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Intercape

Intercape review: Horrific experience 13

T
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7:23 pm EDT
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I will NEVER again travel with the Intercape Sleepliner! On the 16th of August i booked a bus trip from Bloemfontein to CPT. To start off the bus arrived 50 minutes late we were suppose to depart at 23:40. Then with No apology we get cramped into the bus with poor aircon. They generally seemed unorganised and the toilet was dirty and smelled disgusting. the toilet paper didnt even flush down after using the toilet. The bus stuck in near Beaufort West and only after we noticed the bus travelling (what felt like) at 15kmph we asked the hostes what was up then she told us that they are having difficulties with the trailer. We then stopped at some garage and left the trailer there then they packed the luggage onto the bus. Naturally we had to drive slower all the way. We were sheduled to arive 13:15 but we arrived 16:45 in CPT. Only to find out that my luggage was dammaged during the horrific experience. I will definately not recommend there services especially for long distances.

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13 comments
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nduramo
ZW
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Oct 13, 2012 4:16 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My name is Nduramo Munatsi and i was on the
thursday 7.30 bus to harare(bus number 122)ticket
1110123315AE055 seat 7. I relied on your bus
before yesterday!I lost $700 because of you
incompitence! I am a student pilot in Harare and I
had a flight test yesterday at 2.30pm and we were supposed to reach harare at around 12.30pm only
to arrive today at 3am hence i lost a non refundable
US$700 which i had booked for my short
navigation flight test which can only be cancelled
or rescheduled 24hrs before! This wont go just like
that! We asked you to bring a bus immediatly after your bus broke down at 0030 friday and your
management refused and told the drivers to go to
the garage only for the bus to arrive 11hrs 30mins
later! If this even means going legal with this, i am! I
will die before I let this go!

C
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Crap bus service
ZA
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Mar 13, 2014 12:27 pm EDT

Intercape the worst stay away from this bus service delayed on several terminals by an hour and nobody can help even the toll free number is a waste of time. The operator just puts me on hold or else promises for someone senior to contact me they do not know how long the connecting bus will be we have been waiting in a transfer bus for the last 2 hours @ park station ridiculous real Mickey Mouse operation luckily I did not book a return trip with them thank god 1st and last time I'll ever use this bus service

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wa viljoen
ZA
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May 06, 2014 6:47 pm EDT

I am extremely disgusted on the 01 may 2014 depart : JHB to Knysna R599.00
Return 04 may 2014 R 1.069.00 ticket total price of R1668.00.

Cost of return ridiculous, it was never explained to me why at compu- ticket the cost are double the amount .

On the departure date the stewardess on the bus she was giving me excellent service, very friendly and made me feel
extremely safe and welcome .

There was no entertainment on the bus due to the dvd that was not in working order .

The driver was very rude and unmannered, treating all the passengers like 6 year olds, extremely disrespectful,
when the bus stopped to do pick up or drop off passengers .

I had to ask for permission to take a 2 minute break just to smoke and stretch my legs .
This was granted .

On arrival in George I was only informed by the passengers that I must use the shuttle to Knysna .
I went to the stewardess the friendly one and she assisted me in a very professional manner and explained regarding the shuttle
service .

On the return trip I was not able to recline my seat due to the rear passenger that could not recline her seat due to a back injury,
she had no option but to lean forward with her head on my head rest .

Due to this I had to sleep sitting in an upright position, squashed in the corner of the window and strain my neck muscles
for 17 hours, very small leg space due to this .

When the bus stopped to collected more passengers I got off the bus and i informed the stewardess on board, that
I just needed to stretch my neck and legs, let some wind go in private and smoke for 2 minutes, like on Friday .

But the driver Leslie, the driver, was screaming at me in front of all of the passengers, treating me like a 6 year old once again .
Even the passengers were shocked at the way he spoke to me, I did it not say a word and was forced back onto the bus, I was so embarrassed .

On my first stop for 15 min it takes you 5 minutes to exit and 5 minutes to enter . this gives you only
5 minutes to get food from one shop and the with all the passengers from the bus all queuing at the same shop to get food .

Paying one hell of a price for this, for a 17 hour drive - wow .

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chantelvschalkwyk
ZA
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Nov 01, 2014 11:11 am EDT

Bus 129 seriously needs attention! The windows ratle like he'll! Seat 34 and 33. The lights don't work and the sound of the speakers don't work at all, iv been driving with the intercape for 16 years now and never had any bad experience! Thank u for that, but this bus seriously need attention and maintenance please! But futher I realy have no complaints, excellent service and always friendly and smiling, thank u intercape! Ur the best bus service in the world! Love ya!
Chantel van schalkwyk

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Pissed Passenger
ZA
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May 23, 2015 11:41 am EDT

As we speak The bus should have left for East London from Johannesburg. Apparently trailer lights are not working. No one has communicated with the passengers. 1 hour plus later we are still in the parking bay. This service sucks. Last week on a similar service again, we left 45 minutes later.

Please guys get you service levels up before. The implications are known to all of we we fail in that regard.

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Zimkkita Majali
US
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Dec 11, 2016 4:33 pm EST

I'm in a bus 208 to Butterworth. The driver is driving like he is dtiving a tractor .we hace been asking him to stop speeding but he just doesn't care.people are complaining about air-conditioning he switched it on we fell like we're in a mortuary.

