STATION REFUSED TO CHECK LUGGAGE

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
On March 30th, 2009 I had to carry my school bag ALL THE WAY TO THE BUS STOP. People this was horrible. No one would help me and the moving sidewalk was broken. I am so traumatized. OMG! Then I called PACE and they gave me a 25 cent voucher. After all of this trauma I had to endure all I got was 25 cents. This was a spit in my face. Please before you take any bus make sure you know whether or not you will have to carry your own school bag. This was an experience I will never forget.

**goes off to cry and blog about her horrible bus experience**
 
Wow, if you people think that there was flaming on this post, you would be downright scared of some of the other forums I visit.
 
amamba said:
Wow, if you people think that there was flaming on this post, you would be downright scared of some of the other forums I visit.
Click to expand...
We're railfans. You think Captains run tight ships? You should see some of these Conductors. "Tight train" makes the Navy look like chickens axed at the head if you catch my drift.
 
Uh yeah, no flaming here.

Flaming would have been:

You're wrong and you're a stupid and worthless person for believing that. (with far more colourful language than is appropriate).

This sounds like healthy disagreement, which has morphed into a fascinating conversation about very many interesting things - part of what makes this site great.
 
HokieNav said:
This sounds like healthy disagreement, which has morphed into a fascinating conversation about very many interesting things - part of what makes this site great.
Click to expand...
And that is exactly what we try to promote here. We don't lock topics because they are difficult, or because they criticize Amtrak, or because they wander off the original topic. The OP most likely wanted to do nothing more than vent, and perhaps try to discourage a few people from riding Amtrak as a way of extracting her revenge for the wrong that she feels she suffered. And I'm not suggesting one way or the other that she was right or wrong. She also probably believed that this is something run by Amtrak, which it is not.

But she's not the first to come here to vent, and I'm sure that she won't be the last either. But we're also not going to stop people from coming here to vent. We discuss all aspects of Amtrak here, good and bad.
 
AlanB said:
HokieNav said:
This sounds like healthy disagreement, which has morphed into a fascinating conversation about very many interesting things - part of what makes this site great.
Click to expand...
And that is exactly what we try to promote here. We don't lock topics because they are difficult, or because they criticize Amtrak, or because they wander off the original topic. The OP most likely wanted to do nothing more than vent, and perhaps try to discourage a few people from riding Amtrak as a way of extracting her revenge for the wrong that she feels she suffered. And I'm not suggesting one way or the other that she was right or wrong. She also probably believed that this is something run by Amtrak, which it is not.

But she's not the first to come here to vent, and I'm sure that she won't be the last either. But we're also not going to stop people from coming here to vent. We discuss all aspects of Amtrak here, good and bad.
Click to expand...
Alan there's a difference between "discussing good and bad" and "venting".

We do discuss a lot of the negative aspects of Amtrak using evidence, testimonials, logical support.

This was venting, somebody who wanted to be a loud mouth.

One is healthy, the other is not. I caution you into lumping "venting" and "discussion of bad Amtrak" together.
 
mercedeslove said:
On March 30th, 2009 I had to carry my school bag ALL THE WAY TO THE BUS STOP. People this was horrible. No one would help me and the moving sidewalk was broken. I am so traumatized. OMG! Then I called PACE and they gave me a 25 cent voucher. After all of this trauma I had to endure all I got was 25 cents. This was a spit in my face. Please before you take any bus make sure you know whether or not you will have to carry your own school bag. This was an experience I will never forget.
**goes off to cry and blog about her horrible bus experience**
Click to expand...
You owe me a new monitor. Mine just took a bath in the coke I was drinking after reading this.

*Makes mental note not to take that sip until after I've read not during the reading.
 
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
AlanB said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I caution you into lumping "venting" and "discussion of bad Amtrak" together.
Click to expand...
I'm not lumping anything together.
Click to expand...

Then you should reword:

But we're also not going to stop people from coming here to vent. We discuss all aspects of Amtrak here, good and bad.
Click to expand...
That my friend is lumping.
Click to expand...
We may just have to agree to disagree here, but it's not lumping because she did have a bad experience. Venting or not, it was a bad experience. I would no more tell someone who came here gushing about their wonderful trip that they didn't have a good trip, than I would tell someone who came here to blow off steam that they didn't have a bad trip.

