On August 27, 2007, I used the Greyhound website to purchase a round-trip companion fare from Lexington, KY to Cincinnati, OH.  I chose a departure time of 09/03/07 at 9:05 am and a return time of 09/03/07 at 8:50 pm.  My husband and I wanted to attend the Mets-Reds game and spend some time with friends.  Imagine my surprise when the confirmation came up and it showed a return time of 09/03/07 at 12:01 pm!  That was not the time I'd chosen; I would never have chosen that time as the baseball game my husband and I wanted to attend didn't even start until 1:15!

 

A few days later, I called Greyhound's customer service number at 1-800-231-2222, thinking that Greyhound would certainly correct its mistake.  I explained the situation and gave my reference number to the agent.  The agent informed me that the time on the return ticket could be changed...for a $10 fee!  I explained that if a mistake had been made, it wasn't on my part, and that I wanted this to be rectified without having to pay any additional expenses myself.  I was told that since I had purchased the tickets online and the mistake had been made through use of the website, to call their online customer service department at 1-800-846-0754.

 

I called this number and spoke to Eva Martell.  I explained the situation again, and, when prompted by Ms. Martell, provided my reference number from the online purchase confirmation.  Ms. Martell then went on to tell me that the return time could be changed for a $10 itinerary change fee.  Once again, I told her that this was not my mistake and that I wanted it rectified without incurring any additional expenses.  She told me that I would have to take it up with the agent at the terminal.

 

Travel was busy due to the Labor Day holiday and rather than fight over this with an agent and potentially cause people behind us in line to miss their buses, I decided to suck it up and pay their stupid $10 itinerary change fee.  When we got to the window, since a companion fare involves two tickets, we were charged a TWENTY dollar itinerary change fee - $10 per ticket.  I was really seeing red at this point and had to get my husband to pay the other $10.  When the agents I'd spoken with on the phone pulled up my reference number, they should have been able to see that two tickets had been purchased and prepare me for the eventuality that I might have to actually pay $20 instead of $10 to switch the tickets.

 

So this morning, i got on the phone with Greyhound again, beginning with their customer service number at 1-800-231-2222.  I spoke with RJ and told him right off the bat that i was a dissatisfied customer who had had a horrific experience (having to pay the additional $20 doesn't even come close to the actual experience we had on the bus on the way home from cincinnati, which i won't even get into here as this whole issue just refers to their bait-and-switch scheme) and that I wanted to speak with a supervisor, manager, or other higher-up who could rectify the situation to my satisfaction.  He apologized for my bad experience (first non-condescending customer service agent i'd spoken with, by the way) and provided the corporate number for customer service problem solutions at 214-849-8966.  Here, at first, I spoke with a woman named Ann who listened compassionately and then told me that I would have to call back and not press any options and just wait for a customer service agent to come on the line as they were the ones who had the authority to process any refunds.

 

So i called back and after 30 minutes (!) on hold, finally spoke with Ms. Scott.  She stated that this could have been rectified by my repurchasing the tickets (spending another $75) and then having the original tickets refunded (and god only knows how long that would take).  Since the travel date had already passed, this was no longer an option (although I wasn't interested in any option that would have caused me to spend MORE MONEY!).  Even though I would not have taken Greyhound up on this option, it should have been presented to me in the very beginning when I called the customer service number.

 

My subsequent actions have been to post messages on MySpace, on Facebook, on every message board where i'm a member, and here on my websight.  I've also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Dallas.  I will also be writing a letter to the president of the company.  And my husband and I will not be using Greyhound for our travels anymore.  As much as I love to travel, even I would rather stay home.