My Experiance with Via Rail Canada

On the via rail hudson bay train I encountered quite an unpleasent experience, I wrote a letter of my annoyance and frusteration to Via Rail's customer relations services, now I will just copy-paste both letters from my email to this blog.


Dear Customer Service Person for via rail Canada,

My name is Joshua Grossman, and I would like to tell you how thoroughly disgusted I am by the fact that you sell alcohol on the 18 hour train ride from Thompson to Churchill, MB. I am 12 years old, and I was traveling from Thompson to Churchill on train 693 on 9 October to see the polar bears in a “tundra buggy” as part of a year-long trip around the world that my family and I are taking. As I was sleeping in one of the passenger cars, I was rudely awakened by an alcoholic fool who decided that it would be a good idea to warn both me and my father of the 20-12 Mayan end of the world. He said, and I quote “You know, we’re all gonna die in 20-12, so you gonna want to be alone and s***, and you’re gonna want to get the f*** away from your family and die alone, you know what I mean?” *all said in the accent of a drunken moron*. I was scared by his aggressive behavior, and was relieved to see that he was in the process of getting off the train in Gillam when he woke me. I was flabbergasted by many things, mainly the rudeness of how he spoke, and that there was even a small amount of alcohol allowed on the train (let alone the massive amount that was actually allowed). And, that your staff continued to provide him with alcohol even after he was clearly very drunk. I request that you immediately cease and desist all alcohol on any train what so ever, as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Joshua Grossman.



Here is their reply:

Dear Mr. Grossman:

Thank you for your email concerning your recent trip with VIA Rail Canada between Thompson and Churchill.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the discomfort caused to you during your trip aboard Train 693 on October 9th, 2009 due to the reported disruptive behavior of a drunk passenger. Although our personnel can and have refused transportation to inebriated passengers, discretion and judgment are always required, as improper behavior is not always evident or predictable when such a person boards the train. The reported behavior of this individual is unacceptable, and I regret that this situation was not addressed in speedy manner for the benefit and comfort of all passengers.


I should mention that VIA personnel have been advised to politely refuse the service of alcoholic beverages to passengers who, in their judgment, have consumed enough, particularly if their conduct is disturbing other passengers. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you on this occasion. I can assure you that this incident has been reported to the manager responsible for follow-up with the involved employees.
Again, thank you for writing and allowing us the opportunity to apologize and take remedial action.


Lise Richard
Customer Relations Officer

I was frusterated by the fact that they did not agree to make any changes to their policy, but at least they responded and said that they would alert those responcible for that particular train.