AMTRAK - Non-Refunds of Cancelled Rail Service due to Hurricane - Washington, District of Columbia

I am writing this post in the hopes that someone high up in the Amtrak Management Team will actually read it and respond with an approproate gesture. I had booked travel from Richmond, VA to Providence, RI back in June of this year for Nov. 2 to Nov. 4 round trip. I followed up with Amtrak several days before due to concerns that Hurricane Sandy would disrupt rail service during that period. On the last day before the trip I was informed that CSX had terminated rail service above Philadeplhia, PA and that I should have NO TROUBLE WHATSOEVER getting a refund on my tickets as a result.

I asked for the refund and was told that the money would be put back into my account between 3 days and 1 week from my request, which I accepted. I then expended more funds (which we really couldn't afford at the time) tanking up our vehicle and made the entire trip without incident (this was an emergency family trip to visit a dying relative). I checked our house account to see if the money had been returned after we made it back home, and of course it hadn't.

I called Amtrak at 1800-USA-RAIL and spoke to a representative who informed me that the transaction was not processed as a refund but rather an e-voucher to be used at a later date. I informed her of our financial status and requested the money be returned to us instead of a voucher, and she said she would put through the request for me. I then waited another 4 days.

Nothing happened.

I called back and asked to speak to a Billing Dept. representative who informed me that the voucher was NOT processed and was still on hold for use. I re-explained to him our situation and how we were told rail service was cancelled on us, and he said he would personally go through this again and see that it gets returned back to us as a refund. I hung up with him and waited until today (Nov. 15th), periodically checking our account for the needed funds.

Nothing. Yet again.

I just got off the phone with a billing representative who informed me that I had purchased these tkts, back in June, as NON-REFUNDABLE RAIL SERVICE TICKETS, and that the rail lines WERE OPEN DURING THE TIME AMTRAK HAD SUPPOSEDLY CANCELLED THE TRAVEL SERVICE.

THIS IS A LIE SINCE PENN STATION IN NEW YORK CITY WAS UNDERWATER FOR DAYS FOLLOWING THE HURRICANE, AND I WAS INFORMED THAT AMTRAK WAS NOT RUNNING ANY SORT OF SHUTTLE SERVICE TO BYPASS THE CLOSED OUT AREAS.

So, now I have useless E-vouchers for a rail service I will NEVER AGAIN USE due to dishonesty and deceit caused by your customer service center. I will be posting this across as many local and US. News services as possible so that people can be made aware of Amtrak's policies regarding lying to its customers.