Midtown / W. 39th St. — Local services in New York

NY Waterways has some of the most bipolar customer service ever. I've had an awesome time riding this ferry for the last few weeks, but this morning just turned me off for good.

First off - and this is the core problem here- their app crashes and freezes. I was charged four times for trying to get one ticket (that's $45!) And their tickets expire FAST. I've also seen poor souls have their money eaten and had to go through customer complaint chains that were weeks long when the only single terminal for buying tickets (which runs on the outdated and no-longer supported Windows XP,) would crash and eat their money.

The story:

This morning, while trying to board the ferry, I was struggling with the app, and it would not purchase my ticket on time. I was in line and would miss the ferry if I ran all the way down the dock to get another ticket from the kiosk. Instead of helping me, the deckhand at the gate told me to step aside and shut the gate in my face; and the boat departed while he refused to help me or let me board despite my finger desperately working towards the 'pay' button.

I now have plenty to of time to write a review because I am on a bus where my military status gets me a ticket into NYC for 1/5th the price (another rub is that their military/senior discount is ridiculous. $1 off a $11 ticket, where NJT is almost half off. Yeah. Thanks for nothing.)

As a former US Naval sailor and someone who has done his fair share of time in the service industry, there are two ways to deal with a problem- you can choose to help or hinder the customer.

It was clear when I called to file a complaint with NY Waterways that deflection and blame is how they prefer to deal with someone trying to give them honest feedback about loopholes and problems in their service (I wasn't even offered a refund!)

Bottomline:

When you compare the $11 ticket for a 15 min ride in a noisy, cramped, outdated diesel v-hull, to Hornblowers gorgeous 1 hour catamaran ride with bar and rooftop for $2.75 from Rockaway to Wall St? It becomes clear that someone here is running a scam or fails at keeping their business relevant. This is 2017, not the 90's.

NY Waterways; pay for the novelty of the Hudson, but plan on it failing you with a company that would rather shut the gate in your face and sail away, than offer any sort of human decency or...

Employee on weekends St. George boat by the first name of Chris (if I caught it right) needs to be checked for extremely disrespect attitude towards customers for asking simple questions. I was riding this for the first time during the weekend and there was no one working in ticketing and instructions were very limited.

This employee was first annoyed that I approached him to ask a question and pointing at another employee and refuse to speak with me. It was confusing because they were standing there idle (not handling a crowd) and both were working on the same boat. I'm not sure why he was so annoyed at me. I only asked if the boat was going downtown, somehow he started yelling at me about being in the wrong place, like he just expects you to know. The other worker had to turn towards him to calm down.

His attitude was extremely rude. Look, if you cannot handle people, you cannot control your temper, maybe you should be in a different role with...

Incredible poor customer service! We had two tickets which expired very fast and were only a few days over the date. We were not able to use them any more, and when complaining they called security! Hey guys, is that the way you treat customers as a family with two kids calling security and not be able to discuss or to be customer friendly. I hope the people on the ship and on the customer service will be removed from their position and have to learn how to treat customers with respect!!! Without our money you won't be able to pay your private bills! And think about the service on the bus to NJ and the City (and the price $3.5) versus your service and price ($9). We won't use anymore the ferry and recommend everyone to use the bus instead of using...