Should you wish to discuss this further ALC, then please let's do it privately.

And now I return everyone to our regularly scheduled program. :lol:
 
AlanB said:
VentureForth said:
Amtrak should have at least three (two on duty plus one on call) at EVERY station that supports checked baggage. No exceptions.
Click to expand...
What you're proposing is a huge expense that Amtrak cannot afford. People don't just sit at home waiting for a phone call in the off chance that they'll get to go to work today. You have to pay them to sit by the phone.

Amtrak offers checked baggage at 143 stations. If we back out 20 of the largest stations where there are always extra employees around anyhow, that leaves potentially 123 stations that would need a standby position. Figuring an 8 hour shift, even though some stations might need more than that, and a rather low-ball figure of $15 an hour, that would cost Amtrak $5.3 Million dollars a year. And that's before factoring in benefits and other costs associated with hiring employees.

And all of that would be largely wasted monies, since most of those workers would be getting paid to spend the bulk of their time just sitting around waiting for a phone call.
Click to expand...
Or (more likely) Amtrak would just drop checked baggage from those stations, so you'll only be able to check bags at the major stations.

It doesn't look like Amtrak handled this all that well, but I'm not sure having staff on call is the right solution. How many times has this happened over the past year, past five years, past ten years?
 
Chris J. said:
It doesn't look like Amtrak handled this all that well, but I'm not sure having staff on call is the right solution. How many times has this happened over the past year, past five years, past ten years?
Click to expand...
Not many railways offer checked baggage, only the Swiss do it (and they do it very well, as you might expect! They even offer delivery to your final Swiss destination, or airport) but I do think its a worthwhile thing to do,and its one aspect of Amtrak that other railways could learn from. However, like all services offered in the transport game sometimes it goes wrong, for any number of reasons, and then it splits into just inconvenience or big problem. If you are able bodied and capable of moving all your bags around it's a pain, if you have mobility issues then its a big problem but the OP never made that distinction and that's maybe why some people have got fired up! Some people expect everything to work as advertised,all the time and just fly off on one when it doesn't. Life ain't like that, especially on the railway!

Some people seem to take too much luggage anyway, I always take what I can carry, any more than that is just a pain.
 
Neil_M said:
Some people seem to take too much luggage anyway, I always take what I can carry, any more than that is just a pain.
Click to expand...
I've seen this said more than once in this thread and have to throw in my 2c. It is not for ANY of us to judge what is too much for anyone at any time. We don't know circumstances, and we certainly don't need to know. Honestly, the OP did NOT have too much luggage for the advertised service. It only became too much when the staff arbitrarily decided to cancel a provided service.

Heck, my wife packs for a weekend trip like we're leaving the country. Our first goal after reaching our destination is to find a Wal*Mart to get the rest of the stuff we forgot. You should see the back of my Jeep when I go for a one night campout with my cubscouts! Too much for sure, but every bit of it is used.

As for Miss Ruth coming back to post here again... Can anyone blame her?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
AlanB said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
AlanB said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I caution you into lumping "venting" and "discussion of bad Amtrak" together.
Click to expand...
I'm not lumping anything together.
Click to expand...

Then you should reword:

But we're also not going to stop people from coming here to vent. We discuss all aspects of Amtrak here, good and bad.
Click to expand...
That my friend is lumping.
Click to expand...
We may just have to agree to disagree here, but it's not lumping because she did have a bad experience. Venting or not, it was a bad experience. I would no more tell someone who came here gushing about their wonderful trip that they didn't have a good trip, than I would tell someone who came here to blow off steam that they didn't have a bad trip.

Should you wish to discuss this further ALC, then please let's do it privately.

And now I return everyone to our regularly scheduled program. :lol:
Click to expand...
I think our host, Alan, is doing an excellent job of handling this topic. It has brought out some very interesting view points. Sure, he could shut it down but the foamers would find someone else to pounce on.
 
VentureForth said:
It only became too much when the staff arbitrarily decided to cancel a provided service.
Click to expand...
[[citation needed]]

It sounds to me like there may have been a darn good reason that checked baggage wasn't available. Do you know something that we don't?

