Roberto Jeremías Bútler on Friday, January 23, 2009 at 4:51pm
For all the people who requested it... Here's my complaint letter to Greyhound.
To Whom It May Concern:
Hello, my name is Robert Butler and I am writing a letter to the Greyhound Corporate Office to file a formal complaint. On July 4th, 2008 I received the absolute worst service possible from Greyhound. I have received poor service from a number of companies in the past, but no incident has ever been so horrible for me to actually write a letter. In this letter I will describe in detail my situation and I expect appropriate actions be taken.
On July 3rd, my friend David Tedone and I rode a Coach America bus from Dallas, Texas to Shreveport, Louisiana. Our return bus was set to return at 6am the following morning on July 4th, but unfortunately we were late and missed our bus. After weighing our options, we decided that the best possible option would be to buy a ticket on the Greyhound bus to return to Dallas. We arrived at the Greyhound station in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana around 8am on Friday morning. We went to the counter to purchase our tickets for a bus leaving around 12pm, but to our surprise the bus was completely full. The agent at the counter, Robert F., was very rude and refused to provide us information on the bus schedules for the rest of the day. After negotiating, he finally informed us that the next bus left at 4pm, but for some reason would not sell us tickets in advance. Tired, frustrated and out of options, we decided to rest at the Greyhound station until our 4pm bus departed. As any weary traveler would, we both dozed off and fell asleep on the benches in the waiting area. To our surprise, we were woken up by two officers from the Shreveport Police Department. We were informed that the Greyhound agent, Robert F., called the police because we were not allowed to wait in the waiting room without tickets. Instead of simply waking us up and telling us, he resorted to calling the police. This situation caused us extreme embarrassment and it could have been simply resolved with politely asking us to leave until our bus departed. What I failed to comprehend is why we were not allowed to purchase tickets in the first place, allowing us to stay in the waiting room. I would understand if we were two vagabonds, loitering and causing trouble, but we are two Texas A&M college-educated gentlemen with professional careers at major companies.
After the police incident, we were informed that we must either leave the station and wait for the next bus (8 hours away) somewhere away from the premises or go to jail. Not willing to argue about our crime was, nor preferring to take the latter option, we politely exited the station and began to wait outside in the 100 degree heat. Keep in mind that the date was the 4th of July and there were absolutely no businesses open, meaning that spending 8 hours in the blazing heat was seemingly inevitable. After wandering around for 6 hours in an unfamiliar city with few places to go except for the Greyhound Station and the casino, we finally return to the Greyhound station at 2pm to buy our tickets two hours before departure. When we arrived at the station, the same attendant, Mr. Robert F., was there again at the check-in counter. We asked him politely for two tickets to Dallas and he told us to come back at 4pm. We didn't understand this because after being escorted out by the police, Robert F said that we were allowed to return at 2pm to buy our tickets. At this point, I'm very frustrated and my primary concern is just returning to Dallas to be able spend at least some of the holiday with my family. At this point, things really began to heat up. We asked Robert F. why we weren't allowed to buy tickets and he said that the bus was almost full. If the bus was only ALMOST full and there were two seats left, what is the problem in two willing customers purchasing a ticket? I began to realize that Robert F. simply did not want to sell us a ticket based on his blatant dislike for us. I questioned his policies and when I asked him to speak to a manager, he responded in these exact words: "Look y'all, I'm tired, so go on and get out of here, get the fuck out of my face or I'm going to call the police on your ass again." Bewildered, flabbergasted and lost for words, I simply sat there in shock as I came to the realization that I had just been cussed at by a Greyhound agent. I've dealt with everything from rude waiters to flight attendants, but I have NEVER, ever been cussed at, especially without cause. I then asked Robert F. to give me his last name immediately so I could report him and his response was simply a pompous, supercilious chuckle. He then remarked "I've been here for almost 20 years, they a'int gonna do nothing to me." I told him that if he wasn't scared of the repercussions for his outrageous actions, there should be no hesitation in giving me his last name. "Ask your momma for my damn last name" is how Robert F ended the conversation, and left the check-in counter. Both David and I were very stunned. We had been treated horribly and since Robert F seemed to be the only agent working at the time, we still had no way back to Dallas. Robert F is by far the worst customer service agent I have ever encountered and quite possibly the rudest human being I have ever dealt with. In addition to his ignorance for customer service and distasteful vulgarity, his command of formal English was very poor, making it even harder to understand him. I would expect that Greyhound attendants be at least somewhat educated but after this incident I have come to the conclusion that I guessed wrong. In the United States of America, where the customer is the core of essentially all businesses, ESPECIALLY THOSE PROVIDING SERVICES, I never expected this to happen.
