Greyhound's parent company, Laidlaw Inc., which recently filed for bankruptcy protection, has been struggling for years to make its operations profitable. Judging from the complaints we've received, a good place to start might be training its staff to deal with customers in a polite and professional manner.
Here are just a few of the hair-raising tales from our collection:
I am furious with Grey Hound Bus. They caused me a financial loss of 7,000+. And I endured severe physical distress which may have permanently damaged my heart. In June 2008, I brought round trip tickets, two weeks in advance, for a bus ride from Frisco, Colorado, to Denver. I assumed Greyhound would stop at the Frisco Greyhound bus station, as scheduled, and a seat would be available for me. Two weeks earlier I had surgery, in Denver, to remove an infection in my chest, over my heart, which was causing heart valve problems. On the day of my scheduled bus trip, I was returning to the hospital in Denver for a follow-up appointment, which was required by my surgeon.
I waited from 8:30am (the scheduled bus arrival time) until 2:00pmthe bus never arrived. I was panicked about missing my appointment, so I decided against my better judgment to drive my truck. I seldom drive due to my health. My truck did break down, after long, white-knuckle, nerve-wracking drive over the divide. I was stranded in long way from any exits.
A couple of weeks later, I was able to schedule another appointment with my surgeon. I bought another round trip ticket to DenverI thought that was a one-time mishap on the part of Greyhound and, surely, I could get a ride this time. The bus did stop at the station this time (the previous time it did not even go to the station), but there were only two seats available and 10 people waiting to get on the bus. I never did get to see my surgeon. And there is no other bus transportation to Denver and back.
After several long distance phone calls to Greyhound customer service, to request a refund of both sets of round trip tickets, I gave up. They continually put me on hold, disconnected me after a long wait, and gave me other long distance numbers to call. I since learned that Greyhound deliberately overbooks, even though tickets must be bought in advance. And after more research, I found that Greyhound is one of the worst customer service businesses in the industry. This company should be sued out of business. They have no right to call themselves a transportation service. Is there a class action suit which I may join? Thank you.
Scott of Fremont, CA September 28, 2008
I took the Greyhound in March and their rude staff forced terrified passengers to ride overnight in a bus that was leaking coolant into the passenger compartment. I boarded a night bus in Oakland in order to visit family in Los Angeles. A few minutes later, I could smell coolant. I politely told the driver and asked him to turn off the air conditioner. He yelled at me *What are you? Stupid! Deaf! I said no one gets out of there seat when the bus is in motion!* I told him we were breathing coolant. He responded *Is the bus on fire? No! Sit your butt down!*
People started getting respiratory problems 30 minutes later. The lady behind me was dizzy and had a hard time breathing. Another man had a headache. The bus had to pull over and we could now see huge plumes of white smoke rising from the side vents and fill the bus. The driver restarted the bus a few minutes later, drove a few blocks to the San Jose terminal, and said we would ride the same bus to LA now that it wasn't leaking. We begged the driver and the staff to call for another bus but they called the police on us. The police gave us a choice: either get on the bus or sleep in the streets homeless and get a refund.
It was 1 am and the Greyhound station just closed. Most passengers, including women with infants, quietly reboarded the bus. I slept in the streets homeless that night with a few other passengers even though I am a middle class working student. I wrote a letter to the Greyhound. They responded a few months later with a small letter denying any wrongdoing and attached a 25 gift certificate to ride their bus again. The Greyhound staff is so rude they will jeapardize your safety and call the police if you are scared.
I had to sleep in the streets homeless. Other people had to ride a dangerous bus overnight and risked exposing their young children to leaking gases from the engine.
Renee of Hemet, CA September 16, 2008
I had purchased a ticket from Florida to North Carolina by mistake, my destination was to be to South Carolina. Prior to my leave date I had contacted this Eve by phone and explained to her what had happened, she said it could be corrected. I drove over to the bus depot with my daughter, once there she said she could not refund my 120.00, but would sell me another ticket for an additional 98.00 for the trip, plus 15.00 for some re-issue fee. The trip to South Carolina was 500 miles shorter, I told her to just give me another ticker and she could keep the difference from my first ticket, she refused. I had to get to South Carolina to help my brother drive to California for a scheduled surgery date. I am so angry that they could just take my money like that. It's not like I expected my money back for nothing, I did purchase another ticket. That trip to South Carolina from Florida cost me 233.00.
