Treatment of Handicapped Passengers when EB is late

[FriskyFL]

I think about the only thing Amtrak has "zero tolerance" for is theft. For everything else zero tolerance just doesn't hold up at arbitration. You must document counseling, remedial training and progressive discipline if you want to fire somebody and keep them fired.

This is totally reasonable managerial policy. However, it makes it all the more important that badly-behaving employees get reported by name. Because the only way they get fired is if they have a *string* of passenger complaints attached to their name.
Unfortunately, most customers never complain; IIRC, the rule of thumb in retail is that for each complaining customer, you have roughly *20* customers who feel the same way and didn't say anything. So by the time an employee has three complaints against them for the same thing, they've probably mistreated 60 customers...

Bingo! June, please don't let this drop, as you'll be doing someone else a big service if yours ends up being the straw that breaks this particular camel's back. This type of behavior should not be tolerated by customers or coworkers.

 

[SarahZ]

June, was your ticket for a lower level seat?

 

[Steve4031]

How many times was the infamous "miss Polly" counseled and retrained? She has been providing terrible service for years with little improvement.

 

[FriskyFL]

How many times was the infamous "miss Polly" counseled and retrained? She has been providing terrible service for years with little improvement.

Plenty, if the trip reports on this board are indicative. Funny, if theft is the only zero tolerance offense, why isn't substandard service which drives away passengers not considered theft? That's because management is handcuffed by archaic work rules which ensures that all but the most egregious bad actors are retained at their level of incompetence.

 

[June the Coach Rider]

Received a call today from Jim B, on board services manager for the Empire Builder and California Zephyr, I told him everything that happened and he could not apologize enough. I told him that I had asked repeatedly if there was room downstairs that I could move to and that the attendant kept saying they need to keep the seats "just in case" a wheelchair passenger boards. I also told him about how I was treated at Chicago and he again mentioned that the attendant was completely wrong by not assisting me with receiving red cap to transfer the close to 1/2 mile walk from the Portland section of the EB to the Boston section of the LSL.

He gave me his cell and office number to contact him when I book my birthday trip in October, so he can ensure that I received the best possible service available. He also said he is forwarding my letter to customer relations and to expect a call from them. He also said he will be getting with the car attendant and discuss her treatment of the disabled and her inability to be civil when the train was running late and passengers needed to hurry and transfer to a waiting LSL.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Excellent NewsvJune! It sounds like Amtrak Management has had a fire lit under their rears and customer concerns and mistreatment by bad staff are no longer being given lip service and Avoucher from CR! However we all need to continue to let Amtrak know when stuff like this happens along with also letting them know about the good staff we encounter!

I see a Travel Voucher being issued for you, perhaps even a ride in a Sleeping Car! Smiles

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

I guest your real first name is "June" and there is just not that many "June" travel coach between the Empire Builder to the Lake Shore Limited, who have notes in their reservations about needed help.

I sure EB_OBS had a hand in this.

Win for the customer.

Glad some of the people at Amtrak care.

.

 

[caravanman]

This story should be on the front pages of the national press, how dare Amtrak staff treat any passenger in such a way?

Apologies are all well and good, but it makes my blood boil that such things can happen in todays "civilized" society...

Ed

 

[oldtimer]

I am very well acquainted with Jim B. He is one of only a few Amtrak managers that come from a railroad family. I am sure that he will make sure that your next trip June will be very different.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

This is awesome.

Here is EB_OBS, doing and saying exactly what should be said, and still getting crapped on by Monday morning quarterbacks that think they know everything (and taking his own personal time to do it).

It must be nice to be so amazingly perfect that you can demand people be fired based on limited knowledge of the situation.

EB_OBS, keep up the great work and don't let the naysayers get you down. If Amtrak was filled with managers like you, things would be a heck of a lot better.

I agree completely. In almost any customer service story, you can't fire someone based on one side of the story. If the employee tells a different story, is the employee automatically lying? I do NOT mean to imply that June's story is untrue, or that it didn't happen precisely the way she said it did. It's just a general rule of customer service that the customer is only telling one side of the story. This is why one particular story should never be grounds for a dismissal, but a pattern of bad behavior can be.

 

[caravanman]

I know June uses a railpass for many of her trips, just wondering if there is any option to book lower level seats with a railpass? I seem to think that it is "coach" or "upgrade" only?

Ed

 

[June the Coach Rider]

I know June uses a railpass for many of her trips, just wondering if there is any option to book lower level seats with a railpass? I seem to think that it is "coach" or "upgrade" only?

Ed

I always get lower level when I book my trip. The issue with this was that I had to get home a day earlier so had to change the last two segments one day earlier.

 

[Ryan]

So does that mean that you didn't have lower level tickets?

 

[Bob Dylan]

I know June uses a railpass for many of her trips, just wondering if there is any option to book lower level seats with a railpass? I seem to think that it is "coach" or "upgrade" only?

Ed

Eddie:

Since all segments of a Rail Pass have to be reserved in advance of travel, one can reserve Lower Level Seats! IINM, June travels in Lower Level Coach !

 

[June the Coach Rider]

So does that mean that you didn't have lower level tickets?

No Ryan, they told me it was completely sold out for the whole trip. I still had a segment that I did not use so could have split the ticket if they did have one for later in the trip. But that is not the main issue here. It was the treatment in Chicago.

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

Since I'm more east coast oriented I'll give you a hint on agr redemption for regionals. My mom has two bad knees and when all of us went to Boston everybody on the reservation lost business class and were put in accessible coach on a regional out of NYP. To say the least accessible coach is a joke. Everyone is thrown into coach and left to fend for themselves. In the end we were cramped into a fully sold out regional to Boston and lost our business class service from NYP to BOS. So I will guarantee you if you are making a reservation with someone who has mobility issues always take the free business class bump on a redemption. Accessible coach east of the Mississippi is a joke. There's a lot more room in business class.

 

[visitor]

Good for you, June. Your treatment was inexcusable.