National Express Group
Reviews and Complaints

12th July 2018...14;24
We are on the 570 national express coach from London Victoria to Blackpool.
We are cooking it's so hot ..We have been told by the driver that there's no Air-conditioning

I am on a 7hr journey no AC
It's 26degrees outside..we can't open windows .. it must be at atleast 30 inside here

Please be aware when booking national express in the summer time

I will not be using national express again

Hi my is Mr j Cardin
I am a former driver for westmidlands travel I now work as a front line security officer, I booked a 28 day holiday to turkey via airport of Manchester where I booked my tickets from national express to travel to Manchester airport via digbeth coach station, my coach pick up was on at 02:00am the service number was 920, there was a subcontractor service put on at the time from London to Belfast registration BU18 OSV. As we came to stand to jump on we had to put our luggage into the luggage department at that time the driver started to be abusive by pointing the finger and telling to put it in there where I didn't have a clue of how to put the luggage in I told the driver I have a history of back problems I was ignored and again told in a abusive way to put bag in where my girlfriend had to help and put the bag in at that time the driver became threatening by standing over me and say what my problem I felt threatened and walked away towards the door of the coach again he passed me and jumped into his seat I got on the coach again back started to swinge abit my girlfriend walk on and we couldn't find a seat again we ask the driver can you please allocate us a seat again he said go find one again he stood up in a threatening manner at that time I said I need too speak to a supervisor regarding this issue because I did feel safe I told him that the service your giving is terrible an I was upset when I did go and speak to supervisor in the coach station he went to the driver to have a word where the driver told him that if I apologized he would let us on his coach again I asked why is the driver acting like this I have a flight to catch in the next couple of hours I didn't understand what I did wrong I did say I'm not apologize until driver explained what me and my girlfriend did, my luggage was thrown off and again driver refused to complete the service I payed and booked for, the supervisor within the coach station apologized for the drivers attitude and tryed to arrange another coach from the national express company but due to flight time it would of missed the flight again supervisor apologized great fully and handed me the details of coach and service and registration, I had to book a taxi from coach station to Manchester airport which cost 135 pounds
Jasonmarketin @hotmail.co.UK
[protected]

I travelled on the national express journey as below leaving Blackpool at 8:30am as the journey continued the weather became warmer by the time we reached Birmingham it was getting hotter the coach didnt appear to have any air conditioning making the journey very uncomfortable, I text the national express number on board the coach and was told to approach the driver when safe to do so the driver informed us that the air con wasnt working and st Milton keynes finally opened the air vents in the roof, the journey was extremely uncomfortable with the heat and as a good will gesture I hope that you will refund the price of my ticket, As i believe a coach without air conditioning should not have been used on that particular day.
Kind Regards
Helen Ward
[protected]@gmail.com

Journey Ref Outbound : KGCL-01-3E8D8

Customer name
Helen Ward

Passengers
1 Adult

Passes
Your ticket number
ETXHZD69

Leaving: BLACKPOOL (Central Coach Station) to LONDON Victoria Coach Station.
National Express
National Express
Service: NX 570
Date of travel Departure Arrive From to
Mon Jun 18 08:30
(08:30 AM) 15:50
(03:50 PM) BLACKPOOL (Central Coach Station)

View on map LONDON Victoria Coach Station
Victoria Coach Stn, Arrivals Hall
View on map

Payment taken from your Account
£18.10 has been charged to your PayPal account

Tickets: £17.10

On 1April 2018 I bought a bus ticket online with national express from Luton to Gatwick and spent 27£.
With my confirmation email I was informed that if I was to buy another ticket before 30April I would have benefit from 15£ money back, I just had to register on their website and next time I had bought a ticket they would have given me back 15£. I then register just in case I had to travel but at the end I did not need to go anywhere.
On the 30April I found a -15£ debit transaction on my bank account . So, they did not give me money back, I am the one paying for no service !
I just sent customer service an email asking for a refund but I think this is really amazing . They can not use my card details whenever they feel like ! My card details were used by me only to buy that first tickets ! This means that they retained my card details and doing so I believe they are breaching the law. Can you help me ?