I rode the bus from California to Florida on August 22, 2008 and was to be there in 1 day and 22 hours, I was 15 hours late in arriving, which caused my daughter to miss their flight to Jamaica and subsequently created alot of upset and chaos for my family and me. They then rub salt in the wound by taking my money.
The economic damage is ONLY 120.00, it's the fact that they got away with it.
John of Colorado Springs, CO September 13, 2008
I shipped a paramotor by Greyhound express in April of this year. A paramotor is a backpack unit used for personal flight consisting of a two stroke motor propeller and cage. These units cost around 7000 dollars. The box was 3'x3'x4.5' so this was a very large container. I shipped this to Panama City Beach, Florida from Colorado Springs and was told thier service was very reliable it would only take 4 days to reach its destination ( I sent it 8 days ahead of my arrival)
When I arrived in Panama City I went to the Greyhound station to pick up my aircraft motor but it had not arrived. I was told it would probably arrive the next day which it didn't. I would come into the office daily to check on my unit but after two weeks of being in Panama City to fly my unit never arrived. Supposedly they put out a trace which consisted of sending an email out to a few stations which I was told by one of the clerks was never read by the stations.
Weeks went by and then months I tried calling everyone associated with Greyhound it seems they promise you they are turning over the world but when you check out thier story they are doing nothing. I have since found out this is normal operating procedure for Greyhound they lose big valuable things and then claim little liability. How can a company lose this big of an item? I was a first time customer of Greyhound and a last time customer.
WARNING According to Greyhound they also do not know what is in the packages they ship! So essentially when you get on a Greyhound bus there could be a bomb under your bus and they wouldnt know it and neither would you. Why does Greyhound get a free pass on security the airlines dont they have to screen everything we should expect the same from Greyhound.
Loss of my aircraft motor and 3000 dollars for a flying vaction at the beach with no motor! Greyhound paid me a measely 1000 dollars and said that was great customer service!
Stacey Ryan Coomer of College Park, GA September 12, 2008
The ticket was for my mother. She had to come to Atlanta from Tampa to drop off a car to a friend. And her choice back was Greyhound. We arrived at the Hapeville, Georgia station, which is near the Hartsfield Jackson Airport of Atlanta. The bus was scheduled to arrive at 6:55pm, being that she was my mother, as well as a female, I was concerned for her safety. So, I chose to stay with here, not imagining that a company as big as greyhound would be so careless as I later discovered was the case. I waited for about 45 minutes till I could not any longer, I had some pets at home, and an air-conditioner issue that was pressing.
So, against my better judgment, she and I decided that I would go home. I came home, expecting that the the bus would be their any minute. Only to hear from here at 9;30, that she had been waiting the whole time, and the bus wasn't there yet. Not only that, but the station had the nerve to proceed to close, leaving everyone still waiting for the bus, locked outside, with no vending machines, and no restroom.
Just as I was about to come get her, she tells me the bus had finally arrived, and that she need to board. Very uncomfortable, I let her go. Imagining that it was a bad moment, and that surely the rest of the trip would go smoothly. She calls me today from Jacskonville, a location she is not suppose to be at, at all, and tells me of her trials with this trip. Unnerved that she had not arrived yet, it being 3pm, and her arrival time was set for 6:55am, I try to keep my calm.
Then she tells me that this belligerent bas driver has just yelled at her when she began to ask about her luggage. If I was rich, I would be pressing charges not only against this company, but the bus driver in question. My mother, like the other people in route from Hapeville Georgia, to Tampa Florida did not purchase these tickets to treated this way. I read now, online of other complaints, and I'm unnerved. The way the employees of this behave, you would thing your visiting a prison.
As a consequence of the actions of the emplyees of this company, which is responsible, my mother is not only in great discomfort,( having to sleep on floors and such while waiting for the next bus to arrive, with all of her belongings with her, at risk of being stolen) also wasn't able to take her boyfriend to work, and is missing a night of work her self. So it turns out this ticket is costing about three time what she thought.
Cinseree of Athens, OH September 1, 2008
Bag lost from Columbus Ohio to Cleveland Ohio. I believe it was stolen and that the staffs failure to verify baggage claim checks opened the door for the theft. Baggage people must do the job they are paid to do. What good are the claim checks if they are not verified?
I lost important contents and feel that stealing my bag was made easy for some designated thug because of the staff.
Kelly of Pittsford, NY August 14, 2008
On August 5th I purchased a round trip ticket from Rochester NY to Montreal Canada with Greyhounds website. When I arrived in Rochester I was barked at, given a huge stack of tickets and told the bus was over there. Ok I can deal with rude people. The ride there went well enough, however, I had my wallet stolen in Montreal and my return ticket was in my wallet.
