Amtrak

Complaint #3 Amtrak – KEVIN JONES

On new years day,2012 I bought a ticket from san diego to santa barbara from the automated ticket machine at the santa fe depot in san diego. I am a disabled person with a county of Los Angeles ACCESS disability card.When i boarded the train I declined the downstairs seats reserved for disabled and senior passeners.However I asked KEVIN JONES the conductor that i need to get off in L.A: to get my medicine because I was feelin ill. I showed him my ticket and my ACCESS disabiliy card from the county of Los Angeles. His tone of voice became very rude and mean,he waved his hand in my face and told me,I must get off in L.A. or Santa Barbara.I pointed out that the ticket does not prohibit stopovers and reminded him of my rights of a disabled person.He became flipant and made incoherant remarks and laughed at me.I asked to speak to a supervisor,about 10 minutes later KEVIN JONES came back and demanded that I buy another ticket from him with cash or I will be thrown off in Solana Beach by police.He acted as if he was about to push me down the steps with my baggage.I told him to mind his manners and not touch me.I now realized I was not speaking to a rational person,I went to the cafe car with my baggage and waited to arrive in Solana Beach.While I was in the cafe car,I saw and heard him talking to another african american conductor.He said there is a chump ass white trash honky on the train trying to cheat on his fare but I will show him he can not ride on my train.I felt very upset and more ill.Soon the train arrives in Solana Beach,KEVIN JONES demands I walk with him to 2 sheriff deputies.He tells the deputies that I abused other passengers and that I have a fraudulent ticket.He copies my name from my ACCESS card and leaves very quickly.I told the deputies that he lied about me.They assisted me to a local bus to ocanside so I can board a bus to Los Angeles,then they left.I was stranded and feeling more ill.This is all I will divulge for now.

Complaint #2 Amtrak Solana Beach

Incredibly bad service by Cindy, ticket agent at Amtrak, 105 North Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach, California 92075. I had asked her to issue tickets to Northern California. Cindy was so busy not doing a damn thing, she said “I get off soon” and “do not have the time” so to come back at 2 or 3.

I asked why, and she said it was “just too much effort before getting off.” I came back an hour later, and Cindy was just getting off, so, in short, passed the buck on the next ticket agent so she would not need to do any work. Very lazy and rude. The next ticket agent was kind – a male.

It is astonishing in this economy such lazy people like Cindy exist and do not do all they can do help a customer.

105 North Cedros Avenue
CA Solana Beach 92075
United States

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=am/am2Station/Station_Page&code=SOL

Complaint #1 AMTRAK PASSENGER ABUSE BY MELISSA ROSE CONDUCTOR

Just to give you a brief summery. We are professional business people who travel to New York every month to meet our customers in our showroom. We were thrown off an Amtrak train by a vindictive conductor in the middle of no where at 10pm directly onto the rail tracks. Because we were not at a station there was no platform. I suffered an injury to my knee while being forced off the train. The doctor said I need an MRI. Also I have been suffering with chest pains since the incident and was in the emergency room last Monday and left against doctor’s advice. I searched the web and there are many complaints out there against the employees of Amtrak, apparently this is not the first time by any means that an Amtrak conductor has done this and the public needs to know what is going on. Below I have written the story exactly as it unfolded and included our contact information at the bottom.

Subject: AMTRAK PASSENGER ABUSE STORY AS IT UNFOLDED

My mother and I boarded Amtrak train #97 at New York Penn Station traveling back home to Hollywood, FL on the evening of November 10th 2011 with intentions of paying for an upgrade to a cabin after the Washington D.C. stop as my mother had done so many times before. We confirmed this would be possible, as it usually is, with the conductor on duty at the time we boarded.

After leaving the Washington, D.C. stop, my mother and I let our desire to upgrade our seats to a roomette cabin be known to the new conductor that boarded at this stop. At this time she notified us in an abrasive tone that she would not move us until we had left Richmond, VA. We found this to be unusual as my mother is a frequent Amtrak member traveler and always pays for an upgrade after leaving Washington, D.C.except for one time with the same conductor Melissa Rose where she did the same thing, all other conductors upgrade after Washington. Also, we both couldn’t help but to notice her attitude right away and my mother remarked to me, once the conductor passed, that it would be best to be patient and pleasant because this conductor is vindictive. Other than that, my mother had nothing but good things to say about her experience with Amtrak staff and conductors. In fact, this was my first trip to NYC via Amtrak. My mother had been trying to convince me that it was less frustrating than flying and so I went to try it out and keep her company.