Last Friday I travelled on the coach at 10.45 from Manchester airport, right from the start the drivers attitude was very rude.
His first words were TICKETS first which made all passengers look at each other, I sat in the front of the coach on the left and the whole time the driver was picking his broken nail, head down some of the time and steering with his knees, even had his eyes shut at one point. He veered to the left many times which made me feel very anxious, I really thought Ii wasn't going to arrive in Liverpool which is why I took photos of the driver. Once we were approaching the centre I felt well at least we're here safe. As we got to the Premier inn in Hanover street the driver took off his seat belt. I felt shaky when I got off and the person who was sitting behind me said I didn't think we were going to make it and said she was going to complain, I mentioned the photos and she said good!
The driver was very rough white the bags getting them out and left mine on the coach so I had to pull it off myself.
I went across to the National express desk to complain and showed the lady my photos, she took my name and address and email and said to email the complaint in.

Dear to whom it may concern

I have booked earlier today a trip from Canterbury(bus station) to Manchester(coach station) that is supposed to be on the 23rd of February: leaving at 4:50 in the morning and a return ticket at 18:00 in the same day, I have submitted my card information in order to pay. The thing is money has been transferred to you according to my bank balance without any sort of confirmation on your behalf. This is my email address that I have used to register with: [protected]@gmail.com

Thank you
Kind regards,

We had been waiting for the service to Stansted Airport at the Mile End London bus stop in the rain when the coach finally arrived approximately 20 minutes late. The bus driver was the rudest I have ever come across in my life; as soon as he got off, he shouted 'Come on, hurry up, I am not going to wait for you!'. That was literally our first exchange. When I said to him "You are late, please don't shout at us and tell us off on top of that", he went BALLISTIC. He said he would not 'have this attitude' and took my belongings and left them out in the rain on the pavement. He later started laughing at me when I asked for his name because I was planning to make a formal complaint. He threatened to leave me out of the coach in the rain when I told him it was freezing cold outside. In the end, he refused to leave and we sat there for about 20 minutes when all the passengers started complaining that they were going to miss their flights so I decided to get off as I was getting severely distressed by his words and insulting and threatening behaviour. So I stood crying on my own in the rain and in the middle of the night waiting for the next service just because someone hates his job.

A formal complaint has been lodged with the company however I am not sure what sort of action action has been taken and as such I am planning to speak with an adjudicator as this man should not be allowed to drive people to their destination in the middle of the night.

So I am very disappointed with the level of customer service from the National Express West Midlands.

On June 22nd I have emailed yourselves to request suspension of my account. You asked me to call up to confirm this, which I did and no one was there to take my call so left a message.

I was then called back on my mobile and asked to suspend my account until further notice where I was told the minimum was 1 month and the maximum 6 months - no problem. Phone put down and hopefully all fine.

Now I don't check my bank account often, as the one you use to take my direct debit is literally just for that, so I know what direct debits I have and what is comes out of it each month. And my AOL email address is rarely used.

I checked my bank account yesterday to see that you not only didn't suspend my account but you also kept taking money out of it.

I called up yesterday immediately to address this and spoke to a lady who said well we can't prove you didn't use the bus pass nor that there were any notes on the system of a call recorded.

Firstly, it is not my job to put notes on your system. This is an administration error and I have closed off that initial phone call with the trust on you to put a note on YOUR system.

Secondly she tells me "as a good will gesture" if I send my bus pass back you will refund me October's £56.50. Well excuse me, can we rewind here and realise who has made the mistake!?

I am writing to you, because I have been told to and I requested a call back yesterday, but as I guessed Raj and Natasha (your so called managers) were never going to call, hoping I would not bother calling back or chasing this up.

Well take this as an official complaint.

I would like £226 refunded back to me as a matter of urgency.

I will also be finding a contact higher up to breach this matter with.

