Amtrak Customer Relations regarding compensation

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You did an excellent job describing the situation clearly and concisely. Plus, your request was made in a courteous manner. IMHO, you should be entitled to some compensation if for no other reason than you were not dropped off at the station.
A similar thing happened to me 10 years ago when the Capitol Limited was late into Pttsburg. Another passenger and i missed our connection to Harrisburg. Amtrak stepped up and hired us a cab to take us to our final destinations. Mine was Hershey, btw which is 15 miles from the Amtrak station in Harrisburg. We both tipped the driver well because we did not know if Amtrak would. Still, it was a good fare for him. I think it took four hours
but memory is fuzzy.
 
You did an excellent job describing the situation clearly and concisely. Plus, your request was made in a courteous manner. IMHO, you should be entitled to some compensation if for no other reason than you were not dropped off at the station.
I received an email from them today, granting me a voucher for 125.00. I’m very pleased.
 
Not all passengers who are inconvenienced in some way know enough to contact Amtrak to request a refund or a credit voucher but instead decide to never travel via Amtrak again. (A different thread discusses these “never againers.”) When you consider all of the $300-$500 credit vouchers that are handed out plus the hotel rooms, food vouchers, etc. that are provided to passengers with missed guaranteed connections, a considerable portion of Amtrak’s operating costs are going towards placating inconvenienced passengers.
and some love to bash Amtrak but at least it often gives refunds/vouchers/pays hotels etc. Ive never had an airline reimburse me for delayed flights or even being stranded overnight at an airport.
 
and some love to bash Amtrak but at least it often gives refunds/vouchers/pays hotels etc. Ive never had an airline reimburse me for delayed flights or even being stranded overnight at an airport.
Of course, it's taxpayer money. I'd much rather the trains run on time and that money go towards funding more crews, frequencies, etc.

It would be interesting to see just how much of Amtrak's budget goes to overtime, refunds for missed connections, late arrivals, and, notably, hotels. Maybe a FOIA request is in order...
 
I received an email from them today, granting me a voucher for 125.00. I’m very pleased.
And on top of that, I received an unsolicited grant of 250 Rewards Points because the train I took from Charlottesville to DC on Wednesday was 55 minutes late. That didn’t seem too bad to me. After 3 train journeys this week, I did fly back on American, from DC to Cleveland for just 68.00! That was planned. I have in mind the Empire Builder for a trip before winter.
 
Not all passengers who are inconvenienced in some way know enough to contact Amtrak to request a refund or a credit voucher but instead decide to never travel via Amtrak again. (A different thread discusses these “never againers.”) When you consider all of the $300-$500 credit vouchers that are handed out plus the hotel rooms, food vouchers, etc. that are provided to passengers with missed guaranteed connections, a considerable portion of Amtrak’s operating costs are going towards placating inconvenienced passengers.
I did get an unsolicited voucher for $150 for a trip that was 12 hours late which resulted in missing the last train (Lake Shore Limited) out of Chicago and then had to wait until 24 hours later to take that train to my destination. I had paid for that trip using points. Of course, Amtrak did put us up at the Omni in Chicago. The downside to the voucher is that it is good for only one year and I don't have plans to travel by train this year. I didn't realize it had an expiration date until recently and had already made my June travel plans which will be car-based for several reasons, so the voucher wouldn't be useful for that trip anyway.
 
I did get an unsolicited voucher for $150 for a trip that was 12 hours late which resulted in missing the last train (Lake Shore Limited) out of Chicago and then had to wait until 24 hours later to take that train to my destination. I had paid for that trip using points. Of course, Amtrak did put us up at the Omni in Chicago.
A different thread discusses the high prices now being charged by Chicago hotels. Whenever Amtrak has to provide overnight hotel accommodations for those passengers who, due to the late arrival of their train, missed a guaranteed condition, do the Chicago hotels give Amtrak a special rate that is lower than what they charge their regular guests?
 
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A different thread discusses the high prices now being charged by Chicago hotels. Whenever Amtrak has to provide overnight hotels accommodations for those passengers who, due to the late arrival of their train, missed a guaranteed condition, do the Chicago hotels give Amtrak a special rate that is lower than what they charge their regular guests?

Amtrak most likely has negotiated contracts with various hotels. Most airlines have negotiated contracts as well. Bottom line, is they ain't paying what you and me would pay.
 
I did get an unsolicited voucher for $150 for a trip that was 12 hours late which resulted in missing the last train (Lake Shore Limited) out of Chicago and then had to wait until 24 hours later to take that train to my destination. I had paid for that trip using points. Of course, Amtrak did put us up at the Omni in Chicago. The downside to the voucher is that it is good for only one year and I don't have plans to travel by train this year. I didn't realize it had an expiration date until recently and had already made my June travel plans which will be car-based for several reasons, so the voucher wouldn't be useful for that trip anyway.
I do plan to use my voucher. The only other time I did was for a trip which was just two dollars less than the amount of the voucher so it worked out . Does someone here know if you can apply a voucher to a larger cost and pay the rest in cash or points? In other words on a 500 dollar accommodation fare, 125 in voucher and 375 in cash OR x number of points….
 
I do plan to use my voucher. The only other time I did was for a trip which was just two dollars less than the amount of the voucher so it worked out . Does someone here know if you can apply a voucher to a larger cost and pay the rest in cash or points? In other words on a 500 dollar accommodation fare, 125 in voucher and 375 in cash OR x number of points….
Yes, the difference can be paid with cash. Not so sure about points
 
So how does one get hold of Customer Relations? Do they have an email or a phone number or something? I've been riding Amtrak a long time, lots of delays, a couple bustitutions but never needed or wanted to get compensated for anything - till recently.
 
So how does one get hold of Customer Relations?
On those occasions when we needed to speak to someone in Customer Relations, we called the Amtrak number and told “Julie” that we wanted to speak to an agent. When we got through to an agent, we asked for Customer Relations and were transferred. We always call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. (Sometimes a call back was required before we got through to an agent and then another call back before we got through to Customer Relations.)
 
So how does one get hold of Customer Relations? Do they have an email or a phone number or something? I've been riding Amtrak a long time, lots of delays, a couple bustitutions but never needed or wanted to get compensated for anything - till recently.
I typed my story into the box provided using this link: https://www.amtrak.com/email-us
 
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