National Express Group
Reviews and Complaints

Yesterday,I went to Golders Green Road to buy the ticket the national express.I told her which day I want my ticket and when I check my ticket I notice the agent right wrong date and I wrote the date from my journey from Finchely Road to London airport.

I went to speak the agent that she put wrong date and she told me that she understood different number i ask to change the days of both ticket that she did mistakes and she charge more money in total 5.40+5.00=10.40.

She told me was the system.I dont understand if I was in the office and talk with her face to face and charge me this money for change the date in 10minutes after a book my previous ticket.

I am really disappointed with National express system.

I am look forward to hearing from you soon.

yours sincerely

Maria Antunes

Ticket number

EUBGZP66

Hello. I wish to register a formal complaint and request for reimbursement and compensation as a result of a National Express bus leaving the terminus earlier than the scheduled time, and when I had a pre-booked ticket for that journey. As a result of that error by the bus driver I found myself in a dangerous situation in the middle of the night.

I had prebooked a ticket on a bus from Liverpool bus station (Canning Place) for the departure time of 3am on 06-May-2023 (see photo 1 : “1 ticket from National Express App.”). I arrived at the bus station a few minutes before 02:48am and double-checked my ticket on my apple wallet (see photo 2: “2 ticket from apple wallet”). I observed that the bus station was empty and took a photo reflecting this and then purchased a drink from the vending machine (see photo 3: “3 empty Liverpool bus station at 02:48am” and photo 4 “4 drink purchase at bus station at 02:48am“). I was surprised to see that there were no other customers waiting at the stop. Knowing you can track the bus I checked the App only to find that the bus had left already (see photo 5: “5 live tracker with departure time of 02:49am”). This did not make sense as my pre-purchased ticket (which the driver presumably knew about) was for 3:00am (see photos 1 and 2), especially when the tracker said the bus departed from Liverpool one station at 02:49am (see photo 5). This was not actually true as I had been there a few minutes earlier (see photo with proof of the empty station,  photo 3) and bought a drink (see photo 4).

I was travelling from Liverpool to Manchester to take a flight to Norway where I would meet my parents (from Canada) for a major wedding celebration. So as you can imagine at this point I was stressed and VERY confused. I could not see a phone number to speak to someone at that time of the night. I checked for other options (bus, train and other bus) to get to the airport or talk to a National Express agent however everything was closed. I then decided to try and catch up with the bus by using an Uber however I could see from your App that the bus had already left Edge Lane at that time and I had no way of contacting the company or the driver. This Uber cost me £14.97 (please see pdf: “6 Uber 1 receipt”). However this Uber driver put me in a very vulnerable position as it was late at night and he jeopardized my safety, a direct consequence of the fact that the National Express bus left early and without me. As the Uber driver had stopped at Edge Lane and Queen Street (your last bus stop before Manchester airport) he told me he would drive me to the airport. He offered to drive me himself and wanted me to pay him directly through direct debit but I did not want to compromise my safety and drive in an unregistered ride with an Uber driver. But before I could get out of the car and decline his offer he started to drive in the direction of the airport and got onto the motorway. I was becoming more scared and stressed but I was able to get him to drop me off at the next motorway exit. Now with no place to get other public transportation options from that location and and at that time of night, I had to call another Uber driver (see pdf: “7 Uber 2 receipt”) which cost me a further £66.83.

Unfortunately, this second Uber driver also made me anxious and jeopardized my safety as he did not follow Uber’s Sat navigation. He tried to drop me off at a dead-end street instead of at the passenger terminal (see screenshot: “8 Uber 2 attempt to drop me off at dead end”) even though Uber navigation showed the destination as Manchester airport. He then proceeded to try to drop me off at terminal 1 even though I had told him I needed terminal 3. He decided to drive in the opposite direction, so much so that I received a notification (see: “9 Uber notification”) stating that my “trip is taking an unexpected route. Is everything okay?”. My Uber app then sent me another notification (see screenshot:  “10 Uber app notification”) asking whether my route is correct or if I need to call 999. Once we arrived at terminal 3 he dropped me off a 10-minute walk away because he said  “I don’t want to pay the drop-off fee of £5” however this was already included in my Uber fee. I then had to walk 10 minutes to arrive at the airport. I have since complained about this to Uber and they have reimbursed me for the amount of the drop-off fee.