We caught a train to Plymouth but decided to come back by the National Express DIRECT . coach on Sunday 22nd at 10.10, Although it cost us more to do this we wanted the comfort of not having to change coaches.They had my mobile number in case of changes .When we got to station we were told we had to change at Exeter and Wareham .We got to Exeter .NO COACH .We waited one and three quarter hours in the freezing cold . First time using National Express .We both suffer with bad backs and were not happy at inconvenience.We arrived late missed our connection and had to get taxi .My ticket number is PTJ98050 in the name of Janet Moore booked at post office ..I was also asked to look after a totally deaf pensioner by her daughter at Plymouth coach station who also was expecting the DIRECT service we paid for, as she was travelling alone and felt very vulnerable .I feel the least you can do is offer us a refund and compensation for late arrival and the distress it has caused .My phone number is [protected] email [protected]@gmail.com. Please do not make my phone or email mail address public .Yours sincerely Mrs J Moore .PS please confirm receipt of this complaint .Thank you

I am writing to complain about your online booking service which seems not to be functioning well at present.
On 19th October at around 3.30pm I attempted to book tickets 2 senior tickets for myself and my partner from Newport to Gatwick on 12th November. Having done this many times before I was surprised and later frustrated when upon entering our 2 Senior Coachcard numbers the process was blocked with box for the coachcards showing incorrect information in spite of the fact that I had only renewed the coachcards a few months ago and booked tickets from Newport to Heathrow in September.
My frustration arose from the fact that I tried this at least 4 times each with the same result before attempting to contact you on the [protected] number which as usual said that all your operators were busy and ring back later.
I tried again and had the same problem at which point I tried to use your webchat service for the first time to resolve the problem. The webchat operator was called Tasha and here is a record of our conversation .
Tasha: Hi. My name is Tasha. How can I help?
You: I am trying to book 2 senior tickets from Newport S wales to Gatwick on 28 Nov 2017.
Tasha: Hi Howard, how can I help with this?
You: I have entered all the correct info including the Senior Coachcards which are 1C968016 and 17 valid until 15/9/2018 but it is telling me these are invalid .
You: Please advise
Tasha: I'm very sorry to hear this. I'll just check this for you
Tasha: Hi, just checking you're still there as I haven't heard from you for 2 minutes. Do you still want to chat?
Tasha: I have checked and all the details are working for me
You: Yes - waiting your reply
Tasha: The website has accepted your coachcard details
You: The site is teeling me that the details you have entered are invalid - but they are all correct - what can I do
Tasha: I'd recommend clearing your browser history and cookies and try again
You: when I enter the coachcard no's and validity date the box in highlighted i n red saying "we're sorry but the details you have entered are incorrect . I have tried this 4 or 5 times so I cannpot progress to payment

I took her advice and tried again with the same result.
I tried on another laptop using Google Chrome and then Safari and also on on my iPad as did my partner on hers - each time with the same result.
I rang the help number again and also retried the webchat site which then give me a message that the webchat service was not available at that time as all operators were busy.
The webchat site states that a transcript of all conversations will be sent to the customers email which has not happed to date.
At the same time I let the phone service keep ringing and at the same time trying different versions of your NX sites. At about 4.50pm I managed to make a booking online and when printing my tickets the help phoneline responded after having rung for 20-25 mins at 0.13p+ charge per minute.
I explained to the operator that I had finally made an online booking at the same time she had responded.
The operator was, as has been my previous experiences when talking to all your staff including drivers, very helpful and agreed to take the details of the booking I finally made after 1 1/2 hours and said she would submit details of my complaint. She also said that she would make a request to see if there was any compensation which could be offered for the time and inconvenience.

If you wish to check the details of this complaint from your website and webchat service then here are the ticker details.
Mr Howard Davies
2 Senior/Disabled
Coachcard 1C968016
Coachcard 1C968017
Ticket No. ETTVRS70
I would respectfully suggest that you review your online looking site which appears not to be working efficiently and also examine your telephone and webchat helpline services where there appears to be insufficient staff at busy times to deal with complaints resulting from online biking issues.

Finally in spite of this complaint about your online service I will state that it has not put me off travelling with National Express as the actual bus service has always proved to be excellent once I have finally received the tickets.

Sincerely
Howard Davies

I was scheduled to leave Victoria coach station to Heathrow airport on the 21/8/2017 at 18:30hrs to arrive Heathrow at 19:25hrs.

Unfortunately, the coach was delayed for 1hr without prior Information about this.

I finally arrived Heathrow about 20:15hrs, only to be told l could no longer check-in because I was late.

I slept at the airport and had to pay extra to rebook my flight. If the national express coach had been on time, I would have arrived 30mins before close of check-in and would have got on my flight.

I therefore, would like for national express to reimburse me for the additional expenses made for my flight.

I look forward to your response.

