I had a round trip (on two separate tickets) booked for XXX-YYY. Due to the friend I was visiting getting sick unexpectedly, I cancelled both tickets by calling Amtrak. I got dinged a 20% refund fee for both (so I lost about $15 altogether). The first ticket was cancelled ~2 hours before departure, and the second was cancelled about ~22 hours before departure.

Questions:

a) Both tickets were value tickets. There was no refundable option. Shouldn't I have been given a refundable option, and if not, should my tickets be fully refundable (as there was no option, essentially putting me in a "pickle")?

b) Isn't there a 24 hours after purchase waiver period? The second ticket (the one cancelled ~22 hours before departure) was booked less than 24 hours.

Just want to make sure the service I got was accurate, so I can better take this up with Customer Relations if necessary.

Thanks!