Amtrak Complaint...

[Myke2010]

So over the summer i purchased my Amtrak tickets way in advance because they are cheaper that way. Anyways a friend of mines passed away so I ended up getting a ride back to Philadelphia that same night instead of next day travel from Baltimore. I called the reservation agent before i left making them aware of my situation & then I had to come back to Philadelphia right away. The agent told me my ticket was good for a year & that it would be no problem.

Fast forward to Christmas weekend before. So I called to confirm that my ticket was still good and so forth. I spoke with another reservation agent, they told me to "sure no problem." They set everything up, so when I get to the station that Fri to exchange my ticket the man told me I would have to pay an additional $74.00 :crickets followed by a blank stare: I explained to him that the agent Wendy told me over the phone that all I had to do was arrive an hour early & i had my reservation code & so forth & switch out my ticket... WRONG. So i ended up have to pay $50.00 on top of the ticket & ride an unreserved coach down to Baltimore, so i was fit to be tide. (Originally i had a Reserved Coach).

Now my gripe is say I didn't have the money to ride down to Baltimore i would have been in trouble, so I am forewarning you if you get a ticket & don't use it, you STILL have to pay a whole fee for a new ticket & the old ticket only applies as a discount towards the current ticket which will cost you an arm & a leg. Long story short get your damn money back for your ticket if you have to cancel because you will be screwed in the long run.

[datDude]

So over the summer i purchased my Amtrak tickets way in advance because they are cheaper that way. Anyways a friend of mines passed away so I ended up getting a ride back to Philadelphia that same night instead of next day travel from Baltimore. I called the reservation agent before i left making them aware of my situation & then I had to come back to Philadelphia right away. The agent told me my ticket was good for a year & that it would be no problem.

Fast forward to Christmas weekend before. So I called to confirm that my ticket was still good and so forth. I spoke with another reservation agent, they told me to "sure no problem." They set everything up, so when I get to the station that Fri to exchange my ticket the man told me I would have to pay an additional $74.00 :crickets followed by a blank stare: I explained to him that the agent Wendy told me over the phone that all I had to do was arrive an hour early & i had my reservation code & so forth & switch out my ticket... WRONG. So i ended up have to pay $50.00 on top of the ticket & ride an unreserved coach down to Baltimore, so i was fit to be tide. (Originally i had a Reserved Coach).

Now my gripe is say I didn't have the money to ride down to Baltimore i would have been in trouble, so I am forewarning you if you get a ticket & don't use it, you STILL have to pay a whole fee for a new ticket & the old ticket only applies as a discount towards the current ticket which will cost you an arm & a leg. Long story short get your damn money back for your ticket if you have to cancel because you will be screwed in the long run.

 

The original agent was technically correct, but left out the important detail that you still have to pay any difference in price. The ticket may still good but you cant lock in that price forever. Think how easy it would be to game the system if you could