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Cbowles
ZA
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Dec 19, 2016 3:49 pm EST

Been on intercape twice now first time I was traveling with my daughter the bus was so cramped coming from jhb via pmb to els wow no aircon my daughter at the time who was around 4 years old had was told to sit on my lap as there bus was over full yet I paid for her seat bear in mind that you pay on intercape from the age of 18 months. I then traveled on intercape once again as it was highly recommended once again heard all the busses have been refurbished. Yes extremely comfortable and pleasant to the eye. My journey started from els on bus 172 wow me it wasn't long till the driver pulled over to the side of the road and chose to go and lie down in an under cover compartment not an issue though on my behalf. But when the second driver reentered the road this was close to komga turn off he almost pushed a black BMW off the road the driver of the BMW pulled brakes in front of the driver and stopped the bus threatening the driver and warning him regarding his driving and that's just the beginning of this horrifying experience . the same driver was 80 % of the time on his phone chatting bear in mind I sat two seats from the front of this single decked bus . we as the few front passagers made remarks hoping that he would hear us and stop what he was doing one lady mentioned this is our lives you are playing with. Carrying on to the stop and go the black BMW stopped us again and I think he called into intercape offices as he stood in the line of the number plate on the phone. The drivers were rude and treated us like dogs sorry to say . reaching umtata i asked if i could get some water for my kids they told my its a no refreshment stop . understandable but then why stand outside and have a good smoke. Here comes the cherry on the cake. After leaving kokstad the bus driver was moving asfast as he possibly could as we had been slightly delayed I had fallen asleep but with dead breaks and people screaming I opened my eyes to a a bus that had stopped dead once again he never saw the animal in the road . please people think twice about using intercape as your bus liner . you think my story is far fetched . i have a few witnesses to prove my story . stay safe stay away from intercape

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ConcernedCustomer11
ZA
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Feb 15, 2017 1:19 pm EST

I bought a ticket to travel from East London to Johannesburg on the 28th of February. My plans changed and I had to cancel his ticket. Drove to the Intercape office at Windmill to cancel the ticket and hopefully get my money on Monday the 13th of February. The supervisor there game ne a cancellation letter and kept the ticket. And told me that I needed to get the money from Computicket as that's where I bought the ticket. Fair enough. Drive to to Chrckers at Hemmingways Mall on the 15th of February and when I got there I was told I needed to have the actual cancelled ticket with me. Now I failed to understand why that guy kept my ticket then if this is the procedure. Desperate as I was I drove back to the Intercaprbofficrs in Windmill. To my biggest shock! The attitude i received there was beyond control! The one guy (Lwandle/Lwandle) who was meant to be helping me said I was rude when I asked why my ticket wasn't given to me if the procedure says I must have it to get my refund! While I was still trying to address that the guy sitting next to him said "#### you"! How on earth does a bus line that "preaches" Christianity values have such people as their stuff? This coloured (he refused to give me his name) went on to say all swearing and nasty words towards me. He even went as far as #### and ####! This is totally unacceptable behaviour towards customers. Over and above all of this, I was still now given my ticket or my refund for that matter. I will never use Intercape ever again! Totally disgusted and disappointed. I've been a loyal customer to this bus line for the past 7 years! Will advise other people of this and tell them to never use Intercale unless they don't mind being sworn at for no reason!

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Momineuzbaiw
US
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Mar 12, 2018 4:45 am EDT

Terrible. No aircon. Extremely hot. Bad higiene and horrendous smell on the bus... close to the tiolet is unbearable. 5 hours of hell!

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Pandalief
ZA
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May 22, 2018 9:23 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I booked a return ticket from Bellville to Cradock on 17 May 2018. Although the bus arrived half an hour late (bus 615), we had a good trip. Even when we had to stop at Mosselbay to change busses, due to a broken mirror, we were handled with great respect and empathy. Unfortunately on our return trip, the busdriver was playing "his" African music so loud that it was impossible to watch the dvd. His assistant was standing right in the middle of bus, talking and laughing with the passengers, totally blocking the way to the front tv screen for more than an hour and a half. We couldn't get any rest due to him being so loud. We left Cradock at about quarter to seven and the first refreshment stop was at Laingsburg, which is an 8 hours drive. I asked the driver at Beaufort West when are we going to have a refreshment stop, due to the fact that his assistant could get of the bus at Beaufort West for a smoke, he said we have to wait until we reach Laingsburg . When we arrived at Laingsburg the busdriver after 10 minutes hooted at us even though there were about 60 people who had to get some refreshments.

This was the most horrific trip.

Panda

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Sello Padayachee
ZA
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Oct 01, 2018 3:04 am EDT

I boarded the Intercape Bus Number 116 at Midrand 30/09/2018 at around 10.15am. The Bus arrived in Pietermaritzburg at 5.30 pm. When I went to collect my bag I was told there is no bag in the trailer. The bus driver came to see what was the delay and got onto the trailer to check for my luggage. My bag was not there. They asked me to go to the Intercape Office to give them my details. The Staff at the Pietermaritzburg office took my name and cell phone number. They said once the Bus reaches Durban then they will check for my luggage. On my way home to Northdale I received a call that someone has returned my bag and claiming their own bag. Only to find out both the bags have a Spec Savers Logo. It seems that they do not check the ticket number and just handed over the bag to the other person. I am not happy with the Customer Service of Intercape. How do they check the number and hand over luggage to the passengers.

Unhappy passenger
Sello

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Asiphe Nomathole
US
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Oct 04, 2018 5:12 pm EDT

On the 28th of September 2018 I was travelling from Bloemfontien to Port Elizabeth.It was really cold there was something wrong with the air conditioner it felt like I was in a freezer.It was the longest 9 hours of my life am never ever going to use this bus... in the near future i'll use Greyhound thank very much

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Tshegofatso Mogodiri
US
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Dec 17, 2018 5:00 pm EST

I will neva use this Intercape bus ever it is not for the first time it's coming late after an hour and there was no space for passengers we had to go up and down to find a space in some of the bases that came in late as well never again use intercape

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