I went to the greyhound office in MOntreal and explained the situation, saying that I had a reservation through the internet and could they please re-issue a boarding pass for the way home. The man I dealt with ( the ONLY greyhound employee) accused me of still having the ticket, wouldn't look up my information in the computer and when he finally did, keep looking at my purse and telling me that I had the ticket somewhere. I went so far as to ask him if he wanted to look in my purse...
In the end I had to re- purchase the one way ticket back, I had missed the original bus, due to this mans arguing with me. Had to fight my way through the line to get on the next bus, 3 hours later, and to top it off, the bus was 5 hrs late. A 12-14 hr bus ride took more than 24hrs and cost me double. I am an ESL teacher and have been to many different countries, including the 3rd world. NEVER have I been treated so badly in all of my years of traveling, this is my first and last time on greyhound.
Marketa of Indianapolis, IN August 14, 2008
Greyhound lost my luggage and I have been getting the run around. Me and my son have no clothes, because they were all in our luggae. He is only two and has the outfit he came in...Greyhound isnt helping me at all. I WILL NEVER TRAVEL GREYHOUND AGAIN...AND YOU MAY BE NEXT.
Steven of Wuhan, Hubei, OTHER August 14, 2008
My wife and I recently embarked on a cross-country tour of Canada and the US on our motorcycle. Before we left, we shipped two items by Greyhound Courier Express ahead of us from Princeton, British Columbia to Sherbrooke, Quebec. The small backpack arrived, the large suitcase did not. We are currently living in China and the suitcase contained several gifts we had purchased for relatives along with a smaller carry-on bag.
Despite our repeated calls to Greyhound, there has been no attempt to find our missing bag. We have been told that they cannot track any items despite the fact that we were given a waybill number under the understanding that that was the reason for it. Those agents we have contacted have not been helpful. The originating bus depot manager faxed stations across the country and heard back from only a small few. The rest couldn't be bothered to respond. Most of the agents we have talked to have just fed us the company line and have been pretty much useless and/or rude. One agent admitted that the bag was probably stolen. Two agents that said they would call back never did. One of the station managers said that she now informs customers not to bother paying for extra insurance since she has heard so many cases of people who have purchased the insurance and still only getting the basic 100 for their lost items.
The total economic value of the suitcases and gifts is approximately 500.
Shareef of Denver, CO August 13, 2008
I find myself a victim of Greyhound Bus Lines. On April 1st, 2008, I was returning from Phoenix, AZ. I witnessed very rude behavior on the part of Greyhound employees. First, while standing in line waiting to purchase my ticket, I noticed an African man, who had trouble speaking English being told by a rude ticket agent that he would have to go to the end of the line to ask another question even though he had just purchased a ticket from the same agent.
While, in Albuquerque, NM, I witness ed a security guard asking passengers to see their tickets. He approached one man and asked to see his ticket, the man produced the ticket without saying a word and the security guard accused him of having an attitude and made the man wait to catch a later bus. I witnessed all of this and the man never raised his voice to the security guard or gave him any problems. Rather than the passenger, it was the security guard who had the attitude problem.
When I arrived in Denver I was told that one of my pieces of luggage had been lost. I filled out all the necessary forms. I was told to wait until I receive a letter from Greyhound with a claim number, which I received April 16th, 2008. In the letter it states that Greyhound was unable to locate my property. And, that I needed an original bag claim check before my claim could be processed. On June 28th, 2008, I complied to the request and sent in the original claim check and a copy stapled together.
On July 1st, 2008, I received a letter stating that Greyhound never received my bag check claim information and that my claim was denied. I made several telephone calls to Greyhound and told them I had sent the claim check before the date of July 1st and I had proof of that with a delivery confirmation receipt that I purchased from the post office. I spoke to a representative and I was told that my check was in the mail and that my claim was being processed.
After waiting two weeks and receiving nothing I called again. This time I was told that my claim was denied. I told the representative that I had complied with their requests and sent the claim check in as I was requested before the July 1st date. The representative told me that Greyhound didnt receive the claim check until July 14th and that therefore my claim is being denied. I protested and the representative said the case would be reopened and that I would hear something within ten (10) business days. That time has since expired.
Now, my only recourse, being a community and political activist is to launch a picket campaign against Greyhound Bus Lines on behalf of myself and others who have been mistreated by Greyhound Bus Lines. This picket campaign will start August 15th at 9am and continue until Greyhound responds to my complaint.
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