Meet the Greyhound customers who spent months seeking refunds after B.C.’s worst fire season

Some B.C. Greyhound customers who had their trips canceled because of last summer’s historic wildfire season say they expected more from the bus company after they waited months for a refund.

“A company like Greyhound that’s been around for years, I would have expected a lot better service from them,” said White Rock resident Calla Currie.

Coverage of Greyhound on Globalnews.ca:

2:35 Greyhound service cuts could be coming to the Similkameen

• Greyhound service cuts could be coming to the Similkameen
• Greyhound applies to cut Vancouver Island route and all northern routes
• Edmontonians react to inaccessibility of Greyhound depot
• Travellers to and from Edmonton say Greyhound depot hard to access
• Two girls allege Greyhound driver abandoned them near Valemount

Previous Video

Next Video

Currie bought two return Greyhound bus tickets for her European guests so they could travel from Langley to 100 Mile House back in July 2017.

However, the trips were cancelled on the morning her relatives were set to board the bus after the wildfires forcing several highway closures.

Currie said Greyhound told her she could apply for a refund.

READ MORE: Greyhound pitches new fund to pay for rural transportation

She sent her tickets via email to Greyhound’s refund office in Burlington, Ont. in July 2017.

Currie said she was told the refund would take six to eight weeks.

Instead, it took months.

Currie said the company told her it would escalate her case in December, but when January 2018 rolled around, she was no closer to her refund.

“I just felt I was going in circles and circles and circles,” Currie said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I just felt I was going in circles and circles and circles," Currie said.

Currie contacted Global BC’s Consumer Matters for help after she hit a road block.

We reached out to Greyhound and Currie received her refund for $268.13.

“Thank goodness I can get on with my life,” Currie said.

READ MORE: ‘People have no choice’: BC NDP addresses proposed Greyhound service cuts

But Langley resident Pat Costello had the same frustration. His trip was also canceled because of the summer wildfires.

Costello mailed a refund request to Greyhound in July 2017.

In December, when he inquired again, Costello said he was told the company had no record of his trip and would expedite his case to issue a refund.

“It’s total frustration,” Costello said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's total frustration," Costello said.

Costello said he still didn’t have a refund in January. So he, too, reached out to Consumer Matters.

Greyhound confirmed a day later that Costello’s refund would be processed immediately.

“It wasn’t $1 million,” he said.

“We are talking just around $100, but we are retired and we can use that for something else.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are talking just around $100, but we are retired and we can use that for something else."

Consumer Matters asked Greyhound why it took months to issue refunds for these two customers.

A spokesperson wrote in a statement:

“In terms of why it took some time to issue a refund for both customers, we are still working to determine the exact reason for the delay and confirm whether the proper procedures were followed.

“It appears there was a mistake made on our end, and we apologize to the customers for that.”