National Express Coach Reviews
Summary
Share your reviews of National Express Coach Travel and help yourself and others to make comparisons on these and other travel companies. Be better informed to enjoy a pleasant journey.
Media Gallery for National Express Coach
Latest Reviews
★☆☆☆☆
“RUBISH COMPANY”
Written on: 29/04/2013 by Queentee (2 reviews written)
DON'T USE THEM WASTE OF MONEY .MADE A COMPLAINT IT WAS IGNORED .THEY ARE GREEDY BUSTARDS I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE USED MEGABUS (read more)
★★★★☆
“My pleasant journey to London in peak hour traffic too!!!”
Written on: 28/04/2013
I wish to give praise to the driver - who drove the C'bury to Victoria coach on Friday 26413 SH 007 Dep 17.50 arr London 19.50. He was pleasant and calm and drove the coach with such ease he made the journey such a joy that the time passed so quickly. Unfortunately earlier in the day another driver who was running late (traffic so not his fault) was so bad tempered over being late that he continued to give a running commentary whilst he was driving. As the passengers were also not... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“beware bstrd company”
Written on: 17/04/2013
Liars, uncaring idiots, unintelligent customer care. Who the fcuk they think they are................................................................................................................................................... (read more)
★★★★★
“Fantastic first time experience!”
Written on: 13/04/2013 by jan.whiting (1 review written)
i have recently travelled from Eastbourne to Cardiff with my family, one of which was a teenage boy. The comfort we experienced on all the coaches used was exceptional, with plenty of leg room. All the coaches were immaculately clean and the drivers very friendly, helpful and efficient. The announcements were clear and consice and the timetable adhered to. Above all though the attention to safety issues was second to none, on a par with an airline flight. Excellent service, will be using... (read more)
★★★★★
“very nice driver”
Written on: 13/04/2013 by mycha
I was coming back from Manchester to Harrogate on Wednesday 10th April 2013 and I am very impressed with a driver in bus from Leeds to Harrogate. A man in long hair was very helpful and very cheerful. It was a really nice journey with that driver! (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Greedy coach company”
Written on: 12/04/2013 by Ybens49 (1 review written)
Booked reasonable fare online. Arrived early at gatwick airport hoping to catch earlier service. I was told I could only do so if I paid an extra £5! There were plently of empty seats available. Greedy and profit driven coach company. I think they desperately need to rethink this policy. I used the 30 minutes I had to wait for next bus to write this review. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“ONLINE BOOKING & PHONE”
Written on: 12/04/2013
Tried and tried to book 2 seats from London to Portsmouth could not go past payment, the site kept redirecting back to the site, (very frustrating). Phoned 3 times to number listed on site only to be told by operator could not be connected. Waste of international phone call charges. Finally conceded and booked train which I might add is costly but worth the peace of mind to know you will arrive at your destination (hopefully). Great PR for British Tourism - NOT! Disgruntled Aussie travellers. (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Heathrow Terminal 5 inconvenience”
Written on: 11/04/2013 by MarcoPolo1
I have always been a champion for National Express but I am thoroughly dissappointed that they are no longer serving Terminal at Heathrow as a service from Cheltenham. The bus stops at the main bus station at Terminal 3 and then you must off load your luggae and wait agbout 30 mintues for another National Express bus to arrive to take you to T5. Luggage is re-loaded onto the next bus which then takes you to T5 and unloads the luggae again. The drivers must be very unimpressed with the... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“good”
Written on: 31/03/2013
I used national expres to go form london to swansea and back. Everithing was good, bus was nice with lether seats. it was late on start form london 5 min and driver apologise, we came on time in swansea. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Journey from Hell....”
Written on: 30/03/2013 by jenny2345 (1 review written)
Unhelful staff, arrived early at the coach station, refused entry onto an earlier bus, jammed like sardines on to the next coach. Heating on so high that one of the passengers was sick, I felt as though I was being boiled alive in my own skin. Avoid unless you are happy at temperatures similar to the inside of a volcano. The best part of the journey was getting off the bus (read more)
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Showing 1 - 10 of 166 Reviews
★☆☆☆☆
“NEVER EVER USE IT!”
