Disputing an issue when error made by AGR agent

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Thechad0677

Thechad0677

Joined
Jun 21, 2024
Messages
5
Location
Los alamitos,CA
Bit of a odd situation here, I booked travel back in January for departure on July 14th in a sleeper using AGW points. Early last month I engaged in a text message conversation using the 800 USA-RAIL number asking them to change my room number so I could be across the hall from another family member on a separate reservation. They changed it, sent me an eticket and that was that. When I got the eticket I checked the room and car number to make sure they were correct and they were. A week or two later I noticed that the trip was no longer showing up in my Amtrak app so I decided to do some follow up and ended up calling guest rewards. Come to find out they changed the date from Jul 14th to Jun 14th which I never noticed because I never asked to have the date changed in the first place. The agent said this counted as a no show and best she could do was open a case to try and get my points back and rebook me on the July 14th train as a new reservation using more points. Thankfully she was nice enough to credit me the difference in fare because obviously now the fare is substantially higher than it was when I initially booked in January. Of course they haven't refunded me and I just keep getting the run around with guest rewards.

My question is this, does Customer Relations oversee Guest Rewards? Should my next step be to talk to them or how should I proceed? This is obviously a mix up on their end and I have a screen shot of the text thread. I should have read the eticket more carefully but I wasn't expecting that to be changed and the difference between "Jul and Jun" just wasn't enough to catch my eye apparently. I'm just extremely fortunate there was room to correctly re-book my trip only a few weeks out in the middle of summer.

Chad
 
Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited, even though under unfortunate circumstances. Sounds like you did everything you could. Perhaps someone here can suggest additional steps.

In any case, hope you enjoy your trip. We all love taking rooms on trains, but you need to be aware that things don't always work perfectly on board, either. A certain sense of humor and adventure is helpful. You didn't say above if your trip was east coast or western, if you give us some details we can give you some hints to make things go smoother. First off, it is completely legal to bring any sort of alcoholic drink for consumption in your room only. Also, even if your state allows cannabis products, they are still strictly illegal on Amtrak.

Travelling in a room on Amtrak has been described as an odd and unpredictable mix of cruise ship and camping. :)
 
Thechad0677 said:
Bit of a odd situation here, I booked travel back in January for departure on July 14th in a sleeper using AGW points. Early last month I engaged in a text message conversation using the 800 USA-RAIL number asking them to change my room number so I could be across the hall from another family member on a separate reservation. They changed it, sent me an eticket and that was that. When I got the eticket I checked the room and car number to make sure they were correct and they were. A week or two later I noticed that the trip was no longer showing up in my Amtrak app so I decided to do some follow up and ended up calling guest rewards. Come to find out they changed the date from Jul 14th to Jun 14th which I never noticed because I never asked to have the date changed in the first place. The agent said this counted as a no show and best she could do was open a case to try and get my points back and rebook me on the July 14th train as a new reservation using more points. Thankfully she was nice enough to credit me the difference in fare because obviously now the fare is substantially higher than it was when I initially booked in January. Of course they haven't refunded me and I just keep getting the run around with guest rewards.

My question is this, does Customer Relations oversee Guest Rewards? Should my next step be to talk to them or how should I proceed? This is obviously a mix up on their end and I have a screen shot of the text thread. I should have read the eticket more carefully but I wasn't expecting that to be changed and the difference between "Jul and Jun" just wasn't enough to catch my eye apparently. I'm just extremely fortunate there was room to correctly re-book my trip only a few weeks out in the middle of summer.

Chad
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about that, Chad.

Customer Relations does have the authority to provide compensation when things go wrong with Guest Rewards bookings, though they do not "oversee" them, or in fact, oversee anyone. Guest Rewards agents are just regular Amtrak agents that have some special knowledge of Guest Rewards and are usually more experienced and knowledgeable. It isn't a separate division or anything.

I am unclear about what happened and what you want. You said you were credited with the difference in fares. I assume that was because you originally booked earlier January at a lower bucket. But you also said it was on points that you want restored. It couldn't have been a mixed points/cash reservation, that capability wasn't there in January. Did you rebook on a cash fare/more points after discovering the error, that you got the January price on? Your original points forfeited as a no-show?

Changing rooms can be a fraught exercise. Not all agents know how to do it without changing fare, though that wasn't the issue here, it is a reason to be cautious. It is something I would call about, not chat or text. I'd also be using the AGR line, not 800-USA-RAIL, on any reservation because those agents are generally more knowledgeable and skilled, but especially one that was an AGR trip to begin with. In all cases when doing some kind of change on an expensive sleeper trip, I always tell the agent right up front that I am going to describe what I want to do, but that I do not want them to actually make any changes until we have discussed it. I have them read it back what they are going to do, and agree with it before I tell them execute it. Often agents will be making changes as they go along otherwise or jump the gun with a not fully understood request. It is a lot easier to not do something than to undo something. I also do not end the call until I have received the email confirmation and at least reviewed it cursorily before letting the agent go. Also, bear in mind that agents on chat are also often handling multiple conversations at once (when they aren't AI), that is one of the reasons companies like it. It's a productivity tool. In a phone conversation, you have their full attention.

In any case, by all means take it up with Customer Relations. They may or may not be able to get a full restoration of points, but it's worth a try. If they can't, it won't be because it's AGR, it'll be due to the nature of the underlying problem, a mistaken no show forfeiture that was caught "late". They'd likely have the same issues on a cash fare in the same circumstances.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I'm just trying to get the points I initially paid put back into my account because when I rebooked I still had to pay for the new reservation (using points as well). Hopefully that makes sense.

I think when I have a chance later in the week I will call the USA RAIL number and ask to speak to customer relations because going through guest rewards hasn't gotten me anywhere.

I do agree with calling rather than texting however, I am glad I have some record now because they initially said I made the date change which obviously isn't true.
 
Agree it is good to have the record since the mistake was made, but with a phone call it probably would have not happened in the first place or been caught immediately. JUN versus JUL can be easy to overlook, hearing "June" instead of "July" would be a lot more obvious.

As others have said, AGR agents can connect you to Customer Relations, too. It usually has less wait time as well.
 

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