Hello
I'm currently sitting on a Greyhound bus just leaving from Savannah, GA with the next stop being Atlanta, GA. Oh, its 2:02am, Tuesday April 8, 2008. Nope, I didn't plan to be here at this time of night nor am I suffering from sleep walking and accidentally walked to a Greyhound Bus depot.
The Idea
I drove a 26' truck of my "stuff' to Rhonda's house in Jacksonville, Florida several weeks ago. In fact, just last week Rhonda and I were married in a hot-air balloon. You can read about the wedding in the balloon on the postin just prior to this one. Since I couldn't tow my truck behind the U-Haul truck, I decided that taking Greyhound would be a good alternative to more expensive airline tickets. I studied the Greyhound schedules and found a trip taking 18 hours to go from Jacksonville, FL to Cincinnati, OH where my brother would pick me up and bring me to my home where my personal vehicle is.
Take note that the ticket is for leaving at 4:25pm and arriving in Cincinnati at 10:25am the next morning.
First Leg - Jacksonville, FL to Savannah, GA
My ticket said to leave Jacksonville at 4:25pm and arrive in Savannah, GA at 7:00pm. Reality didn't meet expectations at all. If you read Greyhound policy, there is a rule saying "Greyhound will not be responsible for delays caused by breakdowns, road conditions, weather, or other conditions beyond the carriers' control. " That's true, I can understand mechanical failures.
Our bus broke down about 75 miles north of Jacksonville on I-95. That's cool, things happen. But what annoys me is the way Greyhound handled the breakdown and how its handling my trip to Cincinnati.
1. Greyhound claims their not responsible for events beyond their control. the breakdown our bus suffered was not beyond their control; atleast, not completely. The bus was overheating JUST AS IT WAS OVERHEATING BEFORE arriving into jacksonville where it eventually picked me and others up for the trip to Savannah. The mechanic checked it and found nothing wrong. But what I wonder is did the mechanic actually have someone else drive the bus for enough miles to verify the temperature rising was merely a fluke? I wonder why they didn't take the bus out of commission, substituting another bus for ours before we ever left Jacksonville.
2. We wait on the side of the road for about 90 minutes. The driver was doing good at calling his people trying to determine the best course of action. While I didn't hear the conversation on the driver's phone, I could tell it wasn't going well. It seems that there was questions on what people should do and then what people could do and finally, I have lots of questions over what was actually done.
3. Our driver did, what I believe, to be a great course of action. With exasperation at his people, the driver drives and finds an exit. Incidentally, I pulled out my GPS and gave him information on the nearest exit (6.2 miles away) where we could reverse course. I'm not called TimToolMan for nothing! (shameless self-plug lol) The driver took us around heading back to Jacksonville when he had to stop again but he made it to a much safer location - a rest stop.
Finally (and I do mean finalllllyyyy), a replacement bus came with a new driver.
I'm glad to say the rest of the trip to Savannah was uneventful with us finally arriving at about 11pm. In case you don't recall, I was scheduled to arrive at 7:00pm.
Here's where things go south (literally) - Getting to Atlanta
Recognizing the itenary printed wasn't accurate any longer. So, walk up the the bus ticket counter in Savanah. I won't go into detail how I spoke to several people at the counter before talking to someone who actually was a ticket agent. I carefully explained my situation to the woman. I explained how our bus had a mechanical failure and I would like a new itenary showing the rest of my journey and, in particular, the arrival into Cincinnati so I can update my brother.
Was this like asking for gold! First of all, I have to restate my issue and my question several times being sure to re-word it each time trying to use words and key phrases I felt the ticket agent would be able to understand. Now this isn't a case of someone being from another country and ot having full command of the English langauge. This person knew English and was most likely born here but her grasp of concepts was definitely lacking.
Finally, I get an answer, but not one I liked. The ticket agent told me they can't print an itenerary without charging a $15 ticket change fee since I bought non-refundable tickets. I chuckled and explained my situation again and how that it wasn't my fault that the bus had issues and why should I be held liable for wanting to get an updated and accurate itenary.
Her only answer was "you purchased a non-refundable ticket..." and I went several volleys trying to change my working to make my point. It wasn't working. She would tell me the arrival time in Cincinnati but NOT the times for all the miscellaneous stops and definitly NOT print th new itenary out without a $15 change ticket fee.
I thought for a moment and remained very calm knowing that this person was operating at the top of her game - she was doing as good as she could possibly do.
Time to call Customer Service
I decided to call Greyhound's Customer Service number. Calling that number gained me nothing at all. I explained to the service representative what the ticket agent said from the counter. The customer service person did agree the ticket agent was in serious error but the next thing I asked for was still impossible.
I told her that since I was to arrive in Cincinnat at 10:25 am and now I won't arrive until 6:05pm (yes, some 7 hours in additional time), that Greyhound hasn't fulfilled their promise to me and I wanted a refund as well as let me coninue my journey to Cincinnati.
No, because I didn't buy a refundable ticket. Once again, I used the same reasoning I tried with the ticket agent at the counter. Atleast, the customer service representative understood my point but went right back the the non-refundable ticket. I again told her that I wasn't seeking a true refund as much as paying me back for the ticket. "Oh no, we can't do that ...." as her response. I explained that wasn't a case of me changing my mind and not needing a ticket or anything of the like. I explained how Greyhound is causing me much pain and suffering with this long delay to get home. I have to reschedule my brother pciking me up as well as a carpenter to look at doing repairs to my rental house in Cincinnati which, in turn, affects my landlord showing the house and refunding my deposit.
Back to the present
I've put this all down as it was very fresh in my mind. Greyhound is clearly responsible for me being very late. Greyhound is responsble for this, was around 18-hours, trip now taking some 26 hours I do hold Greyhound responsible since the bus that failed was reported to authorities and I don't believe proper procedures were taken nor was the best interest of the customer taken into account.
Later on, I will share about some good things from the trip. But its now 2:45am and I'm getting tired.
Thanks and really try to avoid Greyhound like the plague.
Tim
