Greyhound Bus Lines Stranded me overnight due to "too tight of scheduling" and lost my luggage Oklahoma California

I had to ride Sacramento, Ca to Lawton, Oklahoma due to a death in the family. My husband bought me a ticket from Sacramento and had it sent to Lawton after two weeks as we could not afford a round trip ticket at the time. I left at 4:40 p.m. on 08/24/08 and was to arrive at my destination in Sacramento at 5:30 a.m.

on 08/26/08. When I got on the bus in Lawton, the bus driver informed me that I had already missed my connection which was in Wichita FAlls, Texas and wasn't due to leave until 5:45 p.m. I said, how can that be it is only 4:30, to which he replied because it can't be done, we have already tried it too many times and we always miss that bus.

One other lady who got on the bus was also told that. I asked him what should I do then, because I am supposed to catch that bus to Amirillo, Tx. He said that I would have to take the next bus leaving for Lubock, Tx and go from there. He never bothered to call ahead and request that the bus wait an additional 5 minutes, in fact if he would have just drove the speed limit we would have made it.

When we arrived in Wichita Falls, true to his word the bus had just left. You could still smell the exhaust fumes. When the bus to Lubock arrived, the driver got off mopping sweat from his face and told everyone it would be a few minutes as the air conditioning wasn't working and they were going to try and fix it.

After two hours, another person who worked there (don't know who he was, as the station had closed at 5:00) and told us that we could sit outside the bus terminal until 7:30 the following morning because that was when the next bus for Lubock would be leaving, or take the bus leaving to Oklahoma City at 7:30 p.m. and they would reroute everyone from there.

In the meantime, the driver of the broken bus stated that he would be willing to take the passengers on to Lubock if they were willing to ride on the hot bus. The took a thermometer in the bus and it read 97 degrees (and that was without anybodies on it). Myself and two other ladies opted to take the bus back to Ok City. The one lady had two small children. When we were halfway there, the bus driver announced that even though we were being rerouted, that there wasn't a bus leaving for Amirillo until 7:30 the following morning. We had to sit in the bus terminal from 9:30 that night until the next morning. We were told not to worry about our luggage as they would be transferring it for us.

When I got to L.A. my luggage wasn't there. I have made numerous calls and contacted Greyhound via internet so they could start a trace on it. I was told that they have 90 days to try and locate my luggage, but I only have 30 days from the date of travel to file a claim. I went down and got a claim form and it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen.

Not only do you have to list each and every thing that was in your suitcase, you have to list the name brand, type of material, date of purchase, purchase price and then the current depreciation value of the item!

Another thing that really irritated me, is that they say "Greyhound does make reservations, it is on a first come first serve basis". However, at a few select terminals, including L.A. and Sacramento they have signs by the ticket counter that state "be a V.I.P. passenger, for an additional $5.00 you will be seated on the bus 5 minutes before everyone else!.

I am so frustrated, angry and have no clothes. I had taken every good thing I owned, because I didn't know how long I would be gone (because I didn't have the money).

Laurie c.
Citrus Heights, California
U.S.A.