As far as Ms. Ruth not returning, do you honestly think that she ever intended to?
 
In reference to my previous posts, it certainly wasn't arbitrary. Whatever the reason, the lack of a backup plan, or the failure of a backup plan created the perception to anyone inconvenienced that it was arbitrary.

In my most humble opinion, there should never be a darn good reason why an advertised service is not offered. When a paper slip is taped to a window and the adult in charge doesn't seem to care to explain the whys, it would seem to the average traveller that it was, indeed, arbitrary.

Do I know the whole story? Certainly not. However, my personal experience with Amtrak would lend me to give her the benefit of the doubt. Amtrak is NOT great for first timers. To get the most out of a long distance Amtrak trip, it is beneficial to be experienced.

As for Ms. Ruth, who knows? We've had previous one-posters come back and slam the flamers that attack them and seem to be insensitive towards their plight. I'm sure when she got to post #13, she said something like "Just forget it. Sheesh. Y'all must work for them..."
 
She didn't read a damn one of our posts, just forget her. She didn't really care-- we're #1 on "Amtrak forums" and #3 on "Amtrak complaints". She complained, we argued, some of us patronized her some of us rubbed salt in her (apparently deep) wounds.
 
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
She complained, we argued, some of us patronized her some of us rubbed salt in her (apparently deep) wounds.
Click to expand...
But wasn't it a fun "ride"? ;)

IMHO, a good debate fueled with a lot of truthful passion by all, can be quite invigorating.
 
MrFSS said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
She didn't read a damn one of our posts . . .
Click to expand...

Oh -she may have been back and read some, but didn't respond for fear of what would be said next!
Click to expand...
Oh right-- make her the victim. After all mean nasty Amtrak traumatized her for life and now all we do is make sure she sends herself to a psych ward!! Where do you people get off on treating crocodile tears with honey?

She made a stupid post that showed her wrathful side and left. If ANYBODY is the victim of any sort of "bad force" here it is our little community who had to put up with reading that disgusting pity-post that SHOULD have been destined for Amtrak Customer Relations NOT Amtrak Unlimited.
 
Neil_M said:
Some people expect everything to work as advertised,all the time and just fly off on one when it doesn't. Life ain't like that, especially on the railway!
Click to expand...
Sometimes things don't work, but when folks at least put forth some effort to show that they are trying then people don't feel like they are being blown off. If you advertise something as a service it should be taken seriously as a reason why people use the service. If they don't want to take it seriously then they need to put an asterisk after checked baggage service and say "only when everything is working 100 percent".

When an airline messes up my luggage they put it in a taxi and deliver it to my house. When this happens things didn't work as advertised, but they do what they need to do to get the job done.
 
AlanB said:
HokieNav said:
This sounds like healthy disagreement, which has morphed into a fascinating conversation about very many interesting things - part of what makes this site great.
Click to expand...
And that is exactly what we try to promote here. We don't lock topics because they are difficult, or because they criticize Amtrak, or because they wander off the original topic. The OP most likely wanted to do nothing more than vent, and perhaps try to discourage a few people from riding Amtrak as a way of extracting her revenge for the wrong that she feels she suffered. And I'm not suggesting one way or the other that she was right or wrong. She also probably believed that this is something run by Amtrak, which it is not.

But she's not the first to come here to vent, and I'm sure that she won't be the last either. But we're also not going to stop people from coming here to vent. We discuss all aspects of Amtrak here, good and bad.
Click to expand...
My point exactly Alan,

despite the banner at the top of the page stating we have no connection with Amtrak, I believe many visitors don't see it, or don't believe it (it has Amtrak in it's name so it MUST be connected).

I don't mind people venting here as it offers me the opprtunity to hear and learn from others. I would have had no idea that Amtrak's computer system was down that day and that there was trouble in other places as well! I still think Amtrak (and Metra which I ride regularly) do a poor job when faced with mechanical or other problems. Do they have anyone on their Staff who ever ask the question: What do we do if X happens and how do we handle it? it doesn't sound like they do and thus wing it, leading to gigantic service boondoggles! :huh:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top