Bob didn’t realize that his Amtrak train from Syracuse would be delayed for more than an hour until an Amtrak agent called him up and offered to upgrade him free of charge to an earlier and pricier train. Bob initially declined, but later called back to change his mind. When he got to the station, the same agent realized that he qualified for a cheaper ticket and refunded the difference on the spot.

Bob writes:

I am writing to let you know about the exceptional customer service I received today from the staff at Amtrak, specifically the agents at the William Walsh regional transportation center in Syracuse NY.

This morning I was called at home by a very friendly Amtrak agent. She was calling to tell me that because of a crash elsewhere on the line, my train was going to be at least an hour late. Before I could thank her for that news (because really, who wants to wait an extra hour at a small rail station) she offered to change my reservation to an earlier and more expensive train for free. At first I declined, but she left her number so that I could call back and check to see if my late train was more than 1 Hour late.

I changed my mind and called back and the agent happily rebooked for me.

At the station, I found out that Amtrak’s national call center calls and offers solutions if a train is more than 2 hours late. In this situation the local agents called all of the local passengers on their own initiative.

I got another surprise when I got to the station: the same agent discovered that I qualified for a lower fare on the return trip so they gave me a $5.40 refund!

Thanks to Amtrak and the Syracuse agents for raising the bar in travel.

Well that’s certainly unexpected, especially from Amtrak. If only their trains were as fast as their Syracuse agents are nice.

(Photo: reivax)

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