Written on: 27/03/2013 by jeles
They sucks. Nobody every picks up the phone and if you require a cancellation, there will be tons of problems waiting for you. I booked a ticket from Frankfurt to London and I planned to cancel it 5 days before the trip. Though on the website it said its customer service line opens 24 hours, nobody ever picks up the phone and I think tha's the way they try to stop you from complaining or cancelling or doing anything. Finally I called somewhere else and they transferred my call to them. And... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“disgraceful customer service”
Written on: 25/03/2013
Rang to cancel my coach ticket for 6th April. Had 3 DAYS of holding on for at least 20 mins oper time at 10 per minute which I calculate as £6, as the refund after their charges would come to around that, and having not got through after all those attempts its no longer financially viable for me to continue ringing. Customer service rated NIL !! J Sorier (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“incompetent beyond belief”
Written on: 23/03/2013 by gregpovey2
I caught the 8.15am national express bus to London. It was fifteen minutes late to start with, but to be fair, the driver made good time and we arrived in London at 9.30am. That is when the problem started. The driver got lost in the city and proceeded to drive around and around. No information was given from the driver over the tannoy. Eventually, We arrived at Victoria coach station, but apparently the driver had entered the wrong entrance and had to leave to find the correct entrance,... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Booking ammendments”
Written on: 23/03/2013
Clicked the wrong button online. Phoned immediately to change the time to be charged for the privilege. Even Ryanair waver such mistakes which would normally warrant a charge. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Greedy greedy greedy”
Written on: 23/03/2013
This company has a very devious online system. Once checking for my price I went back on the next day to book, to find that they had increased the price by £5. Just before clicking the button to pay, my battery ran out on my iPad, so I went back on again to book and found that guess what.... They had put it up by another £5. Their online system detects any interest then put a the price up... unbelievable. Don't believe the pathetic excuse from the call entire staff which was that... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“beware”
Written on: 22/03/2013
never call national express premium rate customer Care Help telephone numeber. It is at 10 pence a minute and expect to wait on phone for at least 15 to 20 minutes ( if u lucky).... it sucks... a day light ripping off customer with such a high premium rate number....and then make us wait on phone.... why have they chose to be such a company.... (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“website+phone service”
Written on: 22/03/2013 by annaph
National express' website sucks!i was just trying to book my tickets online...i dont get why my payment wont go through. i thought it was my debit card but after trying 3 different ones, i called national express cust service they said its a common problem,(hello if it was common why arent your IT guys fixing it!!!) they did a couple of recommendations such as clearing my browser history, filling out asterisk only questions...etc... etc but to no avail so in the end i have to call back and... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Bad Customer Service”
Written on: 17/03/2013
I left a item of my mine on the coach (my mobile), after realising this 2 minutes after i left the coach, i called the 'National Express Customer Servive' line, from the coach station (Bradford). When speaking to a member of staff over the phone despite my destination being the last for the coach before it entered the garage in leeds, (As i arrived at 12:00am), i was told there was no way of the driver being contacted, on the coach and even after he arrived at the garage!!! Which is... (read more)
★★★★☆
“very very good”
Written on: 14/03/2013
travelled on the 449 mablethorpe to london on the 30th january very good driver his name was [name removed] so polite have been on this service for years very comfortable journey all in all superb (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“terrible journey.”
Written on: 12/03/2013
We travelled from southampton to london victoria, we were not even out of southampton when a passenger wanted to use the toilet, no luck as door would not open...we asked for heating to be turned down temp on the drivers dash said 27 degrees it was roasting on board people felt ill, air conditioning not working properly hardly working at all. Then there was an accident so we were diverted not the drivers fault, but she had only done this trip once and was only shown 2 ways in to london... (read more)
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Showing 11 - 20 of 166 Reviews
★★☆☆☆
“Coach not turning up”
Written on: 11/03/2013
I was very disapointed today 16 Jan as I waited for the coach at Stevenage to Luton Airport at 08:25 in the cold winter for more than half and hour before booking a taxi which i should have done previously. I just though about major coonsequences that could have happened if i had a plane to cash up ... Luckily I just had a meeting at the airport and turn up late but when I left the coach stop at 09:05 the coach wasn't still there so more than 30min late if it ever came. This is unacceptable... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Scum bags”
Written on: 05/03/2013 by Niallboy12 (1 review written)
This is a rip off merchant premium rate number and takes over a hour to get through then when I do finally get through they hang up third time lucky then they tell me after I paid £68 they can't change my journey or give me a refund I'm so outraged how they can get away with this so i would not recommend this scandal company (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“heathrow to Sheffield”
Written on: 04/03/2013 by firstaid (1 review written)
travelled on Sunday 3rd. March at 8am.In my opinion the coach should not have been on the road.1.front 2 seats on near side had all covering back panels missing, showing all metal work.If this coach had been in a crash and anyone had been thrown against this metal work they would have been killed.2. I sat on the 4th seat back, offside, aisle seat, the back of the seat in front of me was damagedas the back was coming away and the right hand side grab seat was missing.3.there was a faulty fan... (read more)
★★★★★
“A Great Coach Driver”
Written on: 02/03/2013 by Belindawhite3
My husband and I have used National Express Coaches for the past three years. On the NOTTINGHAM to HEATHROW AIRPORT route we have always had a positive experience. We have found the coaches clean and on time. We have also found most of the coach drivers professional. In particular, [name removed] is helpful; he demonstrates knowledge of the routes and times. While in London, [name removed] gives us a bit history of some of the sites in London. We feel safe when Paul is behind the wheel and... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Bad Policies”
Written on: 28/02/2013
National Express has some of the worst customer service policies. They also have a terrible ticketing system. I really do not understand why they do not scrap their "Fun Fare" tickets and just have a standard ticketing system that still allows customers to amend their tickets without paying an arm and a leg to do so. As a regular customer of National Express I have found them to be quite useless and unhelpful. I once arrived for my regular 5:45 service and realized I have made the mistake of... (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Get the heating fixed on your long journey coaches!”
