Greyhound has issued an apology after losing the luggage of a legally blind and disabled Surrey man and refusing to return it.
John Davis contacted CTV consumer reporter Lynda Steele after the bus company lost his luggage.
Davis was forced to travel by Greyhound to his former home in Edson, Alberta to sell off his remaining possessions just to get by. He returned home on July 28, but his bags didn't make it.
"All of a sudden they open all the doors on the bus and say, ‘well, we can't find your suitcase,' and I say, ‘well, how can that be? I got on this exact bus in Edson, what's the problem? Where did my bag get off?'" he said.
The luggage was eventually found after several emails to Greyhound. But the transit company wanted him to travel from Surrey to Langley on transit to pick it up himself.
"I contacted Greyhound Canada and they said it is not our policy to return people's bags and I thought ‘all the airlines do this. I'm not the one that lost the bag – you guys did,'" he said.
John said no one from Greyhound seemed to care about his plight so he called CTV News.
Lynda Steele called Greyhound on behalf of Davis, but was denied an interview request with the company.
So Steele offered to take Davis to the Langley bus depot herself, which he agreed to.
Greyhound later emailed this statement: "We sincerely apologize for the delay and any inconvenience Mr. Davis has encountered. We plan to review our processes to make sure a similar incident such as this does not happen in the future."
After two long weeks Davis was finally reunited with his suitcase, with Steele by his side.
"I thank you very much," Davis told her after the reunion. "I can do my laundry now."
But Davis is still unimpressed with the bus company and figures he shouldn't have to call CTV to get his luggage back.
Greyhound got in touch with Davis directly and apologized profusely. It also offered him a free round trip ticket to Edson whenever he wants to take it.
Greyhound urges passengers with lost luggage to call the local office.
Once the suitcase has been found, Greyhound says it tries to accommodate the passenger as best it can. Sometimes the customer picks up their own luggage and sometimes Greyhound will deliver it to their residence.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lynda Steele