Just when you thought that VIA has it's act together as much as Amtrak doesn't, here's an interesting email from a dissatisfied customer.

My feeling is that if you're traveling during the Holidays, EVERY mode you choose and EVERY carrier will be offering a sub-par service. If you don't like those terms and conditions, don't travel during the Holidays.

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As a lifelong VIA fan, I never thought I would be writing something like this. Yet over the Christmas holidays, I had the worst experience I have ever had on VIA rail. I was not entirely pleased after the initial trip from Halifax to Ottawa, but I was furious and incredibly frustrated after the return trip. I have never been treated so poorly, and I think it stings a little more because of the trust and confidence I usually place in this company.

To top it off, my fiancee received a call from VIA this morning, regarding the complaint we made, and was effectively patronized by the so-called "customer service" representative.

Anyway, what follows is a trip report, which reads pretty much like our list of complaints. I am interested to hear others' thoughts and feedback, and wonder if anyone can suggest a solution.

We have a small dog (a Boston Terrier), and we brought her with us, having inquired about this previously when I made the reservation on the phone. We were quoted the fee for the medium cage as $25 one-way, as our cage is a few centimeters bigger than the "small" measurements.

Arriving at Halifax station on December 13th, we found the station staff – save one older gentleman handling the baggage – to be rude and unhelpful. The girl at the ticket counter eyeballed the cage from a distance, and was convinced she should charge us for a large cage. We protested, and she agreed to charge us for a medium. She then charged us the fee twice – not return, but per train used, which is not what we were told on the phone.

We travelled in a Chateau sleeper, which was nice. The attendant was friendly and came to remind us of the stops where we could walk the dog (Moncton, Campbellton, and Charny). The dining car served 3 sittings, which were offered to everyone on board the train, and in the morning, the Skyline car provided complimentary tea and coffee for all passengers.

We arrived over two hours late in Montreal. Most passengers with connections missed them, and were bumped onto later trains. Everyone on board received a travel credit for their trip, except for us.

Because of the dog, we had to book a later connection (train 635 to Ottawa, rather than 33) because it was the only train with checked baggage service. We planned to use our four-hour layover for some Christmas shopping, but instead had to sit around in Montreal station – by the time we retrieved and walked the dog, we didn't have enough time to go anywhere. Yet because 635 was less than an hour late into Ottawa, we didn't "qualify" for any travel credit at all.

This first leg of the trip was simply annoying, because of two VIA policies we found hypocritical. For the dog fees, which were misrepresented to us in the first place, it counted as two trips, in VIA's financial favour. For lateness-induced travel credits, it counted as one trip, in VIA's financial favour. I e-mailed a polite complaint to VIA about this shortly after arriving in Ontario, in which I explained that they were effectively "having their cake and eating it too." In the two weeks I spent in Ontario, they never wrote me back.

If this was the only trouble I had, I would have called it "minor." Compared to the return trip, it was nothing. We left Ottawa on Boxing Day to return to Halifax, boarding train #634, again the only train with checked baggage service, again with a four-hour layover. Again, we planned on using our time to shop in downtown Montreal. We arrived on time and went to retrieve the dog to walk her first. When we asked, the baggage staff had no idea what we were talking about, as no dog had come off 634. So again, instead of using our layover as planned, we spent the entire time trying to figure out where the dog was. This was frustrating, frightening, and very stressful.

As it turned out, someone in Ottawa completely forgot to put the dog on the train. They did not communicate anything to the baggage office in Montreal, nor did they try to contact us. Instead, without asking us, or telling anyone, they put the dog on a truck that was loaded with checked checked baggage from train 35. (Yep, 35, the train that supposedly doesn't carry checked baggage, and that we supposedly couldn't take.) An agent at the Montreal baggage counter was very helpful in trying to find information for us, as was a woman on the ticket reservation phone line. The customer service phone number was closed. Once we knew what had happened to the dog, we were concerned that she had been placed in the unheated back of the truck with the other baggage. This, apparently, was almost the case, except that the truck driver had enough common sense to put her in the front of the truck, and gave her water.

Because we were otherwise preoccupied, we did not have a chance to eat dinner before boarding the train, as we had planned. We were travelling in Rennaissance coach for the return leg of the Ocean. We immediately asked about a dining car reservation, and two staff members said they would get back to us, but never did. The dining car closed after only two sittings were served, instead of the usual three. We were stuck with whatever wasn't already out of stock in the snack bar.

We went to the baggage car just before Charny to get the dog for her walk. We found that the other passengers with pets were already there with the staff, who said they couldn't find us. At the following two rest stops, nobody endeavored to find or remind us either. If I wasn't a VIA nerd, I wouldn't have known where or when the stops were, and we could easily have missed some, especially the early-morning Campbellton stop.