On multiple other occasions I have chosen to take National Express buses as I have always had positive experiences. As a single woman, often travelling alone, I value the safety and security of travelling in a monitored system with an official driver, especially in the middle of the night. I often speak highly of your professionalism and punctuality however this was not the case for this journey on Saturday 06-May-2023.

I am therefore requesting compensation for the costs incurred during my trip from Liverpool One station to Manchester airport since this was a cost that should never occurred. While I understand that you are only technically responsible for refunding my 5£ ticket, this whole situation would have never happened and would have been avoided if your driver had left at the correct time as stated on your ticket, which said 3am but unfortunately your bus left early. Your negligence has cost me anxiety, stress and a lot of money therefore it is only fair for you to refund both my 5£ bus ticket as well as my £81.8 Uber fees. I am also inclined to write some negative reviews as this ordeal significantly compromised my safety and well-being, especially as a young women travelling alone in the middle of the night.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this long account. I apologise for the depth of detail, but I hope it helps you to understand the depth of difficulty created by your driver’s decision to leave ahead of schedule.

Jillian jay

[protected]@hotmail.con

[protected]

Ticket no. EUBUUT39 13.45 on 3rd. Apr. 2023

Been in contact with customer services who are dismissing my claim of coach non arrival in Carlisle bus stn.

I was there approx. one hour beforehand as I had a wait of some two hours from arriving on train from Warrington and couldn't cart a heavy suitcase around.

I witnessed the B'ham coach arriving around 13.15 and the coach to London roughly same time which resulted in it having to park on street outside until B'ham departed. Meanwhile I had been chatting for half hour and more to two foreign guys who, if I picked up correctly, hadn't prebooked. One of the men, after chatting to the driver, crossed over the road to get cash from an ATM, came back, bought tickets and both boarded.

Also during that time I chatted to a man who was booked on the 15.05 whose business finished earlier than anticipated and hoped to board my 13.45 which was due to arrive.

After some wait and no coach, we both tried to track the coach but unable to do so due to Nat. Ex. system down. A further two calls to Nat. Ex couldn't assist either as system down. Company swears that coach had pulled in. Neither of us had left that stance long before 13.45 and still there when 15.05 arrived approximately half hour late. This is not about a £14 ticket but the fact my journey had been extended some four hours and company not checking the info given them a few times to verify that we were both there to witness the two previous coaches and why would we leave the stance with such short time to go.

Hello, I was just going through my expenses for the month, and discovered National express rewards has charged me wrongly twice for a service I did not request for. I was billed £15 on January 26th, 2023, and also today, February 26th 2023, this is a total of £30, I want my money returned to me as I didn't subscribe for this service.

My name is Oladapo Adekoya and my Monzo account was charged fraudulently, please help stop this monthly deduction.

My time rewards and national express rewards have been debiting my card 15 pounds each totalling 30 GBP a month. I ha e emailed and called for support and have heard nothing back. I did not know how to resolve this and moved all my money out of this account to prevent further deductions without my consent.

Hello there!

My name is Thekkan Linto Thomas, and I am a student at Hertfordshire University, Hatfield, in Coventry. Every week on Friday, I travel to college for my offline classes, therefore I use the National Express coach bus. My bus leaves Pool Meadow Bus Station at 3:45 a.m. every Friday for Hemel Hempstead and returns at 16:35 p.m. the same day. However, on January 18th, 2022, there was poor weather owing to a storm that started early in the morning, but the bus service continued as usual. I took the bus to my university in the morning, but the bus service did not show up in the evening, even though I had a return ticket. I checked the national express mobile app's real-time position and saw that it was not working, so I decided to phone the national express emergency number, but all I got was a computerized conversion telling me to wait in line. Because the conversation lasted about 30 minutes, I became irritated and decided to wait for the next bus service to arrive at 19:00 hours. Around 18:45 hrs, there was a National Express Service N0:707 departing for Heathrow Airport, so I inquired about the bus service that had not arrived at 16:35 hrs, and he informed me that the bus had been canceled and was advertised on Twitter. I was annoyed hearing this from the driver and asked what I should do now to get home, to which he said that I could either wait for the 22:00hrs bus or take a cab home and then send the bills to National Express to be paid. So, I used the UBER service to get home, and it cost me 105 pounds to get home because it was from the regular pickup spot (Hemel Hempstead). The following day, I submitted a letter to National Express along with my cab trip bill, and I received a letter stating that they are unable to reimburse the money and will only reimburse after the return fare of the journey day, which is 12 pounds. What makes you think that's acceptable? They forced me to stand for an hour with no explanation of the service. And the driver informs me I'll have to wait another 3 hours in the cold for the next service.