Written on: 21/02/2013 by gazzaV (1 review written)
My return journey to Stansted was a joke - 8 hours overnight from Glasgow in February with no heating, brrrrrr. A return coach from Birmingham with heating on full that could not be turned down and no windows to open - scorchio. Well I did manage to sweat away any weight I might have gained while away on holiday on the 7 hour return journey at gas mark 7. Yes I know - I should have flown. Guess what I will do in the future? (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“disaster”
Written on: 21/02/2013
The coach broke down, I was put on a coach to another station then on a coach to my original station. The driver of this coach was appalling, shouted at me then stormed off! because I didn't have a ticket! incredible. I have to say all the other drivers ( it took 4 coaches to get to my final destimnation) were good. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Missed fight - no refund”
Written on: 20/02/2013 by Hatenationalexpress
The coach was 2 hours late and i missed my plane. Wrote a complain but no refund because i did not prebook. Poor service! Avoid using it (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“awuful service”
Written on: 19/02/2013
thi is a probably the worst service i have had in many years!!! will never wont to use national express again. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
““Now I remember why I only travel by train...””
Written on: 16/02/2013
There are pros and cons to using national express. Personally I was fairly happy travelling with national express for the first time because the seats were comfortable and the environment was peaceful. However on my second time.. I didn't even get a second time. My coach was delayed by 2 hour and 45 minutes and I ended up taking the train instead because I would have been late for my sister's 21st birthday. I asked whether I could refund my ticket or get compensation for this massive delay,... (read more)
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Showing 21 - 30 of 166 Reviews
★★★★☆
“In my experience they were alright”
Written on: 15/02/2013
loads of people keep saying how rubbish they are and how many problems they have. ive gone from on loads of journeys all around the country and never encountered a problem. also all of the coaches they use now are modern, and some even have leather seats. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Refused travel on earlier coach”
Written on: 11/02/2013 by miamitraveller (1 review written)
We arrived at Heathrow airport just over an hour early due to a tail wind. Our bags came fast. So we arrived at the coach station just in time to catch the 11.20insteadof the 1.20 originally booked. The driver advised that we change ticket at the ticket office. Whilst we went to do that, he left, tqhus ensuring that we could not get to Brighton on that coach. When we enquired about getting the 12.20, we were told that wewould have to pay an amendment fee which was only approx £5 short of... (read more)
Jenny2345's Response to miamitraveller's Review
Written on: 30/03/2013
this happened to me yesterday, had to watch a bus with 12 passengers leave at 9, I was made to wait until the next bus as 10 o clock, full to capacity, broken heating, apalling customer service
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★★★★★
“brilliant service just the job”
Written on: 06/02/2013 by chancansta
during the last week i travelled from shepton mallett to preston and back and have no complaint whatsoever i am a northerner by the way, so know what good service is. my coach driver was very polite and helpful, the coach was clean and i had two very good journeys. on reading other reviews i can only suggest that if you want luxuary travel hen use something else, national express is basic to get you from a to b and as far as i am concerned they do a damn good job. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“"Fawlty towers" of transport”
Written on: 25/01/2013 by probi19 (1 review written)
Should re-name this company NATIONAL DISTRESS. Customer service non existent. Closed bus doors early and refused to let me on. Don't bother complaining because the whole culture of this company is nothing short of abject rudeness. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. (read more)
Roobarbski's Response to probi19's Review
Written on: 25/02/2013
I couldn't agree more - shut doors early on my wife and 4 children in London Victoria at 11:30 pm - no more buses that night and couldn't care about the consequences! We will never use them again!