We managed to get breakfast in the diner, since reservations weren't taken. After we left, we stopped to get what we assumed was complimentary tea in the service car – the morning drinks had been complimentary for all on our previous trip. After we had unwrapped the tea bags and were about to pour the water, a rude attendant appeared and yelled at us because that was for sleeping car passengers only. I was mad as hell at this point and took the tea bags anyway.

When lunch was served in the diner, again only two sittings were served, and only sleeper passengers were given the option. I was really miffed at this – why would the diner refuse revenue from paying customers if the capacity was available, just because we were sitting in coach? At this point the ever-diminishing supplies in the service car were really frustrating.

When we arrived in Halifax, the station staff was just as rude and useless as when we had left. After bringing our carry-on bags inside, I went back out to ask about the dog. I was immediately yelled at, and told I couldn't go back on the platform. (First, the signs in Halifax say "Passengers only on the platform," but I WAS a passenger. Second, there were still people walking back from the sleeping cars.) I asked about the policy, and was given a blanket statement about safety reasons, accompanied by a gesture to a bobcat used for snow clearing, which was turned off and parked in a corner. Gesturing at the tiny baggage tractor that moves at a walking pace would have been slightly more convincing, but either way I had to go back inside, wishing the ruling slogan was still "courtesy and service."

At least I got to enjoy the gong show that is baggage unloading in Halifax – this is something I have experienced here every time, not just on this trip. One staff member hangs out at the door, to yell at people who try to go back outside. Everyone else hangs out around the baggage tractor and carts. Two or three people actually move bags, and three or four others stand around and talk. Nobody is inside to help calm the horde of passengers around the small carousel, or to remove the unclaimed bags, or to stop the belt when it gets jammed (which typically occurs when unclaimed bags crash into new ones.) Nobody is around to lend a hand to those who need it, or answer questions, or apologize for the tiny door in the Ren baggage car that slows everything down.

This circus was more annoying this time. It was cold, windy, and snowing outside. While a cat was brought inside fairly early in the proceedings, our dog was left on the platform. Not allowed to retrieve her ourselves, we watched her for twenty-five minutes from the waiting room, shivering, until she was the very last thing brought inside. I guess they were worried that the suitcases might get frostbite.

We composed a letter to VIA detailing our negative experience and sent it by e-mail yesterday. We didn't include some things, that I know they probably can't or won't fix – like the ridiculously poor baggage service to the nation's capital (which is gone altogether on January 25th), the stupidity of using a truck instead of a baggage car, or the fact that using a truck detracts from rail being "the environmental choice." I also omitted any ren-car specific complaints, as no one at VIA can make capital funding magically appear, although I do wish I had mentioned the washrooms. By the end of our trip, only one washroom in five coaches was actually working, and the water that came out of the tap was scalding. The rest were either totally out of order, or had no running water, and a few had started the trip that way.

A woman from Customer Relations called this morning and spoke to my fiancee, but hadn't actually read the letter first. She did not address many of our complaints, including the poor meal service and the rudeness of the staff. She did not actually apologize for anything. She agreed that dogs should not be treated that way, but said that it wouldn't happen again because she hadn't heard of that happening before. She then offered to give us the travel credit for the Halifax-Montreal leg of the trip, worth about $179, and refund us the dog fee ($56 each way) if we send them the receipts first. (We paid a total $863 return, plus dog charges, getting the second-last day of a fall seat sale for the sleeper, and youth fare in coach.) My finacee was upset that she didn't actually address the actual problems we had with any real solutions. In fact, all she addressed was the first leg, where we were only mildly annoyed about a misrepresented fee and contradictory policies, but otherwise enjoyed the trip. When my finacee asked about the other issues, the woman yelled at her, and told her she was lucky to be getting what she was.

We're not trying to milk VIA, we just want them to actually address these problems. This means that if we were to repeat the journey, we would face the same rude staff, the same policies, and the same fees.

Now we simply have lots of ways to ridicule the slogan, "a more human way to travel." Getting yelled at by the customer relations person who's supposed to be calling you to make amends? Come on, that's ridiculous! We didn't even get a genuine apology – it feels more like, "here's a coupon – now go away." It's as if it would have taken the dog's death to effect a real change.

Many on this list know that passenger rail in Canada could use a lot of things, some more easily realized than others. Pet ownership is common, and a reasonably "human" thing to do. Since fare-paying passengers are rightfully responsible for caring for their own animals on board, why should travelling with a pet also be a needlessly stressful and expensive pain in the ass?

I realize this was a long post, but I would appreciate any feedback. I am very frustrated.Thanks, "Mr. X"