I bought bus ticket from Taunton to London Victoria on 28 october 2021. Bus should leave Taunton at 8.25. National Express service no. 502. Ticket no.EVLS899. There was no information about location of bus stop on the ticket so I miss bus and had to buy train ticket which cost me extra money - 75.90£. Trsi leved Taunton at 11.29. NRS ref UU117127.I asked National Express to cover my extra expensies but it refused to do this.

During the RyanAir booking process for flight tickets you are offered bus tickets to and from London/Stanstead airport at a favourable rate. These I purchased only to find they were non amendable/refundable. This is not made clear at the time of purchase, I have returned to the booking process and checked - terms and conditions are only given for RyanAir's part of the process. I did not realise that not only can I not make any changes, I can only board the bus at the terminus (Victoria) and not at a later stop which is by my home! The only information available about the bus on the RyanAir site was a map of the route. My flight is at 6am so I must take a taxi to Victoria if I want to use the ticket!
I have got nowhere with my complaint made directly to them. On the customer service phone line the operative was rude. The email I sent took 10 days to answer and though not rude, did imply that for an extra fee it would be possible to change the ticket. However on further enquiries as to how to go about this, I was politely told I had been misinformed!
National Express need to look at the information given to customers at the time of booking.

I had to get from Gatwick to Heathrow and I waited an hour for the appropriate National express coach. When it came I asked the driver to purchase a ticket (I assumed I could buy it on the bus as I have done that before and the office was closed). The driver said there was a machine inside I had to purchase from. I asked if he would wait for me and he said yes. I bought the ticket in around 1 minute from the machine and came back and to my surprise he was driving away when I came back! I had to spend a lot of money on a taxi to get there but I was just appalled at how he tricked me

I got on the 1204 bus from lolly Lane today the bus driver pulled away sharply b4 I coukd seat myself at the back of the bus causing me lose balance and catch my leg on a screw that was not flush and so ripping my leggings which I only purchased last Friday I have proof of receipt for these at home and picture evidence of the screw and damage caused

Hello

Re: Driver Reg BV19 XOR Bristol 040 (09:30 near Reading, M4)

I am complaining about one of your coach drivers. For roughly 15miles in pouring rain and dangerous weather conditions, one of your drivers have been driving extremely dangerously.
On a 50mile a limit stretch, narrow lanes, poor visibility, your coach driver has been flashing and beeping us. Whilst maintaining the 50mile per limit - your driver was not. As you can see from the video, we were over taken at above the speed limit whilst the outside lane is full of flooding.
Given the conditions, this was incredibly worryingly and I think if he was carrying passengers, very reckless given the conditions.
I would like your feedback.
Regards
Jessica

Today I realised that I have been charged £15. When I searched for it I for something I have never subscribed. They have been charging me for 6 months! If you search through the internet you'll see that I am not the only one. They ask you if you want a cashback next time when you buy a bus ticket and that's it! No one says you'll be charged £15 every month If you tick the box!

Hello,
I got a bus ticket from Heathrow airport station to Gatwick airport station at 21.35 pm on 25/02/2020 and paid by my Canadian Mastercard. the price was GBP28.50.
When I checked my bank account a few days later I noticed that CAN$113.57 is deducted from my card account for this thicket. I wonder how much had been the conversion rate for this ticket.
Please verify me WHY? I asked you to show me the way that I can refund the surcharge back.
otherwise, I will publish my compliant including my documents on all media and in daily newspapers too.

my email address:[protected]@gmail.com
my cell number:[protected]

Sasan Habibzadeh Miyandoab
Canadian citizen

Our coach driver was rude and unhelpful.