My mother told me that on her previous trip Melissa Rose kept her sitting on purpose in the cafe car for over an hour completely ignoring her as she carried on chatting with her friends and joking with her co-workers. My mother waited patiently for the conductor to reluctantly allow her to get her room. By the time my mother got to the cabin she was already in tears and felt victimized. She didn’t report it at the time because she felt that perhaps Melissa Rose may have had a personal reason for being so objectionable and nasty.

On this occasion, we certainly would have waited until Richmond had the conductor not been confrontational and dismissive once again. Her bad attitude left us with a very uneasy feeling and we were concerned that she would not provide us with proper service. We decided that it would be best to be patient, keep our opinion of her demeanor to ourselves and grab a bite to eat in the dining car.

When making an attempt to enter the car with my carry-on laptop bag, I was approached by Melissa Rose and told that I would not be allowed to enter with it. I was uncomfortable with leaving my livelihood in a train full of people unattended and explained that perhaps we could do the upgrade now so that I could put my possessions in a secure cabin. She of course refused which left me with only two options; leave my bag unsecured or stay with it and skip dinner. Fortunately, an extremely nice cabin attendant overheard the encounter and offered to take my bags to his personal cabin until after dinner so that I could join my mother in the dining car. This simple solution visibly upset Melissa Rose. She then began to berate him in front of us for over stepping his bounds by being courteous and professional.

When passing through the dining car to drop off my bags in the attendant’s room, the wait staff in the dining car let me know that putting my bag under the table would not be a problem at all. Over dinner my mother and I discussed our fears regarding the conductor’s intentions.My mother said she feared Melissa Rose would say their were no rooms. We of course did not want to jeopardize our chances of getting a cabin because we were quite exhausted from our long work week in New York. Despite our best efforts to be compliant and patient, we sensed that Melissa Rose’s abrasive temperament would impede a reasonable resolution to this simple situation. While still at dinner, Melissa Rose passed through the dining car escorting another passenger along with luggage to the sleeping car. This appeared to be an upgrade as they were coming from the coach car and we were not at a station at the time. When she returned to pass back through the dining car, I approached her to let her know that I would sooner skip dinner rather than lose the opportunity of getting a cabin. Melissa Rose turned her back on me, waved me off dismissively and said to come to her when I was done with dinner. Later we found out that she had gone back to the attendant’s cabin to continue verbally abusing him in his cabin uninterrupted. As my mother and I were now completely stressed out and could not stomach dinner.

My mother was now complaining of pains in her chest. I asked her to remain in the dining car while I went to find Melissa Rose to sort out the cabin. I found her in the cafe car doing paper work and chatting with her friends. I thought it would be best to be patient and sit at a table nearby and wait until she was ready for me rather than provoke her unwarranted attitude. After she had clearly completed her paperwork, she continued to chat with her friends knowing full well that I was sitting there waiting for her attention. I was receiving the same treatment as my mother had on her previous trip with Melissa Rose but again, I was patient. My mother called me on my cell phone while I was sitting there waiting and asked if she was completely ignoring and chatting with her friends. I said of course. After approximately 30 minutes, she got up and walked out of the cafe car leaving me there ignored. Again, I was patient. I waited in the cafe car assuming that there was no way she would leave me there knowing full well I was waiting for her. She must be coming back soon I thought to myself. Eventually, I gave up and made my way back to the dining car.

In the hallway leading up to it I found her chatting to a co-worker and watching a YouTube video of a rap song on his mobile device. I walked up to them expecting them to let me pass but they were so fixated on this music video that they did not. Again, I was patient…but my patience was now wearing thin. My mother called me on my cell wondering where I was all this time and I let her know that I was stuck in human traffic. Having overheard me, Melissa Rose then stepped out of the way. I sat back down at the dinner table and explained the situation.

During the time I was gone, my mother had been discussing cabin availability with the cabin crew and confirmed that there were indeed cabins still available. They were extremely helpful and even volunteered phone numbers of Amtrak managers on a napkin to discuss Melissa Rose’s discourteous, shameful, and unprofessional behavior. Soon after, Melissa Rose, along with the assistant conductor, entered the dining car. We sensed as she approached that she meant to cause trouble. My mother said to me quietly, “I bet she is going to tell us there are no rooms.”