After waiting around the station for another hour, we saw another agent at the check out counter, and we immediately went to her for help. We asked to buy two tickets and she confirmed that the bus was NOT full and that there were plenty of seats left. This meant that Robert F. lied about the bus being full in order to prevent us from returning to Dallas. Anyways, instead of selling us a ticket, we were met with another obstacle. The lady informed us that she could smell a hint of alcohol on our breath and she would not sell us a ticket until we purchased coffee from the restaurant in the terminal to mask the scent. For starters, yes, David and I did have approximately two beers a piece during our 8 hours of waiting in Shreveport. Since our only option was to either stand outside in the heat for 8 hours and risk heat exhaustion or go into an air-conditioned casino (the ONLY business open in Shreveport on a national holiday), any reasonable person would have done the same. We sat at a restaurant in the casino, ate, watched a tennis match, and had two beers a piece. The attendant never said anything about us being intoxicated because we clearly were not, she only mentioned the scent of alcohol on our breath. I didn't know that it was wrong for two gentlemen, both over the age of 21 to have a couple of beers in an 8 hour period, especially on a national holiday. We roamed around downtown Shreveport for a while until we found a nearby gas station that was open. We both struggled to down the coffee since we are not coffee drinkers and returned to the station to buy tickets. The agent informed us that since she had not actually seen us buy the coffee at the restaurant in the terminal, she did not believe we had actually consumed coffee. I don't know what her reasoning was behind buying coffee (gum would have worked just fine), but desperate to catch the last bus out of Shreveport, we followed her every order even though they seemed rather foolish and backwards. We purchased coffee from the terminal, waited outside in the heat (because we were still not able to wait inside without tickets), and drank huge cups of hot coffee in the sweltering heat in order to get our tickets. Finally, after a nearly 8 hour ordeal with Greyhound, we were allowed to purchase our tickets 5 minutes before departure.
If we would have had any idea that Greyhound would treat us so terribly, we surely would have opted to catch the morning flight out for 400+ dollars. Paying $400 for a flight would have been a small price to pay to not be treated with such disrespect and be humiliated (the police incident). I still fail to understand why your agents in Shreveport are not trained properly and why they would not sell a ticket to two willing customers. As a consultant for struggling firms on the verge of bankruptcy, I am well aware that businesses do not thrive when providing poor customer service. I am sure that your executive team is aware of this as well, but obviously Greyhound has done an awful job in conveying this to their agents. Even worse, according to Robert F, there are no ramifications for treating customers this way. I hope, as you should as well, that this is absolutely not true. With airfares beginning to skyrocket because of the price of oil, Greyhound has a perfect opportunity to lure in additional customers. It's a bit difficult to do this with a tarnished reputation. I expect appropriate actions to be taken, including but not limited to the termination of Mr. Robert F. I hope my complaint is taken seriously and I expect a response from Greyhound in the near future.
Ridiculous. Complete true story.
To Whom It May Concern:
Hello, my name is Robert Butler and I am writing a letter to the Greyhound Corporate Office to file a formal complaint. On July 4th, 2008 I received the absolute worst service possible from Greyhound. I have received poor service from a number of companies in the past, but no incident has ever been so horrible for me to actually write a letter. In this letter I will describe in detail my situation and I expect appropriate actions be taken.
On July 3rd, my friend David Tedone and I rode a Coach America bus from Dallas, Texas to Shreveport, Louisiana. Our return bus was set to return at 6am the following morning on July 4th, but unfortunately we were late and missed our bus. After weighing our options, we decided that the best possible option would be to buy a ticket on the Greyhound bus to return to Dallas. We arrived at the Greyhound station in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana around 8am on Friday morning. We went to the counter to purchase our tickets for a bus leaving around 12pm, but to our surprise the bus was completely full. The agent at the counter, Robert F., was very rude and refused to provide us information on the bus schedules for the rest of the day. After negotiating, he finally informed us that the next bus left at 4pm, but for some reason would not sell us tickets in advance. Tired, frustrated and out of options, we decided to rest at the Greyhound station until our 4pm bus departed. As any weary traveler would, we both dozed off and fell asleep on the benches in the waiting area. To our surprise, we were woken up by two officers from the Shreveport Police Department. We were informed that the Greyhound agent, Robert F., called the police because we were not allowed to wait in the waiting room without tickets. Instead of simply waking us up and telling us, he resorted to calling the police. This situation caused us extreme embarrassment and it could have been simply resolved with politely asking us to leave until our bus departed. What I failed to comprehend is why we were not allowed to purchase tickets in the first place, allowing us to stay in the waiting room. I would understand if we were two vagabonds, loitering and causing trouble, but we are two Texas A&M college-educated gentlemen with professional careers at major companies.
