Sometimes AMTRAK stinks!

[Roomette10]

At least our Empire Builder sleeper car did for most of the trip from CHI to PDX. The car attendant announced a plumbing issue the first day and locked the restrooms, telling us to use the facilities in adjacent cars. That was inconvenient, but the real unpleasantness was the smell that began to spread through the car soon after the toilets were closed.
I should have asked them to move me to another car, I guess, but I did not think of that. I know that they would have fixed whatever failed if that were possible, so I did not complain at the time.
Will AMTRAK give me a voucher or something if I complain about this?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

They should. What was the poor passenger in the ADA room supposed to do?

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Fish stinks from the head (CEO) down.

Being serious though yes a thoughtfully written email, letter or phone call should net you at least 50 percent of the accommodation charge in the form of a voucher or if your lucky a refund.

My last and only complaint in the last couple years netted me the entire accommodation charge $324.90 refunded to my credit card. Odors in room and visible grime in vents above my head in upper bunk. I took photos, printed them out on normal paper then mailed them certified to Customer relations with a letter.

Also included in letter was the fact our checked bags were not offloaded at our station on Christmas morning which was a hassle. Amtrak doesn’t deliver lost bags to your door like the airlines do. So we had to go back to the station 6 hours later to retrieve bags.

All things considered your issue sounds worse than ours was so give it a shot.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Fish stinks from the head (CEO) down.

Being serious though yes a thoughtfully written email, letter or phone call should net you at least 50 percent of the accommodation charge in the form of a voucher or if your lucky a refund.

My last and only complaint in the last couple years netted me the entire accommodation charge $295 refunded to my credit card. Odors in room and visible grime in vents above my head in upper bunk. I took photos, printed them out on normal paper then mailed them certified to Customer relations with a letter.

Also included in letter was the fact our checked bags were not offloaded at our station on Christmas morning which was a hassle. Amtrak doesn’t delivery lost bags to your door like the airlines do. So we had to deal with that Christmas Day.

All things considered your issue sounds worse than ours was so give it a shot.

I have heard people report Amtrak delivering bags to their hotels, homes, etc.

 

[Seaboard92]

Amtrak has delivered a bag to my house before. But not as good as Lufthansa who one day aired my bag to my house from Germany.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

They said it wasn’t an option in Fullerton, in fact they thought I was crazy asking. Station by station maybe? This was 12/25/18.

God info tho, thanks!

 

[pennyk]

I have heard people report Amtrak delivering bags to their hotels, homes, etc.

After Alan's death on the Crescent, some of his luggage ended up in New Orleans. Amtrak arranged for the luggage to be shipped by Federal Express to Alan's brother's house. I believe Amtrak was extremely accommodating.

 

[Old MM]

Do you know, was the plumbing issue known while the train was in Chicago? Presumably the EB overnights there so there is time for servicing etc.?

 

[me_little_me]

I have heard people report Amtrak delivering bags to their hotels, homes, etc.

They did for me in Wilmington. We got off the Crescent (hours late) then went to baggage claim. They said there were no bags for Wilmington on the train and had an attitude about it. I told them they were wrong as I had checked two bags through. They asked me if I had claim tickets. When I produced them, they suddenly became apologetic and found out they were forgotten. They were pulled off the train in Philadelphia and put on the first train back and were delivered to our hotel 2 hours later.
Amtrak also gave me a partial refund due to the delay (which cost me a loss of my reservation for the first night at the NJ coast and subsequent high cost to stay overnight in Wilmington since I had to pick up a car from the local Hertz which was long since closed for the day).

I always wondered what they would have done had we caught the rental car and been able to drive that evening to NJ. Would they make us wait the2 hours? When we were told our bags had to arrive in Philadelphia then be transferred for a return trip, they were not sure how long it would take.

 

[JP1822]

Is there any regular "refresh" or "renovation" program that the Superliners or Viewliners are being cycled through? I would guess not, as the sleepers are really start to show wear and tear, but just curious.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Not to sound like a broken record but anecdotally with the Superliners I’ve never seen them as bad as they have been the last two years (Anderson’s reign) especially my main train the SWC.

The remodeled Superliner 1’s with the fake wood siding/laminate in the room hallways still look amazing though. The 2’s need a refresh badly. I was talking about that with an attendant last trip. They look better then the newer cars. From my observations the cleaning budget or actual deep cleaning has been slashed it’s apparent.

We’re off GBB to FUL on the SWC again on Thursday so be interesting to what this trip brings us.

 

[Roomette10]

Do you know, was the plumbing issue known while the train was in Chicago? Presumably the EB overnights there so there is time for servicing etc.?

The plumbing worked the first night, it was sometime on day two that I noticed that the toilets were all locked

 

[Devil's Advocate]

From my observations the cleaning budget or actual deep cleaning has been slashed it’s apparent.

Other than the SL1 refurbs I'm not sure I've ever seen a Superliner that looked like it had undergone a real deep cleaning. Usually I see carpets with deep stains rather than deep cleaning.