Compensation for cancelled greyhound

[CGinMTL]

Hello fellow Canadians,

Does transport Canada have  a passenger rights law for buses as they do for airlines ? I have looked but can find anything 

.

I am looking for info before I contact Greyhound.

.

Here is my story if you want more info 

.

Friday May 26th, my party of 6 ( plus another couple) 

Had booked the 11:30 pm  bus Montreal to Boston 

.

Greyhound forgot to schedule a driver and officially cancelled the bus at 12:30.

.

No effort was made to replace / reschedule that bus 

.

Officially, we were offered 

Vouchers and 15 % off our next trip 

The next bus was leaving at 8am and we would have arrived too late 

.

When we contact Greyhound, we will ask for a full refund ,( and get help from credit card if they push back )

.

But was wondering if we are entitled to some other form of compensation.

 

In the end, we rented a car and drove to Boston. 

Made it with 15 min to spare

( Cost for minivan was approx $450 cad . Will be are plan A in the future ).

.

The other couple got the last 2 plane tickets at a cost of $600 ea.

.

Thanks for any help you can provide 

 

[martincath]

I think you may be out of luck - the Feds cover marine, rail, air and Any Form Whatsoever Accessibility complaints about transportation, but not buses (unless they were discriminating against a wheelchair user or similar!)

 

Quebec does of course have it's own ministry of transport, and the English pages confirm that there are licensing and safety issues that they handle for public transit buses, private buses, and even out-of-province buses like Greyhound, but a quick search for Bus and Coach on the Ministry website is only pulling French language legislation results - living in Montreal I'm sure your French is more practised then mine and you may be able to find something relevant by searching or contacting them... but I have a vague recollection from when Greyhound Canada ceased to operate a few years back that part of the issue was the piecemeal regulation of road-based transportation at the Provincial level - like the US we are basically far too car-dependent a country for long-distance bus/coach travel to be an important enough matter, other than ensuring all the vehicles are basically safe and the drivers licensed, for it ever to make any difference come election day!

 

I think this kind of situation is where the local-ish media reporters on whatever Montreal's remaining TV/newspaper groups might be your easiest win, as bad press may encourage settling a modest compensation amount of a few hundred bucks...

[CGinMTL]

I will call " office du consommateur". 

The watchdog in Quebec for everything in reference to consumer rights and see what they say 

[Tango99]

22 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

Hello fellow Canadians,

Does transport Canada have  a passenger rights law for buses as they do for airlines ? I have looked but can find anything 

.

I am looking for info before I contact Greyhound.

.

Here is my story if you want more info 

.

Friday May 26th, my party of 6 ( plus another couple) 

Had booked the 11:30 pm  bus Montreal to Boston 

.

Greyhound forgot to schedule a driver and officially cancelled the bus at 12:30.

.

No effort was made to replace / reschedule that bus 

.

Officially, we were offered 

Vouchers and 15 % off our next trip 

The next bus was leaving at 8am and we would have arrived too late 

.

When we contact Greyhound, we will ask for a full refund ,( and get help from credit card if they push back )

.

But was wondering if we are entitled to some other form of compensation.

 

In the end, we rented a car and drove to Boston. 

Made it with 15 min to spare

( Cost for minivan was approx $450 cad . Will be are plan A in the future ).

.

The other couple got the last 2 plane tickets at a cost of $600 ea.

.

Thanks for any help you can provide 

 

That’s awful for you but happy you made it to your cruise on time. Hope you had a great time with everyone. As someone said rules are provincial as Greyhound is dropping off the map in other provinces. No harm in trying for compensation and make a formal claim for all out of pocket expenses through Greyhound and then the ministry in Quebec.  Though they’ll push you to travel insurance, maybe through your credit card. That may have a timeline for claims so take that into account as well. And there may need to be individual claims made for the cost of air as well. 

[rodndonna]

I recall following your nail-biting plight while it was ongoing ..🙃

 

As others have said, give going after greyhound for compensation a shot, but I expect your only recourse might be something through your credit card assuming they provide some form of travel insurance.

[CGinMTL]

Thanks for your support.

.I wrote a draft email to greyhound and will let DD send it 

.

Will give updates for those that are interested in our family saga 

[deepcman]

If all else falls, I would file for compensation in small claims court but that may take a while for resolution.

 

 

 

[Fouremco]

Similar to the contract you agree to when booking a cruise, Greyhound has Terms & Conditions of Purchase. https://www.greyhound.com/terms-and-conditions-of-purchase

 

The Terms & Conditions include provisions for a refund in a situation such as the OP's, but state clearly that they are not obliged to reimburse customers for the cost of alternative transportation. While travel insurance might provide some relief, these T&C would seem to negate the possibility of any additional reimbursement from Greyhound, including via small claims court:

 

Any costs for alternative carriage purchased by a customer through a company other than Flix or Greyhound are incurred at the customer's sole expense. Flix and Bus Operators are never obligated to reimburse for such costs.

[pink845]

Did you purchase your Greyhound tickets with your credit card.  Does your credit card have trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance.  We have in the past asked our credit card company specifically what happens if our scheduled transportation (reserved with our credit card) does not arrive at our house to pick us up and get us to the airport and we miss our plane to our cruise departure location, would we get compensated.  The answer was yes.  As long as we plan our departure from our house to make sure that we meet the airline recommended check in time, we are covered.  If an accident occurs on the highway and we are stuck in traffic and miss that plane, we are covered.  This is called trip interruption and is a covered loss for us on our credit card. Our coverage starts the moment we step out our house door.   Each time we travel, my husband yet again checks with our credit card company to see if the coverage has changed or not.  

[CGinMTL]

All tickets are on my daughter's credit card. I will have her check .

Thank you