We'll there is few times in life that you believe that you are screwed up by the irresponsible companies. Amtrak is definitely one of them. FYI I will never use this transportation again, and I recommend everyone who is reading this avoid Amtrak all the time.
Last Thursday my girlfriend and I left from East Lansing to catch up a flight from O'Hare Airport, Chicago at 3:15 pm central time. The train was scheduled to arrive at 10:55 and delayed for 3 HOURS! And of course we did not made it to catch up with that flight. Here is what has happened that day:
1. Passengers were informed that the train is delayed for 30 minutes when I got on the train. I thought well that is OK, I still have time.
2. When we were near leaving Michigan, we were informed that the train is delayed for 1 hour for some train railroad system issue.
3. When we were in Indiana, I think it was michigan city, (between michigan and Illinois), we were informed that one of their sister train lost signore or power, or our train lost power or signore so they have to attach the two trains or some kind.
4. About 30 mins near Chicago, train stopped to wait for the sister train. And power went out, some place of the train got really warm.
5. I tried to call their customer service number and tell those guys my girlfriend's flight is running out of time and was informed that I can only deal with those guys after we got off the train.
6. What more ridiculous is that when you call the Amtrak to talk about the train delay issues, you have to talk to the customer relation department. And you cannot contact them directly. All their calls go to the sales operated first and then you tell them you want to talk to the customer relationship department and you got another 10 to 15 mins to wait. ( I guess their train get delayed very often according to their wait time ). So the whole waiting time is approximately 20 minutes.
7. When we finally made it to chicago, it was already 2 pm. It is impossible to catch up the flight on time. And Amtrak won't give a thing if you cannot catch up with your flight because of their delay. And you cannot get any compensation from them.
It cost 800 bucks to reschedule the flight (it was international). Their customer relationship operator refuse to give and compensation.
9. I googled Amtrak delayed and found a lot of cases. I guess that is why their customer relation department is so busy. BTW, don't bother to talk their customer service, all they can say is "sorry", what they actually means is that "so what".
10. Other thoughts: When I buy a ticket, I expect the company promise two things to the customers: 1. Get customers from A to B. 2. Make it on time. A ticket should be like a contract, and these two things are what Amtrak paid to do. If they failed any of those, it should means that they failed to conduct their responsibilities. And they should be charged for that.
That is the lesson that I learnt. read more