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Cambsy's reply to Roobarbski's Comment
Written on: 26/02/2013
U Might have been late for coach,should be gate at least 15 mins before coach leave so as not delay coach,other people got places get to, not just you, if u got luggage he got to put in luggage locker which take time, I hate people like u who turn up last minute and delay my journey, and everyone else's.
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Roobarbski's reply to Cambsy's Comment
Written on: 26/02/2013
Thanks for your hate Cambsy - my family were not late and didn't have any luggage - they tried to board the coach well before the scheduled departure time and were refused.
I'm glad they didn't have to share a coach with you!
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Cambsy's reply to Roobarbski's Comment
Written on: 26/02/2013
There must have been reason for not letting your family board coach, either u cut it too fine for time, or not booked on the coach in question, either through missing coach or fault when booking at home or at agent. The coach journey and time have a four letter reference code which has be right to get on coach, if not on booked coach then can only board other coach if seats available, they did not stop your family boarding for no reason, travel often from Victoria, they help if can. What was reason for not letting on coach?
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★☆☆☆☆
“Disgusting”
Written on: 22/01/2013
the company and its staff are a disgrace to transportation in a civilized world. Words can not explain my experience with the company last year. I hope that someday the company goes into administration and any good staff if any get another job. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Rude and unhelpful ”
Written on: 16/01/2013 by piyushindi (2 reviews written)
Absolute rubbish.. Closed the doors 15 minutes early and didn't allow me to board on the bus. Went to couter and I was adviced to buy a new ticket to for next coach which was after an hr.. When I said I want to file a comain lady handed over me a leaflet to submit a feedback.. This all happened at London Victoria coach station.. Will be filing official complaint about it... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Not nice at all! ”
Written on: 31/12/2012 by RoyalMarineC
For the £70 i paid for return ticket from derby to london, 1. The seats are like concrete, 2. The coach squeeks too much, 3. The seatbelts hardly even fit round you meaning you cant breath! The toilet looks like it hasnt been cleaned since the coach was made and on a whole i am extremly dissapointed in the overall comfort of this 3 hour 20 minute journey.. Would rather be dragged behind the coach! (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Replaced NE bus with another firm.”
Written on: 27/12/2012 by MarkSii (1 review written)
Traveled from Birmingham to London on Boxing Day. NE bus replaced by another firm (Dhillons 0f London). Bus left late. Journey OK for most part but driver ate and drank whilst driving with only one hand or very little contact with wheel (I bet he had a break as well). Bus occasionally veered on to hard shoulder. Will not travel with NE again. Prefer to pay more and use train. (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Not a very good experiences...”
Written on: 10/12/2012 by EveeCecille (1 review written)
On my journey from Winchester to Heathrow the coach arrived about 20 minutes late, the driver came out, just to say to us, that she has no space for our suitcases, thus she cannot take us on the bus, she promised to order us a taxi, the taxi arrived 10 minutes later, however it was too small to fit four persons + 4 suitcases in. We end up ordering our own and then have to claim back our money from National Express, really not a good experience at all. Last month my boyfriend has used the... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Horrible Ticket counter Madam”
Written on: 07/12/2012 by DebUK
Please never ever buy ticket through national express,you have to pay double... 24 pound ticket,I had to pay 52 pound today, I had relatives with me, So I had to take it without going to National Rail counter. It is horrible and I can't write anything bad else it is worst .... (read more)
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Showing 31 - 40 of 166 Reviews
★★★★★
“Brilliant company”
Written on: 06/12/2012
This company is brilliant every time I go to Ringwood With them they are polite helpful charming and a pleasure to do business with. Just got on the 205 to Ringwood and will make it home for my mums birthday. Thanks Guys (read more)
★★★☆☆
“Smoke detectors”
Written on: 01/12/2012
It states on the bus that there should be no smoking at all. But still there are people smoking upstair on a double decker bus. Now i believe to stop smoking on the bus all together is to put invisible smoke detectors on, so when it happens its alarms the police on there pc system and they can follow the bus and catch these people who are smoking and give them a fine, right there and then. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“NE Scam”
Written on: 28/11/2012 by IvanSanders (2 reviews written)
I purchased a National Express Concessionary price card for the over 60s. Its advertising literature promised card holders a third off the price of many journeys. Before purchasing the card I checked the price of my journey £20.50. I then purchased the card - £10.00 plus £1.50 (for second class postage!) and re-entered my journey details. This time a new price appeared - over £34! Thus, it was more expensive to buy using the concession card. Thinking that I had re-entered the wrong... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Now I remember why I only travel by train...”
