start riding enough to quickly rise through the ranks. Other's take an extra trip that maybe they hadn't expected to take and that bumps them up a level; etc. If AGR was only requesting 1 or 2 new cards a month, I rather doubt that the vendor would even accept such a small order.
 
It seems to me that there is a modest issue of "procedural autopilot" here. It is nothing terribly unusual (sadly), but the easiest way out of this would be to allow you to pick either one of the Zip+4s for use, drop the Zip+4 in this case, or allow you to pick a different Zip+4.

Sadly, this sort of thing is not terribly uncommon, but at least it isn't "just" AGR or Amtrak (or, indeed, public sector entities).
 
AlanB said:
VKurtB said:
Here's the counter to the very good argument, "What do you expect? Running one for you only?"
This is not a regular new rider generic AGR membership card. This is a Select package. We're not quite half way through the year. How many Select packages could they possibly need to run? If someone is newly Select eligible already in 2013, chances are they're going to be Plus or Executive by year-end anyway. Eligibility is based on calendar year business. At the BEST circumstances, needing to run ANY Select kits is likely pretty close to a one-off by its very nature.
Click to expand...
I fully understand that you're not a new member. Doesn't change the fact that they run off new cards for all program levels once a month. And if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that there are easily 20 to 30 newly minted select members each month of the year. Probably a dozen or so newly minted Select Plus members per month and 2 or 3 new Select Exec's each month. And I would not be at all surprised to learn that my estimates are low. They're not gearing up the machinery for just you.

Yes, February is their biggest month no question. But new people join AGR all the time and start riding enough to quickly rise through the ranks. Other's take an extra trip that maybe they hadn't expected to take and that bumps them up a level; etc. If AGR was only requesting 1 or 2 new cards a month, I rather doubt that the vendor would even accept such a small order.
Click to expand...
However, after dropping the ball twice, AGR owes this member some accommodation, even if that means "gearing up the machinery." They are not building a Ferrari. They are printing off a card, adding some paperwork, and putting it in an envelope. Right now this material is almost four months late. If the vendor will not accept such a small order, they need another vendor. Providing required one-off's on demand should be part of the deal.

And, while they're at it, why not provide Select through 2015 as a gesture of good will?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, goldern it, PRR 60, that's a right neighborly suggestion, but as a daily LNC-HAR Keystone commuter on monthly passes, Select is a no challenge status. The only question is whether I have enough a la carte trips to swing PLUS.
 
AlanB said:
VKurtB said:
By the way, My "union employee" rant is NOT about AGR Insider, who is a peach among peaches, nor aimed at the mailing house vendor per se, although Dante Aligheri may have written of a special level of hell for them had he known them, but rather at the seemingly disinterested front line phone "support staff" (allegedly) at the Philly-based AGR Select "special" phone line. If they're the cream of the crop, for Select members, I shudder to imagine....
Click to expand...
Actually you could find yourself talking to someone in California or Philly. In fact I believe that the larger AGR facility is in California; so the odds are good that you're getting someone in CA.
Click to expand...
Yes, but the Philly local dialect is fairly distinctive, and I grew up in the Philly media market. The Philly "at-ee-tood" is also pretty unmistakable.
 
VKurtB said:
AlanB said:
VKurtB said:
By the way, My "union employee" rant is NOT about AGR Insider, who is a peach among peaches, nor aimed at the mailing house vendor per se, although Dante Aligheri may have written of a special level of hell for them had he known them, but rather at the seemingly disinterested front line phone "support staff" (allegedly) at the Philly-based AGR Select "special" phone line. If they're the cream of the crop, for Select members, I shudder to imagine....
Click to expand...
Actually you could find yourself talking to someone in California or Philly. In fact I believe that the larger AGR facility is in California; so the odds are good that you're getting someone in CA.
Click to expand...
Yes, but the Philly local dialect is fairly distinctive, and I grew up in the Philly media market. The Philly "at-ee-tood" is also pretty unmistakable.
Click to expand...
Wadda ya mean by dat? :p
 
Just to "close the circle", AGR Insider did come through. My Select package arrived July 9, with coupons expiring July 31, 2014!! (A nice touch.) As of now, my posted and unposted TQP's for 2013 are 4,634 with another 200 in booked and purchased trips TQP's. With my August monthly pass, I'll be already over the top for Select for 2014. Plus, here I come!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top