July 11, 2018
I have come to the conclusion that Greyhound engages in unscrupulous tactics to pad their pockets. Here's why.
Sunday & Monday nights, I looked at prices on www.greyhound.com for a trip I wanted to take. The prices and availability remained stable. I discovered that they offered a 10% discount for someone who signed up for Road Rewards, and so I signed up and ordered Tuesday night.
I signed up for Road Rewards but, after signing up, I couldn't access my account. I called customer service and they sent a reset password request, which repeatedly failed to work without an error message. I turned off AdBlock Plus. Finally, after reloading the page several times and modestly changing my password, I was able to get in and start the booking process...But it said that there were no tickets at all for that date and trip! How, in 24 hours, did that happen, I wondered, when 3 different times of day were listed? I tried a couple times more.
I called them up again and was told that, although the bus I preferred was full, 3 other departure times (one of which had not shown up on the website) still had availability. She gave me the tried-and-true sales pitch that, if I went to the station to order my tickets, they'd cost over $180, but if I ordered from her, they'd "only" cost over $160! I pointed out to her that that was still about $40 more than what the website had offered. She said there was nothing she could do about the website. I felt perturbed and asked to speak to a supervisor but, although I was put on hold, no supervisor deigned to pick up the phone. I was told, in addition, that the 10% discount that I was supposed to be able to use, was only applicable to ONE ticket (something the website doesn't tell you). While we discussed the tickets and I tried to get the supervisor on the line, I looked at the website again, and was finally able to get access to the tickets available for the day of the trip, and at a lower price. Although the pricing was HIGHER than what I'd seen Monday, I was so vexed that I got off the phone as it was actually lower than her quote.
I completed the form and pressed submit...But it couldn't complete the transaction! I gnashed my teeth so loudly that mice 3 miles away jumped! I reloaded the form and the tickets appeared, but the prices had jumped! I've seen this tactic before on travel websites - if you look often enough, the website automatically hikes up the prices in the assumption that their greed will profit them. They're using cookies to track your IP address's activities - that's how they know. Fortunately, I couldn't get it to work right! The website kept flaking out. NOT ONCE was there any mention of the discount not being applicable or limited during all the trouble I had!
Finally, I said screw the discount, so I logged out of Road Rewards and reloaded their website. It worked flawlessly (but, to be fair, the departure time I wanted really was sold out)! Although I'd paid more than I would've the day before, and certainly if the discount had worked, I had gotten my tickets.
So how is this ripping someone off? When I was logged in, the website malfunctioned, which would encourage a person to spend more ordering at the station or on the phone, and repeated attempts drove up the cost (a shameful tactic of the industry), but the worst thing was that using the discount actually caused the price to go up, and the site didn't notify you that the discount only applies to one ticket, or not at all (see more below)
But wait, it gets worse! The website, upon confirmation of my tickets, said that my total, INCLUDING FEES AND TAXES, was $137.50. Sorry, I'm not going to show anything that reveals our itinerary or booking number!
But, the confirmation email from Greyhound said they were charging $153.10!
I called customer service just now to ask for the discount, and was told by the agent who answered that the discount had been applied (which is odd, since I wasn't logged in when I ordered, nor did it show up). He had NO explanation for the price discrepancy, so I asked for a supervisor. SHE claimed that the discount could NOT be applied because other carriers were involved! The website does NOT allow you to eliminate the use of other carriers, so you are screwed on that point. She was looking at the same exact confirmation page as I was, and was getting a different result - the $153.10! After a bit of whining and not-so-veiled threats of public exposure of their duplicity, I was finally instructed to write to customer.service@greyhound.com with the issues above, including screenshots of the discrepancies. We'll see what happens. I'm quite disinclined to use Greyhound again.
Oh, and when I just checked that trip again, the time I had originally wanted was available, and the time I booked was not. I know, I know, it could've been because of orders and cancellations. But, given all the strange stuff that the website did....
The next article is: Greyhound Uses Website and Customer Service to Defraud Users
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