Passenger settles for Greyhound scraps

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Dear Fixer: I was headed back on Greyhound from a business trip to Oklahoma City on April 12. We were given a 15-minute bathroom break at a gas station in Decatur. I looked at my cell phone and took note of the time. When I returned about two minutes early, I realized that the bus had left without me.

The driver obviously did not take a head count. I had left my belongings on the bus except for my money and cell phone. Unfortunately, my belongings included my designer bag that was holding my business laptop, notes from the conference I had just paid over $1,000 to attend, Cross pens that had sentimental as well as financial value and my $100 electric toothbrush.

I contacted customer service right away. The representative told me my bus would be notified, my things would be secured and the next bus coming would be informed that I was to get on it. None of this happened.

The next bus was supposed to come at 2 p.m. (this occurred around 9:30 a.m.). The bus did not come at 2 p.m. I called customer service two more times; first they said it would come at 3:40 p.m., then 8:30 p.m., which I believe is the time I finally did get on the bus.

I had to beg the driver to let me get on, as the last driver had taken my full ticket and I had nothing to prove I should be heading toward Chicago.

When I finally arrived in Chicago, the customer service desk gave me the runaround about my bag, saying the buses needed to be cleaned and that I would have to wait.

When I checked multiple times with the manager about my bag and he seemed more and more vague, I asked for his name. He gave me only a first name. I asked for his last name and his reply was, “No ma’am, if you want my last name you will have to call headquarters.”

I waited until 12 a.m. for my bag, since he said all the buses had to be cleaned. When I asked him when that would be done, he told me they are open 24 hours, so he didn’t know.

I called corporate the next day and continued to call them for weeks and months, checking in on my “red-flagged” bag.

Then, frustrated, I asked for reimbursement.

Greyhound denied any liability, yet they offered to pay me $83 for my return ticket and in a “gesture of customer service” $250 for my belongings, for a total of $333.

To me, this amount was a slap in the face, as the laptop alone could not even be replaced with that amount.

I was told that if I wanted more, I would have to sue. Taking this to court will cost more than my losses.

There were so many instances where this could have been easily fixed, and it was clear that steps were not taken and people were not properly trained. Please help me, Fixer!

Nicole Bienfang, Chicago

Dear Nicole: If that second bus had taken any longer, you could have walked to Chicago quicker than riding. What a nightmare.

Given all the ways this trip got screwed up, we felt confident Greyhound would do something more than refund $333 of the approximately $1,400 worth of stuff you lost.

We were wrong.

Greyhound did look into it again, and they did apologize for the “inconvenience.”

But they also said that they ordinarily don’t cover carry-on bags at all. As for the driver not doing a head count and the customer service people failing to contact your bus or the bus after that — Greyhound spokesman Timothy Stokes said passengers occasionally depart at a stop before the city on their ticket, so a head count doesn’t always work.

Stokes added that it’s against company policy for drivers to answer their cell phones on the road, which is why neither bus driver was notified. He said they do have an emergency communications system but that this did not rise to the level of an emergency.

In that case, The Fixer thinks customer service should not have told you the drivers would be called!

We went around and around with Greyhound, to no avail. Their offer of $333 was “take it or leave it.’’ With the high cost of litigation, you told us you’ve decided to take it.

Getting the runaround over a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at suntimes.com/fixer, where you’ll find a simple form to fill out. You’ll also find a list of consumer contacts and tips. Because of the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can’t personally reply to every problem. Letters are edited for length and clarity.