As soon as she sat down, she began to make accusations of inappropriate language used while criticizing her during our dinner conversation. I was shocked that we were being eavesdropped upon. She attempted to quote portions of our private dinner talk but was so far off that we simply explained that she was incorrect about the nature of our conversation. She would not hear it. We then asked her if we could just get the room and get some rest to which she lied straight to our faces and aggressively told us there were no rooms available. Up until this point, our side of interactions with Melissa Rose had been calm and polite despite her lack of reciprocation. My mother told her we knew she was going to say that. I let her know that we were fully aware that she just lied directly to us and that the cabin attendants even gave us the room numbers that were still open. Having had all I could stand, I made a comment regarding a pink slip and apparently that was all she needed to call the police and have us escorted of the train. She stood up, said “You’re gone” and stormed off while requesting police and our immediate disembarkation over her walkie-talkie. I followed her to try and reason with her but she had been beyond reason for some time. We weren’t getting upgraded, we were getting degraded.

As I was now waiting for the police to remove me and my diabetic 63 year old mother who just recovered from a major surgery, I reached my limit and became extremely upset. I let her know my opinion of her, specifically about her abrasive personality and shameful behavior in a tone that certainly did not help my case. She stood there staring at me in a smug way knowing that she had all the power, waiting for me to make a mistake so that she could escalate the situation and have me arrested. Knowing her intentions, I chose my words very carefully. I exclaimed that I just wanted to go to sleep to which she replied in a sarcastic and venomous tone, “Oh! You’ll get some sleep!” So, I continued to express my poor opinion of her personality and professionalism. I am not proud of my outburst. I suffer from an  anxiety disorder and take medication to control it. However, Melissa Rose’s attitude and extreme passive aggressiveness was more than I could handle. This woman should not hold a job dealing with the public. She is nasty, cold, unprofessional, and has an unfortunate demeanor more suited for prison guard duty in a maximum security prison.

Seeing that I was not taking the encounter to the next level, she gave up and had her staff get between us and usher me back to the dining car where my mother was attempting to get hold of Amtrak customer service on her cell phone. After calming down, I sat quietly and waited to be removed from the train. When Sergeant Menzies and Officer Sturnman arrived they asked us kindly to let them escort us off. Having a moderate understanding of our rights in this situation, my mother and I agreed to leave without further incident. It was then that we realized that we were not even at a train stop and about to be herded off like cattle; my mothers reward for being a frequent travel rewards member.

We were in the middle of Ashland, VA at East Francis and South Center Street with no platform and a sizable drop down (for my mother). I explained to Sergeant Menzies that she would not be able to make the jump. The police relayed this information to the conductor and had the train moved back to a position where my mother could be helped down while the Amtrak staff retrieved our checked in luggage to leave them with us on the side of the tracks. Getting my mother down from the train proved to be complicated and she twisted her knee painfully during the humiliating process. Officer Sturnman assisted my mother across the railroad tracks explaining that they had to hurry because another train was about to come through very soon. Once we were all clear, Melissa Rose hung out the vestibule compartment doorway as the train departed and stared us down as the police, my mother and I watched the train, which we had fully paid for already, roll away leaving us stranded in the November cold and dark in an area unknown to us with no platform, no facilities, no prospects and six pieces of luggage. I still don’t know what her problem is. I just know that it must be addressed.

Fortunately, the police were extremely sympathetic to our situation and offered us a ride as well as hotel recommendations. As we had too many bags, they called a security guard, John Edmonton, who had a pick-up truck at the local college to give us a ride to a hotel. As John was such a decent person, we attempted to give him a tip for his efforts but he would not accept it. Instead he just wished us a
pleasant stay in, as he put it, “Our itty-bitty town.” During the wait for John to pick us up, the officers explained to us that train removals are not uncommon but usually the offenders are drunk and disorderly. They were pleasantly surprised to find that we were quite well mannered and graciously thanked us for our cooperation. We in turn expressed how grateful we were for their assistance and professional courtesy. If there is an upside to this story it is the kindness of John Edmonton, Sergeant Menzies and Officer Sturnman. We found the Ashland police to be among the best we have encountered. The down side is my mother couldn’t sleep last night with chest pains and an aching knee. She is severely traumatized and we now have to figure out how we are going to get home ASAP so that she can see her cardiologist and have her knee examined as a result of this outrageous incident.

Amtrak
www.amtrak.com
National Railroad Passenger Corporation
60 Massachusetts Ave. Ne
Washington, DC 20002
United States
202-906-3000
202-906-3306

Best regards,
JOSEPHINE SAVIR

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TAGS

• Bad Service
• Deceptive
• Dishonest
• Emotional Abuse
• harassment
• Liars
• Misleading
• Product Not Delivered
• Rude
• Unfair Business Practices
• Unsafe
• Wrongful

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