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Greyhound

Stranded!

Greyhound • Accidents • Lost Luggage • Lost Freight • Reckless Drivers • Sleepy Drivers • Scheduling Foul-Ups • False Arrest • Fare Disputes • Abandoned • Stranded • Illegal Smoking • Hostile Employees • Individual Sagas

Tameka of Centreville VA writes (2/1/03):
My fiance and I were departing Virginia Beach, Virginia on August 19th of 2002. Our first bus arrived early and left early leaving a few people stranded at the Virginia Beach terminal. Once we arrived in Richmond, Virginia for our first transfer things seemed to be going well. The bus boarded on time and all passangers were seated when it was revealed that the bus we were sitting on had no air conditioning. The driver was a bit upset since the person who informed us of the buses problem had allowed all the luggage to be loaded and all passengers to be seated before telling anyone about the problem.

We then switched buses and started towards our next transfer point of Fredricksburg, Virginia. According to our ticket we were supposed to be leaving from Fredricksburg at 2:20pm and arriving in Springfield at 3:05pm. The bus did not arrive until 3:02pm When the bus did arrive the driver got off trying to ignore the fifteen odd people waiting to board. Finally my fiance actually stepped in front of him and asked what was going on. The driver told him the bus was full and we would all have to wait for the next bus. We asked when that would be and he said it might be at 5:15pm. MIGHT

We then went inside with the other customers to find out what was going on. The people at the Fredricksburg station didn't want to have anything to do with the situation and suggested we call the customer service line. I took the number and went to talk to perhaps the rudest man I have ever encoutered in my life. He gave the name of Mr. Malluck and then proceeded to scream at me and call me a liar claiming no one from an office had actually given me the number. Then when I became upset and asked him to stop yelling at me he calmed down and told me to contact the office in Texas before hanging up. After the other stranded passangers got no where trying get the people at the terminal to call the customer lines or even the office in Richmond we asked for a refund. The people working at the terminal that Monday said they could not give us a refund and started to ignore the group of people waiting in the lobby.

When the next bus did come it was the same situation as before. Full That driver was more polite and told us that the people in the terminal should be able to contact the Richmond terminal. Then he departed and my fiance and I decided to take a taxi to our final destination spending more than we did on the bus ticket to get home. Once there the struggles continued. I tried unsuccessfully to contact Greyhound Lines but the attitude was the same. We don't care, don't want to be bothered.

I went to the Springfield terminal where the tickets were originialy purchased and once again was refused a refund. Distressed my fiance and I decided to contact the BBB to see if they could do anything. They managed to get a response all right but not a good one. The contact, Jeffrey Bingham, claimed the only reason anyone would be refused a seat was if they were drunk or acting aggressively. He then went on to imply that I was lying about calling the customer service line and claimed that I could have a received a refund at any point I chose. Damage control plain and simple. My fiance and I are going to continue with this until the end. Greyhound stating that no reservations are guaranteed and that they supposedly clearly state that no arrival or departure time is guaranteed is a way to avoid the main issue.

The main issue in my mind is that Greyhound is more than eager to take your money and then not stand by the service they provide. No company should leave anyone stranded in what could become an unsafe situation and then claim no responsibility for their actions. I strongly discourage anyone from using their service until the customer service people take some sort of basic communications course and the company cleans up it's act in a major way.

As a result from this mess we were forced to shell out more than we paid for the tickets to get home. If we had stayed the terminal would have closed and we would have been stuck in a dark wooded area in the city where some of the recent sniper attacks took place. Who knows what happen to the people who were unable to afford to take other transportation.

Narvell of Hollywood FL writes (1/5/03):
Greyhound bus driver left a busload of passengers stranded en route to Chicago via Hollywood, Florida Christmas eve (12/24/02) for over seven hours, with no one from the staff of Corporate office addressing any of our needs or concerns. Or offering us some lodging, food, or contacting waiting family members, etc. As of 1/6/03 still no word from the front office. The only excuse from bus driver was, that she had run out of driving hours, which our last station should have known before we headed out for Chicago under winter condition.

We had children, folks with diabetes, and folks waiing on the other end, worrying about our whereabouts. Missed arrangements and appointments. Paid $182.00 R/T that took me until 9:45 am Christmas Day to arrive in Chicago for a famiy emergency. I took names of other passenger that was aboard the bus also. Sill waiting to here from Greyhound Bus Inc. before taking farther action.

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