Gray Line NY Gray Line NY Bus Tours, The company over sold the bus tour, they did not have enough buses on the road to satisfy the number of ticket holders therefore it was not possible to ride in the open air on a sunny warm day in NYC. New York , New York

The NYC tour bus company sells tickets on the street for open air jump on - jump off bus tours of NYC. We bought 4 tickets on July 21st for their Downtown tour. We tried to get on 5 consecutive buses but none had available seating in the open, only in dingy interior on the ground level which was not what was sold to us. 90 minutes after not being able to board any buses I went to their Visitor Center to seek a refund. I was advised to fill out a Customer Comment Form and I had to surrender my tickets and receipts. I did as asked and was given photocopies of the tickets and receipts. I was told my request would be processed in 10 - 14 business days.

On August 16th I followed up with a phone call and had to open a Quality Assurance ticket to get my request recognized. I was told I would be contacted in 1 - 2 days. I was not contacted and therefore called back on 8/22 and was told I would be receiving an email reply.  Here is the reply I received which showed 1) they never acted on any of my previous contacts and 2) they company does not understand or follow their own policies as I could not submit "original ticket(s) and proof of purchase" as I was forced to surrender same when I requested a refund. Clearly their method of avoiding paying refunds for services not provided is to frustrate the customer to the point of giving up.

August 25th, 2012
Case # 137120

Good day ,

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention.  Customer satisfaction is very important to us and thank you so much for taking the time to send us your feedback.  Please accept our apologies.  If it is your intent to request a refund, please find below a copy of our refund request procedures.

All refund requests must be made in writing to:

Attn: xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
 CSNY Quality Assurance Department
1430 Broadway NY Suite #507, New York, NY 10018.

Refund requests must include all original ticket receipt for tour(s) purchased. No requests will be considered without all your original ticket(s) and proof of purchase.  Please provide us with the following information to complete your refund request.

PLEASE PRINT
Reservation / Ticket #:
Company name:
Sale Price:
Amount Requesting:
Last Four Digits of Credit Card (if purchase was made with card):
First Name:
Last Name:
Street
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Telephone Number:
Email:
Address:
Explanation of refund request:

Thank you


Today I received the below email advising my refund request had been denied - what a scam!

Thank you for taking the time to contact Gray Line NY. We appreciate you as a valued customer and are grateful you brought your concerns to our attention.
 
We would like to apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with regards to your Gray Line NY  tour, and hope you choose Gray Line NY  Tours for your next sightseeing experience.
 
Please rest assured your comments were treated with the utmost importance and attention.  We will do all possible to ensure that your next experience with Gray Line NY is a much more pleasant one.
 
Your complaint was you were unable to complete the tour due to excessive wait time. We do appreciate your providing us with your very detailed feedback. The information that you have presented has been sent to the Gray Line manager to help us further improve our services.
 
Due to the information attained through our reviewing of your claim we are unable to process the refund as you request. The tour did run. The tour was offered for up to a 24 hour period.

We do state in our policy that:

Gray Line NY  assumes  no liability or responsibility for Traffic Conditions, Access to sites or other conditions beyond its control; any injuries, loss, damage, delay, inconvenience, additional cost incurred for any reason beyond its control. Gray Line NY reserves the right to cancel or change any tours schedules or rates and to cancel or substitute routes and stops on any tour without notice.

There are times when we will experience higher volumes of usage than other times. We do plan ahead for these occasions. Unfortunately these occasions may cause our wait times to be longer than normal.

We do our best to provide you with information through our agents, brochures, and customer service representative.  It is our desire that you have a excellent experience each and every time. We are sorry that we fell short of that expectation on this particular day.

Once again the information you provided about our employees lack of helpful behavior has been sent to the Grayline manager to use as a bases for more training of our staff. We consider you a most valued customer and hope that you can appreciate our position in this matter.
 
Thank you,