diburning

Is there an equivalent to "filing a DOT complaint" for Amtrak (as opposed to an airline)?

When searching for a train, this is what I see. All Acela Express trains, on or beyond the date of Jan 14 shows this price. I've looked before, and have been saving up points for this ride, and the price has been 10,998 for a while.



After adding that selection to the cart, it still shows the same points cost.



As I attempt to check out, this is the review screen, still showing 10,998.



And clicking the Redeem Points button brings up yet another screen for confirmation, still showing 10,998.



And then it errors out.



I've tried calling in to make this booking, and I've tried HUACA, only to be told that I don't have enough points (I have over 11,000 points) because the price is over 12,000 points. No one at AGR seems to be interested in trying to get the price quoted on the website honored. Calling Amtrak, they tell me that I should speak to AGR about the points issue, and AGR keeps bouncing me back because it's a website issue. No one seems to want to help. Is there any sort of regulatory body that I can complain to? With an airline, this would be a DOT complaint. With Amtrak, who do I complain to? Is there a way to find someone to contact at the CEO's office?

musicalbox

I know nothing about the DOT and this doesn't solve the principle of this issue, but this has happened to me occasionally in one browser and not in another. Have you tried another browser or computer or using the app?

diburning

I've tried three browsers, all in regular and incognito mode. Trains further in the future are also displaying this rate, regardless of whether I am signed in or not. The app does not have an option to redeem points.

Amtrak's social media accounts have been conveniently ignoring me. (They have been responding to other people despite the holiday).

I'm going to call again tomorrow and speak to customer relations to see what happens.

musicalbox

Oh, I didn't mean that they'd show a different rate, I meant the error message when you try to book. But if all the browsers and the app have given you that same error, yes, you'll have to have a human help.

jackal

Yes. It's called writing your Congresscritter. Since the federal government owns Amtrak, Congress feels like it has the authority to meddle with their affairs. While that is the root of many (though not nearly all) problems at Amtrak, you mgiht as well work it to your advantage.

That is, if you can get your congressional representative to understand your problem and care enough to forward your complaint or even get a hearing going for it.

As for executive contact information, that's easily findable on the web. One source that is often useful for this type of thing is Chris Elliott--regardless of what you think of him (he's not well liked here on FT, due to his asinine eschewing of frequent flyer programs, and he often fallaciously sides with the clearly-stupid-and-at-fault traveler making a senseless complaint against the Big Evil Airline and doesn't write his stories in a very fair and balanced manner), his site has its uses. See Amtrak customer service contacts. That is, if you can get the executives to care about a minor technical issue with AGR--remember, AGR is the red-headed stepchild of the Amtrak organization and pretty much daily has to fight to survive, much less get resources and attention and love and adoration from higher up in the corporate ladder.

diburning

I'm on the phone with Amtrak Web support now. After more nagging, Amtrak on social media said that I can call and asked to be transferred to the Internet Support Desk. The reservations agent was adamant on that department not existing until I asked for Customer Relations. They're going to try to manually book it for me although it does seem like the agent is running into similar problems herself. ARROW seems to not want to ticket it despite her trying to override it. Fingers crossed!

EDIT: They gave up and transferred me to AGR. AGR still says no. I guess complaining to my congresscritter and customer relations is in order.

ibrandsguest

I was looking at booking a sleeping car on the Crescent on 12/30. Similar issue: bookings with points aren't available at all for some seats that are for sale for cash, and the points "price" for sleeping car rooms is disproportionately high (around 32,000 points for room that costs $400ish, when a later date requires only 11,000 points for a room that costs $326). It just seems out of whack, as though AGR didn't coordinate with Amtrak reservations.

GrayAnderson

Just bear in mind that, despite AGR 2.0 being sold with a set value for points as a plus, there's about a 2:1 range in what spaces can cost vis-a-vis their dollar value (basically 34.5 points per dollar to 69 points per dollar, outside of the Acela).