My husband and I took our three-month old granddaughter to see my parents in Florida. The trip down went fine, it was the horror of the return trip that caused us a significant amount of grief and heartache.
When we returned to NJ the first thing that went wrong was the transmission failed and the bus could only get up to 30 mph, so of course we had to change buses in Fayetteville, NC. Okay things happen, but I told my husband he should get the bags to make should they switched buses with us. The driver told him to go ahead into the station, that the "baggage handlers" would ensure that everything was taken care of, hmmmmm. Well, after a waiting period, we finally changed buses and started on our merry way.
The driver was actually able to make up the time lost and we arrived on time in Newark, NJ. The nightmare begins upon waiting to retrieve our luggage. All our bags came off the bus but one, we then went to customer service to see what was the next step and was advised that the bag probably got left in NC and should arrive on the next bus due in an hour. So we waited, no bag. We went back to customer service and was told to call back in 24 hours, if the bag didn't show up then we would have to fill out a form to have it traced. We did this. We called the Newark station several times a day for two weeks. We called the luggage locator line (toll call) just as much and no one could help us.
Finally we called the national customer service line in Houston (toll call) and was told we had to wait 30 days before a claim could be filed. This entailed giving them a detail list and dollar value of the items in the bag. We did this. We were informed that even though the value of our lost possessions totaled approximately $800.00 Greyhound was only responsible for $250.00. After doing everything we could to find our missing bag three months later, Greyhound issued a $250.00 check.
The very sad part is that apparently happens quite frequently and the "baggage handlers" I mentioned earlier. Well, it turns out that only stations with a high traffic volume have these positions, Fayetteville, NC is not one of them. None of the people I dealt with cared that I lost all my granddaughter's clothing, toys, gifts from family in Florida, two cameras, a blanket knitted especially for my granddaughter, and mementos left to me by my deceased grandmother who died four months prior.
You don't need a claim ticket to pickup luggage off-loaded from the bus, you only need this if your luggage is taken inside to customer service. And finally, it doesn't appear that Greyhound requires its employees to be customer focused. They have nonchalant attitudes, they are free to let you have just how much your problem is inconveniencing them and the station manager does not have to return phone calls.
You can't image the pain I have endured with Greyhound and have vowed to let everyone I can know about the "Bus Ride From Hell." If I can't get there by plane, ship, car or donkey — I'll walk first before I ever use Greyhound again.
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