I am a college student trying to get home for Thanksgiving. This will be the first time in 5 years I have seen my family. I purchased a Print at Home 21 day advanced ticket, however after the purchase I was informed that my family would not arrive in Chicago until later that week, and would need to change my travel dates.
I called customer service, and was informed that for a $20 fee I could go into a bus station and exchange my departure for the date I need (11/26) but when I got there, they said the system would not let them change it, giving them an error that the "trip was not a standard fare. Required for reissue". They said there was nothing they could do and I had to bring the ticket in on the 24th, the day AFTER my trip and then they could exchange it for $20.
Upon calling customer service to verify, I was informed that the bus station COULD transfer it, and if I waited until the 24th, I would have to pay the full fare. I went back to the bus station, and they told me that they guaranteed that they could exchange my print at home ticket for one with the correct date (11/26) the day AFTER my original ticket was supposed to be used.
Upon calling customer service, I was promptly told that my only option was to purchase a NEW ticket, and submit the old one for a refund once I had proven I had purchased another one.
I am a college student. I don't work, I am simply trying to get home to see family I haven't seen in five years, without living on the streets of Chicago for three days. I had $20 on my debit card, which I withdrew because the bus station said they needed cash, now all I have is a $20 bill that I can't put back on my school debit card because there are no local banks around campus (It's a national bank.)
All I am trying to do is get a straight answer and a solution. I need to change my travel dates FROM 11/23 and 11/30 TO 11/26 and 11/30. I am willing to pay the $20 fee to do so (it will have to be in person at the bus station now, because my last $20 was withdrawn from my card at the insistence of the worker), and I need to do it before 21 days because I can't afford to pay a raised price.
From the looks of the situation, it appears customer service and the terminal are bouncing me back in forth waiting for it to be less than 21 days so I can be charged an increased fee, and I have a serious problem with being told by the agent that "once Greyhound had my money, the date can't be changed for me and it's my tough luck if I can't depart on the original date."
I found this request form while searching for solutions, and wanted to reach out on here for a solution before I contacted the Better Business Bureau. If no resolution can be met, I intend to contact the BBB to question how the practice of retaining customers full payment for a service not received, and intentionally giving them conflicting information on how to change a departure date/exchange a ticket is allowed and considered legal. To me, this is theft and the process to obtain a simple date of departure is unnecessarily cumbersome and inconvenient. $252 is a lot of money to charge a customer and then pocket if something somehow changes on their end, especially if they are reaching out almost 45 days in advance to resolve the problem. "I'm sorry, but if your date has changed, you just donated $252 to the pockets of Greyhound" is NOT an acceptable answer.
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