After the police incident, we were informed that we must either leave the station and wait for the next bus (8 hours away) somewhere away from the premises or go to jail. Not willing to argue about our crime was, nor preferring to take the latter option, we politely exited the station and began to wait outside in the 100 degree heat. Keep in mind that the date was the 4th of July and there were absolutely no businesses open, meaning that spending 8 hours in the blazing heat was seemingly inevitable. After wandering around for 6 hours in an unfamiliar city with few places to go except for the Greyhound Station and the casino, we finally return to the Greyhound station at 2pm to buy our tickets two hours before departure. When we arrived at the station, the same attendant, Mr. Robert F., was there again at the check-in counter. We asked him politely for two tickets to Dallas and he told us to come back at 4pm. We didn't understand this because after being escorted out by the police, Robert F said that we were allowed to return at 2pm to buy our tickets. At this point, I'm very frustrated and my primary concern is just returning to Dallas to be able spend at least some of the holiday with my family. At this point, things really began to heat up. We asked Robert F. why we weren't allowed to buy tickets and he said that the bus was almost full. If the bus was only ALMOST full and there were two seats left, what is the problem in two willing customers purchasing a ticket? I began to realize that Robert F. simply did not want to sell us a ticket based on his blatant dislike for us. I questioned his policies and when I asked him to speak to a manager, he responded in these exact words: "Look y'all, I'm tired, so go on and get out of here, get the fuck out of my face or I'm going to call the police on your ass again." Bewildered, flabbergasted and lost for words, I simply sat there in shock as I came to the realization that I had just been cussed at by a Greyhound agent. I've dealt with everything from rude waiters to flight attendants, but I have NEVER, ever been cussed at, especially without cause. I then asked Robert F. to give me his last name immediately so I could report him and his response was simply a pompous, supercilious chuckle. He then remarked "I've been here for almost 20 years, they a'int gonna do nothing to me." I told him that if he wasn't scared of the repercussions for his outrageous actions, there should be no hesitation in giving me his last name. "Ask your momma for my damn last name" is how Robert F ended the conversation, and left the check-in counter. Both David and I were very stunned. We had been treated horribly and since Robert F seemed to be the only agent working at the time, we still had no way back to Dallas. Robert F is by far the worst customer service agent I have ever encountered and quite possibly the rudest human being I have ever dealt with. In addition to his ignorance for customer service and distasteful vulgarity, his command of formal English was very poor, making it even harder to understand him. I would expect that Greyhound attendants be at least somewhat educated but after this incident I have come to the conclusion that I guessed wrong. In the United States of America, where the customer is the core of essentially all businesses, ESPECIALLY THOSE PROVIDING SERVICES, I never expected this to happen.
After waiting around the station for another hour, we saw another agent at the check out counter, and we immediately went to her for help. We asked to buy two tickets and she confirmed that the bus was NOT full and that there were plenty of seats left. This meant that Robert F. lied about the bus being full in order to prevent us from returning to Dallas. Anyways, instead of selling us a ticket, we were met with another obstacle. The lady informed us that she could smell a hint of alcohol on our breath and she would not sell us a ticket until we purchased coffee from the restaurant in the terminal to mask the scent. For starters, yes, David and I did have approximately two beers a piece during our 8 hours of waiting in Shreveport. Since our only option was to either stand outside in the heat for 8 hours and risk heat exhaustion or go into an air-conditioned casino (the ONLY business open in Shreveport on a national holiday), any reasonable person would have done the same. We sat at a restaurant in the casino, ate, watched a tennis match, and had two beers a piece. The attendant never said anything about us being intoxicated because we clearly were not, she only mentioned the scent of alcohol on our breath. I didn't know that it was wrong for two gentlemen, both over the age of 21 to have a couple of beers in an 8 hour period, especially on a national holiday. We roamed around downtown Shreveport for a while until we found a nearby gas station that was open. We both struggled to down the coffee since we are not coffee drinkers and returned to the station to buy tickets. The agent informed us that since she had not actually seen us buy the coffee at the restaurant in the terminal, she did not believe we had actually consumed coffee. I don't know what her reasoning was behind buying coffee (gum would have worked just fine), but desperate to catch the last bus out of Shreveport, we followed her every order even though they seemed rather foolish and backwards. We purchased coffee from the terminal, waited outside in the heat (because we were still not able to wait inside without tickets), and drank huge cups of hot coffee in the sweltering heat in order to get our tickets. Finally, after a nearly 8 hour ordeal with Greyhound, we were allowed to purchase our tickets 5 minutes before departure.
If we would have had any idea that Greyhound would treat us so terribly, we surely would have opted to catch the morning flight out for 400+ dollars. Paying $400 for a flight would have been a small price to pay to not be treated with such disrespect and be humiliated (the police incident). I still fail to understand why your agents in Shreveport are not trained properly and why they would not sell a ticket to two willing customers. As a consultant for struggling firms on the verge of bankruptcy, I am well aware that businesses do not thrive when providing poor customer service. I am sure that your executive team is aware of this as well, but obviously Greyhound has done an awful job in conveying this to their agents. Even worse, according to Robert F, there are no ramifications for treating customers this way. I hope, as you should as well, that this is absolutely not true. With airfares beginning to skyrocket because of the price of oil, Greyhound has a perfect opportunity to lure in additional customers. It's a bit difficult to do this with a tarnished reputation. I expect appropriate actions to be taken, including but not limited to the termination of Mr. Robert F. I hope my complaint is taken seriously and I expect a response from Greyhound in the near future.
Ridiculous. Complete true story.
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