Thank you.

Kenton.

Hello to whom it should concern
My name is mr Downing and my original ticket number ETSTYS42
I booked myself a ticket for travel on the 22.00 national express Sunday 13th August.
I arrived at the coach only to be met by a miserable looking man who ask for my ticket, I showed my confirmation email stating that I was booked and confirmed to travel on that coach, He grunted your not on my list! I said ok but I still have a valid payed for ticket which I'm offering.
He then said what time did you book the ticket. This I've never been asked by any travel company, I couldn't remember. So he said I couldn't travel..
I then went a bit mad and said a few choice words.. all in my eyes he deserved.
He had a problem with me before I even came to the que and caused an unpleasant scene for other passengers including children.
I was booked on a much later coach only to Manchester, when london was my original destination, and put on another coach from Manchester to london the next day when one became available. This gets me in 22hours later by 8pm the following day! I call this a massive inconvenience and disgusting show of whatever by this [censor] of a driver.
I missed work also cost me a hotel for the night!
I would really appreciate some sort of financial refund but most I want his head on the block and him be in serious trouble for this!
Many thanks
C Downing

The lady staff was very arrogant, aggressive and very impolite. Not ready to listen any passenger/s. Blaming very passenger whoever asked for any information that we were shouting at her.
We were travelling from Leicester to Notthingham BY NX350 COACH. We reached there 9.50am waited for 10.00am coach. You can comfirm this from TELE LINk Taxi, what the driver dropped us. No bus came. All the pasengers going to Nottingham and inquired about the coach. Some of them came 30 minutes early, others 15 minitues.
Everyone said to the duty lady staff there was no 10.00am coach. She kept on ignoring and and telling all the passengers that 10.00am coach came and gone and we missed it.
Anyway there was no point to talk to her. She was not willing to listen any passenger and blaming every passenger. We all got the other coach. When we reached at Nottinham and asked the staff about the 10.00am coach. They siad there was not coach coming from Leicester at 10.00am.
I was really quite frustrating experience. Satff like her should not on duty, who is not ready to listen passengers' concern and enxiety.
Why she is there, you need to let me know and what do you do staff like her.
I hope am not waisting my time by make a complain, I would like to hear some out come of this.
Paskal Clement

Good morning,

I bought a ticket online (ticket number: ETRKPR32) to go from Reading (Mereoak park and ride) to gatwick airport at 16:20 on 10/6/2017. The coach number would be 200 as per ticket. I was advised to be at the local 10min prior coaching departure so I went to mereoak park and ride at 15h50 and I was waiting there for the coach. I saw a coach coming at 16:00 and I asked the driver if it was the coach going to gatwick as the number was 200 but showing heathrow airport on it. The driver told me he was not going to gatwick and told me the coach I was waiting for was running late so he advised me to call costumer service at 16:20 if the bus had not arrived yet by that time. 10 min after, at 16:10 I rang costumer service and I was informed the bus was late. I was told to wait in mereoak park and ride as I was in the right place waiting and the bua would come soon. At 16h25 another bus came, going to London, I asked the driver if he knew I was in the right place waiting for the coach going to gatwick airport. He had a look on my e ticket and he said I was and it must have been running late as himself was running late either. I waited until 17:00 and I called again costumer service asking were my bus was as I had been waiting in mereoak for more than an hour and at this time the coach was late 40minutes. I had a flight booked and it was a very stressfull situation. The costumer adviser was not friendly at all, and when I was trying to show her my frustration about what happened she said she wanted to speak until the end, she was very rude and not helpful. She told me that the driver didn't drive in. I was tracking the coach at the mean time and at 17:00 it showed on your website that the coach was expected at 16:49 in mereoak park and ride! I took pictures of that if you want. The costumer adviser told me I had no coach to take me to the airport so I had to book a taxi and pay 75£ because of national express bad service! Fortunalety I reached the airport with enough time for my flight but I am really disappointed with national express and I want my money back, at least the 21.70£ I paid for my ticket. After all of this, finally I reached the airport at 18:45 the time the coach was supposed to arrive as well. I literally saw the coach nr 200 with destination gatwick airport via reading and heathrow arriving at the same time as me. A lady was driving it (registration FN62 CFG) and I went to ask her if it was the bus supposed to reach reading at 16:20 with gatwick airport destination. I explained her the situation but she said it wasn't the coach I was talking about. So, after all of that, I want my money back! I paid 21.70 for a coach that didn't appear and I had to pay on top of that 75£ for a taxi because of your bad service.

