07/16/98

Leave the Scheduling to the Other Guy.....

Our family faced a dilemma last weekend. Three adults at home were bound for three different destinations with only two cars available.

"No problem," I said. "I'll just take a bus or train."

Phone calls to reservation agents confirmed that I could travel between Hartford and Plymouth, New Hampshire by bus (via Boston) but not by train. The trip would take a couple of hours longer by bus than by car, but why not "Leave the driving to us," as the slogan goes, and read,sleep or write articles en route?

My eager anticipation for golf, bridge and lush views of the New Hampshire countryside sealed the deal. I bought the $100 ticket and settled in for the five-and-a-half hour jaunt that called for a change of buses (and bus companies) in Boston. All went smoothly. I arrived at the Plymouth bus stop, a park bench occupied by the other three members of my gaming foursome who whisked me off for three days of friendly competition (despite a few trumped aces and wicked crossrough at the bridge table).

Two rounds of golf, a rain soaked hike to see "the old man in the mountain," many laughs and countless rubbers of bridge later, we threw some ham sandwiches together for lunch and headed back to Plymouth for the 2:00 bus. By 2:45, with no bus in sight, I knew I'd never make the Boston connection. None of the local merchants across from the bus stop knew anything about the schedule, so we called the bus company only to learn that I had been given outdated information. There was no 2:00 bus from Plymouth on Sundays during the summertime. If I could get to Concord (40 miles south), I was told, I could catch the next bus to Boston and continue on to Hartford from there. Fortunately my friends had waited with me, so they drove me and another stranded passenger to Concord, where we resumed our trips.

Home by 10:00, I shrugged off irritation from the inconvenience and slept. The next morning I decided to give the bus company a call to be sure they made the schedule correction in their computers and to inquire about a refund for the unused portion of my ticket.

The ticket agent referred me to a customer service number that was inoperative. I called back to speak to the ticket reservations supervisor, who told me that his company's agents had supplied me with computerized information supplied by the second bus company. He took the corrected information down on paper. When I suggested that it would be faster just to enter it into the computer, he said that someone else would do that. Even though his company had sold me the ticket, he said that the second company was responsible to make good on it.

I called the second company. Their agent told me that the first company had misread the schedule, and a visit to their (the second company's) web site would prove it. Since she wasn't responsible for training the agents in the bus company that issued the ticket, it wasn't their company's fault that the first company's agents had misread the schedules. Therefore their company was not responsible for the error. At that point I muttered something about slipshod business practices and hung up.

Whatever happened to the age-old watchwords of service businesses: "The customer is always right"? Neither bus company took responsibility for the error, apologized for my discomfort, expressed concern about stranding future customers, or offered to reimburse me for part of the ticket price.

Three days later I called the bus company that had originally issued me the ticket and requested scheduling information for exactly the same trip, just to check up on them. I was given the same misinformation again! Is it my imagination, or is there a logical reason why many people avoid bus travel? I'll leave the driving to you, all right, and offer a second slogan for your services:
"Passengers Beware!"

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.