Greyhound Bus Lines Advance Purchase Does NOTHING!! Internet
On November 24th, 2010, I purchased a ticket from Greyhound Bus Lines to get a new driver for our company to Kansas City, MO from Chattanooga, TN on December 5th, 2010. The ticket was bought and paid for in full on November 24th. That same day I emailed their customer service with a question because both of the phone numbers on their confirmation email were disconnected. I finally recieved a response to that email on December 17th!!
Our driver was to board the bus on Dec. 5th at 9:30 PM. When he arrived at 8 PM he was told to wait in line and they would see if they had a seat for him. When the bus arrived he was told that there were only 6 seats available and he was number 7. He would have to come back the next night to try again. I advised him that it must have just been a fluke and to try the next night. I also advised him to arrive much earlier to ensure that he got a seat if there were to be an issue again with reduced seating available. He arrived at the bus terminal on December 6th, 2010 at 5:30 PM. He was informed at 9 PM that the bus was completely full and would not be stopping at the terminal. At this point I asked him while I was on the phone with him to ask the man at the counter why he was being turned away repeatedly when his ticket weas purchased two weeks in advance, and was paid for in full. The attendants response was,"I dont care when you bought the ticket, the bus is full again." I told the driver that we wanted a full refund and that we did not want the ticket at all. The attendant said that we would not see the refund on our credit card for a few days. After that he promptly asked my driver to leave, locked up the terminal, and went home. As my driver was dropped off by a friend thinking he was leaving town and would not be leaving a car at the terminal, he was forced to stand in the cold until his ride could come back for him.
The customer service was undeniably horrible. The treatment of our driver was unforgivable, and Greyhounds ability to plan seating based on the tickets they sell online as valid was a complete false advertisement! We will NEVER attempt to use Greyhounds services again. I refuse to have our employees treated in such a manner, and our business cannot afford to have our drivers out of comission based on Greyhounds scheduling mistakes!