At first the toilets didn't flush and there was no running water. I asked the driver about this and he said he forgot to turn it on. That's all fine but there was no apology.. in fact his response was slightly sarcastic.

Soon after we noticed that the electronic charging facilities weren't working. This is a facility that we have always relied on especially when travelling late. I kindly approached the driver again. He was talking to someone on the phone and purposely ignored me. When he eventually decided to acknowledge me, I asked about the charging facilities. He said the reason it wasn't working, was due to a problem out of his control. That's understandable but his response was abrupt, unhelpful and unprofessional.

I returned to my seat to my seat but I desperately needed to charge my mobile due to important practicalities which required communication. I walked up to the driver again. My presence was obvious but he completely blanked me again and kept on chatting on a phone. After a while, he rudely asked me what the problem was. I asked him how far the next stop was so I could quickly grab my laptop from my suitcase to charge my phone. His response was...it will be a while!.. I said I'm sure it will be a while but do you mind giving me a rough estimate.. Again he just snapped back with a sarcastic answer. He managed to be even ruder when I was looking for my suitcase to find the laptop. He accused me of trying to look through someone else's bag.

I can provide a lot more detail but I'm confident the information I have provided thus far summarises a clear picture of the problem and reason behind my complaint.

I'm confident you will address this matter appropriately and provide feedback accordingly.

Please find attached.

Kind regards
Vanessa Abrahamse



My husband and I (both seniors) were travelling from Milton Keynes Coachway to Stansted airport late yesterday evening/early morning today. The ticket number was EUSX8333.

Just before leaving our home to get to the coachway, we had an automated message on our landline about a potential delay, so I phoned Customer services who confirmed that there might be a short delay, but said that we should go to the coachway at the scheduled time as the coach might have made up the time in the intervening period. We arrived at just before 10 p.m for the coach to leave at 10.40.

The coach eventually arrived at 0.35 a.m. In the meantime, no one at the bus station was able to tell us what was going on, or when the coach would arrive, so we spent over 2 12 hrs sitting on hard steel benches unsure if or when our coach would arrive.

Our journey involved one change at Victoria Coach Station. Having arrived over 2 hrs late we then queued up for the first available coach to Stansted Airport. We were then refused places on this coach as we were told all the seats were taken. We then had to queue yet again for a coach which eventually arrived at 03.00hrs.

I have 3 major complaints.
1 Huge delays on two booked coaches.
2. Complete lack of information about ongoing progress.
3. Final arrival at destination 2 1/2 hrs late

We both found this a very stressful and upsetting experience and I would reiterate that we are both in our 70's.

The cost of this journey was £50.20p and we expect therefore expect a full reimbursement of this fare, as other transport carriers e.g trains are committed to .

We await your response,

Pat Callear .

Reference coaching: IDLI-01-3E896
The Driver was very rude, he introduced himself without my permission in a conversation with my girlfriend about seating. I was seated in the first seat on the left and there was the back bag driver's on the other seat next to, my girlfriend had to take a seat separately because of that, I couldn't follow her because I feel bad if I'm not seated where I can see the road so I asked my girl if she wanted me asking the driver to remove his bag, the driver was listening the conversation and he introduced himself saying "the bag is mine and it should be there, that it, why you don't change seat?" He said it very rudely!
So I was sad for all the journey because he was rude and I couldn't stay seated with my girlfriend.

They are continually hiding fares, eg a ticket on June 19th from Liverpool to Heathrow airport is £45, (departs 23.45)
However if you book this same bus at same time to London Victoria it's £9.50 and it stops at Heathrow?
They are conning people and it's not acceptable!

For the same date I wanted to actually get to winchester, it would be quicker to get off at Heathrow and get to winchester, they were Charging over £60 for this? Yet only £14 via London? This makes no sense as it's longer, more staff, fuel and more environment damage?

