HOUNDINGS (UPDATED)
In August 2016 I shipped my belongings from Ontario to Alberta on Greyhound. The shipment was in two parts with two separate tracking numbers. On the day my first batch of boxes arrived I checked on the others and discovered that they were still in Toronto. They weren't supposed to show up for another few days so, though I was a bit surprised, I wasn't worried. I waited. And waited some more. And, given that they had all my contact details but I hadn't been communicated with in any way to say that there was a problem, I continued waiting. Eventually, after about a week beyond its expected arrival, I checked on the shipment again. They hadn't moved. I then called Greyhound.
To my surprise, they informed me that my boxes had been stolen. I enquired what happened but the person on the phone couldn't tell me. I wondered how it was even possible that my belongings got stolen. I wondered how it could have been anyone but an employee of Greyhound. Who's knocking over Greyhound buses? Like, what, did a pick-up truck slam into the bus on the highway, force it into the ditch, then two bandana-clad men jumped out waving shotguns and demanding the driver pile all the on-board Rubbermaid containers in its hold into the bed of their vehicle? Seems somewhat impractical and improbable. I wondered how it was possible that Greyhound had failed to contact me immediately and why all this seemed so fishy? Like, if they weren't somehow responsible, and this wasn't part of a much bigger issue, why weren't they forthcoming, in the least, with any information? Why was I having to track down my belongings when they were entrusted to this company with whom I'd signed a contract? I mean, really. I wasn't communicated with when this supposed theft happened; they wouldn't volunteer what took place, when, or where; though they called it a theft they offered no info about a company investigation or police report or anything; I didn't get so much as an apology via telephone, email, or in the mail... What was going on? When I started into some of these questions the girl on the other end quickly explained that this wasn't her job, that she was just filling in for someone, and couldn't give me any of the info I wanted. What she was able to tell me was that some items involved in this theft had been retrieved and were sitting in their warehouse, and that if I wanted their staff to check to see what, if anything, was mine and to have those returned I would need to fill out a claim form. She directed me to their website and the claim forms and encouraged me to call back in a week or so for more information.
I did want my items back but, of course, their forms didn't apply whatsoever to my situation. Their form was set up for someone who'd had a small number of items go missing and wanting those replaced: the given fields were too few and too small to provide a description. And I wasn't actually making a claim and didn't necessarily want them replaced, though I did want anything they had returned. The forms also demanded that all items be named and described, given a dollar and depreciation value, and accompanied by a proof of purchase. That was going to be a tremendous amount of potentially needless work.
Filling out claim forms felt like a weird kind of determined misunderstanding. It's like their bureaucracy had no sense of time or place and were speaking in some kind of programming language with which I was unaccustomed. Their forms induced in me as a kind of culture shock. Like, what do other people own and transport? All of the items I cared about were things given to me, by people on other continents, folks who I'm no longer in touch with or who've since died. These things are not replaceable, never had a dollar value, and their worth has only increased over time, certainly not depreciated. These facts were in direct conflict with the very idea of this claim form. And yet I still had to fill out this form.
So what is dollar value of the hand carved chess set I picked up in Sumatra on my first trip to Asia? To convert the currency from rupiah to Canadian dollars, and adjust for almost twenty years of inflation, the purchase price would be around $150. As it can't be bought on e-bay or Amazon, and the only way to replace it would be to travel to Sumatra, you're talking about a replacement value of not less than $3,000, including and six days of air, land, and sea travel. And all of this assumes that it is replaceable... And that's just one item.
None of this made any sense to me. In my mind an independent party should evaluate the replacement value of these items; then we should exponentiate that number by the cost and value of all the laughs, and loves, and loss embedded there; then multiply that by seventy-one thousand and convert the sum it into linear metres of newsprint; then with the newsprint the staff at Greyhound Canada should take the week off so that we can together create a giant flock of winged, paper mache daemons and angels, take them to the roof of the Greyhound building and set them on fire as we heave each beast over the edge, slamming into the ground while shouting out to the world all of our hopes and fears for the future. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than me hunting down invoices from across time and space, and then going to a notary, or some such nonsense. I really would like to talk to the savages who have no sense of time, place, or value, who put this system together and feel it works and makes sense.
But, alas, I decided to play their game. It took a solid four days of work but I prepared all the requisite evidence and more and mailed it all off as requested. With no confirmation or correspondence of any kind after a week I used their online contact form, so that we both had something in writing, requesting info about the theft and my claim. In the first week of October, after receiving no response for days, I then opted to call them. The person on the other end informed me that, because I'd submitted a claim, they could not speak about any specifics on the file until the claim went through. Claims, she asserted, do not take less than ten weeks to process. Thrilled, I was.