Mara Teixeira

Number 6 National express very disapointed its happend so many times im at brandon Road toward city centre number 6 was due at 7:46pm came at 7:51pm
Im at the bus stop with alot of shopping i stood up and put my hand forward so he stops which he saw me and just went pass and have to wait 20minutes for next bus where im a health care assistant time really matters
Awful service number 6 bus driver shouldnt be working if he is not stopping

Me and my sister went to Liverpool street really early to catch the bus for stansted so that we wouldn't lose the flight. We waited for more than an hour without any bus showing up. We called the company and no one replied. We decided to give up. Luckily, there was another bus from another company that arrived on time. I wanted to ask for a refund but we were already so late that we couldn't do anything in the airport. I'll never travel with National Express again!

What can I say The coach turned up 1 and a half hours late in the worst coach I'd ever seen Not what we were expecting it wasn't even a National express coach nothing like they had advertised about their fleet of luxury coaches and all having USB ports! Really false advertising The driver was driving like a lunatic nearly crashed at least 3 times then when we got to Blackpool what a shambles it's like a free for all no organisation by the time I'd got off my suitcase had gone missing My child who is Autistic was very upset first with the time it took for the coach to arrive And then because he thought he would have internet on the coach which they had advertised it would have on all their coaches! And then the loss of the suitcase because it contained all his belongings driver told me it was nothing to do with him it's my responsibility to make sure my case is their he had another Bad mannered man who was helping him he was really rude and was very rude to my Partner and coming right up into his face Disgraceful treatment from National express employees It was another Hour before it was found another passenger had taken it due to the madness at Blackpool I would never travel with National express ever again I emailed them about what happened and still no one has got back to me I can't believe this company are still going with such bad customer service AvOID AVOID AVOID

I'm honestly in such a shock that I can't believe that people can be so rude these days.
I was waiting for National Express bus from Hatfield Galleria to Luton and the bus was late nearly 20mins. Either way, we didn't lose our good mood and was waiting patiently.

I was travelling with my mom and boyfriend, and we didn't purchase tickets online, as it was last minute solution to use the coach. I've never had a problem nor disappointment with a company so was happy with it.

The moment bus arrived, the driver ROGER was really angry and was grinning all the time. I tried to say Hi and to double check if they going to Luton airport and he just shoved his palm to my face(?who does that?) like - it's not your time to speak now.
My muslim boyfriend wanted to ask the same after few minutes but he was just gave him a very RUDE look to him and completely ignored him.

After standing for nearly 6 minutes, he asked where are our tickets and I said I want to purchase them. He charged us 48£ for 3 single tickets, which I think is completely too much cause at that time online showed 11£ each. I asked him if that's the right price as online it shows completely different one, and he started shouting on me that I can leave and use other companies or buses.

So we just left and he was still shouting from the bus. He caused so much stress my mom started crying afterwards cause we were already getting late for airport! How rude is that!
I'm utterly shocked with the driver's behaviour, attitude and customer service. It's disgusting story to tell, as we received so much hate without even the reason. And he was on purpose ignoring my boyfriend.

The driver's name is Roger
Bus number plate: F J60 KVS

We are currently on the way to Luton where we paid 28£ for cab. My mom is so stressed and everyone is so unhappy so just want thank you so much for amazing morning with National Express.

My 19 year old daughter was unwell and developed a high temperature whilst travelling from St Austell to London Victoria. She was travelling alone. She felt sick and dizzy so her boyfriend went to Heathrow to collect her and save her the rest of the journey to Victoria. She had already been travelling from St Austell for 6 hours. The driver was very rude to her and refused to get her case off at Heathrow whilst unloading other passengers. Her boyfriend had to travel all the way back to Victoria to meet her. This is absolutely unacceptable and I will be taking this complaint to other sources. My daughter is now in bed quite poorly and stressed. She will not be using this service again.

I purchased hoses from National Express And Returns and they had holes, so I returned them and have not received my replacement. I paid $103.70. PLEASE HELP ME!