Monday, May 12, 2008
The story of how Greyhound Lines, Inc. ruined my 7 month backpacking trip and the hell I went through because of Greyhound corporate policies.
After booking my ticket online, I arrived at the Shreveport Bus station where I at the misfortune of having Gloria, an older lady who apparently has been working at this bus station for a number of years and has gained the reputation of “she’s just mean.” Usually I write down my confirmation numbers for things, however, I didn’t find the Greyhound ticket confirmation number among all the other numbers I wrote down for my trip to Panama. Gloria, who apparently didn’t want to provide any assistance which would take her away from being able to watch her Television show or do anything that required thought wasn’t able to find my ticket information. I’m sure it’s because she didn’t know how to utilize the computer system. Then it was a 15-minute wait on the Greyhound 800 number before I was able to reach a live person to provide assistance. I was finally able to obtain my confirmation number (2969150101) and returned to the then extremely long waiting line at the ticket counter. It seems that Dorothy and Gloria were more involved in having a conversation about personal things and watching the television then assisting customers, and Dorothy kept going back to the other office and didn’t help with the long line of customers. Almost everyone in line was complaining about the bad service. I was finally able to reach the counter after a 20-minute wait and obtain my ticket. I’m not sure what the form was that I signed, but I believed it was the confirmation signature for my ticket purchase.
The time came to board the bus, so again I waited in line. I set my large backpack in the line for the baggage handler to load it on the bus. I waited to watch to make sure it was actually loaded on the bus, which it was along with a number of other bags. Thirteen hours later I arrived in Atlanta, the first stop that required a change of buses and where I was to claim my large backpack so I could check it on the next bus. However, my backpack had been taken off the bus that I was on some where along the trip. I complained at the ticket counter, they sent me to a man in customer service and he sent me to check with a man in the baggage department. My backpack wasn’t to be found. Not one of the employees of Greyhound were concerned that my backpack had been taken off the bus and informed me that I couldn’t file a complaint until I reached my destination. While I was complaining to the baggage handler he proceeded to inform me of Greyhound’s policy about baggage, that they would often remove bags from a bus to make room for their express package deliveries, or other bags and then put the removed bags on another bus which would arrive at a different time than the bus I was on.
On Tuesday, May 13th, I arrived in Orlando, Florida, and wasn’t surprised that my backpack wasn’t there. I complained at the ticket counter and was finally able to get a complaint form, but according to the form it was to be completed by a Greyhound employee and not the customer. I completed the form and handed it to the lady at the ticket counter who just threw it on the counter. The only employee that even tried to provide service was George in Orlando. No one at Greyhound was able to inform me when my backpack would arrive and because I was supposed to be catching a flight early the next morning for Panama I couldn’t wait. Well, this and the fact that while on the bus someone stole my wallet and the bus driver (Cleveland Brown) wouldn’t stop to allow me to file a police report and if he would have stopped then I would have been able to recover my wallet from one of the three people who stole it on the bus. Thus I had to call my family collect to get them to buy a return ticket (Conf. # 3009511701to Shreveport while I awaited my lost backpack and reorder all of the missing items from my wallet. I left Orlando on Greyhound at 8:50 pm that same evening very frustrated, upset, and distraught over the lack of customer service by Greyhound. I could have continued with my trip had my backpack arrived with me, but since I didn’t know when it would arrive I had to return to Louisiana. I arrived Wednesday, May 14th, in Shreveport over an hour late.
Thursday was spent filing a complaint online through the Greyhound online system and trying to reach a live person with Greyhound to find my lost backpack. After a 30-minute wait on the Greyhound 800 number I was given another number to call (214-849-6246 the Package Department). I called and spoke with a woman who provided me a Customer ID number (1377828) so I could always use that number to talk to anyone at Greyhound. She wasn’t able to inform me where my backpack was located so I insisted upon her providing me a number to talk to a supervisor. She gave me 214-849-8218, which is only a recorded message where you can leave a voice message. I left a message and waited for a return phone call. Friday I was even more upset so my sister suggested I call one number up or down from the other number, which I did and was able to reach an operator (she refused to give me her name and said that her name didn’t matter, but I spoke to her at 4:42 pm) and she, like all the other employees of Greyhound, didn’t know what customer service was and refused to help me. She just transferred me back to the voice message system. I called back and asked her to connect with me a live person, I didn’t care whom, but someone who could help me. I finally reached Mrs. Jimmerson in the Executive Offices. Mrs. Jimmerson was reluctant to provide me with her name. I gave her my customer ID number, she looked it up and said that my backpack had arrived in Orlando on May 15th (that’s one whole day after I had arrived and it arrived after I would have caught my flight, the same flight I had to cancel because Greyhound lost my backpack.). I informed her that there was no legitimate reason that my backpack should have been taken off of the bus that I was traveling upon and that my luggage should always be on the same bus I was on. She then stated that it was Greyhound’s policy not to consider luggage lost for 24 to 48 hours after it was reported missing. According to the official Greyhound Package department after they receive a complaint they have 30 days to send you a letter in the mail with your Customer ID number before you would be allowed to contact Greyhound, and I informed Mrs. Jimmerson that that time frame was unacceptable. She said that she would have my bag put on the next bus to Shreveport, but that they would not deliver it to the address where I was waiting. I requested a refund of the two tickets and she told me that Greyhound would not refund for lost baggage. I informed her that if Greyhound was responsible for me not being able to take my 7 month backpacking trip then they were responsible for refunding the ticket prices.
Thus, after several days of calling the Shreveport bus station my backpack arrived today, Thursday, May 22, 2008. Upon my arrival at the Shreveport bus station I didn’t find anyone at the ticket counter. I called out for someone and Dorothy peeked her head around a door and said that I would have to wait 30 minutes because she was on her lunch break. I told her that was unacceptable, especially after everything else I had been through with Greyhound. I could see my backpack sitting just past the counter. I walked around the building looking for a door to go get my backpack, but they were all locked. I returned to the ticket counter and told Dorothy that I supposed I would have to crawl over the counter to get my backpack, and she said she would call the police and have me arrested, I told her to go ahead that I was sure that the media would just love to hear all of this horrible tale, which she was now making worse by refusing to provide any level of service. Angrily she approached the counter and took my baggage claim ticket (DM869597), returned through a side door and threw my backpack on the floor some ways away from where I was standing and then disappeared again. I checked the backpack to make sure everything was still in it and left.
To date I am out the following funds because of Greyhound’s baggage policies, the fact that they lost my backpack, and were responsible for me not being able to make my flight connections:
First Bus Ticket: $68.00
Second Bus Ticket: $168.00
Airline Ticket: $405.00
Change of Airline Ticket: $75.00
It seems that any company that isn’t capable of responsibly handling people’s baggage, and from my research there are many such stories, then they shouldn’t be allowed to operate. It is time that Greyhound was held accountable for the number of people’s lives they have hurt because of their corporate policies.
Therefore I hope you will consider assisting me in a Call to Action against Greyhound. You can read more on the website I’ve created to bring together all of the people affected by Greyhound. Part of the website is to provide a comprehensive listing of other bus services that people can take so no one ever has to take a Greyhound bus again. Either we get Greyhound to change their policies or we run them out of business.
