Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
steam and has railroading in his blood. The odds were against
Amtrak in its early days, and hard-nosed railroad people were
necessary to make it all work and keep things running. The trou-
ble is, many of those old timers thought of passengers as a nec-
essary evil—just a particularly bothersome type of freight—and
that attitude was felt by passengers.
With the passing years, the old-time railroad men left Amtrak,
and a new crop of younger executives took their places. As a
result, there is a much broader understanding that, first and fore-
most, Amtrak is in the service business. So should you follow up
by reporting problems you might encounter? You bet! How else
can someone in a position of authority improve or correct things?
You should know that Amtrak takes all complaints seriously. The
complaints are categorized, the source of the problem is tracked
down, and, in my experience anyway, a reasonable effort is made
to take corrective action.
Amtrak wants to deal with problems quickly, so the preferred
means is to make your complaint or comment by phone. Call
Amtrak's main number, 1-800-USA-RAIL, and ask to be con-
nected with customer relations. They are available weekdays
(except holidays) from 7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. EST.
You can also use e-mail. Go to www.amtrak.com and click
on “Contact Us,” then follow the instructions. Of course, there's
always snail mail. Write to Amtrak Customer Relations, 60 Mas-
sachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002.
To pursue your complaint most effectively, be prepared to
provide specific details, stick to the facts, and be as brief as pos-
sible. Avoid the temptation to gripe about relatively trivial prob-
lems. Most important, be polite and keep things unemotional.
Remember, the folks you're talking to are on your
side.
Whichever way you choose to make contact, remember that
Amtrak is a very large organization, and it performs a complex
service for millions of people. Things are bound to go wrong
from time to time. Give them a reasonable amount of time to
Search WWH ::
Custom Search