Written on: 19/11/2012 by spurious (1 review written)
There were a number of issues with my pretty miserable journey from London to Bath: 1. I was sat within the first two rows of the coach. After the coach was almost fully boarded, the front two rows were informed that we cannot use our mobile phones. There was no prior notice of this, either on the ticket or on signs in the coach. 2. The onboard toilet became out of order within about an hour into the journey. This meant all passangers had to travel with no onboard facilities for the vast... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Terrible overall experience ”
Written on: 12/11/2012 by Browness22 (1 review written)
Overall I am very disappointed in National Express. An accident caused me to miss my first coach and ticket counter made me pay for a surcharged one way ticket to take the next one. Staff were not helpful or friendly during process but rather smug and rude. NE clearly does not care about customer satisfaction. Coach was old an had an odd smell to it as well. Hardly worth the almost £100 I ended up paying for the round trip. Will never use this company again. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“a”
Written on: 10/11/2012 by Karenmdavies
Cant understand why national express sold out to Edwards coaches,i have been using this coach for years back and fore to london now they dont even have a break,they go via cardiff and change drivers changed coach pick up times and taken off 508 more or less so inconvinient,havent thought about customers at all only use it now in desperation very bad service (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“alternate emergency number”
Written on: 31/10/2012
calling the 0845 emergency number for national express has cost me god knows how many pounds over the recent years. luckily some clever so and so has developed a website which converts these numbers into an 01/02 number which we can use with our free minutes. The emergency number for national express is: 0121 460 8400 (read more)
★★★☆☆
“Damn national express!!!”
Written on: 31/10/2012
We arrived at 4:30,which was the exact time the bus supposed to leave. But we missed for the bus and spent extra 50 pounds. I think the coach should at least wait for about few seconds . (read more)
Bondos56's Comment
Written on: 11/11/2012
You have said it in one, the time the bus LEAVES. Why do you expect the coach to wait for you. If you read your customer booking conditions you will see that you are expected to be there at least ten minutes before departure. I am sure it would be as annoying for all the passengers delayed who were there on time!
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★★☆☆☆
“bad mannered extremely rude drivers”
Written on: 30/10/2012
coach 532 from plymouth to edinburgh on sunday 28th october,the driver was the most impolite,unhelpful,rude person i have ever met...the way he spoke to some passengers was dreadful...when we arrived at hamilton he made a comment that ..."if anyone who was supposed to get off at glasgow....has changed their mind and now wants off at hamilton...too bad they're not getting off...because he's not looking through the luggage for their bags....everyone on the coach was talking about him. if... (read more)
Bigdaddy09's Comment
Written on: 22/11/2012
Hi there I want to make a complant to one of your driver time was 250am in the morning I was in a taxi and a driver was rude he did the tossing sign to me for no reason at all I fine that rude the coach number 240 going past meadowhead. I want something done about it or I'm going to sue and going to the papers it mite be nothing to your but it rude to me please reply back to me thanks
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★★★★☆
“Coach to Gatwick”
Written on: 26/10/2012
My husband and I travelled to Gatwick airport on Friday 19th October. The coach arrived on time and was spotlessly clean, the seats were extremely comfortable and there was ample leg room. Our journey went smoothly and on time up until we left Heathrow when we hit a huge traffic jam due to a bad accident on the M25. Consequently we were delayed by over an hour and a half. No one could lay any blame on the coach company for this and the driver was so patient. Luckily our flight was not... (read more)
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Showing 41 - 50 of 166 Reviews
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Pricebuster's Comment
Written on: 10/05/2013
are you joking ???
traveling from canterbury to london is hardly peak hour travel at 1750 pm
i also traveled on the very same journey and do so daily
there really is no pressure on the driver at that time of day so someone is telling porkies are they not
prat
Pricebuster's Comment
Written on: 10/05/2013
can i also add that if the driver was moaning coming out of london then that would have been because the fact lewisham has roadworks and that probably made the driver late into victoria
as for you saying "giving a running commentary " would you believe the driver is actually doing his job
bury your head little person try driving it yourself before becoming a critic