Useless Amtrak voucher?

[D.P. Roberts]

After I complained to Amtrak about an unpleasant experience aboard the SWC last summer, they gave the matter some serious consideration... and after several months, sent me a voucher for $25.

It's a very nice voucher. It looks a lot like a check, and has a very official-looking hologram thingee in the corner, as well as some very important looking numbers. And I actually have two of them, since my spouse received one as well.

So, we have $50 in Amtrak vouchers. They expire in August 2015.

The problem is I have no idea what to do with them. I live three hours from the nearest Amtrak station, so we only use Amtrak for long distance travel. The only trip we have planned before August 2015 has already been paid for with AGR points. I'm not going to book another LD trip just to save $50, so it's useless in that regard.

So, my question to all you Amtrak pros out there - is there anything else I can do with this voucher? The directions on the back state that it's for Amtrak travel, but is there anything else Amtrak-related I can use it for, such as food onboard the train, souvenirs on Amtrak's website, or anything?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Short of sending the Voucher to one of us (LOL)booking a Paid trip on Amtrak before the expiration date is the only way to use these "good will" vouchers!

Not sure if you're closer to Atlanta or Savannah but maybe you could fit in a quickie trip on a Train before they expire??

 

[John Bredin]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the voucher could be used in August 2015 to buy tickets for a trip up to 11 months from date of purchase, right? So as long as you don't forget to make plans by August 2015, you could be making your voucher-paid trip as late as July 2016.

 

[City of Miami]

You can also make a reservation that costs about $50, pay for it with the vouchers, then cancel it sometime before the travel date. You will get a new voucher good for 1 year from the cancellation date. It extends the time before the vouchers expire.

 

[Chey]

I once bought a ticket to go somewhere and then had to cancel it, and got a paper voucher. I'm kind of in the same situation except that I'm 5-6 hours from the nearest station so I don't travel by train nearly as much as I like. And I think I had to bring it to a station to use it, which was kind of irritating But it looked like I was going to get to go somewhere else about 4 months later so I bought another fare using the voucher as partial payment. Same thing happened again and I had to cancel again so I got another voucher (this time an e-voucher, which can be used to pay or partially pay a fare online). But interestingly, that started the clock anew on using the voucher. And within a year I was able to use it for a trip that I actually got to go on.

But personally, I like Jim's solution better

This has me wondering now, have they changed things so that a paper voucher can be used for an online fare purchase? I sure hope so.

 

[oregon pioneer]

I got one of those "goodwill vouchers" after an uncomfortable bustitution from PDX to SPK last winter. Like D.P. and one of the other posters, I live several hours from the nearest Amtrak station. When I explained this to the Customer relations agent, she said she could not send me an e-voucher, but she could keep the paper one "on file" for me till expiration, and gave me the case number. I plan to call and try to use it in December, for a trip next November. I have the info in my calendar. I sure hope they can find it when I need it.

 

[Barciur]

Listening to these stories definitely makes me appreciate how lucky I am to live a mile away from Amtrak station with regular Keystone service!

 

[AG1]

I got one of those "goodwill vouchers" after an uncomfortable bustitution from PDX to SPK last winter. Like D.P. and one of the other posters, I live several hours from the nearest Amtrak station. When I explained this to the Customer relations agent, she said she could not send me an e-voucher, but she could keep the paper one "on file" for me till expiration, and gave me the case number. I plan to call and try to use it in December, for a trip next November. I have the info in my calendar. I sure hope they can find it when I need it.

I had a "on file" voucher with a case number from Customer Relations. It was a pain to go through CR too book a trip as they had to call Customer Service to do the reservation. I then had a balance left that I forgot about and lost when it expired.

 

[diesteldorf]

I don't know if this will still work, but a couple years ago, I had a friend in a similar situation. She had transportation vouchers and no way to use them.

I was going to Chicago and knew I would have easy access to a ticket agent.

She mailed me the vouchers and then created a reservation with her name and MY NAME.

When I showed up in Chicago, the agent saw both our names on the reservation, asked me for ID, and happily accepted her transportation certificates as credit.

Provided that would still work, it could be your best option. If you end up not taking the trip, you could cancel over the phone and get a corresponding Evoucher that you could redeem directly on the website.

 

[PaulM]

The travel voucher situation is a case of adding insult to injury. Amtrak gives them out as a goodwill gesture for bad service, hoping to keep you as a customer. Then it makes it difficult to use them for those not living near a station, which would typically be LD passengers where most of the problems occur.

I don't understand why, if exchange vouchers can be applied via the internet, why travel vouchers can't.

 

[oregon pioneer]

The travel voucher situation is a case of adding insult to injury. Amtrak gives them out as a goodwill gesture for bad service, hoping to keep you as a customer. Then it makes it difficult to use them for those not living near a station, which would typically be LD passengers where most of the problems occur.

I don't understand why, if exchange vouchers can be applied via the internet, why travel vouchers can't.

I agree, that's kind of how I felt. Not only are they not usable on the internet, they aren't usable by phone either, and if you don't live near a station, those are the ONLY choices. Couldn't they put an identifying number on them so we could call them in?? Even LL Bean can handle it that way!

 

[PupfosterG]

I just made a online, reservation, paid, then realized I made a mistake. I immediately canceled reservation. Hoping for a credit on my card, but instead I received an email for a voucher. I called 800# but I they said I have to wait until Monday to talk to refunds. I really don't need a voucher ? Any easy way out of this?

 

[rrdude]

Depends upon the TYPE of reservation you made, SAVER, FLEXIBLE, etc., etc. AND how far out your rezzie is.

 

[jis]

Here is another case where airlines are now apparently required to let you cancel within 24 hours of making a reservation and paying for it, without any penalty, even for fully non-refundable fares. Amtrak is yet to catch up with that, partly because there is no "rail passenger's bill of rights". Amtrak does whatever it feels like and gets away with it.