National Express....National disgrace (National Express)

Member Name: Lee

Product:	National Express
Date:	22/04/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Poor booking, poor service, disgusting dirty buses

National Express....National disgrace more like. My wife, 2 children and I took the bus (for the first time) from Coventry to Heathrow and back. The booking system (if you have children) was a joke and so is the customer service. The conditions inside the buses nearly made us sick.

Onto the online booking system. Straight forward initially. Select ticket, times, people. Confirm on the screen that it's amendable and refundable (in case the flight times from Heathrow changed). Enter payment details, click submit. Then the first problem, AFTER you pay it says the ticket is NOT amendable. (I had printed the pre-payment page to confirm it was amendable). Next, 4 phone calls to National Express customer services, who eventually told us not to phone again, to find out why they were now not amendable and notably 4 different reasons why this had occurred, from computer failure to the fact that we had children, finally ending with them actually being amendable. We decided to change the time of the return journey with the person who finally admitted they were amendable (it was just a system error issuing the tickets wrongly), who gave us a 'reference' number. No email or written confirmation, just a verbal reference number. We explained that after a long flight with children the last thing we would want to happen would to be stranded with a 'reference' number that wasn't accepted by the bus driver. But they refused to confirm it in writing or email. A couple more phone calls to other representatives requesting confirmation and we were told they don't even keep a record of that reference number, so couldn't even confirm the time had been changed. Only the bus driver would know it and to stop calling as they would get confused.
A few weeks later our outgoing flight time changed, no problem we thought, National Express had admitted the tickets were in fact amendable. No such luck. We had to go through it all again until they finally admitted they were amendable, BUT if we did change it they couldn't confirm there would be a booster seat for one of our children (they neglected to mention this when we made the first amendment). However, if we cancelled it (at a cost of £5 per person) and rebooked it as the different time, they could confirm a booster seat. How does that work? Who knows? Of course we had to take the hit of £20 to ensure we had a booster seat. However, when we got on the buses, there were at least a dozen boosters available, so they were just ripping us off.

Finally on the bus, I have to say that the filthy, stinking condition of the buses in both directions, would not have been acceptable in a prison! Both buses were black with dirt inside. From the matted aisle carpet to the backs of the seats and roof lining. All of it looked like it had never been cleaned since the bus was built, caked in black filth. I never went inside the toilet, as the foul stench of urine even near the front of the bus was unbearable. 3 people used it on the way to Heathrow, I never heard the toilet flush. There was already "liquid" seeping from around the cubicle when we set off, but by the time we arrived at Heathrow, it was trickling down the centre aisle. It almost made us physically sick.

Suffice to say, after our first trip on National Express, we will try to avoid using them EVER again. The service and condition of the buses were an utter disgrace. That filth would not be acceptable in a lorry carrying animals, so why is it allowed on a bus carrying adults and children?

I would write to them if I thought they would even read it, however I will try to let as many people know about our experience via forums and reviews like this.

Summary: Appalling