Complaint Review:
Megabus
#Megabus is the worst bus service, EVER.
Every time I rode Megabus from Washington, D.C. to Hampton, VA and back, it was late. When I say late, I don't mean five or ten minutes. I'm talking at least an hour. The last time I rode Megabus, I was leaving Hampton, VA to go back to Washington, D.C. The bus didn't leave because the bus driver couldn't get it backed out. There was something mechanically wrong with the bus and the bus driver attempted to "reset it," but a new bus didn't come for hours later. If you care to read my correspondence with Megabus customer service below, it's always the same thing, "we apologize for the delayed response," blah, blah, blah.
Unless you have zero regard for your time, I highly recommend you not take Megabus.
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Dear Christopher,
We apologize for the delayed response. In regards to your inquiry, while we deeply regret the service disruptions that have affected your previous trips, there are unfortunately unforeseen issues that can occur and cause subsequent delays. Of course, Megabus.com aims to provide our clients with affordable, dependable, and quality service expected and so we hope you will give us the opportunity to serve you again.
Thank you for using Megabus.com, your patronage is important to us.
Sincerely,
Jasmine
Megabus Customer Service Specialist
________________________
Megabus Customer Support
inquiries@megabus.com
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12/11/2012 09:22 PM
Subject: Every MegaBus experience is awful
To whom it may concern:
I continue to have the worst possible experience with MegaBus. You'll see from the below email trail that I have had on-going issues with your service, EVERY TIME I have used it. Because of these issues, I lose time and money. When I purchase a service, I expect to receive the service I pay for (perhaps I'm expecting too much). Nonetheless, some people have schedules and places to be. We cannot afford for buses arrive late or not even leave because they're broken down. This leads me to my most recent experience on 2Dec. As always, the bus is supposed to depart Hampton, VA at 5:40PM. I depend on this bus to leave on-time so that I can take the metro to another bus which stops running at 10:30 PM. Because this bus was broken, I had to have a friend drive me to DC which cost us both time and money.
I feel sorry for every customer you had on your bus because I received an email at 9:27 PM stating another bus should be arriving in an hour. REALLY!? The bus was supposed to leave at 5:40PM and another bus doesn't even theoretically arrive until 10:27? You left all these people sitting out in the cold -- I'm not sure how your company is still in business.
This is only my experience on the return leg of my trip. As I left DC that earlier Friday, 30Nov, they had to bring in another bus because there was a mechanical problem with the bus that arrived. We didn't actually leave D.C. until probably close to 10 or 10:30PM. It appears there is a trend with Megabus being unreliable and mechanically unsound.
I told myself I should never use your service again. However, since I have two complimentary round-trip tickets because of my most recent problems, I'm considering booking the 8:45PM bus leaving Washington, D.C. to Hampton, VA on 21Dec and returning at 5:40 PM on 25Dec. Although, what guarantee do I have that my bus will actually leave and return? I'd rather not be late for Christmas festivities and I cannot afford not to show up to work on the 26th. I have no faith in your service and I need some assurance I will actually get to where I need to go.
Christopher S.
-----Original Message-----
From: inquiries@megabus.com [mailto:inquiries@megabus.com]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:59 AM
To: Christopher S.
Subject: RE: Bad second & first experience
Dear Christopher,
Megabus.com strives to provide you with the best possible service, and when you feel that it fails to meet your expectations, it is important for us to know. We apologize that you received service that prompted you to contact us with a complaint, and we regret any inconvenience or frustration that your experience has caused you. Unfortunately we are unable to honor your request for 3 round trip tickets. I can assure you that the appropriate measures will be taken to avoid a reoccurrence. Your patronage is important to us, and we hope you will continue to give us the opportunity to serve you again.
Thank you for using Megabus.com we appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
Terese
Megabus Customer Service Specialist
________________________
Megabus Customer Support
inquiries@megabus.com
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10/29/2012 05:19 PM
Subject: RE: Bad second & first experience
Hello Terese,
Thank you for your apology. However, this got nothing but worse this weekend. As you can see from the attached email, my return bus was cancelled, which forced me to make the drive incurring fuel and rental car charges. I appreciate your offer for one round trip complimentary ticket; however, this doesn't nearly make up for the cost I incurred. I believe three round trip tickets would be more reasonable to offset my lost cost and time.
Thank you for your reply.
Christopher S.
-----Original Message-----
From: inquiries@megabus.com [mailto:inquiries@megabus.com]
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 8:56 AM
To: Christopher S.
Subject: Re: Bad second & first experience
Dear Christopher,
Let me please apologize for the inconvenience you experienced with our service. I can assure you that the appropriate measures will be taken to avoid a reoccurrence. Megabus.com prides itself in our safe, reliable, on-time service, and we hope that you will give us another chance to prove it to you. As we are unable to honor your request for a refund please accept a round trip complimentary ticket to be used for future travel. To redeem this ticket please call 908-282-7420, and provide the representative with your name and e-mail address and they will happily issue you the ticket.
Thank you for using Megabus.com we appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
Terese
Megabus Customer Service Specialist
________________________
Megabus Customer Support
inquiries@megabus.com
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10/27/2012 09:05 AM
Subject: Bad second & first experience
Good morning,
I wrote and received a reply about my bad first experience with Megabus last weekend. I'm disappointed to say my experience this second weekend was even worse. This time, I received an email about a service delay. Our bus ended up showing up about an hour late which means we didn't leave until almost 10pm once everyone was on the bus. This bus was scheduled to leave at 840pm!
Megabus should have separate buses to send out to destinations if one is running late. On top of this, once we left Union Station, it was like our bus driver didn't know where they were going. We took multiple right turns and made stops at the side of the road while the lights cycled through green.
At this time, I would NEVER recommend Megabus to anyone who values their time. I would appreciate a refund of my entire trip for this weekend due to the compounding of my experience last night on top of last weekend.
Christopher S.
-----Original Message-----
From: inquiries@megabus.com [mailto:inquiries@megabus.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 8:31 AM
To: Christopher S
Subject: Re: Bad first experience
Dear Christopher,
Megabus.com strives to provide you with the best possible service, and when you feel that it fails to meet your expectations, it is important for us to know. We apologize that you received service that prompted you to contact us with a complaint, and we regret any inconvenience or frustration that your experience has caused you. I can assure you that the appropriate measures will be taken to avoid a reoccurrence. Your patronage is important to us, and we hope you will continue to give us the opportunity to serve you again.
Thank you for using Megabus.com we appreciate your business.
Megabus Customer Support
inquiries@megabus.com
Sincerely,
Natasha
Megabus Customer Service Specialist
________________________
Megabus Customer Support
inquiries@megabus.com
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10/23/2012 09:50 PM
Subject: Bad first experience
Good evening,
I used Megabus for the first time this past weekend, and unfortunately, it was a disappointment. I booked a round-trip from DC to Hampton, VA, and the bus was late to arrive and leave both ways. We were supposed to leave at 8:40 PM last Friday and the bus didnt show up until at least close to 9, which means we obviously left later than that. On the way back, the bus was late again. We were supposed to leave at 5:40 and we waited till close to 6PM before the bus arrived. Unfortunately, my first Megabus experience wasnt as great as I would have liked. If this is a systemic problem, I hope Megabus considers fixing the issue; otherwise, I couldnt rely on your service.
Thank you for your attention.
Christopher S.