I didn't think about any of this again until January. They still hadn't communicated in any way, shape, or form. On the 19th, I communicated, again in writing, with both the claims and customer service departments at Greyhound Canada. Along with giving them all of my contact information again, I wrote:
In September I was told my shipment had been stolen. (Half of everything I own.) I was told to fill out a claim form, because there was a chance that some of my items were recovered and that this was the way to have them returned. I mailed the claim form, along with other documentation, to Ontario. Since then I've received no communications from anyone, through any medium, about any of this.
So I need an immediate response from Greyhound about:
- Whether or not my claim has been processed
- The police report detailing the events of the theft
- What, if anything, has been done to get my belongings back to me
- Which of my belongings, if any, I can expect to have returned
- What has been done to ensure a theft like this doesn't happen in the future
Please communicate with me as soon as possible
Weeks later, on February 8th someone from Greyhound left a message on my phone. I wrote back to them:
I received a call telling me that I would be getting an email regarding my stolen items. I got no such email (and there is nothing in my junk mail.) I've been trying to get my stuff returned since September... so, please try again.
Neither my phone number, email address, nor my mailing address has changed since then but I've stopped actively pursuing my belongings or any answers from Greyhound; though I continue waiting, quietly, so quietly.
* * *
UPDATE:
On July 3, 2018, I received an email from Greyhound stating: “We have been trying to reach you about your shipments that are at our warehouse...” This is both amazing and absurd. My contact details (address, email, and phone) were unchanged for twenty-one months and no one attempted to contact me at any time, about anything regarding my claim. To this they added, “...Please reply back to us stating where do you want your shipment to be sent to. Otherwise, your items will be auctioned.”
So I immediately gave them all of the information requested. In return I got from them no tracking information and no estimated date or time of arrival either.
On Wednesday, July 11th I came home after being out all day to find a Greyhound delivery post-it note stuck to my apartment door informing me that they'd attempted delivery at 12:45 and would make another attempt on Thursday – with no other indication of a delivery time.
On Thursday I sat at home all day waiting for a delivery that never arrived. Around 4:00pm I called to find out what had happened, or failed to happen. I was told that all deliveries went out, that there would be no more today, and that I'd have to call back Friday morning when the manager is in to sort things out.
Friday morning, at 8:33am, I called and explained what happened: that I got this note telling me there would be a delivery and that the delivery never came. The guy said they don't normally deliver but arrange for pick-up instead. I said that this was not what was happening in this case. He asked for my details so he could find the shipment. He said “Oh, was this a shipment of unclaimed items?” I told him it wasn't. I said that half of everything I own was stolen from Greyhound, they recovered a few items, I made a claim as requested, and that they've withheld any information about the case and my claim and have kept my belongings hostage for the last twenty-three months. He then explained that “Oh, it didn't get delivered because we don't have a phone number for you.” I responded that a delivery was attempted without my phone number on Wednesday and that I was holding the delivery notice in my hand – which is where I got his phone number from – so that couldn't be true. I added that I gave Greyhound all of the information they asked for, in writing, in order to make this delivery. He said that he would put my shipment aside and that it would go out today. We confirmed my address and phone number and he told me to expect a call from the driver but that he couldn't be sure when.
The delivery guy called at 10:15am and arrived at 10:38am. He called from the street to inform me that I would have to come and get the boxes. He wouldn't be bringing them into the building or up to my apartment but instead would be dropping them off at the curb. (On the delivery stub, in triplicate attached to three sides of all three boxes, it says in bold “STATION TO DOOR”, which I assume meant that my boxes were to be delivered not to the side of the road. However, that was obviously a subjective assessment.
When I got the boxes to my apartment and opened them half the items inside were not mine. A few, like a grey cycling helmet, were similar in general description to what was on my claim form but nothing like the item itself – which I provided pictures of. Others, like dishes, a random DVD, and a Lululemon bag were not items anywhere on my claim form. It's as though they needed to clear out junk from their warehouse and just packed stuff in a box and sent it to me.
In response I sent two new emails. One to the email address I've been corresponding with in recent weeks and another using the same online form as in the past. I told them that they sent me someone else's junk and restated that I have not had any communication about the theft or my claim, and asked them to resolve these issues.
What, would you guess, will happen next?
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