Personally, I had thought the days of “Caveat Emptor” were far behind us. Warranties, insurance, refunds, and receipts–it’s impossible for a corporation to steal from one of the little people these days, isn’t it? I must have gotten too comfortable in this belief though, because this weekend Greyhound decided to show me who really is the boss. After purchasing bus tickets three weeks in advance and receiving a 14-day advance rate of $58 rather than $88, I was feeling pretty excellent about my decision to return to North Carolina over Columbus Day weekend. So there I was, one hour early just like the website advised, standing in line at Gate 6 to board my bus. Ten minutes before the bus was supposed to leave, the line began to move forward.
And eight minutes later, the line stopped. With just two girls in front of me destined for Florida, an apathetic young gentleman informed us that sorry, the bus had been overbooked and we would not be allowed on. I double-checked my ticket. Yes, I was right– this was indeed the 2:35 p.m. bus I had paid for three weeks ago. And it would take me to the 6:15 p.m. bus I had also paid for, but would be impossible for me to catch if I were to wait around for another Greyhound to depart. I questioned the validity of this to the attendant on hand, and received the helpful suggestion that I could leave my belongings on the floor and go off elsewhere for a few hours to mark my spot in line for the next bus.
Another hour’s wait in line to reach the customer service desk brought me the next rude reality: that despite the bus tickets I held in my hand with the exact times printed out that I had paid for and despite the fact that I had simply been unlucky enough not to have been standing in front of the Florida twins rather than behind, I was ineligible for a refund because I had bought my tickets in advance. When has thinking ahead of time paid off so poorly before? Perhaps Greyhound encourages an atmosphere of spontaneity. They surely can’t encourage an atmosphere of anything resembling actual customer service, because I left that afternoon feeling as though I had never been treated quite so poorly by personnel in my life. When I informed them that there was no possible way I could wait for two more hours to take the next bus headed to Richmond, VA, which would simply leave me stranded to wait for whatever was headed to Raleigh, NC, next, I was merely given something resembling a sneer and then a long yawn.
So that was that. I walked out of the Greyhound bus depot two hours after I arrived, $58 poorer, and with no physical capabilities of getting myself to North Carolina that weekend. Those who had made plans for my arrival were let down and had to readjust their weekends, and I had to decide what to do with myself now that I was unable to go.
Next time, I think I might try Amtrak.
-Alison Crowley, staff writer. Photo from Flickr user NCBrian.
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You are not out your entire amount. I think they have some sort of fee (like 15%) that they keep; but you are refunded the difference. Their website has the form to fill out to receive your money. Have to do it in the mail it seems.
As for the not being able to get on the bus; once the bus is full, there is not much they can do unless it is a large number of people left that would make it cost-effective to use another bus on the same schedule. Airlines overbook too, though you are treated better as a customer……usually. It is always best to try and travel on a schedule prior to the one you need to get on when there are connections to be made! Often you can get to your connection point, and come across the same bad situation as in this case; a full bus!!
Blame it on a company and its “bottom line” approach to business……. which, seemingly, is how this company seems to function.
I am a greyhound driver, there is a policy that if a schedule is overbooked a passenger is entitled to a full refund, only if the ticket is for that schedule. there are vouchers for food (at a greyhound station), ticket (next trip) and hotel (if u have a long delay for the next schedule). But like Charlie said “Airlines overbook” even Amtrak overbooks, Tickets are sold on a first come and first serve basis, there is no reservation system (which is stated on the internet) a person or a family of 10 could purchase a ticket to leave on monday for the 4 pm bus and decide they want to leave later that day or earlier, or even leave days, weeks or months later and if they report to the station ahead of you, they will be seated before u.
I have ridden on Greyhound many times, and for the most part I have to agree that the people working there are not really there to “help” you, but they are there to do their job. I think that the thing with grehound is to make sure that you are in front of the line and ready to move so that you can get on that bus.
That happened to my brother on 2 occasions and my sister’s boyfriend. They were both left standing at the bus station with 6 other people who couldn’t understand how they bought a ticket in advance and still weren’t on the bus. So my brother and sister’s boyfriend ended up having to drive an extra 2-3 hours to make the same bus. How is that fair to us? I bet if you weren’t a bus driver and it happened to you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it. Of course you stand up for it because you are the bus driver, but honestly get in the customer’s shoes. Think of how pissed off you would be if you found out that you paid for your tickets a month in advance only to be told at the bus that you can’t get on because its full. Its greedy and selfish. Tell me its not. You’d be lying if you said it isn’t. And he said he couldn’t refund you. That isn’t even right. Amtrak and Greyhound should follow the same type of guidelines as the airlines would. You pay for your ticket and you’re GUARANTEED a seat on that plane.
I am a greyhound employee and I feel obligated to let people know of the double hit that greyhound takes when it comes to this problem. I have people coming to me all day complaining now that they can no longer use thier ticket for any trip of the year, since now you may travel only on the selected date of your ticket, but any time of that day. I also have the complaint that we cannot guarantee the seat of any bus from our depot, here in Merritt. Now how can greyhound make both sides of this argument happy? There is no way… Either there is exact date and schedule ticketing, to appease those wanting gauranteed seating, or there is no enforced rule, and those who do not know the date of travel are made happy.
I have been yelled at for both sides of this argument, so I don’t really care which way they decide to go, I would just prefer that they choose one, that way someone is happy at least.
This happened to my husband who was on leave from the military. Both him and another marine were starnded due to an over booking even though both of them had made advance reservations.They had arrived hours ahead of time ( this was at an airport), then when the bus arrived late they were told it was full. They could try a city bus to another station and they might be able to get them back to base. They were also told there was a 4am bus (there bus was 7:30pm it arrived at 8:15pm) that they could take I searched the scheduale online and there was no 4am bus. There however was a 6:30am bus. My husband and the marine were due to report at 7:15am. Luckily a friend drove over 2 hours to pick them up otherwise they would have been charged AWOL. Not very fair on greyhounds part. They were not helpful and refused to help or refund his ticket. Never again will he use greyhound. I’m not saying military should get preferential treatment but, it was handled poorly and a better attitude by staff would have been greatly appreciated.
Best to board at a major bus depot, and be there to get in line at least two hours early. To change the date or time schedule of a seven day advance there is a fee of $15… the destinations, however, cannot be changed. Greyhound is but a shell of what it used to be. Most towns in the USA are no longer served, and of those that are the bus depots have been moved out of the center of towns to be next to the freeway… for the convenience of Greyhound, which is an inconvenience for the customers.