Trip from Hell (Revisited)

[pismobum]

Many of you weren't on the net when I first posted this. Seeing the subject resurrected based on the recent CZ accident, though it would be a good time to revisit the item. Have never seen one to top this (and in retrospect, find it hard to beleive I actually went through it!)

enjoy (or shudder):

http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/swiss2

 

[jmbgeg]

Many of you weren't on the net when I first posted this. Seeing the subject resurrected based on the recent CZ accident, though it would be a good time to revisit the item. Have never seen one to top this (and in retrospect, find it hard to beleive I actually went through it!)
enjoy (or shudder):

http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/swiss2

Beyond comprehension. I would demand not only full refund of the duplicate charges but vouchers for future travel equal to the cost of the entire itinerary. Whether you get that generous a settlement is anybody's guess.

What would the hotel have done if your mother's credit card was not available to settle the bill? Scary.

While I have a good friend who is a travel agent, I quit buying Amtrak tickets through him because it is a lot easier to make changes or identify problems if only Amtrak is involved in the transaction chain of custody.

 

[JayPea]

Ugh! What a mess!!! As much as I love Amtrak, I don't know if I'd ever have had the courage to ever try a trip on Amtrak again after that. I hope everything got straightened out for you in the end.

 

[TVRM610]

The good news is that some things have improved since this... I well remember taking trips like this (not AS bad... but of this style of service and delays). Amtrak has really come a long way.... most of my trips lately have been very close to on-time and had decent-excellent service.

 

[EB_OBS]

Wow! That was a pretty horrendous adventure. I read almost all of it but I didn't see any dates anywhere. When was this?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Wow! That was a pretty horrendous adventure. I read almost all of it but I didn't see any dates anywhere. When was this?

It was in the summer of 1999 per his post!Where did the past 10 yrs. go and as someone said

havent things improved on AMTRAK!Is the reason the NARP was stopped due to problems like this,?

I used one in 2004 to visit Canada and the NE and it was a real bargain!No problems what-so-ever!

This absolutely has to be the biggest SNAFU eve,might make a good movie! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[jackal]

Many of you weren't on the net when I first posted this. Seeing the subject resurrected based on the recent CZ accident, though it would be a good time to revisit the item. Have never seen one to top this (and in retrospect, find it hard to beleive I actually went through it!)
enjoy (or shudder):

http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/swiss2

So...what actually happened? Can you let us know what Amtrak did to (hopefully) make it right? Did they correctly refund what shouldn't have been charged, and did they admit responsibility and give you some (hopefully big-value) vouchers?

Some of the things--A/C, toilets, etc.--I can understand, since Amtrak is under-funded (though the "resetting the A/C is NOT my job" attitude of the conductor, which is all-too-common with unionized employees, infuriates me), but the BIG mistakes with ticketing/reservations have no excuses.

Please do let us know!

 

[Ryan]

I read this a while back - great writeup of a truly horrible journey.

 

[wayman]

Wow! That was a pretty horrendous adventure. I read almost all of it but I didn't see any dates anywhere. When was this?

It was in the summer of 1999 per his post!Where did the past 10 yrs. go and as someone said

havent things improved on AMTRAK!Is the reason the NARP was stopped due to problems like this,?

I wish the date were clearer in the write-up--it's only quietly mentioned once as part of the date of the original credit card charge. Since something like this could easily come up on a Google search, a first paragraph making it clear that "This horror story happened in summer 1999. While Amtrak is still far from perfect, many things have changed for the better since then!" would be helpful. Assuming the author agrees that many things have changed for the better, of course.

What do you mean by "NARP was stopped"?

 

[haolerider]

Wow! That was a pretty horrendous adventure. I read almost all of it but I didn't see any dates anywhere. When was this?

It was in the summer of 1999 per his post!Where did the past 10 yrs. go and as someone said

havent things improved on AMTRAK!Is the reason the NARP was stopped due to problems like this,?

I wish the date were clearer in the write-up--it's only quietly mentioned once as part of the date of the original credit card charge. Since something like this could easily come up on a Google search, a first paragraph making it clear that "This horror story happened in summer 1999. While Amtrak is still far from perfect, many things have changed for the better since then!" would be helpful. Assuming the author agrees that many things have changed for the better, of course.

What do you mean by "NARP was stopped"?

I have to agree that a re-hash of this story accomplishes nothing - especially an issue that is over 10years old. We don't know what Amtrak did for the passenger, we don't know what his travel agent did or did not do, etc. To the random reader, who is not careful about details such as dates might think this happened last week.

I also am curious about the reference to NARP being stopped.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I

Wow! That was a pretty horrendous adventure. I read almost all of it but I didn't see any dates anywhere. When was this?

It was in the summer of 1999 per his post!Where did the past 10 yrs. go and as someone said

havent things improved on AMTRAK!Is the reason the NARP was stopped due to problems like this,?

I wish the date were clearer in the write-up--it's only quietly mentioned once as part of the date of the original credit card charge. Since something like this could easily come up on a Google search, a first paragraph making it clear that "This horror story happened in summer 1999. While Amtrak is still far from perfect, many things have changed for the better since then!" would be helpful. Assuming the author agrees that many things have changed for the better, of course.

What do you mean by "NARP was stopped"?

I have to agree that a re-hash of this story accomplishes nothing - especially an issue that is over 10years old. We don't know what Amtrak did for the passenger, we don't know what his travel agent did or did not do, etc. To the random reader, who is not careful about details such as dates might think this happened last week.

I also am curious about the reference to NARP being stopped.

I was referencing the North American Rail Pass that used to allow you unlimited travel for x amount of days

on AMTRAK and VIA with at least one mandatory trip on VIA or AMTRAK!It used to be very reasonable (I think

the guy mentioned $405 for Seniors in 1999)for Coach Travel. One could upgrade to BC or sleepers on the

train or with agents!As far as I can tell this doesnt exist anymore,you have to buy seperate passes and

the VIA one is pricey :lol: compared to AMTRAK!Sorry about the mix up,guess yall thought I was refering to

N.A.R.P. society?Wish theyd bring it back,does anyone know why they stopped it?

 

[daveyb99]

enjoy (or shudder):http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/swiss2

"wanted to make a complex 17 day trip with lots of sleepers around US and Canada, so made reservations thru USA-RAIL. Original res was mis-priced so I called back and someone else re-figured prices (original booking had not used thru-pricing on sleepers LAX-JAX)"

so what the amount of the "mis-priced" ticket. And was it worth creating this huge mess. I bet not.

Other than the ticketing issues, I read nothing so bad as to qualify the title "from Hell".

What a waste of my time.

 

[pismobum]

Yes - travel agency refunded the cost of the car rental as a 'goodwill' gesture, and Amtrak issued a 100% refund of the trip (not a voucher). This writeup went to numerous upper level management types and apparently was 'beyond the pale' of what they expected to happen to passengers.

As to 'purpose' of the 10-yr old post? Quite often disgruntled passengers post 'trip from hell' items due to smelly restrooms, rude staff, shortage of food, etc. Thought some might enjoy seeing what happened when it ALL turned to !?><%^?@!

And note that at the end of the post there was a link to a later NARP trip of about the same length that was MUCH better although there were still some issues with ticketing, food, customs, etc etc.