The 727 Stansted to Norwich, 10.35 leaving Stansted, arriving at 13.25 did not turn up, we were not told anything, my partner and I, both pensioners, both 65, both with ailments, had to stand in a queue only to find out the bus wasn't coming, it turned up 2 hours late, , at 12.30, actually 2 turned up, your coach at Heathrow had broken down, it was chaos, obviously 2 lots of booked seats had to be sorted out, then luggage, we changed buses 3 times before we eventually got under way, arriving at Norwich at 4.30, when we should have been there at 1.30.we both have arthritis, my partner struggles to walk, there were no seats at Stansted, information was sporadic to say the least.Our tickets cost us £76.50 for an abysmal service.Ive travelled with National Express for many years, and never had any complaints about anything, ever.This could have all been avoided if a replacement coach was sent in the first place.
Yours
Gael Boynton and Glenn Hardy

On Tuesday 07/08/2018. I was unfairly treated by a driver known as Michael (unique reference number NG 6). I was travelling to Gatwick airport north terminal using NX A3 departing 1400 hrs from London Victoria coach station arriving 1525 hrs. I was travelling with my son (25 years). We had 2x20kg suitcases each of us. The bus driver just looked at me with an annoyed look, he picked up one suitcase and he started shouting abruptly at me that the suitcase was too heavy and I had too much luggage. I told him that I had checked on the National express website when I bought our tickets that a passenger is allowed to carry 2x20kg suitcases and we had 2 each me and my son which I had weighed at home prior to my departure. He asked me to pay £20.00 for excess luggage. I requested that we weigh the bags but he ignored me and persisted to demand for £20.00 for excess baggage. He was very rude and intimidating to the extent that I ended up paying the £20. 00 (ticket number 0B02FSCB bought at 1355 hrs). I had even boarded National express from Weston-Super-Mare to Victoria coach station and had not experienced any problem, if my bags where too heavy. Michael drove the bus to Gatwick and he continued to be rude and abrupt while making his announcements to passengers on the coach. When we arrived at Gatwick north terminal, he opened the boot where our bags were loaded. He stood by and did not help us to bring out the bags from the boot. My son had to take the bags out. The driver was even late by about 30 minutes plus that we nearly missed our check in time.

I feel that I should be compensated for extra charge, rudeness and unfair treatment which I encountered on this trip.

Jesca Masamba (ticket number ETXZZX15)

I was travelling 14/8/18 from Fareham to Victoria ( 1250) Leaving (1430) to Chesterfield.
Returning 17th August
When I got to Victoria I noticed there was no time for my bus ( 1430 ), there was a bus time of 1530. I went to Information desk, and asked them what had happened.
They said there had been an amendment to bus times. I told them I had not been informed of this. They changed my ticket, but I was not impressed as the return ticket had been changed also and was unacceptable.
They had changed it to me going via Birmingham to Southampton, Southampton to Fareham . Time leaving Chesterfield would be 1020 and finally arriving in Fareham 2150.
When I read this I told the info desk this was not acceptable as I wouldn't be able to get a bus home. At this point I was told I'd have to pay for the amendment. I said it was not my fault, and I was not willing to pay anything.
They put me onto Customer Services to change the ticket again but they told me there would be a charge. I said I was not willing to pay as this was nothing to do with me, it wasn't my fault,
Eventually the ticket was changed to coming via London 1125 on the 17th.
We waited for the 560 to take us to Chesterfield suppose to arrive at 1530.
Bus did not turn up, no one was giving us updated info as they didn't know.
Someone tweeted and was advise that the bus had been delayed and was at Victoria station, driver was in his break. When I approached the National Express gentleman and told him what had been tweeted he said that the operations people hadn't advised him of this fact.
To cut a long story short, we were all put on a coach to Luton Airport, leaving at 1640 pm and this would drop us off where a coach would be ready to take us onto our final destinations.
I asked if this was definite, would a coach be there and the reply was, "That's what I've been told".
Thankfully, the coach was there.
My journey started should have been 1020 finally arriving at my final destination at
1815. The time I did arrive was about 9pm.
Not good enough.
My ticket number was 9Q35325 booked on the 30th April and ticket posted to me for which I paid 5 pounds in total for the postage & booking fee.
This has not been an isolated incident for me as it has happened on other trips, but after this I felt I had to complain.
There was no empathy from your information centre. I felt as if I was being an inconvenience to them and I don't understand why I wasn't given a direct amended ticket in the first place.
I believe compensation should be awarded for the inconvenience and lack of concern from your company.
Without the public travelling on your coaches, the company would not exist, and the customer should be treated with respect at all times. Not a good face for National Express