I have traveled on bus, planes, trains, bikes, boats and automobiles. The worst customer service I have ever experienced is with MegaBus. They offer absolutely NO flexibility incase of an emergency. So basically if you have to push back a departure time or date and it is less than 24 hours of notice, you lose out and have to purchase yet another ticket--even though Megabus has collected your money but gave you NO service. I understand the no return policy but I find it unethical that they don't offer any later departures/times for customers who need have a change of plans. Even all major airlines, Amtrak and Greyhound offer flexibility to their customers. NOT MEGABUS...SO BEWARE!
Reply to this Bad luck with this Sara.
Just to point out though that Megabus does offer by far the cheapest way to travel around and I have never experienced problems with delays etc. I guess they are good as long as you don't expect help if things go wrong from your side!
Hope you managed to travel in the end.
Reply to this Hi Ruth,
Actually I used to live in the Uk and used Megabus there without any problems, however, their US side needs a lot of work. Greyhound in the US has competitive rates so Megabus is actually not the cheapest in the US.
Reply to this This is the way it works with most non-refundable services. I use the Chinatown Bus system in the U.S. and i've been turned away from the bus many times due to it being full and had to purchase a new ticket on a different company to get home in time. Its pretty crappy but I don't think theres much you can do about it other than not ride budget services if it bothers you. For the record, Greyhound is First-come-First-serve as well. If you get there late and the bus is full you have to wait for the next one or pay for a different route.
Reply to this I agree the 'get what you pay for' philosophy, but there is still an ethical issue at hand. With the way gas prices are more people are using these services and the companies cannot slack on customer service and proper business ethics any longer.
Just because it is budget, doesn't mean consumers should put up with bad customer service. I am sick of companies taking consumers money and then do nothing to keep them as loyal customers with bad service. I am not putting up with it anymore.
I have been on Greyhound twice within the past 3 weeks and I had an issue of making the departure and they took care of me and allowed me to get on the next bus with no issue. At least they have an alternative for their customer. That is all I am asking Megabus to consider--giving their paying customer options, which they should rightfully do since they already paid for a service they didn't use, not leaving them stuck and broke on a street corner.
Reply to this I agree with you. Customer service should certainly be a higher priority for these companies, especially for those of us who ride the budget services not by choice but by necessity.
But I think you'll find that in their terms that Megabus indicates that you're likely to face this sort of thing if you don't do things EXACTLY the way they want you to. Really a bummer when it happens, I know from personal experience, but technically they inform you ahead of time.
Corporate responsibility doesn't really exist, I know, and this is a prime example. Caveat Emptor.
Reply to this Well after complaining to the operations manager she was nice enough to give me a ticket for another date. But why do we as consumers have to go through the corporate b-s in order to get the service that should be implemented in the 1st place?! Urgh...
Reply to this Its the nature of the beast: serving the customer is secondary to earning a profit. The best we can do to limit this is consume as little as possible and when we do, choose very carefully.
Its easy to let the emotions blind us, but I'm glad to hear that you eventually got things resolved!
Sam
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