Appalling customer service (National Express)

Member Name: bkecky

Product:	National Express
Date:	03/07/09 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Convenience, usually punctual

Disadvantages: The employees are awful!

I have used National Express several times in the past six months in order to get from Birmingham to Luton Airport and back again. National Express are a bus company that travel around the UK and Europe and is often a cheaper alternative to the trains if you have the time for the longer journey.

On my journeys I have found that generally I am successfully there on time and they are reliable as I have never been more than 10 minutes late and when the timetable says it leaves it generally leaves (see exception below). However the main complaint I have with them is the customer service that they provide. I have had three rather unpleasant journeys with them and two out of the three were due to the staff.

My first awful experience does not actually sound that bad. It was a three hour journey late afternoon from Luton to Birmingham. The only problem was the coach had the overwhelming stench of urine. And I mean very badly as if the toilets had overflowed. I felt so sick I put my scarf around my mouth and I wasn't even sitting at the back, so I can't imagine if you were! This is not my major complaint but I was so relieved to get off that bus!

That return journey I wittnessed probably the worst customer service I have ever seen. I was flying back from Nimes to Luton and it was when there was the awful snow this year. Consequently my flight was cancelled. No problem as it was nobody's fault. So I checked the National Express website and it informed me that flight cancellations or bus cancellations were not a problem as National Express was going to transfer tickets to another suitable time at no extra cost. Great, I thought! It's rare that this happens! So I called National Express to change my ticket. For two days I couldn't get through and when I finally did it was a machine. Yet I persisted not wanting to be stranded in Luton and time was getting on for my flight. Eventually after calling number after number I got through to a real live person!!! I could not contain my excitement. She was a very helpful lady and told me, yes, no problem and even that if my flight was delayed then I could board a later coach. So mind at rest I arrived at Luton with my new reference number. I go to the driver and show him my ticket. No, it's the wrong code, he helpfully replied. Right. So what do I do? You have to get a new one and run to the National Express desk. Do I have time, I ask? Two minutes and we are leaving. So I rush to the desk and explain and she said well you haven't paid to change it so that's why it's not right. But the website says and I spoke to your customer service and they said..., I desperately cry. OK, she tells me, I will print you one off as your bus is leaving. Great at last something straightforward. I might add that I was also told the bus was leaving 15 minutes later than the scheduled time. So I wait for the driver to finish talking to a foreign young man who was obviously struggling to find where to buy his ticket. Eventually the message was clear and like me he was told 2 minutes and then I am leaving. So I hand my ticket over and decided to quickly have a smoke. Except I was allowed to enjoy my cigarette at leisure when another driver came over and was complaining that he had to stop in Milton Keynes for two passengers and he wanted to get home for his tea. So my bus driver then says oh it's ok just put them on my bus, I can wait 10 minutes, I have to stop there anyway. I was gobsmacked! After all the rush rush rush! But nothing prepared me for what came next. Hungry bus driver then asks, so what was all that about with that chink? Oh nothing, the driver replies, just couldn't understand what I was saying. Hungry driver then exclaims RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, "What a c**t!". He then saw me with my jaw on the floor and said oh sorry, ladies present. I thought more like customers present! So they have a little whoops and a laugh and then Hungry goes on his way.

My third experience was not on the bus but whilst waiting at the station. I was wondering where I could have a cigarette before boarding as bus stations are not always smoking directly outside. I couldn't see any no smoking signs but I see some National Express staff and drivers drinking coffee and smoking so I walk over next to them and start smoking. Half way through my cigarette though I am interrupted by an empoyee who points at me and says "No smoking!". Ok I say but I presumed I could due to the staff smoking here and there being no signs. His phrase was repeated so I say, well what about them? "I told them before". Yes but they are still here. To which I got a raised voice and a pointed finger telling me "You are a customer, I say no smoking you stop smoking!". And he walked off. So I sucked the life out of the rest of it (almost as a point to my audience) and put it in the ashtray conveniently provided in the no smoking area. I don't mind being told not to smoke if I can't in that area but what I do resent is one rule for one and one rule for another and being spoken to in this way. And also a non smoking sign and a lack of ashtrays might indicate to me that the area was non-smoking. This was the final straw so I wrote an strongly worded letter to the company. I am still waiting for my reply.

Aside from this usually people have been satisfactory. A couple of times there have been even pleasant staff who have checked thoroughly everyones tickets and even helped to put your luggage in. This is a bit hit and miss and I have seen drivers just standing there whilst I have struggled to lift my suitcase into the holding area. This seems rather minor in comparison to my other two customer service experiences so I decided to drop that one. So there are employees who are helpful and pleasant but then it's a shame that there are some that really let them down. One driver did say to me once, did you not come from Birmingham then? And I said yes, it's on my ticket and he said to me that some people just can't be bothered to do their jobs properly. My ticket hadn't been checked.

I still use the company though, mainly through convenience that if I need to be in Luton early morning I need to take a night bus as there are no trains, so really there isn't another option. But if there were I would no longer give my custom to National Express. I realise you pay a cheap price but I do expect a basic level of service and I think the behaviour I experienced was not acceptable. Similarly I did not say anything at the time to either of the staff as I was worried that if I did it would be considered abuse or whatever and be refused boarding. I hope that National Express get back to me soon (although it seems that I may never receive a response!) and if I do I will update this review with the outcome. I will be persistent though! National Express claim in their employment policy that "Our recruitment process focuses on behaviour rather than skill, ensuring we employ people who can live our values". If this is the case I can't imagine what values they are...

Summary: I don't even want to award one star!